being done we are to receive the Meeds we ran for as the Port where landed we are upon the Shoar of eternal Happiness as a generous Patron freeing us out of a state of Slavery and the Prison where we are detained and raising us to a glorious condition of Liberty as a kind Friend by whose means we are conducted to those Mansions of Bliss which have been long since provided for us in our Fathers House as removing out of a Cottage of Loom and Clay exposed to the Injuries of all sorts of Weathers into a Building not made with Hands i. e. to say not as these earthly Tabernacles into a Palace whose Foundations Walls and Gates are all of precious Stones in the highest Heavens as a retiring from the Hardships and Dangers of this present Warfare wherin we are engaged in continual Contests with Flesh and Blood within and Principalities and Powers and Spiritual Wickednesses without by whom we are so oft and so shamefully foil'd to a place of perfect Peace and Security free from the least annoyance of such Incursions or such Assailants or any fears of them where having obtained our great Captains Dismission and Licence to retire we shall expect till he make his return to Earth after which his business being done there and we having Bodies prepared for us to put on we shall attend on him when he makes his second glorious Ascent into Heaven and be a part of that days Pomp and Celebrity as the putting off Rags of Corruption in order to be arrayed in Robes of State as that which manageth an advantageous Exchange for us and by means of which for Misery and Calamity we gain Happiness for Tears and Grief Joys for painful Labour and Toil Rest for carking Cares Delights and Pleasures for Ignominy Glory for Obscurity Splendor for a Dungeon a Palace in short for nothing can be more said or thought and that is comprehensive of all which can be said or thought Heaven for Earth God and the Society of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect for the World its Vanities and profligate Company If they who when they stood upon the Threshold of this World ready to leave it had no View or but an obscure and uncertain one of another confining upon this could support themselves with Patience under its prolusory Agonies and Skirmishes and fortifie themselves with Courage against its down-right Attack and Blow by the help of such Meditations as these That dying was but going out of a weather-beaten House a travelling to another place as Plato a Dismission from their attendance here as the Emperor Antoninus the same Phrase almost by which the Aged Simeon expresseth it when he calls it a Departure but a going the way which all must tread as Horace but a putting off the tatter'd Garments of Flesh and Blood as Maximus but a Sleeping but a Change as Arian and others thought then certainly those who through the Opticks of Divine Revelations have the full prospect of another Life after this and by the Evidences of Faith and the Testimony of the Holy Spirit with theirs are assured of being Possessors of it will not only be upheld by Patience but receive abundant Consolation against the otherwise affrightful approach of Death from this Consideration That it is but a Passage or Introduction into Immortality This too as it will sustain and comfort 2. Against the kinds of Death or the circumstances of it which may make the appearance frightful us against the Pangs or Terrors of Death it self so it will do it against the various Circumstances and Appertenances of it such I call the Manner Kind Time Place of our Death which if there be nothing formidable or nothing but what 's tolerable in Death it self can introduce no such material and substantial difference as to render Death in this or that place at this or another time this or that way of dying contrary to the common nature of Death terrible and insupportable As therefore it matters not upon the Square whether we die in Childhood Youth Manhood or Old Age sooner or later any more than it doth in what Season of the year whether in Spring Summer Autumn or Winter and if there be any odds they seem to have the advantage who die having seen least of the Worlds Villany or felt least of the Calamities of Humane Life whether we die at home or abroad since every place under the Sky is a wise and brave Man's Country he being a Citizen and Denison of the World or none on this side Heaven is and every part of the Earth is equally distant from that whether in the possession of our Honours in our own Country or in Banishment in another since this may send us into places more benign and hospitable than our own Soil was where we may be more esteemed for our Vertue see more Order Gravity and Conduct and greater Examples of Prudence Fidelity and Constancy than among our own People whether we die at Sea or Land whether we feed Fish or Worms whether we die a natural or a violent Death whether our Prison Doors fly open of themselves or they are broken open by Force whether we die on our Beds by a Fever or by Fire at a Stake by a Squinnancy there or by a Halter on a Gibbit by a lingring Consumption there or by the sudden stroak of a Sword or Ax on the Scaffold by the Torture of the Stone or Gout or the Iliack Passion there or by being broken on the Wheel whether we die that which is called a glorious Death by the hands of our Enemy in the Field or that which is reckon'd an ignominious one by the hand of a Publick Executioner provided the Cause be not Criminal for its this alone can make any Death scandalous as it is only the goodness of a Cause can make any honourable Virtue can ennoble every Death give Glory to the Scandal of the Cross and Piety can make the Person who is hanged drawn and quartered an illustrious fulgent Martyr And neither the Tree nor Block nor any kind of Death can disgrace Honesty or shame Religion Nor last of all whether after Death our Bodies receive a decent Interment or they are exposed to the Beasts of the Field or their Quarters given to the Fowls of the Air i. e. whether they rot under Ground or above as Theodorus the â—ic Tuscul l. 3. Cyrenaean told the Tyrant who threatned him with the Cross or Gibbet That it was all one to him how he died provided we have not merited this last Treatment as Malefactors but 't is the ungrateful Return which is made us for doing our Duty For then they who have not a Grave have Heaven indeed Valer. l. 3. c. 3. for a Canopy to cover them or lie under its vaulted Roof their Quarters fixt on Poles are the Trophies and Monuments which Malice her self erected to their Virtue while she oppressed it the memory of
should every where and at all times preserve the same gentle Flow or the same Silver or Chrystalline Colour No it is only the Divine Life which hath no Succession of parts no Intervals to divide it that continues at one and the same stay of perpetual and immutable Happiness But if it were possible that in some one Persons Life there should be no such Interval of Joy to divide no such Parenthesis to break off his Grief and that he could not support himself with any reasonable Confidence That as God Hos 6. 1. had torn him he would heal him as he had smitten him so he would bind him up yet he might comfort himself with this Consideration that it could not be of very long durance and that would in some degree lighten the Burthen when it sat closest to him It cannot be longer liv'd than himself whose Age extended ro the farthest is but a Span long and Death the end of that Span which with that must put an end to his Misery also The Psalmist comforts himself with this and that God would set him at rest at the end of this Span if not before it And now Lord what wait I Psal 39. 5. for my hope is in thee For that is the Port where all ride safe even they who have been tossed most in a tempestuous Sea The Grave is the place where the weary are at rest the Prisoners hear not the voice of the Oppressor the Servant is free from his Master where all composed to stillness sleep quietly on Beds of Dust secure from Violence and undisturb'd with waking Pains and Cares There he that died in the bitterness Job 3. 18 19 20. of his Soul and never eat with pleasure shall alike lie down in the dust with him who died in his full strength Job 21. 22 23 24. being at ease and quiet But if Death be not the end of Humane Life as by our Christian Faith we are perswaded it is not if it be not the wearied Pilgrims utmost Stage yet it 's the way which without any further toyl leads him to Happiness the very Gate which opens upon it his Friendly Guide which conducts him to Mansions of Immortal Glory his kind Benefactor which gives him actual possession of them instates and settles him in them So that if weeping endure for a night the short night of our sojourning here a Night o'ercast with Darkness rather than a Day the Shadow of Death rather than the Light of Life yet Joy cometh in the Morning the Morning of our Souls Birth-day in which discharged from the Sepulchre of their Bodies they begin first truly to live or in the Morning of the Resurrection in which our Bodies shall spring up again like the tender Herb impregnated by the Morning Dew and quickened with a vital warmth from it's Mother Earth and flourish in a never-fading Verdure Add besides that as no Temptation can befal us but what is common to Men and that it 's less than Childishness to lament with a Woe and Alas when we suffer the common Incidents of Mortality and that Death which cannot be at a long Distance from any will put a Period to them so God who is faithful will not suffer 1 Cor. 10. 13. us to be tempted above what we are able but will with the temptation provide a way to escape it or one to bear it But let the weight of Misery be So born it becomes lighter what it will it 's Burthen as great as is imaginable yet they are made lighter and our Condition under them easier by supporting them with Patience which is a farther encouragement to the doing this I might say comparing it with the new load Impatience adds and the uneasiness that creates it alters the nature of suffering changes Pain and Torment into Pleasure Affliction into Recreation Judgment into Kindness and Mercy For it 's not the Stroke while we are smitten by God or lie under his correcting hand so much as our froward Carriage that causeth the smart This makes the Stripes look angry and inflamed this envenoms festers and rancours them as the wounded Deer the more he stirrs the more the Arrow which pierced his sides galls him The Burthen the Yoak the Cross the utmost harshness and sharpness with which God disciplines us here born with an even quiet mind become light soft and gentle Very use and custom in suffering have Cic. 3. Tuscul power enough not only to qualifie but to alter the nature of it and render it well nigh grateful whence we may rationally conclude that a patient Submission to the wise and gracious Will of the Imposer may be able to work the same yea a stronger Effect and introduce a nobler degree of change For thus it hath been observed that Slaves who have sigh'd deeply when they were first condemned to the Galleys have sometime after sung while being chained they tugged at their Bank of Oars that Men who were afraid at first to put out to Sea in a Calm have by frequenting it learn'd to laugh in Storms that such unfortunate Wretches who sentenced to work in the Mines have been fain to be driven and goaded on as it were to their laborious Task so reluctant was their Nature to the Service at first have within some compass of time after wrought in them with as much chearfulness as if they had been the absolute Lords and Masters of all the rich Oar they digged up that such miserable Slaves who doom'd to the Fencing School have hung back as if they had been going to the Slaughter-house to have been butchered immediately after a little inuring themselves to the bloody Combats there exhibited have not so much as cried Oh! when fighting a Prize they themselves have been mortally wounded or so much as changed Colour or shrunk in their Neck when fell'd to the Ground their Antagonist's Weapon was at their Throat The Noble Spartan Youths when according to their Country's severe Discipline instituted to harden them they were scourged at the Altar till the Blood streamed out yea sometimes till they died under their Stripes were so far from roaring out that they fetch'd not a Groan And now shall not Persons of mature Age and Judgment behave themselves as decently in the point of enduring Pain as raw Boys or green Youths Or shall not Reason sway us as powerfully in this as Usage did them Or shall not Religion and Grace work as effectually in us as ever Reason or Custom did or can Besides Time it self abates the strongest Calamity tames the most stubborn and obstinate Grief And is it fit we should be beholden to Time to do that for us which we might do our selves i. e. to put an end to our Sorrow Shall we stay for that to do this without our Wills which we ought to do of our own accord Why should we not rather by wise Considerations snatch the Glory of this from Time and out of
was the Patience of Job amidst the severest Trials of it and so admirable the Example he hath left us of this Vertue To this I might add the Examples of other Saints of God either directly commemorated or only glanced at in Scripture Who had trials of mockings Heb. 11. 36 37 38. and scourges moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments were stoned were sawn asunder were tempted were slain with the Sword wandred about in Seeep-skins in Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented wandred in Deserts and in Mountains or were forced to hide themselves in Dens and Caves of the Earth such were Joseph and David Zacharias the Son of Barachias Elias and the Prophets under the impious and cruel Reign of Ahab Isaias Jeremiah the Mother and her 7 Sons under the 2 Mach. 7. Persecution of the Church by Antiochus Epiphanes and mentioning them I might endeavour to inflame you shall I say with an emulation of their Patience in sustaining all their Troubles and Torments or to render you sedate under all your Sufferings as they were under theirs and take occasion thence to inculcate St. James's Advice which is the most natural Inference which can be drawn from them or to urge and press it home upon you from the force of such illustrious Presidents Take my Brethren the Prophets who Jam. 5. 10. have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of Suffering Affliction and Patience But forasmuch as the single Example of this renowned Hero virtually contains the Efficacy of all which can be alledged For he grapled with all sorts of Adversity loss of Children Goods Houses endured all kinds of Misery Diseases Pains Revilings I will content my self with having produced his and the recommending it to you to ponder in your Thoughts and transcribe in your Practice the memorable Instances of his Patience Ye have Jam. 5. 11 heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy Be ye also patient stablish your Hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh It 's his Example alone which St. Basil in a Treatise on this Argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinks fit to propound to our view He counsels us to look upon this Champion to compute the several Conflicts in which he was engaged and got the Mastery to reckon all the Darts the Tempter threw at him while he remained invulnerable against all or received no mortal Wound that we may be enabled to do the like to put on the same Coat of Mail that his Darts may no more pierce us than they did him Or in St. Cyprian's Language to observe the Darts he threw back again upon this Enemy of his and with which he galled him sore notwithstanding his Spiritual Nature i. e. the Expressions of Patience he made and the Praises and Thanks he returned to God under all his Afflictions that we in the like Combats may learn to fight as he did But besides the Example of this Upright Man before the Law for he was elder than Moses by whose means God published that tho' he was not the Grandchild of Sem as some have thought but rather a Descendent from Nachor Abraham's Brother or what 's more probable from Esau being the Fourth or Fifth by his Line from Abraham whereas Moses was the Sixth V. comp Gen 36. 17. 33. 1 Chr. 1. 43 44. 1 Chron. 5. 1 2 3. and of the Prophets and Holy Men under it whom I have designedly pretermitted or but just pointed at and named without giving you a particular Enumeration of their Sufferings or a Description of their Behaviour I might set before your Eyes the Apostles and Doctors the Martyrs and Confessors of the Christian Church whose Life was a constant Exercise and their Death the noblest as well as the last Act of this Virtue and the most convincing Demonstration that they had been all along before trained up in the practice of it were not the going about to enumerate though the most Illustrious only of them the undertaking a Task to compile a Voluminous History and if Time it self should not fail me in the pursuit of such a Design yet your Patience which I would procure by them might very well be tired out in perusing them I will therefore withdraw my hand from any such Attempt only I cannot forbear to place in a transient Light before you the Picture of this Virtue drawn from one of that Sex whose Weakness we are too apt to reproach and whom we are ready to censure as the most unfit for suffering or enduring what God inflicts with any Bravery It is of Melania for the Truth of whose History St. Jerome who relates it because S. Hierom. Epist ad Paulam it might look as incredible appeals to Christ as a Witness she having lost two of her Sons even while her Husbands Body was warm with the remains of that Vital Heat the Spirit which had deserted it had left behind instead of dropping one single Tear or being any ways moved at this threw her self at the Feet of her Saviour and with a smiling Countenance as if she held him thus address'd her self to him I can now Lord serve thee with more ease and readiness since thou hast freed me from so great a Burthen and Incumbrance as that of a Wife or Mother I might likewise turn aside into profane History and chuse out some excellent Persons from among the very Heathens and set them in your view that you might copy this Virtue even from them if you should despair imitating the Copies of Martyrs and Confessors or the Saints of the first and best Ages of Christianity such as were Zeno Eleates Anaxarchus Theodorus who with an immovable Constancy of Mind endured all the Tortures the Tyrants Phalaris Nicocreon Hieronymus could inflict of Posidonius and Cic. l. 3. Yusc de Consol Val. Max. l. c. 3. c. Zeno the Stoick who amidst the Torments of Diseases as painful as glowing Bulls or Racks or Wheels cried not out so much as Oh! of Anaxagoras Pericles Dion of Syracuse Xenophon Horatius Pulvillus c. all as free from Amazement or Trouble when the news of the Death of their Children was brought them or as unconcerned in Passion as Men are now a-days at the relation of Passages which happened a Thousand Years before they were born But I forbear as loath to disgrace and shame my self and Fellow-Christians who cannot look back on or remember them without Blushes and Confusion to observe our selves with all the Advantages of more excellent Instructions and the encouragement of Nobler Rewards surpassed and out-done by them who had no better Assistances to further them in the attainment of this Virtue than Nature and Reason the one weak and depraved the other dim and blear-ey'd nor any other Incentives to excite them no other Motives to animate them thereto than what a thirst after Glory kindled or a