him the second day as the first No griefe hath so much violence in the continuation as in the first Accesse Take the simplest Country-Mother the weakest Nurse of a Village that wrings her hands and teares her haire laues the Ground on which she wallowes with eye-water and takes on neuer so impotently for her departed Child and the space of a few dayes will slake the rage of her sorrow and anon bury it in vtter forgetfulnesse That which Time worketh in the ignorant shall not Time and Reason together effect as easily in the wise CONSIDERATION 5. Fiftly But you will say your Son might haue liu'd longer And hee might as well haue dyed sooner Who can shew me a Lease of his life vnder Seale for one houre Why may not euery day proue our last day Some are suffocated in the wombe others crowz'd to death in the Birth One is snatcht away in the Cradle Another mow'd off in his May of youth being onely shewne to the world like a curious picture finisht and straight the Curtaine drawne and remou'd away againe It s the priuiledge but of few to step down vpon the Griece of Old Age. Our life from the first houre to the last gallops on towards death And who seeth not with what speed it conquers euen the longest way in this iourney If Time then be the thing you stand on for your Sonne how small a matter of Oddes is a little more or lesse Time in so fugitiue and swift a Race It 's scarce discernable A Cart full of Prisoners are brought to execution what skills it which is first or third or sixt or tenth or sixteenth All must dye What gets hee that is delayed till the afternoone aboue him that was executed in the morning Perhaps to be superafflicted with longer expectance and pre-apprehension sighing that his turne had not beene with the formost But the Prisoner may not appoint his owne course that is in the Iudge or the Sheriffe to dispose of The whole world is but a Cart of condemned persons God culls out euery day some and some for Execution This very Minute a Slaue dyes foredone with toyle and hardship Instantly a King or great Lord mounts the Scaffold By and by a Mechanick a Rusticke a Pesant a Milk-maid a Cow-heard a Schoole-boy or Girle suffer Straight after a Royall Lady or Princesse stoopes her faire Neck to the Blocke Anon a fresh louely actiue vigorous Youth a beauteous young Damsell Ornaments to the world are presented to the Axe Behold now a feeble old man is led vp hauing scarce life inough left to be kild c. The oldest of these hath not liu'd a minute ouer his Time nor the youngest a minute vnder for neither might the one budge any sooner without summons order nor the other tarry any longer being call'd away But you will say He had no cause to complaine that was respited to Old Age which brings with it a saciety of liuing Nor You by the same reason For when God hath decreed I shall liue no longer This fall it when it will is my Old Age. Wee are not Caruers of our owne Times Hee onely that predestinated the houre of our Birth from all Eternity hath power to decree the houre of our Death You neither could cause your Child to bee borne sooner or to dye later Times Maker knowes the fittest Times for all his purposes He hath not appointed all to liue the same terme of yeeres Some goe before Serius aut citius metam properamus ad vnam Ouid. some after But first or last all arriue at the same marke The Husbandman reapes not all his Akers at once but one sooner another later as they are sooner or later ripe Let God alone hee knowes better then any Farmer the number and condition of his Akers where he findes one forward turn'd white betimes though but the other day greene and in the blade there he puts in his Sickle and carries it into the Heauenly Barne A Place of safety Which with longer standing might haue spilt shed or beene wansled and come to nothing Long lasting euen to the frostiest old Age is not the matter Puer centum annotum Esa 65. for there may bee a Child of a hundred yeeres old that yet is not ready for Heauen God hath reserued to himselfe alone the sight of the running out of the Glasse Man knoweth not his Time and End but vnperceiuingly slides into it as the Fish into the Net or the Bird into the Snare God pushing on meanes to vs vndreamt of and vnsuspected to serue his Decree It is with men in the world as with the Vessels in a Potters Shop There are of all sorts sizes and fashions That which to day is whole handsome and vsefull to morrow with a knocke or a fall may bee broken to sheards Your Vessell was sheene and new of a firme making likely to haue lasted many a faire yeere euen till it had flawed and moudred away of it selfe but it stood in harmes-way disease and sicknesse gaue it a knocke and a cracke which could not bee soldred And indeed the sleekest the sweetest the trimmest Dish of China is but a China Dish handle it or set it vp as charily as you can deuise Wee would haue our Candle burne downe into the socket but God hath a wind to blow it out sometimes as soone as lighted or a Thiefe to consume it with guttering ere any Eye heed it Few of our liuing Candles not one amongst a Thousand last burning to the last Inch. Hee that numbreth all our Times and houres hath numbred your Sonnes also and set him his day beyond which he could not passe Honour him with free yeelding this preeminence to him and let it stop your mouth and stoope your heart I held my peace Psal 1. Sam. Iob. because thou didst it It is the Lord let him doe whatsoeuer he pleaseth He giueth he taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord. But he doth nothing but for the best to them that loue him Many times Life is not so much taken away as Death giuen for a speciall Fauour Iust and Mercifull men are taken away from the Euils to come Esay How many times ouer haue some dyed by liuing long Righteous Abel the second Sonne of the sole Emperour of the whole Earth was cut off in his Youth The Eternall Son of God himselfe died a young Man Our Estimate of Life is wrong and false quite odde and different from Gods We measure it like Canuas by the Ell God like Gold by the Graine Our Examen is by the Tale so many Scores Gods by the Touch so vertuous so exemplary of such an Allay Now God hauing thus qualified Your Sonne with Grace made him early ready for Heauen hee had attain'd his due and true Seniority and could not complaine that hee lackt Time or had liu'd too little while M. B. Hol. in Transtat of Pers Action not Time does
number Age. The Heathens haue noted it for a blessing to dye young Mâ—â—â—nd Aetate prima moritur quem diy diligunt Early to dye it him behoou'd Whom gods aboue so dearely lou'd And againe Nec illi Quem Diuum Pater atque hominum quem Phoebus Amabat ante omnes sera licuit gaudere senecta Nor might he here liue to be old as other Whom Ioue and Phoebus tendred as their brother Cleobis and Biton Cic. Tusc quast when their Mother for their piety in drawing her Chariot to the Temple themselues in the absence of the Horses prayed that they might be rewarded with the greatest blessing that could possibly happen from God to Man were both found dead next morning in their sleepe And when newes hereof was brought to their Mother as of a great misfortune No saith she I will neuer count my selfe vnfortunate that was the Mother of such Sonnes as the gods haue guerdon'd with immortality for their pious Act. Shall a Pagan Mother hauing no other light but that of duske nature count it for a Diuine Fauour that her excellent Sonnes haue early quit this life and world and a Christian Father inlightned with the Raies of the Sacred Truth breathed from the Holy Ghost pule and repine and looke sowre vpon Heauen and God when in mercy he hath done for ours not what 's most pleasing to vs but what 's most fit and commodious for both If wee bee truely penitent for our sinnes and can perswade our hearts of our right and interest in the blood and merits of Christ Iesus what need we doubt of Gods Fauour Hath he not told vs in his Word assur'd vs proou'd demonstrated to vs that he loues vs yea better then we can loue our selues Charior est illis homo quà m sibi Innem Dearer to him is Man Then to himselfe he can And will such a Cause produce any other then beneficiall and friendly effects Was it not in loue vnspeakable that he gaue his own Son to Vs and can it bee but in like loue that hee takes our Sonnes and Daughters vnto him O thinke of it and thinke withall whether such a loue from Him so great to Vs so base be not worthy re-louing aboue Sonnes Daughters Wines Friends Wealth Lands or whatsoeuer else the World holds most deare May we not hauing this left vs the loue of God in Christ fit vs downe as blessed Men and Women with cheerefull hearts and faces though all things else be torne from vs This is the miraculous Philosophers Stone that turnes any Metall it touches into Gold This turnes Crosses into Comforts Losses into Thrifts Sorrows into Smiles Wounds into Medicines and Death it selfe of our selues or ours into superlatiue Aduantage and Blisse CONSIDERATION 6. GOd may intend herein the Fathers tryall as well as the Childs Benefit You your selfe haue sometimes giuen one of your little Ones an Apple and askt it againe immediately to try his loue So God giues vs deare Pledges and anon requires them from vs againe to make proofe which wee loue better our Children or Him Chora pignora Charior Deui. He allowes vs to hold them deare but Himselfe must bee dearer Was 't not inough that God who could haue with-held that blessing of marriage gaue you such a Sonne vnlesse hee would bargaine with you to let him liue forty yeeres beyond you would you rather bee childlesse then the Father of such a Sonne as might out-runne his Father in the race of Death If you had a iourney to goe afoote thirty Miles will you not say God a mercy to him will let you ride a Dozen of it because he will not spare you his Horse the other Eighteene A great Duke or Prince lends you a dainty sweet Picture of exquisite Workmanship to delight your Eyes withall Will you powte and snuffe and take on as iniuri'd when after diuers yeeres vse he re-demaunds it from you to bee placed againe among the Ornaments of his Gallery Ah te si flentem super aethera mox rapuisset Iupiter What could you say for your selfe how excuse such froward bearing if God should instantly summon you to make you answer before him CONSIDERATION 7. BVt you could haue better brookt any Crosse then this But we may not choose our Crosse but beare patiently that is laid on vs. Shall wee take vpon vs to curb or direct and giue lawes to God You deceiue your selfe and lay vp but discomfort against the euill day if you thinke no Thorne could pricke but this God can quickly make you know that he is able to set a point and sting vpon a Crosse of wooll Exod. He can make a few Flies as irkesome and intolerable as angry Botchos and Blaynes all the body ouer Darkenesse which euery night makes familiar to vs as discomfortable and dreadfull as incessant Haile-stormes mingled with fire and accompanied with Thunder-strokes able to shake the heart of a Mirmadon That Rod shall smart which God will set on though it be but of Rushes A little browne paper shot out of an Elder-Gun is scarce felt against the hand of a Child The same browne paper out of a Musket is able to breake the Ribs of a Giant Quid enim mirabile si quis A lotte percussius non leue vuluns habet What maruell if one bee in bitternesse the stroke falling like a Talent of Lead and the wound no light one when the hand of God inflicts it I know losse of Children Men of best Blood and Minds take most to heart and by the helpe of their sharpe conceit encrease and sharpen their affliction which made that saying scape from the Pen of One In non sapiendo iucundissima vita Sodho The sweetest life is in not being wise And from anothers It 's good sometimes to be a foole Dulce est desipere in loco Iners malorum Remedium ignorantia The more of ignorance the lesse of grieuance It 's the downe-right senslesse Remedy of Euils For Such a one cannot by his discourse aggrauate a Losse But me thinkes Wisdome should reach vs as soft a Cushion to leane on as Ignorance can and Discretion forge an Armour of as good proofe against Aduersity Jsocrat as Folly and Doltishnesse Qui memmit quid homo sit propter nullum euenientem casum immodicè tristabitur He that remembers well what Man is the Butt against which so many shafts of disasters are aimed euery hand-while shall neuer be immoderátely hadded for any Chance obuersant to him in this world hee shall be able to say with Iob Iob. The thing I scared is fallen vpon me If God had spared you from this affliction doe you thinke you should haue beene at rest from euils Hath God but one Rod Is his Storehouse so vnfurnisht Is not the very place wee liue in a place of toyle and turmoyle and bickering and vexation And shall we thinke to find Rest in that whose composition is of Tumults Nam nemini
non te beneuolentior Illi fuit If you were sure that hee should haue enioy'd The life rest from him free and vn-annoy'd Then you might thinke his death t' haue hapt too rathe But what if now much Ruth were to ensue And troublous stormes which Death preuented hath Was 't not in that more kinde to him then You If yee lou'd mee saith our Lord to his Disciples ye would verily reioyce because I goe to the Father out of this troublesome and euill world So if we lou'd our Children and Friends departed it would bee a more regular course to expresse it in gratulating their escape by Death from so manifold hazards and euils of life and their estating thereby into so ample beatitude and happinesse then in giuing scope to those effeminate plaints and distaffe lamentations That which easeth vs of all burdens and cares Is the end and death of our miseries The euerlasting farwell to all smart and woes Preuents our seeing suffring and doing of much euill Cuts the Cords whereby wee are hampered in the world and hindred to goe to God Is the accomplishment of our sanctification our Porter to Glory rendring vs into the Armes and Embrace of our Bridgroome Christ Iesus neuer more to be separated or disioyned from him doth it present vs cause of pensiuenesse and mourning or of Iubile and reioycing rather Is the tired Bondman sorry for the approach of night that he may giue ouer and goe to rest Is the brute Oxe grieued to be vnyoked was euer Mariner ill apaid that after long and doubtfull tossing in a dreadfull high-going Sea hee had recouered the safe quiet Hauen Or banished man that hee was call'd home to his Country and Kinred Or Prisoner that hee was brought out of a Dungeon into the liberty and pleasures of a Palace And will you still weare a Cloudy brow and wither away in your Mournings for him that is a sharer in all these Priuileges and Blessings CONSIDERATION 11. ELeuenthly You remember the saying Schola crucis Schola lucis The Schoole of Tribulation is the Schoole of Edification The Graecian Prouerb is like it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those things that trouble vs teach vs. You may perhaps learne more out of this Affliction then prosperity euer could teach you in all your life This may make you looke into your Conscience examine the state of your soule weepe your owne Deseruings and iustifie God in all his Doings and in this Particular though the waight were doubled trebled vpon you Pray that these effects may be wrought in you These will proue salubres cogitationes lacrymae beatae verni imbres holsome Meditations Teares of Grace Aprill showres which will cause the flowres of Consolation to spring vp in your heart When I lost the better halfe of my selfe the Best of Wiues such a One as euen by wishing could hardly haue beene exceeded the Country that bred her being left poore of such another Pectore concepi nil nisi triste meo You can iudge for your hand dropt the first Balsome into my wound whether there were not cause for my Brest to bee full fraught bursting-ripe with Anguish and Dolour And how long had the wound beene kept rawe if I had wilfully insisted here and sate onely plodding and showring Teares vpon my Losse But when at length almost too late I turn'd away from Nature and humane Reason ill aduising Friends in this Time and Occasion to Religion and considered this Crosse as the Rod of God for my many many sinnes That it was not a beating vpon the Coates but laid on in good earnest with a prouoked angry hand That he was constrained to runne this rugged Race with me Though my Griefe were not lessened by this consideration yet it began to be turned into a righter Channell Recenti Malo priorum quoque admonemur The fresh Euill which I suffred laid fresh before mee former Euils I had done And where before I grieued for the suffring now my griefe was to haue deserued so to suffer Here was sorrow changed into sorrow worldly sorrow for a Precious but Temporall Losse into godly Sorrow to Repentance neuer to bee repented off Dolor ipse iam voluptas erat Plin. There was now a kinde of pleasure in these brinish drops Now began Nature to bee content to wipe her Eyes and Reason that suggested the value of such a Iewell to lay her hand vpon her Mouth and the golden Morne of Comfort to dawne to me Now I found it true That God will not alway be chiding nor keepeth his anger for euer That his correcting is not to destruction but to saue vs from being destroyed and condemned with the World Cypr. Hee chastens vs to amend vs and amends vs to saue vs. When we stoope he is appeased Discipline goes before but pardon followes after Now I willingly kist the Rod that beat me neerer to Heauen and God and blest the Occasion that led mee from sorrow to sorrow that I might arriue at true and sound Ioy. O how good was it for me to be so afflicted Psal Iudg. Out of the Eater came meate and out of the Strong came sweetnesse According to the measure of our sorrow so is his Consolation Finally now I saw how grossely passion had made my thoughts ouershoote before not onely in wronging her happy soule by so often wishing her againe in these Elements of sorrow who walkes arme in arme with Angels but euen in charging God foolishly pardon me O blessed Fountaine of long suffring and Goodnes as ouer-cruell and rigorous to his Creature rauishing our Comforts from vs then when wee had cause to hold them closest to our bosome delighting sporting in our vn-resistable miseries and ill-turnes who indeed of very faithfulnesse had caused me to be troubled O what a Foole a Franticke a wild prodigious thing is Man thus transported till God vouchsafe his finger to temper and tune him right againe This End the Lord in his mercy made for Mee This was the Method of my Cure the Crop and Haruest of my sowing in Teares And my Wish Hope is that by his Blessing Yours may be like CONSIDERATION 12. TWelfthly And now Sir summ vp these parcels see if the foot of the Account declare you not a Gayner You haue lost a Son whom all that knew lou'd liuing and commend dead One you had bred vp for Heauen and haue now return'd him to the true Owner the Father of Spirits Is he not well there doe you thinke hee would bee better here would you haue him change his glorious Eternall Mansion for a ragged reeling mudwalld Houell Did you not ayme at his being a Citizen there instructing preparing fitting him for it Could you wish a righter Season to be taken thither then when the Ages viciousnesse infections example had dropt least slubber and soyle vpon him Are you sorry hee is early there arriued his Vessell safely landed before you thought he should What though