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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	alive_a	change_v	great_a	77	3	2.1077	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50625	A sermon preached at the funeral of Alexander Fraiser of Doores, Knight and baronet, principal physician to the King of Great Britain &c. who died at Whitehall, April 28, 1681, in the seventieth and fifth year of his age, and was solemnly interr'd amongst his ancestors at Doores the 28 of July following / by John Menzies.	Menzeis, John, 1624-1684.	1681 (1681)	Wing M1728; ESTC R28826	15,772	25

make some Improvement of all by way of Application As to the first the nature of the duty So to number our days take this Negative This is not curiously to be enquiring into the period of our life or manner of our death making use of Genethliack Arts or casting Horoscops Some have been too curious that way consulting with Sorcerers yea with the Devil and using unlawful methods and it 's an observe concerning these not more common then true that ordinarly they make unhappy ends as did Julian the Apostate This is not the numbering of our dayes for which the Man of God here prayes He did not prie into Secrets which God thought not fit to reveal it 's enough for us that our times are in Gods hand and that all the dayes of our appointed time we wait till our change come To open therefore Positively a little of this Mystery I will endeavour to branch it forth into a few particulars First then when the Psalmist prayes that God would teach him so to number his dayes he prayes to be helped to a due and serious consideration of the frailty of his Nature Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how frail I am O what a poor frail Creature is Man The contexture of mans body indeed is curious Andacis naturae miraculum as one termed it the Master-peice of bold Nature or rather of Divine Providence yet the Vessels are so many and the matter so thin and tender the conveyances so subtile that they are easily obstructed by a little Sand a little humor Yea sometimes the whole Machine has been disordered by a little vapour Neither is it so only with them who have the more weak and creasie bodies experience having often made it appear that bodies which seem'd more robust as if they had been made of Cedar and Iron yet have been very quickly shattered and blasted so true is that of the Prophet Isaiah 40.6 7. All flesh is as grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it surely the people is grass O how small a thing will take away the life of man a Gnat a drop of a Gargarism yea an Hair and which may seem strange a Thought an Apprehension if it can but raise a violent Passion of Grief Anger yea of Joy O how would the serious consideration of this humble us so as we should neither be proud of Beauty nor presume of Strength Secondly When he prayes to be taught so to number his days he prayes to be helped to a due consideration of the shortness of his time Psal 89.47 Remember how short my time is and Psal 39.5 Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth mine age is as nothing before thee An hand breadth is a small measure But as if that had been too little to shadow forth the ●●●tness of our time it s added our age is as nothing before God not so much as a drop to the Ocean or a point to the circumference of the vastest Circle In this Psalm the ordinary age of old men is reckoned to be seventy or eighty years but what is that to infinite immense eternity It is said ver 4. A thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday when it is past and what is a day when it is past but as nothing In ver 5. and 6. the shortnesse of our time is compared to the stream of a floud when it is gone to a sleep when it is past and to the grass of the field which in the morning groweth up and flourisheth and in the evening is cut down and withereth How little distance of time is betwixt its greenness and withering its growing up and cutting down What poor creatures are we we grow up in the morning of our Childhood we seem to flourish in the high noon-tide of our Adult-age but then suddenly e're we be a ware comes the declensions of old age wherein one infirmity overtakes us after another untill the sickle of death cut us down root and branch O what manner of persons would we be in all holy conversation and godliness were this duly considered But thirdly when he prayes to be taught to number his dayes he prayes that he may be helped duly to consider the uncertainty of his time here on earth although it be said in ver 10. of this Psalm that the years of a mans age are seventy or eighty the meaning is not that every one shall arrive to that age nay for one who cometh that length many hundreds die within that measure Yea the little time that we have we have no 〈◊〉 certainty thereof hence it is Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth And Jam 4.13 14. Go to now ye that say to day or to morrow we will go to such a city and abide there for a year and buy and sell and make gain whereas thou knows not what shall be to morrow For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away We cannot make sure reckoning of one day one hour one minute more of our lives what unexpected contingencies have men in greatest health and security been surprised with You may have heard how a Roman Consul was brain'd by the fall of a Tile as he rode in triumph how Aeschylus the Philosoph was knock'd in the head to death by the fall of a Tortoise from the claw of an Eagle or how Anacreon the Poet was choaked by the kernel of a Raisine entring into the wrong passage of his throat Doth not our Saviour bring in a man making such a foolish reckoning with himself Luk. 12.19 20. Soul take thy case thou hast much goods laid up for thee for many years Whereas God said to him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee and then whose shall those things be Were the uncertainty of our time thought upon seriously we would not delay repentance and preparation for death nor make such bold adventures upon sin Fourthly when he prayes to be taught so to number his days he prayes to be helped duly to consider the certainty of death Our time is uncertain but death is most certain there is a stature of heaven upon it Heb. 9.27 It s appointed unto men once to die Hence in ver 3. of this Psalm it is said thou turnest man to destruction and sayest return ye children of men Yea Ps 89.48 the Psalmist is peremptory What man is he that liveth and shall not see death I shall not here stand to debate what shall become of those who shall be alive at the last day whether the sentence of death shall be executed upon them I know it is in reference to them the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.51 We shall not

all die but we shall all be changed And yet there be great Divines both ancient and modern among whom is the great Augustin who hold that the Statute of death shall be executed on them also And whereas it is said 1 Cor. 15. they shall not die The meaning say these Authors only is they shall not so die as to remain under the power of death as others do being presently to be restored to life again However all agree that a change is to pass on them equivalent to death Hence S. Augustin on Psal 38. to us the 39. Quid hic certum nisi mors what is certain in this world but only death Speras pecuniam incertum est an proveniat Expects thou to be rich its uncertain if it shall be so Speras filios incertum an nascantur Hopes thou for children its uncertain if thou shalt have any Nascuntur incertum an vivant an proficiant Has thou children born its uncertain whether they shall live or if they live whether they shall prove dutiful and towardly and so he concludes turn to what hand thou wilt all is uncertain only it is most certain we must die But alas how few do practically believe this great truth of the necessity and certainty of death how sew serious thoughts are spent upon it It is said of Caesar Bergia base Son to Pope Alexander the sixth who designed to make himself Lord of Italy in order to the obtaining which ambitious design neither Father nor Son refrained from any villany but while one night they designed the poisoning of others the stroke through the mistake of the cup-bearer falling on themselves of which the old man died instantly the young man by strong antidotes and the vigour of youth did live yet was sore sickned graviter decumbens sayes Guicciardin lib. 6. In which sickness he confessed to some about him he had foreseen all the difficulties which stood in the way of his designs and had considered how to remove them yea and what to do in case of his Fathers death whom he knew to be an old man but upon his own death or sickness he had not so much as once reflected How many do split on the same rock Hence is that unlucky Proverb in the mouths of many I thought no more on such a thing then on the day of my death A sufficient evidence many meditate little on death on the certainty thereof and uncertainty of the time of it Fifthly when the Psalmist prayes to be taught to number his dayes he prayes to be taught duly to consider the work he has to do in his dayes that his work may not be undone when his dayes are done or that the work may not be then to do which would have required his outmost solicitude all his dayes when his dayes are drawing towards an end And surely great is the work which is committed to every one of us to do faithfully to serve God in our Generation To mortisie all our corrupt lusts to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the stesh and spirit to be just and dutiful in all our relations to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling and to promove the salvation of others so far as lies in our power and to improve all our time and all opportunity for the honour of God May it not be said as one did in another case Ars longa vita brevis How few alas be there who seriously mind the work which God requireth of them Else time would not be lavished in idle and unaccountable work much less in that which is manifestly the work of the Flesh and the Devil But Sixthly and lastly not to add more when he prayes that God would teach him so to number his dayes he prayes that he may be helped to consider how much depends on the right or ill improvement of his time Namely his blessed or miserable estate to all eternity As it is appointed once to die so after death to come to judgement Heb 9 27 And then to receive according to what we have done in the body whether good or bad 2 Cor 5 10 They who obtain mercy to numbeer their dayes aright how comfortable will it be to them that they have done so when they shall hear the Angel swear by him that lives for ever that time shall be no more But desperat then will the state of them be who made no due improvement of their time It 's said of Saul though otherwise a valiant man when he heard that on the morrow he should die he was quite dispirited 1 Sam. 28.20 He fell straight all along upon the ground and was afraid and no wonder for the wrath of almighty God and that to the outmost will be the portion of ungodly sinners to all eternity Now as is said in Verse 11 of this Psalm Who knowes the power of his Wrath as is his fear so is his wrath We cannot have so deep apprehensions of it as it is The branching forth of these few particulars wherein the right numbering of our dayes does consist may sufficiently discover that the duty is both great and necessary Surely a greater work then that of Pambo which he was so many years in learning how to do according to the Word Psal 39 1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that I offend not with my tongue That was but one branch of many comprehended under this of numbering our dayes As the Lord commanded Moses to number all the stations of the people of Israel in the Wilderness Numb 33 2 as they are accordingly written down in that Chap. So the Lord would have us to number all the periods of our lives duly to consider our time past and to come and what improvement hath been or ought to be made thereof and so much of the first thing proposed the nature and necessity of this duty The second thing proposed was that we have need to be serious in imploring the Divine assistance that we may be helped to the right performance of this great duty so did Moses here So teach us to number our dayes So did David Psal 39 4 O Lord teach me to know mine end and the number of my dayes the need of this might be made appear upon many accounts As first this is a great work and therefore we have need of great assistance for it A man may be able to number how many hours yea minuts hath been since the Creation of the World how many miles the circumference of the Earth doth contain how many degrees the Pole is elevated above our Horizon what is the position and distance of Stars and a thousand such like curiosities and yet not know how to number his dayes aright this is Divine Work and therefore we have need to seek grace from above to do it As David in a like case Psal 143 10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God Secondly This is a work from which

be without making right account and numbring of our dayes Secondly if we number not our dayes they will be numbered to our hands and that in wrath I remember to this purpose what the finger which appeared to Belshazzar Dan. 5.5 wrote on the wall ver 25 26. Mene mene that is God hath numbred thy Kingdom and finished it Will not we number our dayes and redeem them God will number them and finish them in his wrath Thirdly if now we will not number our dayes we shall be made to number them to our sorrow O! how do we think do damned reprobats in hell reflect upon their dayes here in a world O! what dayes had I on earth will the soul say to seek God and to serve him how many an opportunity had I both of receiving good from others and doing good to others But alas I improved not these dayes of my visitation and therefore am I now thrown to this place and state of torment for ever Fourthly if you will not number your 〈…〉 will get a harder sum to number and that to your everlasting horror to number the ages of Eternity how long shall this flame devour how long shall this worm gnaw how many ages yea millions and millions of millions of ages and when the soul considers these torments shall endure to eternity shall ever be beginning without any nearer approach to an end this cannot but swallow up the wretch into horror and desperation Fifthly Unspeakable are the advantages may be had in being faithful in this great duty of numbring our dayes I will only for brevities sake hint at two And first this would be a powerful mean to wean our hearts from things of a present world 1 Cor. 7.29 This I say brethren that the time is short It remains therefore that they who have wives be as if they had none they who weep as if they weeped not and they who rejoice as if they rejoiced not and they who use the world as not abusing it O the blessed effect of numbering our dayes which makes weeping as no weeping and moderates our affections in all things yea and engages the soul to the serious and universal study of mortification Hence is that other word of that same Apostle Rom. 13.11 Knowing the time that the night is far spent it is therefore high time for to awake out of our sleep to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light And then subjoins Let us walk honestlie as in the day time not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ When a sentence of death is past upon a most dissolute man he will not then readily debauch and whore much more the man who by serious numbering of his dayes is daily looking death in the face cannot but mind mortifying works And this 〈…〉 the other advantage flowing from this duty It would put the soul upon a constant preparation for death considering that it knows not but that every hour may be its last hour and therefore would make it walk by S. Bernards rule Si mor●urus esses illud faceres O my soul were thou presently by death to take thy farewell from the body wouldst thou do such or such a thing and this would make an abundant and comfortable entrance unto our Lord his everlasting Kingdom The soul that is much in minding death and preparing for it may say on better grounds then he did the bitterness of death is past whereas they who neglect this great duty are oft overwhelmed at the approach of death one crying out O that I might live though it were in a dungeon another Had I a world of wealth I would give all for one inch of time and another Inducias Domine usque mane Spare Lord but one morning more Might not these considerations quicken us to seriousness in this great duty What shall I add more All the dispensations of divine Providence call aloud upon us to number our dayes the revolutions of day and night weeks moneths and years the birth of some the death of others our mercies our rods the voice of all is that we should so number our dayes as to apply our hearts unto wisdom God hath numbered the hairs of our heads by his Providence and we ought to number our dayes for his service O that this Exhortation may be written as with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond upon all our hearts If then it be demanded how we may be helped faithfully to perform this great duty of numbering our dayes I only tender a few advices and so shut up what I have to say on the Text. First then we would consider the absolute necessity of this duty time and our dayes are a great Talent for which a severe account must be given Secondly we would reflect with all possible seriousness upon our failure in this matter how much precious time we have lost how little of our work is done though so much of our time be gone The moral Heathen when he had not improven a day to advantage would say Ah! perdidi diem Alas I have lost a day what cause have we to lament the loss of so many dayes Thirdly consider we as this work is necessary so also it is above our strength and therefore let us be fervent and frequent in prayer for the quickening and strengthening supplies of grace So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Fourthly let us support our selves that though the work be great and difficult yet blessed be God not impossible Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Though we oft come short in this duty yet upon unfeigned repentance there is forgiveness with our Lord the penitent thief mispent many dayes yet repenting sincerely found mercy I speak not this to encourage any in sin God forbid but to encourage the worst of sinners unto repentance if we repent as sincerely as he did we shall as assuredly find mercy Though he lived a very little time after his conversion yet he did much in it So as to him some way might be applyed S. Hieroms word concerning Nebridius Epist 9. ad Salvinam In brevi aetate multa complevit tempora In a short time he did the work of a long life Fifthly let us beware of these things that hinder the right performance of this duty particularly let us watch against the leting out of the heart inordinately after the things of the world that surely will divert from numbering of our dayes Do not presume as that great man who is said to have taken for his Symbole a double headed Eagle the one looking upward toward Heaven the other looking downward toward the Earth under which he wrote this Motto Vtrumque as if he could set his eye and heart upon both But we would remember as is well observed we have

neither two heads nor two hearts and though we have two eyes yet I believe it is hard to look up and down with them at once Sure I am the Apostle puts these two in opposition Col 3 2 The setting of our affections on things above and not on things on earth He who would number his dayes aright would let but overly and mortified glances to the things of the world the strength of the heart must be set on things above Sixthly and lastly we would sequestrate a considerable portion of time dayly for this work to meditate on the brevity and uncertainty of our Life and of the great work God requires of us therein and we would charge our hearts without delay to set about it I have read how a godly Person gave a Prodigal a Gold-ring with a Deaths-head upon it on condition that he should dayly for the space of seven dayes look one hour thereupon which proved the mean of his Conversion Had the doing of this for seven dayes such success how much more by the Lords blessing were time sequestrate dayly thorow the whole course of our lives for numbering of our dayes might we hope for a blessed proficiency in this Heavenly Art So much have we spoken concerning this Text as we judged your patience would bear at such a time YOu expect I know before I close that something bespoken of the Honourable Person whose Funerals we now Celebrate And here I confess vvere a large Field vvere I fitted or disposed for a Panegyrick Nor is there want of great precedents in such cases from Nazianzen Ambrose and many others both ancient and modern Nor can it be denyed but that the doing justice to the memory of deserving persons may excite the living to trace the footsteps of the virtues of the dead Yet I not being accustomed to such Discourses and having a through aversion of what may savour of flattery I hope therefore I shall be the more easily excused if I be the more sparing on this head Though this worthy Gentleman did live much of his time abroad out of his Native Country yet the fame both of his Honour and Merit did overspread these three Kingdoms yea and did reach to other Nations also The antiquity of his Honourable Family of Doors is beyond dispute The Stock whereof was an immediat Son of the Great Thane of Cowy and Doors for so I understand he was designed upwards of three hundred years ago at the same time that another Son of the same Great Thane married the noble Heretrix of Philorth The Estate possest by the Thane was very vast about these Grampian Mountains and of him and of the great Lord Fraiser in the South two Families of the same name of so great Antiquity that it is hard to account which did come of the other yet of these two many noble Families of this Kingdom acknowledge themselves to be descended and therefore have the Fraisers Arms quartered with their own But I confess I am not Herauld enough to dilate upon this Subject Should any say to me with him in the Poet Et Genus Proavus quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco Though none I hope will deny a due esteem to an Honourable Descent unless he be of a levelling Principle Yea the holy Scripture speaks honourably of the sons of Nobles Eccles 10.17 Yet I have this to add that besides this Gentlemans honourable descent he was a man of eminent personal worth and merit whereof take this one instance among many that when this family of Doores had lately suffered an eclipse as ancient Houses have their vicissitudes he by his virtue and industry recovered it from a collapsed condition He might without all peradventure have made comfortable Purchases in the pleasant places of England yet such was his love to his native Country and to this ancient Seat of his Ancestors that he choosed rather to make an Atchievment here And now having provided his other worthy and well-deserving Children of riper years hath transmitted this old Heretage of his Progenitors with all its Dignities to his hopeful Son here present who by the Mother a Lady of great Virtue is descended of the honourable Name of Caries in England a Family which bears as noble marks of Honour and ancient Pedegree as most of the Noblest Families in that Kingdom This his youngest Son he sent hither to be educated and who I trust by the mercy of God shall inherit many of the Virtues of his Predecessors So that he had both the Dignity of an honourable Descent and likewise which in conjunction with the former I believe will be highly esteemed by all of a just and virtuous Acquisition This may seem much yet I see an Ocean before me on which I dare hardly adventure But one thing I cannot let passe his unstained Loyalty to his Soveraign in times of great trouble and temptation He was fourty years and upwards a Courtier in the Reign of two Kings and beheld with sorrowful eyes the most dismal convulsions which ever these Kingdoms did suffer yet was he never stained with a blot of disloyalty He was educated a Schollar at Aberdeen the time when his Family fell low And after he had spent some years in his youth over Seas in pursuance of his Studies and had been Graduated Doctor of Medicine at Piemont he was so much noticed in the Court of England at his return for his Learning and Skill in that excellent Faculty which he did profess that in the year 1639. he was chosen Physician in ordinary to King Charles the first of glorious Memory and served his Majesty faithfully in Peace and War both in his Profession and other eminent Services untill the evils of the time encreasing he was by special order from his Majesty sent to attend the Prince then in Flanders with whom he continued doing many considerable services untill our Dread Soveraign who now reigns and whom Almighty God long preserve came to Scotland in the year 1650. And his Majesty again departing beyond Seas the confusions of the Times still prevailing he was among the first who repaired to his Majesty leaving Family and Employment which he might have had very considerable esteemed it his greatest Honour and Advantage to suffer hardships in serving his Prince In consideration of this constant Fidelity and Loyalty and exposing of himself to many hazards in his Princes Service It pleased his Gracious Majesty at his happy Restauration to settle him as Principal Physician to have the care and inspection of his Royal Person In this great Trust he continued untill his death and so great was the confidence his Majesty had both of his Skill and Faithfulness that he would not readily take Physick without him Amongst the many marks of his Princes favour the Honour of Baronet was conferred upon him besides the Places and Preferments settled on his Lady and Children Nay so gracious a Prince did he serve that his favour did not expire with the life of his faithful Servant And therefore gave order to transmit his Remains in one of his Royal Ships unto Scotland to be buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers It would take a Volume to recount all the Offices of kindness he did to his Country-men by his friendship by his skill in Medicine and when occasion did require by his Purse also A man he was of great Generosity Integrity and a most faithful and fast Friend These things could not but purchase to him admirable repute Hence it was that when within these few years he made a visit to his Native Country and lived some Months here at Doores a great confluence of persons of eminent quality resorted hither to pay their respects to him all whom he entertained nobly And yet disdained not to give his most Judicious Consultations to multitudes of Diseased Persons who also flocked to him from all quarters for Cure of obstinate Maladies which had given defiance to the skill of other Physicians all which he did Gratis Nor did his Country-men more rejoyce in his Converse among them in that little interval then he was longed for again at Court as was manifest by many Letters he receiv'd at the time from great Persons at Court and by his gracious Reception from his Soveraign at his return Had any of the Divines who attended him in his Sickness been performing this last Office to him I doubt not but they could have given an account of his Religious Deportment at Death all who knew him here will witness to his Temperance and Sobriety his constant adherence to the Protestant Religion was manifest to all It was by his Charity and Supply with the concurrence of his Servants thorow his direction and the influence assistance and considerable expence of a most deserving Friend and Relation of his that the Pious Work of the Bridge of Dy towards which a sum of Money was Mortified by a Reverend Minister though that without the assistance foresaid could never have done it was promoved and brought to the finishing Cubit And it is by his means that this old Place and Church where his Fathers did Worship God is now repaired or rather re-builded There is one instance more of his Piety which if I should forget I should be unjust to his memory He was pleased to favour me with some Letters in reference to his beloved Son and I must declare that so far as I remember he never did omit in any of them to request that his Son might be religiously educated in the fear of the Lord solemnly protesting He would rather have him good than great These were his own expressions whereof I found my self often obliged to put his hopeful Son in rememberance