To draw toward an end therefore together with his end the end of his labours but the beginning of his resi the end of his worke but the receipt of his reward In these and the like imploiments publike and priuate hee spent his time he spent his strength like a torch or taper wasting and consuming himself for the behoofe and benefit of others ha 〈…〉 g his worke with God then and his reward for it from God now And for these emploiments principally it was that he desired recouery of health and strength vnto the performance whereof also though therein iniurious to himselfe and contrary to his owne desires he oft strained himselfe and that in the middest of his infirmitie and weaknesse not to the vncertaine hazard onely but to the euident impeachment and impairing of either What is the Signe said Ezekias when he was promised recouery that I shall goe vp to the house of the Lord as desiring continuance of life and recouery of health for no one end more then that And therfore also was this our Brother so desirous of recouery that he might repaire to Gods house againe that he might returne to Gods worke againe To which purpose the very last Lords day before his decease hauing after many relapses recouered a little strength he made shift to get out to a neighbour Congregation there to ioine with Gods people in publike performance of such solemne seruice of God as that day is vsually spent and emploied in And hauing held out to the end with them in both parts of the day he reioiced much therein that he was able so to doe the rather because thereby he conceiued some good hope that hee should be strong enough ere long to returne to his wonted worke and employment againe But the Lord saw it better for his will appeareth by his worke to put an end to his incessant labours here and to translate him to the place of his endlesse rest else where The gaine is his the losse ours minâ—â—wne among others not the least The Lord sanctifie it vnto vs and to those whom any way it concernet 〈…〉 and vouchsafe in mercy to repaire it by raising vp many alike qualified and endowed in his roome With whom now leaue we him and returning home to our selues afford we a reuerent and religious care to those instructions that for the fitting and preparing of vs vnto the way that he is gone before vs shall out of Gods Word be deliuered vnto vs. ABRAHAMS DECEASE GEN. 25. 8. And Abraham gaue vp the ghost and died in â—good old age an old man and full of yeeres and he was gathered to his people BEfore was a long discourse of Abrahams life here is a report in few words of his death Wherein to come to them directly without further preface because much time is already spent wee may consider these particulars Who died How he died When he died and Whither he went when he died First who died Abraham Whence we may obserue that No state or condition here freeth men from death For who might sooner or better haue expected to haue beene freed from it then Abraham Abraham I say a Prophet of God a Prince of God a speciall friend of God the Father of the faithfull c. And yet of this Abraham a Prince a Prophet Gods friend his fauourite the father of the faithfull is it here said that he died and by the Iewes to our Sauiour Abraham is dead So Lazarus Christs friend and yet This our Friend saith Christ sleepeth that is as afterward he there e 〈…〉 eth himselfe hee is dead The Apostles likew 〈…〉 Christs friends and yet they are all dead For it was no true Word that went among the Disciples concerning Iohn from the words of our Sauiour either mistaken or misinterpreted that that Disciple should not die Dauid a man after Gods owne heart and yet he goeth the way of all flesh Your Fathers saith the Prophet Zachary where are they or doe the Prophets liue for euer And the Iewes answer him in the negatiue No the Prophets are dead In a word as the Psalmist saith that wise men die as well as fooles so good men die as well as bad yea the good goe oft before the bad The righteous saith he are taken away from the euill to come And of Ieroboams young Sonne it is said He shall die because there is some goodnesse in him Now the reason why the godly die as well as the wicked is First if we regard naturall causes 1. Because they are made of the same mould and mettall that others are We haue this treasure saith the Apostle in earthen vessels they are but earthen pâ—ts as well as others 2. Because they are subiect to the same casualties that others are For All things come alike to all The same chance betideth the good and the bad the cleane and the vncleane the sacrificer and him that sacrificeth not the swearer and him that feareth to sweare that maketh conscience of an oath Secondly if we regard spirituall respects 1. The godly die also that they may rest from their labours For They rest from their labours that are deceased in Christ. 2. They die that they may receiue their reward to wit the Crowne of righteousnesse which they must not expect till they haue finished their race 3. They die that they may be rid of sinne they die for sinne saith the Apostle yet not to pay for it as the wicked doe but to be freed from it For He that is dead is freed from sinne 4. They die that they may be freed from death it selfe that mortalitie saith the same Apostle may be swallowed vp of life 5. They die that they mayt goe to God For While we bide here in the body wee are absent from the Lord and We desire therefore to remoue hence that we may goe home to him 6. They die that they may be with Christ I desire saith he to loose or to be loosed and to bee with Christ. But against the truth of this point may some obiection be made For first if no state or condition free men from death how may some say it is said of Enoch that he neuer saw death and of Elias that he was taken vp aliue into heauen To this I answer that singular and extraordinary priuiledges neither make a rule nor marre a rule It followeth not because some one or two of this or that estate or condition haue by speciall fauour beene some time exempted from this generall sentence that therefore the estate or condition it selfe exempteth any or that all of the same estate are exempt and freed therefore therefrom Ezekias walketh with God
as well as Enoch and yet he died when his lease of fifteene yeeres expired Eliseus was a Prophet of God as well as Elias and the Spirit of Elias it is said rested vpon Eliseus and yet he died and was buried as appeareth by the miracle that God wrought by his corps sometime after his decease These were personall priuiledges and personall prerogatiues passe no further than the persons of those whom they are conferred on But secondly if euen the faithfull die also for how should the faithfull looke to escape death when the Father of the faithfull as wee see here himselfe dieth how may some say are the words of our Sauiour made good where he saith If any man keepe my sayings he shall neuer see death And He that liueth and beleeueth in me shall neuer die To this I answer that there is as a twofold life so a twofold death A twofold life to wit a naturall life issuing from the coniunction of the soule to the body and a spirituall life arising from the coniunction of God to the soule And a twofold death to wit a naturall death arising from the disiunction of the soule from the body and a spirituall death arising from the disiunction of God from the soule For looke what the soule is to the body the same is God to the soule As the soule is the life of the body so is God the life of the soule And as the naturall death ensueth when the soule departeth from the body so the spirituall death followeth when God with-draweth himselfe from the soule The faithfull then may dye the naturall death but they neuer dye the spirituall death Death may seuer their soules from their bodies but death cannot cut off either soule or body with them from Christ. The Faithfull may die and yet our Sauiours words true For they die not euen when they die Wicked men saith Chrysostome are dead euen while they liue good and godly men liue euen when they be dead The life of the one is nothing but a passage to death the death of the other is nothing but an entrance into life For it is no life but death that seuereth a man from Christ while he liueth It is no death but life that bringeth a man home to Christ when he dieth And thus much briefly for answer to these two Obiections Now for the vse of the Point First it may serue to hearten and encourage vs against the feare and dread of death For doe all euen the godly and faithfull die Why should wee be loath to come to that that so many Saints of God haue come to before As Phocion said to one that was to die with him Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion doth So why should any be loath to doe as Abraham doth Or why should we be afraid to goe that way that all the holy men of God haue gone before vs It is true indeed there might be some colourable cause of feare if wee were to goe some vncouth and vntrod way such as none euer went before vs as Abel did when he died Or if none but the wicked had gone this way before vs we might iustly feare that it were indeed the high way to hell But now when the blessed Saints and the best beloued of God haue either all or the most of them at least gone this way before vs yea when he was no wicked but a iust man that went first of all this way we may well and boldly follow him and them in it without feare as being the high way to Heauen too nor neede we dread or suspect any euill in that that God who loued them so deerely would neuer haue suffered to befall them if it should haue beene any way preiudiciall vnto them Secondly doe euen such also die This should teach vs not to mourne or bee grieued for the faithfull deceased as if any euill had befallen them For if they died in the Lord if they deceased in the faith they are but gone the same way that Gods best beloued went before them that liued in former times They are rather departed than deceased sent before vs whither we must follow leaft onely not lost Their death is rather a departing or a going out of this world or a passage to heauen or a returne to God then a deceasing or surceasing or intermission or intercision yea or diminution either of lâ—fe or of their good or happy estate There is no cause therefore to mourne for those that die in Christ there is cause rather to mourne for those that liue out of Christ. For the one liueth still though he die the other is dead though he yet liue and shall one day die eternally if he continue as he now is Doest thou mourne saith Augustine ouer the body that the soule hath leaft mourne rather ouer the soule that God hath forsaken as Samuel did for Saul and as the Apostle saith he should doe for such as had liued in lewd and loose courses and not repented yet of them Such there is cause therefore indeede to mourne for But no cause in the world to mourne for those that are in no worse case than Abraham and Isaak and all the faithfull are that liued in former times or than others of the same ranke shall be hereafter to the worlds ends Thirdly are all of all sorts subiect to death as well good as bad Prophets as priuate men c This then should admonish vs to make the best vse we can of our religious friends neighbours acquaintance husbands parents pastors especially while they are with vs Walke yea and worke too by the light while you haue it with you saith our Sauiour since that we know not how soone they may be taken away from vs. It is that wherein most men are generally faulty that as he saith of rarities and strange sights when they are neere at hand with vs we regard not so much to see them as we would if they were further off and wee should come occasionally where they were or as strangers are wont to be that come out of other parts whither they are after a while to returne againe because hauing them at hand we thinke we may see them when wee will whereas the strangers vnlesse hee see them now while hee is here thinketh hee shall neuer haue the like opportunity againe So we neglect oft to make that good vse that wee might of the meanes and the ministery that God hath setled among vs and of our religious friends that he hath setled vs with in hope that wee may long enioy them and hauing them at hand with vs
we may make vse of them when wee will By meanes whereof it commeth many times to passe that meere strangers that visit them but by starts profit more by them than the most of those doe that constantly liue and abide with them and that when it is too late now we come to see and consider to our griefe what opportunitie we haue ouerslipped of our owne good It is with vs in these câ—ses as it is with vs for our bookes A booke of good vse borrowed which we know not how soone the owner of it may call for wee are carefull to make present vse of whereas it might chance to haue lien long by vs ere we looked on it if it had beene our owne Well it were therefore for vs if wee could seriously consider that our religious friends and Pastors as all other things of this life yea and life too it selfe are not so much giuen vs of God as lent vs to vse and that for no longer than he shall see good and therefore labour to make the best vse we can of them while we haue them as we would doe of some toole or vtensile that being lent vs we know not how long wee shall haue the vse of And thus much for the first particular the Person that died Abraham The second followeth and that is the manner how he died noted in that it is said He breathed out or He gaue vp the Ghost That which some expound of a willing end of a willingnesse to depart as it is said of our Sauiour that hee bowed his head downe when all was finished and gaue vp his Spirit And true it is that as the Heathen man saith it is the part of a wise man rather willingly to goe out than to bee thrust out against his will so it is the vsuall practise of Gods children willingly to resigne and giue their soules vp to God when he pleaseth to call for them Others vnderstand it of a quiet end or an easie end of dying without difficultie as it is said of Iacob that when he had done blessing his sonnes he plucked vp his feet and so gaue vp the ghost And it is true also that old men vsually die with much ease like an apple that being come to full maturiâ—y doeth without force or stresse vsed to it drop downe of it selfe or like a lampe that of it selfe goeth out when the matter that fed it faileth But because I finde the word vsed generally and indefinitely as well of young as of old as well of such as die strong and violent as that die voluntary or easie deaths I take it rather that there is in this phrase of speech an intimation of mans frailtie and of the frailtie of mans life Hee puffed out or Hee breathed out that is His breath failed or His breath went away and he died So that the Point that hence I would obserue then is this that The life of Man is but a breath but a blast And so consequently the frailty and the vanitie of mans life That which may the better appeare vnto vs if we shall consider 1 What it is compared vnto and 2 What it may be taken away with First I say what it is compared vnto What is man saith the Heathen man Why hee is euen the dreame of a shadow What hath lesse truth in it than a dreame What lesse substance than a shadow What either vanisheth away more suddenly than the one or is dispelled sooner than the other Nor came another of them much short of him who compared mans state as the former did his life not to the dreame of a shadow but to the shadow of a smoake They seemed it seemeth to them to haue said little or nothing to speake of that compared it either to a dreame or to a smoake or to a shadow alone when yet to minish the weight and adde to the vanitie of it ioyning two of them together they make it not a smoake onely but the shadow of a smoake that is farre lesse nor a dreame barely but the dreame not of some substance which yet were a thing of nothing but of a shadow And What is man saith one of the ancient Fathers Why he is Soule and Soile or Breath and Body apuffe of wind the one and a pile of dust the other no soliditie in either if you consider them apart and most vnlikely to impart any such thing either to other if you consider them in themselues I might adde what they say that compare men to the leaues of trees that soone shed to bubbles on the water that fall as fast as they rise to bladders puffed vp of wind that may be let out with the pricke of a pinne and the like But because these may peraduenture seeme vnto some to haue spoken somewhat hyperbolically or excessiuely in the point let vs heare the Spirit of God that speaketh no otherwise of things than as they are indeede speake If we demand then of the mouth of God himselfe What Man is he maketh vs answer euen in effect as they did to wit that Adam is as Abel or Abels Mate for to the Names of those two Patriarches there is an allusion in the Originall that is Man as it is translated is as vanitie or a thing of nought his daies passe away like a shadow He is as a dreame that vanisheth when one awaketh as a wind that goeth away and commeth not againe His breath is in his nostrils ready euer and anon to puffe out And when that breath of his is once gone hee returneth instantly to his dust to that dust of which he was formed at first His life is as a cloud that is soone disperst with the wind or as a vapour that appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away In a word All Man is all Abel and that euen then when he is at the very best that is euery Man be he neuer so well vnderlaid neuer so surely and soundly setled he is nothing but vanitie that hath no soliditie at all in it or as he saith elsewhere but e alye that hath no truth at all in it or f as nothing 〈◊〉 yea lighter if ought may so be than vanitie it selfe and if more than so may be yet euen lesse than nothing Which speeches I suppose come not an ace short of those other Againe the frailtie and vanitie of mans life may appeare if we shall consider what it may be taken away with And it is strange to think how small a matter may put an end to mans life When a great man sometime threatned a Philosopher with death What is that more quoth he than à Spanish Flie may doe and he might
well haue added not to me onely but to thy selfe Yea to passe by that of Cleopatra who when to preuent publike disgrace she had made her selfe away with the helpe of an Aspe yet had nothing to be seene on her saue two small pricks that could hardly be seene made with the wormes tooth on the one of her armes which yet were enough it seemeth to make an end of her and might as well haue done of any other To let that passe I say not a Spanish but an ordinary Flie or a grat flying casually into his mouth is said to haue stifled that proud Pope that made the highest State then in the Christian world stoope euen to the holding of his stirrop And indeed what is there so small that may not bee a mans bane The paring of a toe the cutting of a corne the scratch of a naile the pricke of a pin haue beene sometime and may againe be the meanes of a mans end A fish-bone a grape-kernel some one haire a drop of water his owne spittle let down vnwarily may choake him bad or vnwonted aire an euill smell a little smoake may soone stifle him Man is as the grasse or as a flower saith the Prophet and the Psalmist which if the wind blow but on it it is by and by gone and his life is as a candle or a taper a weake light that euery light not gust but puffe of winde is ready to blow out Yea not some malignant blast or some euill breath onely but euen the want of breath nor the aire if it bee infected onely but the very want of it to breathe with will soone make man cease to be and put a period to his life If thou withdrawest saith hee from them their breath they die and returne againe to their dust And what may this frailtie and vanitie of mans life then teach vs Surely first not to make flesh our arme not to relie vpon so feeble so fraile so fickle a stay as the life euen of the greatest or what euer he be Cease from man saith the Prophet whose breath is in his nostrils for what excellency is there in him And Trust not in Princes saith the Psalmist nor in any Sonne of Man for there is no certainty of helpe by them For their life is but ablast and wheâ— their breath goeth they die and returne to their dust euen as others doe and then all their proiects perish with them Men thinke themselues safe commonly if they can get into fauour with some great man or if they can by any meanes procure but the protection of such an one But not to presse that which some yet well obserue that these proue oft but vntoward shelters but vâ—safe saâ—egards like the tree to the passenger that flieth to it for succour in a storme that either braineth or â—aiâ—eth him with the fall of a bough who might haue beene safe enough had he not shrouded himselfe vnder it Yea that many are ruined together with them by their fall as the vnder-woods by the Oke or the Cedar when it is felled who neuer got by them while they stood What surety of helpe or safety canst thou haue from those who haue no suretie no more than thou hast of themselues Or what suretie or certainty can they haue of themselues whose life dependeth vpon so fickle a stay as is a puffe of wind or a blast of breath onely Make God thy stay therefore who is a rocke of eternitie or an euerlasting rocke not man who is so fraile so feeble a fabricke as being supported and held together but with a little breath may with as small a matter againe bee throwne downe and dissolued And take heed how for the procuring of the fauour of the one thou either watue the fauour or incurre the dispeasure of the other Secondly the consideration hereof should admonish vs with Iob to liue in continuall expectation of our end in continuall preparation for the time of our decease since that we know not how soone or how sodainly we may be smitten and wee know withall how small a matter is enough to make an end of vs. It was no euill counsell therefore that besides Christian Diuines euen some Heathen haue giuen that a man should doe well to Make euery day his dying day Which yet is not so simply to be vnderstood that a man should euery day doe the same duties or be imployed in the same workes that hee either would or should if he knew it to be the last day of his life But that in some other speciall respects he should make each day to be so to wit as his dying day to him 1. In the dispeeding of his repentance and not delaying it a day longer Be as carefull to breake off thy sins this day and euery day as if it were to be thy dying day Make euery day thy dying day by dying vnto sinne euery day It is an Heathen mans counsell and it is good and wholsome counsell Let thy sinnes die in thee before thou diest Let them dye before thee for if they stay till death with thee if thou diest before they die thou art sure to die eternally And how knowest thou but that thou maist die before they die if they die not in thee this day when thou hast no certainty of thy liues continuance till the next day And it is the aduice of a Iewish Rabbine and might well haue come from any Christian Repent thee a day before thou diest Not meaning thereby that a man should deferre and put off his repentance till he lay as hee thought now a dying or not like to liue aboue a day longer But that he should this present day repent and not put it off till the next day because before the next day for ought he knoweth he may die hee knoweth not what or where he shall be to morrow As Solomon therefore aduiseth him that hath intangled himselfe by suretiship so doe thou much more for the matter more concerneth thee Giue no sleepe to thine eyes nor flumber to thine eye-lids before thou hast by sincere and serious repentance wound thy selfe and thy soule againe out of those snares of Satan which by the practise of sinne thou hast entangled thy selfe in 2 In the shunning and auoiding of all euill Be as carefull to shunne sinne eâ—ery day as thou wouldest be if it were to be thy dying day Doe not that saith he to day that thou maist repent thee of to morrow Yea doe not that say I to day that it may be too late to repent of tomorrow There is hardly any man to be found so desperate if he beleeue at least that he hath a soule to saue that would wilfully
and goodnesse in that sense goeth sometime for greatnesse Or quiet happy and prosperous as it is said elsewhere in peace and prosperitie Or haile and healthy as wee say free for the most part from such annoiances and troublesome infirmities as that age is wont to be infested withall though not it may be so fresh and vigorous as Moses or so able and actiue as Caleb are neere their ends said to haue beene Or all these for the word may well include them all 2. Old and full not of grace and goodnesse as some that is most true indeed also of Abraham but seemeth not here intended But of daies or of yeeres as it is expressed elsewhere hauing liued euen as long as himselfe desired or so long as we say as heart could wish Whence the Point that in the Generall wee may obserue is this that euen The longest liuers die at last The daies of mans life are seuenty yeeres saith the Psalmist But Abraham had liued a whole hundred to that and yet at length you see he dieth Yea that is the conclusion still one onely excepted with all those Ancients that liued so long before the floud not three or foure times as they say of Nestor and some other but nine or ten times as long as the longest ordinary liuers liue now adaies And hee died Nor is it any maruell that they so doe For first we are of a glassie matter of a very brittle mettall ready with euery light dash to cracke asunder to flâ—e in pieces And * wee walke amids many casualties ready euer anon to seize on vs and any one alone enough to make an end of vs. And the pot as the Prouerbe is goeth so ofâ— to the well that at length it commeth home broken or rather that it neuer commeth home againe Death lieth euery where in euery corner in waite for vs euen in those things themselues that are the meanes to maintaine life Not a crum of that bread we eat nor a drop of that we drinke but if it goe but an haires bredth awry it may be our bane There is not a bare step or a pace only betweene death and vs as David speaketh or an hand-bredth some few inches as it is said of those that be at sea but euen scarce a nailes bredth yea or an haires bredth betweene vs and it if not at all times yet at many times more at least than wee are vsually aware of And it is no maruell therefore if death meet with vs or light vpon vs at length it is maruell rather that it misseth of vs so long Besides that wee our selues also helpe oft to hasten our owne end while wee betray our selues to him who lieth thus in wait for vs by wilfull distemper by disorder by misdiet As not one apple therefore of an hundred hangeth on the tree to full maturitie or so long till it drop downe with ripenesse alone and its owne weight but either it is pluckt off with the hand or blowne downe with the wind or preuented of its maturitie by some one meanes or other not one glasse or earthen pot of an hundred that lasteth so long as it might but by some mischance or other it commeth to its bane So not one man among an hundred what and I should say a thousand that fulfilleth his naturall course that liueth so long as in course of nature he well might but hath his life shortned and his end bastned by sword by stresse by sorrow by sadnesse by surfet by sicknesse by some one such casualty or other 2. We carry euery one of vs our owne bane about vs. Euery one say some Chymicks hath his owne balsome within him but euery one of vs sure I am hath within him his own bane and that that will be sure at length to make an end of him though no such casualtie as before wee spake of should befall him We are of a glassie matter saith he nay were it so onely we were better and safer thâ—n now we are For a Venice glasse as brittle as it is yet if it be charily kept if it be carefully set vp if it stand shut vp vnder locke and key out of vse out of harmes way it may hold out many ages it might last peraduenture euen as long as the world it selfe is like to last But shut you vp man neuer so charily keepe him neuer so carefully hee may nay he will drop away for all that he hath poison within him that will at length make an end of him He was bred and borne with a dangerous with a desperate disease on him and such as by no care or art of man he can be cured of or recouered Old age said he sometime is it selfe a disease and a disease that cannot he cured But this life it selfe saith an ancient Father is a disease and such a disease as we must all of vs needes one day dye of Thou art sure to die saith he not because thou art sicke but because thou liuest For sicke a man may be and yet not die of it not to adde that a disease hath sometime delaid death But what man liueth and shall not see death that is who liueth and shall not die The whole course of our life is nothing else but a passage to death the seuerall ages of our life so many seuerall degrees of death we are dying daily by degrees No sooner are we I say not borne but euen bred but wee are dying and decaying Euery minute and moment that seemeth added to our life taketh from it For our life it is as a taper that being once lighted neuer linneth spending till it be wasted all at last as the houre-glasse that being once turned and set a running neuer staieth till the sand be all out So that considering as well the varietie of casualties that we are all subiect vnto as our owne frailty and mortalitie that we are brod and borâ—e with it is no maruell if the longest liuers of vs die at last it is maruell rather that any of vs liue so long Now this may first teach vs not to please our selues with a conceit of long life Why may not wee liue as long as such and such To omit that it is a thing altogether vncertaine For who can tell a man what shall be Certaine it is that first or last die we must liue wee neuer so long As nothing more vncertaine than how long we shall liue so nothing more certaine than that once wee shall die As sure as death we say And it neuer stayeth long that commeth at last Stay death neuer so long before it come it will seeme
to come ouer-soone when it commeth to those that desire it not and at last come it will And last life neuer s◠〈…〉 ng it will seeme but short when it is once ouer When it is gone saith the Psalmist it is but as a watch in the night Secondly it should admonish vs to take heed how we grow too farre in loue either with this life it selfe or with the things of this life Since that though we enioy them neuer so long yet wee must leaue them at last For we brought them not with vs into this world and it is certaine that we cannot carry them out of the world with vs. If they leaue not vs while we liue here which oft also they doe yet we cannot but leaue them when we goe hence For all the things of this life must needs leaue vs when our life it selfe leaueth vs whereupon they depend Let vs so hold and vse these things therefore that we set not our hearts on them that we suffer not our affections to be glewed to them Let them hang loose about vs that when wee shall come to be stript of them they may as our garments goe off with ease Otherwise if they cleaue and sticke fast to our soules as cloathes are wont to doe to an vlcerous body the parting one day with them which we can by no meanes auoid will be as painfull vnto vs as if our skin were pulled from our flesh or our flesh â—orne from our bones or rather as if some peece of our soule were reaft away together with them Yea for life it selfe if we loue it as who loueth not life let vs loue that life that is life indeed and deserueth well that name For this life that we liue here is in a manner no life it is life in name but in deed and truth death It is no true life that cannot ouercome death that yeeldeth to that â—endeth to that endeth in death Thirdly the consideration hereof should cause vs to surcease and cast off this our immoderate care for the things of this life As it hath beene said by way of reproofe of some people that they vsed to build as if they looked to liue for euer so it may well be said of many among vs that they purchase and build and gather goods together as if they made full account to liue euer to enioy them Whereas neither are these things able to lengthen their liues for haue a man neuer so much of them his life dependeth not thereupon nor to keepe them from death for no price can procure any immunitie from it nor to saue them in death for riches auaile not in the day of wrath nor to auaile them after death for there will then be no vse of them And for men therefore to beat their braines so much with thought and care for these things and to take such paines as so many doe for the compassing of them is but to tâ—ile and moile about that that they must leaue to others at length and to inherite nothing but folly and vanitie themselues when others they know not who inherit the fruit of their labours Lastly this might teach vs not to feare death It is a fond thing saith he to feare that that cannot be auoided A folly it is to trouble turmoile our selues with feare and care about that that by no thought or forecast wee can shunne or shift off But such is death Delayed it may be but auoided it cannot be And be it nouer so long put off yet it will come at last As an ancient Father therefore well and wisely aduiseth Feare not that which whether thou wilt or no will be feare that rather which if thou thy selfe wilt not shall neuer be That is feare not this temporall death the death of thy body which of it selfe cannot hurt thee and by no meanes or care of thine can be preuented but feare that eternall death the death of thy soule the greatest of all euils that can possibly befall thee which by mature care and diligence now vsed may be preuented But we are as another well obserueth herein the most of vs like children that are afraid of a visour but feare not the fire shreeke and start at the one but thrust their fingers into the other Wee feare the bodily death but not the spirituall death the death of the soule the death in sinne and dying in sinne without which the other caÌ„not hurt The feare of death troubleth and distracteth much our minds but the feare of future matters that are truly fearfull indeed and but for which death needednot at al to be feared doth no more trouble or affect the most than as if no such thing were at all or they were babes only that beleeued them And thus much for the Generall that from this third Branch we obserue Some Particulars follow which I will point at rather than insist on More specially therefore we may hence further obserue First that in some cases To liue long is a blessing It was foretold Abraham as a fauour that hee should die an old man and it is here recorded that so he did And it was foretold Eli as an heauie iudgement that should betide his posterity that there should neuer be any old man in his house Long life as in the Law it is promised oft as a blessing and God where he describeth by the Prophet the flourishing estate of his people saith There shall no more be from them or goe thence an infant of daies that is none of them shall die young or in infants estate nor any old man that hath not fulfilled his daies that is liued so long as in course of nature he well might but the childe shall die an hundred yeares old that is he that is now a childe shall liue till he be so many yeares old which place the rather I recite open at large in regard of some friuolous crotchets that not a few haue fisht out of it cleane beside as well the meaning as the drift of Gods Spirit So the shortning of mans life is threatned oft as a curse Hee shall die before his time as the greene grape is nipt off the Vine and the Oliue blossome shake off the tree saith Eliphaz of the wicked And Hee shall not liue out halfe his daies that is halfe the time that he might in the course of nature haue attained to saith the Psalmist of deceitfull and bloudie men And well may it be so deemed For first Old age is honourable Yea as the Apostle saith of Mariage It is honourable among all men It is a resemblance of Gods antiquitie who is called the Ancient of daies
course of his ministery and that his worke it were once at an end The Vse of which seuerall Points in a word may be First of the two former to admonish old men and such more specially as through the goodnesse of God enioy a commodious and comfortable time of it free from many such griefes as they heare others of their yeares oft complaine of to acknowledge Gods great mercy and goodnesse to them therein as in lengthening out their life and satisfying them with a greater number of daies then others ordinarily attaine vnto by means whereof they may liue to see those brought vp vnder them and bestowed by them that are of their charge and whom God hath here blessed them with so in freeing of them from such annoiances as are vsually attendants of that age and which might make their continuance here the more tedious and vncomfortable to them And to apply themselues therefore to such holy and religious Employments so farre forth as their present estate and condition shall permit whereby they may bring glory to God and doe some seruice to him who is so good and gratious to them aboue many others in that kinde Remembring withall that howsoeuer old age of it selfe be an honour yet it is nothing lesse if it be not found in the way of righteousnesse as the wise man speaketh if it be not religiously imployed And that howsoeuer to the godly long life may be a blessing yet the wicked man saith the Prophet though he liue an hundred yeeres shall be but an accursed wretch Secondly the vse of the last of these points may be to shew a difference betweene godly and worldly men The godly haue oft euen a satietie of life As willing they are to leaue the world as men are wont to be to rise from the bord when they haue eaten their fill or so much as they desire But with worldly men for the most part it is farre otherwise they haue neuer enough as of the wealth of this world so of this present life by their good will they would neuer die It is true indeed that sometime either crosses and calamities extraordinarie disasters or sore torturing paines and long lingring diseases out of a kinde of impatiencie may make them weary of their liues and desirous of death which but for those grieuaâ—ces and aâ—â—oiaâ—ces they would else be farre from Whereas the godly with Abraham Dauid euen then also when they haue a good and a comfortable continuance of life accompanied and attended as well with health of body as with honour and wealth yet haue their fill of it and are as well willing to leaue it as the other are some dish of meat that they haue eaten their fill of Yea so fondly are worldly men herein oft affected and their hearts so possessed with the loue of this life that though they know not how to liue yet they are not willing to die though their life be so irkesome and painfull unto them that they seeme to be long a dying rather than to liue long and the delay of death farre worse with them than death it selfe could be to them yet they desire to endure rather any extremitie of griefe and torture with life than to haue an end put to their paines and torments by death But let vs rather herein striue to be affected as Gods Saints are especially when it hathpleased God to blesse vs with long life with many yeeres more than the greater number of folke are wont to attaine to labour to finde and feele in our selues this satiety and fulnesse of life and be willing and content to leaue it when God shall please to call for it though no speciall affliction or paine enforce thereunto not as a meat loathed which the naturall man oft doth but as 〈◊〉 dish though well liked that we haue fed our fill of And hitherto also of the third Particular to wit time when he died The fourth and last followeth and that is whither hee went when hee died whereof the Text saith here that He was gathered to his people and in another place of him that He went to his Fathers And there is nothing more frequent and common in Scripture than these and the like phrases vsed of persons deceassing that they sleepe with they goe to they are gathered vnto either their people that is their countrimen or their ancestors for that is their Fathers So that Men when they die they goe to their people to their 〈◊〉 Fathers That which may well be vnderstood two waies and the Holy Ghost might well therin aime at both because both goe vnder one generall and the phrase as it may fit either so it may well include both First in regard of the body because it returneth to the earth the common receptacle of all As it is said of Dauid that he was laid vnto or laid vp with his Fathers For howsoeuer of Abraham it seeme to some that it cannot be so meant because his corpes was enterred in the Land of Canaan so generally termed in a strange countrey where his countrey-men in likelihood none of them lay yet it followeth not thence that it may not euen in that sense also be said of him too since that the graue in generall not the artificiall one but the naturall which the Hebrewes also well distinguish is as Iob fitly termeth it the Congregation house of all liuing that is the place wherein they all meet together after decease be the places of their sepulture neuer so farre asunder yea whether they haue any sepulture or no as Iacob supposed that Ioseph had not whom hee yet saith hee would die and goe downe to to the graue And as well might Abraham for his body also be said to be gathered to his people though hee were buried in some other place then the most of them were as Jacob might be said to goe to Ioseph because he was to be laid in the ground when he died Ioseph being as he supposed buried in the bowels of some beast since that as Solomon saith all goe to one common place all returne againe to their dust Secondly in regard of the Soule First in Generall because it departeth hence indefinitely into another world not proper and peculiar as he said each one did when hee slept but common and generall it goeth hence to the vnseene world as the Heathens termed it or to the world of Soules as the Hebrew Doctors call it to that other world including both Heauen and Hell in generall that is the Congregation House of Soules as the Graue is of Corpses As the supposed Samuel told Saul though he meant not nor intended it so to be taken that Saul should be in the same speciall state or place that Samuel