anothers sufferings What Man in pain deems not his own distemper most insupportable How many does misfortune urge to wish that to themselves which Hezekiah deplores in others That when they being Children came to the Birth there had not been strength to bring forth (z) 2 Kings 19.3 even with Job unwishing their Nativities When we contemplate humane misery and add to that the infirmity of our constitutions Birth seems to render us as capable of wishing Death as secure of meeting it Nor seems Death only the design of Birth but its near Kinsman too for Death is Sleeps Brother sayes the Philosopher and Life 's a Dream sayes the Preacher (a) Eccles 6. A Dream like Pharaohs wherein Men like Beasts devour each other and the worse the better for bad Men prosper by defrauding good Men yet stile they this detestable success by the beloved name of good fortune yet ev'n in this good fortune besides the guilt what great unhappiness lies hid what tortures and what agonies of thought what nips of conscience and what keen reflections The splendid condition of evil Men holy David (b) Psal 37. resembles to a flourishing green Tree and in another Psalm he stiles Man Grass Now rich Men grow like Grass under that Tree much higher and much greener than the rest and sowrer too by much considering their sins and cares and oft too shorter-liv'd by much their too large growth inviting as it were Deaths fatal Sythe Nor does Job mend the character of Life when he compares it to a Poast soon ends the Stage after a restless journey full of haste and dirt But what a pleasant place the Journey ends in Why dread ye Death the Begetter of Ease sayes Menander (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. What is Death the laying down a heavy Burden sayes St Austin (d) Quid est Mors Depositio Sarcinâ—… gravis Aug. Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours sayes the Spirit (e) Rev. 14.13 This great advantage of Death prompted Isidorus Pelusiota to conceive that our Saviour wept not for the decease of Lazarus but because for the belief of the Jews he was to reduce him to that Life that vexatious Life from which Death had absolv'd him The Grave at once shuts up Mans Corps and Cares Hid in the dark there no misfortune finds him The Drum shall beat and yet his pulse not strike a stroke the faster The earth shall blush in her own childrens blood for her own childrens spilling it and yet his visage suffer the complexion neither of shame nor fear Sickness shall come and mingle Fevers with warm Sun-shine till each Neighbor dyes at once his Neighbors wonder and example till weary Graves implore the aid of more capacious Pits yet the Dead shall ne're molest himself with seeking Sanctuary in some distant dwelling where he may live a Coward to each strangers face or dye the business of Deaths further travel Poverty shall come and Want as an armed Man and Friends astonish'd at the sight withdraw like fearful Women yet still shall he lie void of want and care amidst the quiet company of his old Relations in the embraces of corruption to which he may say Thou art my Mother and of the Worms to whom Thou art my Sister and Brother (f) Job 17.4 And this perhaps might be some reason why the Muscovites if we believe (g) Observantur Dies obitus quem anniversariis cele brant epulis Sabel Enn. 10. lib. 3. Sabellicus do annually solemnize the Funerals of Friends with no less pomp than some of us our Nuptials And now so kind is Death so cruel Life that he who covets this deserves not that especially if we consider with Olympiodorus that 3. By Birth we enter into a capacity of actual sin which in the good Death puts an end to And could it but oblige the wicked so the Learn'd suppose that even to the Damn'd Death would be better than Life For penal Evil viz. Suffering is a less Evil than the moral viz. Sinning by how much less it opposes the Supreme Good Sin in the act has no colours but what desie God but Suff'ring wears the Livery of his Justice So that were but the Damn'd exempt from Sinning their posture were much better than this Life which still involves us in it in spight of all their Suffering But even as the Damn'd now are or ever shall be their Birth has nought to boast of over Death for to whom e're it is not good to dye it had been better he had ne're been born But however with the good the case is indisputable His Death outdoes his Birth by undoing Sin Sin Lifes Concubine for it ne're lies from it and Deaths Mother for the Apostle sayes it brings it forth This Mother dyes in bringing forth the Daughter The Viper makes her own Nativity her Dams Funeral revenging on her the harm she did the world in the production of so dire an off-spring Just so does Death destroy the cause of dying The good by suffering it desist to merit it for they desist to sin Hitherto we have consider'd the Obligations of Death in those ills it determines and Birth is swallow'd up in Victory now we must view II. That great Good which it introduces Like night it blots out one day to begin another For Dying makes a Man immortal and that great Argument which proves him but a Man promotes him to society of Angels But then still Death must be what Balaam wish'd O that I might dye the Death of the Righteous Man by his Birth assumes a Life by which he lives in daily likelihood of no longer living but he dyes into an incapacity of Dying We know that we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens WE KNOW sayes the Apostle (h) 2 Cor. 5.1 But why then is it said WHO KNOWS c Eccles 3.21 Quaer Our Translation is somewhat more favourable than either the Greek or Latin or indeed our ancient English Translations for that which we read Who knows the Spirit of Man that ascendeth upwards They render Who knows the Spirit of Man if it ascendeth upwards (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Septuag Si Spiritus c. vul lat Does then the learned Apostle contradict the wise King Or was his knowledge improv'd beyond the reach of Solomons One demands and demanding denies Who knows The other seems to reply We know To reconcile these places the Scotists distinguish betwixt Knowledge by Divine Revelation viz. Faith and Knowledge by Natural Deduction viz. Reason And then they reply that Ecclesiastes only demands this Who knows BY REASON whether the Soul be immortal And the Apostle tells us That although we may not attain the assurance of our Souls Everlastingness by Reason yet We know it by FAITH But this Reply falls short of satisfaction nor can these Texts refer to the Souls Immortality
alone for of that even Socrates and Plato were sufficiently secure even by rational Collections Nay 't was the general persuasion of Heathens for who amongst them apprehended not something of bliss or pain on the other side the Grave And 't is indeed very demonstrable were it at present so convenient that Humane Spirits are all Deathless So that Lorinus conceives it only an Article of Faith to shallower Intellects whose weakness craves the assistance of Divine Discoveries to make them apprehend it But nevertheless Dependance on Gods Word for the firm credence of the Truth is a practice more secure and commendable even in the most acute capacities But in Answer to this doubt Solomon here by ascending upward means but the same with that in his 12th Chapter of Ecclesiastes Ver. 7. And the Spirit ascendeth unto God who gave it which imports not only the humane Spirits eternity but also if of the pious its felicity not only its perpetuity but also its place of abode in that perpetuity And here indeed REASON falls short and FAITH flies home The Heathens knew that their Souls should not die but how or where they should live how ignorant were they how unsatisfi'd We may well ask with Solomon Who knows by REASON the place and posture of our Souls surviving But yet we may answer with the Apostle By FAITH we know that when this earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This with the rest are Deaths Priviledges So that although it be the rich and bad Mans Fury yet 't is the poor and good Mans Mistriss The good Man courts her to advance his Fortune I desire to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ which is far better The other for his Sanctuary and in his own defence To both the Grave is advantageous and to dye is gain Better is their Death than any natural thing that attended their Lives and better than Birth that began them But though the Text be full of Consolation to the dying Man or his surviving Friends though Death exceeds either our Birth or Life Yet we must wear this Caution in our Bosomes not wilfully and violently to exchange our Life for Death We all must study to provide for Death not to procure it The encouragement will never justifie some bold Pretenders who furiously lay hands upon themselves and court not Death but ravish her 'T was once indeed a Learned Mans (k) Dr Donn persuasion though alter'd afterwards That Self-murther did not any thing intrench on the Divine Authority nor violate that great Command Thou shalt not kill presuming that Injunction only related to the Lives of others But if to theirs then also to our own though not in Precept yet in Presupposal Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self is our Saviours Summary of the last Six Commandments So that in our own Bosomes we bear directions for our deportment towards others Our Nature then being presum'd averse from wishing that we might be rob'd our selves we are commanded therefore Not to Steal So likewise in False Witness and Defamation and as in other Precepts so in this it being presuppos'd that none would willingly anticipate his End by engaging himself in his own Death it follows therefore Thou shalt not kill thy Neighbour And how can that Command which presupposes the Negative permit the Positive But what if murdering our selves we murder others too Examples oft contract a guilt by others imitation And who can pronounce Brutus innocent of Portia's blood when she learnt death of him and dy'd enamor'd on the fatal President (l) Plutach in vita Bruti in fine Nay what if I in my own private fall become a general Assassinate For he that kills himself does what he can to kill Mankind and were the World as docile in sins of pain and horror for horrid enough Death seems though 't is not so as in guilt of other complexions Killing might grow infections till the Universe became but one Aceldama one Man would dye his Neighbors destruction and become a Rule for the next Man to expire by he to the next and so throughout the specìes till ne're a vein were left in Humane Nature to bleed the sin over again But though as some may think there should be no intrenchment upon Gods Command in Self-destruction yet stands not his Veracity inviolate For on what grounds could he assert That Man remains uncertain of his latter end man knoweth not his time (m) Eccles 9.12 if it be subject to his own disposure He that may be his own Executioner may be his own Prophet too and readily foretell that Fate which he has liberty and power to make Nor is this kind of Death as Cato and others fancy'd the strong result of generous spirits but the offspring of timorous dispositions For though those Tyrants over their own flesh relented not at those Black Guards which still stood ready muster'd in the vale of Death yet dreaded they those bloody Colours which they saw display'd against them on the Plains of Life proclaiming to the world that they durst dye because they were afraid to live If this be Bravery and Courage each Fool may be a Hero with the assistance of misfortune and a little peevishness and though he lives like Nabal and folly with him he may depart the world like a Counsellor and lie down in the dust as wisely as Achitophel So that although kind Death does make us Presents richer than Life yet we may not snatch at them All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come The great felicity we would atchieve is lost by eager and too hot pursuit Death catches back its benefits like Tantalus's waters from hasty and too violent endeavours Thus we may make our Angel prove our Fiend Sufferings have oft Sin has sometimes instructed pensive and dejected men to seek ease in the Grave but they have lost it by thus seeking it nay they have hastened desolation and lengthned it to everlastingness When Sins reduc'd to memory have wrought despair and arm'd Men to their proper ruine their streams of grief have drown'd where they should but have wash'd their blood has then unsanctify'd their tears and blotted out in fury whatever good Lines Remorse had written Though Death be pleasing when 't is well considered yet patient submission to Divine Decrees is one great feature which presents her lovely Whereof our memories may soon relapse into a fresh example and these Garments hang like Phylacteries to mind us of him Shall I say his Name is better than Oyntment than Oyl And yet my Language shew not like the worst of Oyls the Oyl of Flattery Shall I attempt the description of his Life His Cheeks now cannot blush How say you then Shall I present you now after his Death with Catalogues of Epithites and Praises which though the virtues of his life deserv'd yet one great virtue of his life his
proves few Mens Riches 't is all Mens love though it be few Mens study 't is Warmth in the Winter Sunshine in the Grave the Emulation of the Wise and the Envy of Fools A Good Name is Better than Oyntment Now by Oyntment some with Olympiodorus understand I. To flow in Riches and Delights reflecting upon that of David Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than when their Wine and Oyl increased as 't is in our Service-Translation of Psal 4.8 This the Psalmist elsewhere expresses by Rivers of Oyl the same word being there render'd Oyl which is here Oyntment Nay the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in this very place Translated by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Oyl which we with Symmachus teach to speak as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precious oyntment or rather indeed oyntment of a good savour which some as I said expound Riches c. These indeed are oyls or oyntments but like that of the (e) Eccl. 10.1 Apothecary full of drown'd Flies Infatuated men the sons of Ease and Sunshine perish here Here indeed according to holy David's language Rivers of oyl may be and such as flow like Pactolus upon golden Sands Here you may survey the prosperous rich man's state upon those Rivers Banks we have a Landtschape of Elms tall and fair and without fruit of Tantalus his Apples glorious to the eye to raise a distant expectation and deceive approach our Saviour's Fig-tree of a tempting shew and curs'd Job's Vine which shakes its Grapes off yet unripe his Olive too miscarrying in its flowers (f) Job 15.33 and Jonah's Gourd for shade without duration And here sleeps wealthy man and here he dies and oft unfortunately dies amidst delights like an unweildy body which sinks deep where the ground 's soft The Greeks perhaps might have their wealth more literally term'd oyntment who by expensive unction of their heads at once betray'd their riches and laid them out which practice was derided by Diogenes anointing his own feet and crying out That (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. in vita Diog. oyntment on the head lost all its virtue in the Air but from the feet sent up its sweets into the Nostrils But alas this made them sweet beneath the sex of men wasting their reputation with their unguents whil'st grown effeminate they often left their names the sacrifices to perfumes and sweet consistencies Besides what kindness could this do them in the Land of Moles and Pismires where all their odors found a Grave with them But a good Name perfumes the breath of Children and Childrens Children The wealthy may awhile blaze in the world with much shew and some heat and in a while like dying Coals cover themselves with Ashes when Death their universal Night approaches But a good Name survives in gleams of light and glows to long posterity A good Name is better than riches Prov. 22.1 That 's one sort of oyl or oyntment but a good Name is better than that and better also Than Oyntment which II. Is us'd in the anointing Kings for in this place the Chalde Paraphrase understands by Oyntment Superiority and Rule Saul was thus anointed (h) 1 Sam. 10. And his Successors had it in a manner as the Sacrament of their Authority Superiority and Rule This this is Ambition's gay encouragement when (i) Plutarch in vitâ Marii Marius thinks that GREATEST is a style much better than BEST when men fill splendid outsides with black and horrid insides not much unlike those odd Intruders into Mysteries that place Hell in the Body of the Sun when men regard not how much Devils they prove so that each man may stand on a high Mountain and cry All this is mine But though even harmlesly acquir'd what 's Dignity It makes men wonder and it makes men envy whil'st they look up to wish the Owner lower By this men swell into a Power publick enough to have whole Kingdoms curse them Men in mean garments may perhaps be slain but 't is like Ahab (k) 1 Kings 22. ver 34. with a Bow drawn at adventure But men in Robes are shot at with design and all like Syrians level all their darts at gay Jehoshaphat (l) 1 Kings 22. ver 32. O Dignity if rightly weigh'd an odious Priviledge By this men have a right to ride before like Postillions of the world for all the Beasts that follow to bespatter So that it well may be unwish'd in life but 't will at Death be surely unenjoy'd Man shall carry nothing with him when he dyeth neither shall his pomp follow him (m) Psal 49.17 I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men c (n) Psal 82. ver 6,7 Or else perhaps dye like the god in the Fable which every Frog dares trample and disdain when he perceives him to lie still But a good Name the poor man's sole felicity makes even the poor a Prince and so much more a Prince by how much more belov'd than fear'd and even interr'd he is obey'd by good men if not in particular commands yet in his publick example for imitation may be one sort of obedience And so lying still Gloriosa satis requiescit urna A good Name is better Than Oyntment which III. Is us'd in Funerals (o) Mos antiquitùs suit ut Nobilium Corpora sepelienda ungerentur cum aromatibus sepelirentur Eucherius Lugdunensis tells us 'T was an ancient custom to anoint Bodies to be buried and to interr them with perfumes And this the Jews as Casaubon (p) Casaub Exerc. in Bar. Annal. observes deriv'd from the Egyptians Some think this Solemnity attended with exenteration or embowelling for keeping But although this was customary in Egyptian Pollinctures yet have we not ground to conclude the Jews their Scholars in the practice the Septuagint skill'd in the Jewish customs using for anointing not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which meerly does import an unction so that amongst the Jews the unguents seem not so much intended for the conservation of the dead as to intimate the kind regards of the living to which in all probability our Saviour refers in saying She has beforehand anointed my body to the burial (q) Mark 14.8 But what 's this to a good Name What was this practice but a fond employment to deck the Body up in gaudy garments when 't was to take a journy in the dark to go hence and be no more seen They seem'd to take great care lest they should prove annoyance to the Worms or bring a savor which might be offensive to the curiousness of some Neighbor carkass But which abates the value of this oyntment Fools might buy it and Knaves sell it Survivers frequently bestow'd it upon those in Death whose Lives of all the world they would the least desire should be repeated The Ignorant might dye supply'd of this
and sleep imports awaking IV. That when the time is come wherein the Heavens shall be no more then Man shall be again he shall be raised out of his sleep I. Then Death is a sleep For Death Job apprehends by lying down But Death is fourfold 1. There 's a Death to Sin and that 's the Death of Grace When Men being dead to Sin live no longer therein (c) Rom. 6.2 But mortifie the deeds of the flesh (d) Rom. 8.13 Hence the Philosopher tells us it is one way of dying by our contempt of pleasure restraint of passion (e) Morietiam dicitur cum anima adhuc in corpore constituta corporeas illecebras Philosophiâ docente contemnit cupiditatum dulces insidias reliquasque omnes exuit passiones Macrob lib. 1. in Somn. Scip. cap. 13. 2. There 's a Death to Grace and that 's the death of sin or rather in sin Hence some are said to be dead in trespasses and sins some to have a name that they live and yet they are dead for to be carnally minded is Death (f) Rom. 8.6 3. There 's a Death to the Actions of the Body 'T is the dissolution of the Compositum and that 's the Death of Nature So first God said to Adam In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye (g) Gen 2.17 i.e. be liable to Death And secondly because he eat himself into Mortality 't is said of all his Successors (h) Psal 89.48 What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death The second sort of Death and this are join'd together Mat. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead i. e. sayes St Austin (i) De Civit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 6. Let the dead in sin bury the dead in nature 4. There 's a Death to Vnhappiness and that 's the Death in Hell a Death of Soul and Body being their separation from felicity and this is call'd the second Death Rev. 20.14 The first Death is the separation of the Soul from sin But this is far from sleep 't is a continual watching The second is the separation of the Soul from Grace This is a sleep we must avoid from this we must not only wake before the Heavens cease to be the Heavens that they are but also before we return to the earth that we were or else we must be dead in this sin for ever for the Damn'd protract their sinning with their suffering The fourth is the separation of both Soul and Body from glory rest and hope so far is this from being rest or sleep therefore The third the Death of Nature or rather Death according to Nature viz. the separation of the Body and Soul must be this sleep But yet because the Body not the Soul in that disjunction desists to live and act the sleep we speak of appertains to that nor in propriety of speech can that or lying down be attributed to any other thing This is that sleep which he must be asleep who does not frequently perceive express'd in Sacred Writ She is not dead but sleepeth (k) Matth. 9.24 We shall not prevent them which are asleep (l) 1 Thes 4.15 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life (m) Dan. 12.2 c. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth (n) Joh. 11.11 When Stephen had said this he fell asleep (o) Acts 7.6 Thus generally departed Kings in Scripture are said to have slept with their fathers And thus the Poet Sleeps are the little Mysteries of Death (p) p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand Now it resembles or rather is a sleep in that it corresponds with the definition and properties of sleep 1. Sleep binds the Senses up (q) Arist de Vigil Som. so the Philosopher It is the Ligament of Sense and such is Death Where 's then the eye which dotes on specious objects and is it self esteem'd one which never is well satisfi'd with seeing nor ever satisfies with being seen Upon the sleeping and the dead the Sun or whatsoever glories of the Skies layes out his light in vain Midnight and Noon are equal shades to them Where 's then the Ear through which Trumpets convey life to the hands and Tabrets to the feet whil'st holy David at the sound of the one fights for the Ark and at the noise of the other dances before it To Sleep and Death these are no more than Silence Midnight and the Grave are two Exceptions against Noise Awake you may ye Lute and Harp but to what purpose when 't is not I my self awake right early Where 's then the Scent And where 's the difference betwixt the Dormant and the Dead The one perceives no sweetness in a Bed of Roses nor yet the other in his Apartment strow'd with Flowers Corruption shall make this last as the Sister concluded of Lazarus yield an ill savour but neither last nor first discern a good one nor yet disdain a bad one Where 's then the sense of Tasting Then sweet and sowr fall into indistinction Then nought is palatable nor disgustful No rarity contended for in meats nor property in sawces no relish vaunted of in fruits nor gusto in the wines No no there is no other Epicure in sleep than Fleas nor in the Grave than Worms Where 's then the sense of Feeling To those that soundly sleep and to the dead Good English Broad-cloth may contend with Sattin And were not Men alive as reasonless as Men asleep and dead are sensless an Act for Funerals in home-made Woollen might be embrac'd with less reluctancy What feels the living sleeper what the dead The one perceiving not the Thief which robs his Purse nor the other the Sexton which strips his Carkass Then what is Sleep but Death (r) Quid est somâ—m gelidae nâ—s i mortis imago abbreviated Or Death but Sleep protracted 2. As to Anxiety and Care their Natures much accord In Sleep they dye in Death they fall asleep Farewell in both to doubts and jealousies to fear and grief When weary'd with distraction how welcome does Man entertain repose in Bed or in the Grave Man goeth forth unto his labour until the Evening and then the sleep of a labouring Man is sweet (s) s Eccles 5.12 so much for Sleep In the world ye shall have tribulation (t) John 16.33 yet proceed to work out your salvation (u) Phil. 2.12 That when the night of Death approaches and none can work you may be happy with those that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours (w) Rev. 14.13 So much for Death in both conditions Trouble finds a Grave What though the world be lost in horrid fears like to benighted Men And in that night what although Groans like Screams of Owls grow loud and Joyes like dying Swans have sung their last Yet what 's all this to those that are at rest 'T is to the waking