sunt c. If death bee evil to any man it is mans fault not deaths fault It is a peece of folly to fear what cannot bee avoided Nihil facit mortem malam nisi quod sequitur mortem nor evaded by any Prince or Peasant Good education may free you from absurdities grace may free you from Hell neither can exempt from the arrest of death Certainly there is not so much reason for you who have part in God peace with God and well-grounded hopes of fruition of God to tremble as Lewis the eleventh of France did at the naming of Death Death will do that for you in a moment which all the Ordinances of God the graces of his Spirit yet never did It will set you free from sin sufferings and sorrow At the death of your bodies you shall bee fully delivered from this body of death Why should men disgust their own felicity and cherish an antipathy against that which so much conduceth to their eternal blisse It was more difficult to perswade some of the Heathens to live out their daies than it is to perswade thousands of us Christians to die Were Death so great an evil as is imagined Vide Ambros de bono mortis cap. 2. 8 Ambrose amongst the Fathers had not writ so much de bono mortis nor Plotinus and Seneca amongst the Philosophers Take but the pomps of death away saith one the disguises and solemn bug-bears the Tinsel Plotin Ennead lib. 7. c. 3. per totum and the actings by Torch or Candle-light and then to die is easy and quitted from its troublesome circumstances The troublesomenesse of it is owing to our fears Enchir. cap. 10 as Epictetus speaks truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Methodius mortem piorum definit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death cures us of all our maladies determins all our miseries Good men gain this by it that their calamities are not eternal Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death yea the dust of a Saint Christ hath taken away the death that was in death whatsoever is an evil of punishment though not death from the Saints It is now but a sleeping in Jesus a putting off of the old raggs of frailty and mortality that they may bee decked with garlands and stoles of glory For Consolation Use 1 1 Though Princes and Great men fall and die yet solace your selves in this Their souls are immortal it is the body only that 's laid in the dust The Romans when their Emperours and great ones died and their bodies were burned they caused an Eagle to mount on high thereby to signifie the souls immortality and ascent Socrates told Chiton asking him how hee would bee interred or what should bee done with him when dead Vide Heinsium de contemptu mortis lib. 2 I think saith Socrates I shall escape from you and that you cannot catch mee so much as you feize and lay hold on use it as you see cause I could never yet bee moulded into their opinions who maintained the traduction Est in Sentent lib. 2. Dist 17. Parag. 11. ad 17. the propagation of the soul and consequently the mortality of it Aquinas and Gerson both call them Hereticks who deny the creation of it meethinks it is absolutely impossible for any simple and uncompounded viz. essentially nature to bee subject to death and corruption Non excluditur omnis compositio solius dei proprium est esse perfecte absolute simplex Contarenas argues thus to omit all others Nihil potest perdere esse quod non perdit actum per quem est Istae autem formae simplices non possunt perdere actum per quem sunt quia sibi ipsis sunt actus nihil autem potest seipsum perdere Ergo Cont. de immort animae lib. 1. Et Plotin Ennead lib. 7 per totum The Scripture also is clear in my opinion for its immortality Phil. 1.23 Matth. 10.28 Eccles 12.7 the Heathens had some glympses of its immortality as Plato Tully and most or all of their Philosophers In a word as Cato Major said so I If I do erre in this I erre willingly neither will I ever suffer this errour in which I delight to bee wrested from mee as long as I live 2 Again Solace and comfort your selves in this also Though Princes and great men fall yet they shall rise again If a man die saith Job shall hee live again yea as sure as death hee shall live again There is a double certainty of the resurrection of their bodies 1 Certitudo infallibilitatis ratione divinae praedictionis there is a certainty of infallability in respect of divine prediction Heaven and Earth shall passe away before one of his words fall to the ground 2 Certitudo immutabilitatis ratione divinae praedeterminationis a certainty of immutability in respect of Gods decree and eternal purpose and his counsel shall stand This staid up the drooping spirit of holy Job See his Creed Job 19.25,26 I know my Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Kinseman liveth and that hee shall stand at the last day upon the Earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another How confident is this holy man of his resurrection in the same individual body It is disputed in the Schools Resurrectionem Philosophis notam ex Hebraeorum doctrina affirmant non-nulli whether the resurrection of the body bee quid cognoscibile lumine natura It is said Theopompus Zoroastres and Plato whom none of the Ancient Gentiles contradicted taught the resurrection of the body and Plato thought that after the revolution of some years hee should live again and teach his scholars in the same chair hee sate then in but resurrectio mortuorum est fides Christianorum as Augustin Tertullian and others more solidly Vide Aug. in Psal 101. Et D. Chytr de fine mundi Res Mort. ubi fufius Propria Ecclesiae dei sapientia est praedictio de fine mundi resurrectione mortuorum c. Those Eagle ey'd Philosophers mocked at the Doctrin of the Resurrection Act. 17.32 divine mysteries are above humane reason's shallow capacitie from that principle of nature and axiome amongst Philosophers A privatione ad habitum non datur regressus they argued against this fundamental truth but know it to your comfort that you and yours too shall rise again this Prince and Great man shall return from his grave again not by the power of nature nor by the help of the Creature but by the power of the Creator As for mee saith David I will behold his face in Righteousnesse I shall bee satisfied when I awake with thy likenesse it is meant of the awakening of his body from the sleep of death in the day of the resurrection Psal 17.15 the Jews call the grave Beth Chaiim the house
live not in the highest Nobles in the middle poor men in the lowest but all in one region All meet together in the grave this is commune hominum diversorium the common Inne of all mankinde The Scripture and the Sepulchre know no difference It is not the royalty of the Pallace it is not the pomp and Majesty of the Prince nor the piety of the Prophet it is not the noblenesse of your birth it is not the pregnancy of your parts that can exempt you from Death nor priviledge persons of quality from Mortality For all your Princely houses your vast estates your high descent your great authority and command your famous victories Vide Dionys Carthus de 4. Noviss de morte Artic. 13. p. 53. sq The Grave shall bee your bed sheets shall bee your shrines the clods of the vallyes shall bee your cover the Grasse shall bee your carpet death will demand his due from his sentence there is no appeal from his arrest no bale Paracelsus shows the way to revive a dead bird not a dead man lib. 4. de natura rerum It is not Hippocrates or Paracelsus not mortal men nor mortal means that can keep you an hour in life beyond the prefixed time of death What is man the noblest wisest learnedst man hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regula ac mensura omnium animantium whatever excellencies bee scattered in the other creatures are summed up in man Sennert Tom. 1. p. 113 Seneca propounds that question and gives the answer quodlibet quassum vas imbecillum corpus fragile nudum suapte natura ad omnem fortunae contumeliam projectum cujuslibet ferae pabulum ex infirmis fluidisque contextum c. what is life Paracels de Natura rerum lib. 4 it is but a vapour a little warm breath as one saith tun'd in and out by the nostrils a very narrow passage and soon stopped Alas wee blow away our lives as often as wee blow away our breathes who can admire that men live no longer rather wee may admire that wee dye no sooner wee were old enough to dye so soon as ever wee began to live In the 6th of the Revelations wee read of four Horses Of a White Horse on him sate Truth verse 2. Of a Red Horse on him sate War vers 4. Of a Black Horse on him sate Famine vers 5. Of a Pale Horse on him rides Death vers 8. As Men so Death rides either for greater pomp or for greater speed or for greater strength Wee are all posting towards Death and Death is mounted riding towards us It is not possible but wee shall meet As there is a Terra quam terimus and a Terra quam quaerimus and a Terra quam gerimus so there is a Terra quae eâ—imus Dust wee are high and low and unto dust wee must return Will you have Authentick Testimonies and clear Instances Consult Josh 23.14 Joshua a worthy Prince a truly valiant and victorious General a mirrour of piety and magnanimity speaking of Death Behold saith hee I am going this day the way of all the Earth Consult that speech of holy Job chap. 30.23 I know thou wilt bring mee to death and death will bring mee to the grave which is the house appointed for all the living and stored with Myriads of the dead and Job 3.13,14 Then had I been at rest with Kings and Counsellors of the earth which built desolate places for themselves Take one for all Psal 82.6 I have said yee are Gods and the children of the most high but yee shall dye like men Ennead lib. 9. cap. 8. contra Gnosticos Plotinus thinks the stars have eyes and see us ears and hear us It cannot bee thought saith hee but that they are Gods certainly the stars are not Gods but those Gods are stars stars of the first magnitude but they may bee numbred amongst the Sporades they are wandring stars they cannot long keep their station Their daies upon earth are but a shadow and there is no long abiding Hormisda observed that in Rome that everlasting City as Am. Marcellinus called it men dyed as in other places Where is that Wisdome which folly hath not tainted that Honour which envy hath not stained that Strength which sicknesse hath not impaired where is the body which bad humours never molested the beauty that age shall not or hath not defaced The Prince or Great man that is not fallen or shall not fall one day in Israel Hoc muta cadavera clamant Arguments to convince I need not sure to urge or inlarge nor do I purpose to produce or press many The decree is sealed the sentence shall never bee reversed Moth Tamuth yee shall die the death or in dying yee shall dye you have tasted the forbidden fruit Is there not with you even with you Yee Princes and Great men Is there not with you sin against the Lord were not you sinners as soon as Creatures It is appointed for all men once to dye Lazarus dyed twice but sure all once Alas you carry death about you every day and every way Death in its causes and in its symptoms Death runs rides and walks hand in hand with you your sins in short will bring you as low as the dust your sins commonly are not common sins and it may bee your falls shall not bee common falls they may bee much sooner and sadder than others Every man living shall have his fit of dying God hath appointed it his counsel shall stand Behold the Rock whence you were digged Consider your original Non exquâ—lilibet humo homo sed exghaphar adamah i.e. Ex pinguissima mollissima Ar. Montan. the matter and mettle of which you are composed Dust yee are ex pulvere limoso lutoso you must bee meat for Worms before you can bee mates for Angels May not you say of your selves as did those poor distressed oppressed ones Neh. 5.5 Our flesh is as the flesh of our Brethren and all flesh is grasse which in the morning though green and flourishing yet in the evening cut down it is withering Our skins and bloods are much alike omnis sanguis est concolor cutem habemus communem si non vestem wherein are you from others differenced only a few chips more are taken off which makes you something neater but more tender and weaker Or is the difference in your empty Names and Titles of honour which are as mortal as your selves Notable is that of Seneca Conditor ille generis humani non natalibus nec nominum claritate nos distinxit nisi cum sumus aequat omnes cinis Senec. Ep. 91 c. Cardinalis Barbarini poemata pag. 209 Jactet nunc stemmata gentis Ignotos extrema dies insignibus aequat Behold the diseases the sicknesses under which you have sometimes laboured who can enumerate the maladies the Aches pains the Leprosy Dropsy Stone strangury to which you are exposed Notable is that of
the German wars Vide Luth. in Isa 57.1 I can do nothing saith God till thou bee come thither Gen. 19.22 non posse se dixit quod sine dubio poterat per potentiam non poterat per justitiam saith one of the Ancients Aug. Sence Non posse praetenditur non velle in causa est No sooner was Lot in Zoar but the Lord rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodome Such stand in the gap to turn away the Lords wrath but when they are removed what remains to stop the current of divine vengeance when the precious fruits of the earth are gathered into the barn the hedges are broken down the beasts over-run all When the Jewels are taken out of the Trunk the courser things are thrown over-board when Noah is housed in the Ark his Pella the fountains of the deep are broken open Woe is mee saith the Prophet Micah The Good man the Great man is perished out of the Earth Psal 12.1 De contemptu mortis and David cries and praies Help Lord as if the Heavens had been falling on him Heinsius reports that the Sun with-drew its shine and was eclypsed when Joseph Scaliger dyed Darkness seizeth upon us in these parts wee have had many of quality lately taken from us it is well if the Lords wrath bee not comming upon us Secondly Because when they fall the persons with whom they conversed Jer. 48.25 Zech. 10.4 the places in which they lived are exceedingly weakened As in the Text And I am this day weak And are not wee this day weak Behold the Family is it not a weak Family a disconsolate Widdow tender sickly children A weak Town hee was under the most high our strength and munition our defence and protection Should wee unite our hearts and hands our power and policy Alas what can wee do Our strength is weaknesse our wisdome foolishnesse As Jehosaphat said so wee say O Lord wee know not what to do but our eyes are towards thee In uno Caesare multi insunt Marii There are many men in one Great man One Josiah in a Kingdome one Lot in a City one Paul in a Ship is of more value and vertue than many thousands Labans family fared the better for Jacobs sake Pharaohs Court and Kingdome fared better for Josephs sake and hath not this Town these parts of the Country fared much better for this great mans sake Every great man if hee bee a good man is a great blessing and strengthening to the place in which hee lives a blessing by his presence a blessing by his prayers a blessing by his example which is as a Looking-glasse for others to dress themselves by a blessing by his counsels The death of faithful Ministers weakens wonderfully the weapons of their warfare are mighty with God 2 King 2.12 and mighty through God The death of zealous Magistrates weakens infinitely but I must not expatiate See that notable Text Judges 18 7. when there was no Magistrate in Laish â—…n increased and ruine approached Thirdly Because when such fall sin commonly increaseth exceedingly Not only the Laws but the lives of great men it truly godly give a shrewd check to daring impieties and prophanesse many whose hands only were chained but their hearts not changed may break our and fall off returning with the dog to his vomit and the Sow to wallow in the mire again It is not unknown to hundreds of us within these walls that this great mans countenance had special influence upon all the vile wretches that came nigh unto him Hee could do very much with a look I could not in that compare him to any other but Luther De vita Lutheri p. 168 Melchior Adams reports of him that hee had such a Leonine aspect ut oculorum suorum intentionem rectâ aspiciendo non omnes ferre possunt How was the prophanation of the Lords day prevented Travellers according to Law punished drunkennesse subdued c. Tremble godly souls to think how the eye of Gods glory is like to bee provoked let rivers of waters run down your eyes Is there not matter of lamentation when the winds are rising the Sea swelling the Heavens lowring and the enemy approaching to behold the souldiers gasping the Pilots and Steers-men dead upon the deck How shall the little flock bee kept out of the jaws and paws of the wild boar and Beasts of prey O pray Lord remember thy Lilly amongst the Thorns thy Lambs amongst the Wolves thy love amongst the daughters The Saints are as speckled birds Jer. 12.9 Jerem. 12.9 All about them are enemies to them Fourthly Because otherwise they cannot make a right use and improvement of their death and dissolution It is the Lords will that wee should make a right good use of his rod upon others and of the fall of others Quest What use should wee that survive now make of this Princes dissolution Answer A threefold Use An Honourable Use An Charitable Use An Profitable Use An Honourable Vse in relation to God acknowledging his power and supremacy his soveraignty and authority over man to kill or make alive to deliver from death or to death A Charitable Vse in relation to them who are afflicted or taken away by death not concluding them the greatest sinners because they are the greatest sufferers or that it is for some notorious impiety that they are cut off in the midst of their daies Their death may bee in mercy to them in judgement to us A Profitable Vse in reference unto our selves wee should learn thence to walk humbly to put our hearts in order to see what the bitter fruit of sin is c. Though the occasion of our comming together this evening bee very sad yet the opportunity is sweet if wee can learn rightly to improve this great mans fall I remember Plotinus hath this passage Men should so live and so die that others might learn some good from them both living and dying Anatomists and Physitians advantage themselves by dissecting dead bodies and prying into the inward parts wee may spiritually profit our selves by a serious consideration and observation of his dispensations in the Fall of Princes and Great men Fifthly Not to take notice of not to lay to heart the death of such men is a God-provoking sin a fruit of sin and the cause of many horrid iniquities and grievous transgressions This inconsideratenesse is that which the Prophet checked and much lamented Isa 57.1 None considereth that they are taken away from the evil to come none pondered it in their hearts they did not search into it what should bee the minde and end of God in it God laies it to mens charge that they lay not those things unto their hearts as if personal mortality were not sometimes a presage of publick misery This is a direct violation of a divine injunction Eccles 7.3 The living shall lay it upon their hearts Is not the hand of God in this sad
make him busy in the world 1 Pet. 5.8 his design this morning is mainly upon you My Lords as the Panther hates the Effigies and portraicture of a man so the Devil hates the very picture of a good Magistrate and of a good Minister hee will indeavour to dis-swade you from your duty distract and disturb you while you are doing your duty yea and hee will if hee can discourage you when you have done your duty As God standeth in the Congregation of the mighty Job 1.6 judging amongst the Gods So the Devil standeth in the Congregation of the mighty tempting and corrupting those mortal gods As God stands at the right hand of his servants Psal 110.5 so Satan also stands at the right hand of Gods servants Zech. 3.1 if God assist from Heaven the Devil will resist from Hell the left hand is the lazy hand there hee stands where hee can do most mischief Hee is an evil spirit Metaphysically good indeed but Morally and Theologically evil therefore called as Maldonate and our Anotators in the Lords Prayer Evil Deliver us from Evil Cum hostem cernimus aliquid agere quod plane videatur imprudenter actum abhorrere a ratione suspicari dolum aliquem subesse debemus Mach. Disput de Repub. lib. 3. cap. 48. from Satan If ever hee move to any thing that is good observe it and it is either from a bad principle in an evil manner or to a bad end at a wrong time to an improper work c. And therefore as Machiavel counsels in another case suspect him hee intends you no good Take heed then what you do There are special seasons in which Satans Temptations are most seen by discerning Christians a hint or two I shall but give or shoot an arrow or two friendly to admonish you when there is most danger and need to look about you 1 In times of great pressures and afflictions felt or feared when God is afflicting Satan is plotting to put the Saints on indirect waies and means to bee delivered or to repine against God 2 In times of spiritual desertion when the Lord hides his face Satan puts out his head and troubles greatly 3 In times of great discoveries of divine assistance and manifestations of his loving kindnesse which is better and sweeter than life unto a sincere convert after extraordinary inlargement of heart in duty c. 4 At the day of death and dissolution if hee cannot keep the soul from going to Heaven yet hee will indeavour to keep Heaven from comming into his soul I mean the joys and come forts of the Spirit hee is the Prince that hath power in the air the souls that go to Heaven passe through his territories by his very nose how doth hee snarle think you or hath hee done when the Saint is newly dead and his soul taken up to Heaven 5 At such times and upon such occasions as this when some great peece of work is upon the Loom some notable enterprize for Gods glory is upon the Anvile Satan chops in retards the work the instance is pregnant Zech. 3. begin you are now fore-warned take heed therefore what yee do Reason 9 Ninthly The eyes of many are upon you this day and therefore you are obliged to Take heed what you do Notable is that of Seneca Custos te tuus sequitur Senec. Fragm p. 1271. put as tibi contigisse ut oculos omnium effugias Demens quid tibi prodest non habere conscium habenti conscientiam what if thou vain man couldest escape the view of mortal men go further Suppose the holy Angels and the immortal God did not behold thee what if thou hadst no other conscious or privy to thy transactions when as thy conscience which is in stead of a thousand witnesses is guilty but wee have supposed what is not what ought not to be asserted Hear that Heathen again Magnum nescio quid majusque quam cogitati potest numen est cui vivende operam damus Huis nos approhemus nihil prodest inclusam esse conscientiam Deo patemus The eye of God is upon you apposite is that of Elihu in Job 36.7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the Righteous but with Kings are they on the Thrine Hee is totus oculus All eye to see you what ever you do All Ear to hear whatever you say Angels are knowing Creatures De scientia Angelorum plurima notavit Estius lib. 2. Distinct 7. Parag. 11 12 but they know not the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts si signo non prodantur externo as they speak they are not within the ken of men nor within the walk of humane Justice nor subject to the censures of terrene Courts or Consistories But God sets them in the light of his countenance Lips de Const lib. 2. cap. 13 15 Aug. Soliloq cap. 14 Nobis ergo as Lipsius speaks magna est indita necessitas juste agendi recteque vivendi qui cuncta facimus ante oculos Judicis cuncta cernentis The eyes of the glorious Angels are this day upon you as they inform you of Gods Will so they inform God of your wayes Zech. 1.11 and works they tell him what is done here amongst men The eyes of many honourable Gentlemen are upon you Aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est ac semper ante oculos habendus ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus c. Sen. Ep. 11. ad finem And it was Seneca's councel to his Lucilius ever to have in his eye either Cato or Laelius or some good man This hee thought would over-awe his Spirit Certainly whoever judgeth and pleadeth as in his eye who is to bee feared will in short time come himself to bee feared to say no more the eye of those trembling Prisoners at the Bar will bee upon you All which considered It will appear of great concernment that you Take heed what you do Once more Tenthly The lives liberties the rights and priviledges the estates and interests of persons are sacred choice and precious things therefore it concerns you My Lords to take heed what you do O let not the line of Justice bee made crooked let not the course of equity bee perverted Life is precious silver and gold are dull and dead commodities to THIS Job 2.4 How did that unparrellel'd Queen beg for her life Esther 7.3 like a Creeple on a bridge Let my life bee given mee at my petition not riches nor honours Stemmata quid prosunt Incomparable was the love which God manifested to the world in giving his Son Jesus Christ So So God loved the World That is such a Sic as never had a Sicut Iohn 3.16 Non unum e multis sed unigenitum Vnigenitum in quo omnem suum amorem collocaverat non quoquo modo dedit sed dedit ut tanquam serpens in deserto exaltaretur i.e.
out of which wound it is said his guts came as Julians did Sine caede vulnere pauci Descendunt Reges Fourthly What was the cause or what might bee the occasion of this Prince or great mans Fall in Israel It was Jobs suspition may it admit so faire a construction that Abner would prove an Ambodexter Abner had revolted from Ishbosheth because hee had questioned him for the familiar usage of one of Sauls Concubines wee may not conceal the truth Abner was deeply guilty if of no more of a treacherous inconstancy If Ishbosheth had no true title to the Crown Abner sinned in maintaining it if hee had Abner sinned in forsaking it Tostatus saith that hee knew the Kingdome did not de jure belong to Ishbosheth but to David Suppose his former undertaking was evil yet to desert him eo modo hoc ex injusto furore as Tostatus to withdraw his professed allegiance upon a private revenge was to take a lewd leave of an evil action In a word Joab thinks it is no trusting a Turn-coat Or it was pretended revenge for the blood of his Brother Asahel verse 27. Joab was Ish dammim a man of bloods Tostatus disputes the question whether Joab sinned in slaying Abner Vide Tostaâ— in loc hee concludes positively Hee killed the man without a just cause hee killed the man without a just call hee had no authority to do it non erat Judex ad infligendum illi mortem hee slew him modo in honesto and hee broke the peace granted him by the King The pride of Joabs heart put him upon this horrid and hellish fact Mallem hic primus esse quam Romae secundus Caesar de oppidulo quodam dum Alpes transiret Hee was afraid least Abner by this important service should grow too great in the Kings favour It was cursed pride that put Zimri on to murther Elah his Lord and Master It was pride that made Athaliah to destroy all the seed Royal of the house of Judah It was pride that put Herod on to seek the blood of Jesus and it was pride in which Joab dipt his dagger wherewith Abner is slain Nebuchadnezzars pride ushered in the destruction of the Assyrian Monarchy Cyrus his pride made way for the overthrow of the Babylonian Monarchy Alexanders pride was the cause of the Annihilation of the Persian Monarchy The Roman Commanders by their pride occasioned the subversion of the Grecian Monarchy as it is by some observed It was pride that put the Pharisees on to persecute Christ and it was pride in Joab that curtaild Abners daies Joab would have none so deep in the Kings books as himself no corrivall with him in honours and preferments Joab suspected his reputation would bee blasted his fame eclipsed his service lesse regarded If Abners design bee now accomplished This Magnum Nihil of Honour hee is so tender and jealous of that hee is resolved Abner shall die Nec quemquam jam ferre potest Caesarve priorem Pompeiusve parem Fifthly What was the fruit or the sequel of this Prince and Great mans Fall I shall hint briefly 1 Davids vindication of his own innocency vers 28. I and my Kingdome are guiltless before the Lord q. d. I am not to bee accused of nor charged with this bloody fact It is lawful for the most humble man to vindicate and plead his own innocency when hee sees others may suspect him It is lawful for a man to do himself open right when others do him open wrong David might say as once Augustin did Mihi sufficit conscientia mea bona vobis vero necessaria est fama mea Sometimes the subjects go mad and Kings are sent to Bedlam Though that bee mostly true Delirant reges c. David will have the fault laid at Joabs door and therefore Apologizeth for himself as well hee might 2 Davids fearful Imprecation verse 28. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue or that is a Leper c. All sore and heavy Judgements the Issue makes the body to pine away the Leprosy makes the body loathsome both make it unclean so that it must not come into the Congregation the Gout or Palsey make a living man as if hee were dead To Fall by the sword of an enemy a sad Judgement 2 Sam. 24. and so to bee starved to death for want of bread Tostatus disputes the question An peccavit David maledicendo Joab hee answers negatively and saith licet maledicere quando ille qui maledicit est Judex imponit maledictionem in partem paenae The Rabbines are too rash who say that David was too much carried on with violent passions in this direful dreadful imprecation upon Joab and all his Fathers house and therefore say all these evils fell upon some of his own posterity and race Rehoboam had an issue Uzziah was a Leper Asa was pained in his feet Josiah fell by the sword c. It is granted cursing men are commonly cursed men but David was not here moved by humane passion but by a Prophetick spirit 3 The Declaration of Joabs cowardice and Abners valour Died Abner as a fool died hee died not as a fool nor as a felon nor as a fugitive No hee was suddenly and treacherously surprized Had Joab and Abner tryed it out in open field and fight Abner no doubt had given evident discoveries of his dexterity and activity of the couragiousnesse of his heart and noblenesse of his spirit 4 Abners honourable Interment or Incineration vers 32. They buried Abner in Hebron loco revera honorifico saith P. Martyr R. Solomon thinks Adam and Eve Abraham and Sarah Vide Cartwright electa Targumico Rabbinica in Gen. 23.2 Peâ—er in Gen. 23. p. 663. Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Lea were buried there Adricomius Pererius Borcardus and others write much of it It was the principal royal City belonging to Judah hereabouts was that great entertainment made the covert of a Tree was the dining room the ground the Table Abraham the Caterer Sarah the Cook Veal and welcome the cheer Angels in the shape of men Christ in the notion of an Angel the guests Adrichom â— Theatrum Terrae Sanctae p. 49. fig. 145 Aug. de Cur. ger pro mortuis A comely burial is an office of humanity a duty of charity a great blessing it is so promised and prized in sacred writ the want thereof as a curse is threatned Jer. 22.19 Tully calls Clodius his body infoelix cadaver because it was cast out unburied Abners was not so Never man was killed more cowardly and interred more honourably 5 King Davids and all Israels bitter lamentation vers 31. They lift up their voices and wept The sweet singer in Israel is now chief mourner in Israel To honour Prince Abner forgetting his royal soveraignty and Kingly dignity David himself doth follow the Beere it is disputed by Interpreters whether Davids tears were real or hypocritical faigned and
of Sicely as hee lay upon his death bed Alas your lives like shuttle-cocks are kept up a while twixt two Battle-doors at last they fall to the earth for all your skill Let not this dis-dis-spirit or dis-animate you but excite and quicken you to fall on with double diligence to dispatch the work cut out for you by your Lord and Master It is a great truth which Seneca writing to Paulinus hints at It is the complaint of all mortals saith hee and that because of natures malignity that gives to man so short a life but the truth is satis longa est vita in maximarum rerum consummationem large data est De brevitate vitae cap. 2 si tota bene collocaretur and vita si scias uti longa est non accepimus brevem vitam sed fecimus O squander not away your Haleyon seasons your golden opportunities as if you were not to bee responsible for time what rich and rare opportunities have you of doing good if the Lord gave you inlarged hearts The Persian King had one about him whose office it was to minde him every morning of his charge Arise O King and have an eye to those affairs for which the great God hath made you King and dispatch them Work O work out your salvation with fear and trembling with much accuratenesse and carefulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 8. in cap. 2. ad Phil. Seek yee the Lord while hee may bee found Now you have tenders and offers of Christ and grace If you neglect the day of grace Know it may expire before your lives expire it cannot possibly last longer then you may weep with Esau and not bee pittied and pray with Dives and not bee heard It was Chrysostomes wish Tom 3. de praem Sanctorum mihi p. 830. that while men are supping and dyning eating and drinking washing and playing mention were made of Hell and Death and Judgement this would awaken idle wretches this would rouse and raise them Let no day pass without a line Know God will bring you to death and to the house appointed for all the living thence you cannot return to dispatch undone work to amend or reform your selves nor to advise and councel others Fourthly Learn hence to put your hearts and houses too in order Though Princes and Great men yet you must fall Distraction and confusion follows when persons die and have not put their houses and estates in order but infinite and unspeakable is the Terrour confusion and horrour which seizeth upon the soul at death which was not prepared for Heaven and glory Logicians that regard not their premises infer wild conclusions so Christians too Lord teach mee to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is was the Prayer of a Prince and great man exactly calculated for our Meridian The measure of my Daies not the measure of my months or years No No The life of man is not measured by the Yard of years nor by the Ell of Months but by the Inch of dayes This is a main end of your lives to make a good end of your lives which can never bee without preparation for it Unhappy man whose life is like the lake of which Plutarch speaks which runs pure in the morning but muddy in the evening sweet at first bitter at last If we prepare to dye before wee come to dye then when wee come to dye surely wee shall not dye Let not that deceiving and soul-destroying hope of living long make you secure and carelesse of living well I have read of one who deferring repentance till his old age and then going about it heard a voice from Heaven saying Des illi furfurem cui dedisti farinam It is your wisdome now to learn this Art of dying well this saith Bellarmin truly is the Art of Arts Ep. 82. in it all are comprized Mors interea est quae facile negligi non possunt said Seneca I shall close this with that of Augustin Quid in hac terra certum est nisi mors Considerate omnia omnino quid hic certum est nisi mors Speras pecuniam incertum est an proveniat Speras uxorem incertum est an accipias vel qualem accipias Ena◠ration in Psal 39. pauper es incertum est an ditescas imbecilis es incertum est an convalescas Natus es Certum est morieris or that of Bartholdus Omnes res hominis in dubium vocantur Barthold lib. 2. de morte p. 201 concipitur homo an nasciturus oportet ut responde as forte sic Forte non is a child conceived shall it bee born into the world it is answered perhaps it may Now it is born shall it come to manhood or dye in infancy perhaps it may Shall hee be famous in his Country a grave Senatour a great Scholar perhaps hee may But shall hee dye sic sic sic morietur nullum hic forte nullum hic dubium reperitur There is no peradventure to bee used here It is certain hee shall dye O then prepare for it Never did any repent themselves when they came to dye that they began so early to seek God to serve fear or love God or to prepare for death thousands have repented that they began no sooner Augustin did so sero te cognovi lumen verum sero te cognovi Solileq cap. 33 Job never cursed the day of his new birth that proverb was hatched in Hell a young Saint an old Devil if thou beest a young Devil thou wilt in time become an old Beelzebub O remember your Creatour in the dayes of your youth I speak chiefly unto the young gallants In diebus electionum tuarum Pagnin renders it so In the day of your chusings your younger daies are your golden daies your choice and chusing daies Quo semel 〈◊〉 c. You read of a young man Matth. 19.16.20 It is said Christ began to love him why or for what hee was but a young man and a great man Vide Herodian lib. 1. p. 5 hee was now in his youth inquisitive after the salvation of his precious soul and eternal life O it is a lovely thing in young gentlemen in any to minde the one thing necessary in their juvenility The Devil is very hardly cast out of such whom hee hath possessed in their youth Mark 9.20 But I proceed Fifthly Bee much in the praemeditation of your frailty mortality and dissolution It was Seneca's complaint of some in his time tanquam semper victuri vivitis De brev vitae cap. 4 nunquam vobis fragilitas vestra succurrit c. Moses is to ascend then hee should die would you so die that your souls may ascend then meditate much on death It is a strange saying in Lipsius Lips de Constantia lib. 2. cap. 25 the names of all good Princes may easily bee ingraven or written in a small ring A serious meditation of Death
of wrath from an incensed Majesty fall upon thy soul I may say Tautus paucissimorum jugerum pascuis impletur una sylva Elephantis pluribus sufficit homo terra pascitur mari quid ergo tam insatiabilem nobis natura alvum dedit c. Senec. Ep. 68 it would swallow up all the sweetnesse thou expectest in or from thy creature-comforts Worthy Gentlemen You are the men who have the world in a string swim in rivers of pleasures and rowe in Treasures but know how much soever you have of the world in your hands it is not good to have any of the world in your hearts Know that men of most wealth are not alwaies men of most worth I mean not the most worthy men Have not some said had they never been so happy they had never been so unhappy Beatus qui post illa non abiit quae possessa onerant amata inquinant amissa cruciant Bern. These things below were they the best things Jesus Christ had had more of them and the Devil would not so freely have offered them All these things will I give thee c. These things below they are more deceitful than delightful si aliqua hujus saeculi prosperitas arriserit nonne deceptoria est Enarrat in Psal 40 nonne fluxa caduca est nonne plus habent deceptionis quam delectationis saith holy Augustin If you make the world your God while you are in the world what wil you do for a God when you go out of the world Vide Bellarm. de A. B. morieâ— di cap. 2 O love the world my Brethren as if you were ever about to leave the world Make not your portion your God let God bee your portion The world is like water the more eagerly you grasp at it the lesse you hold of it Riches like witches are most hurtful to them who are most conversant with them or as sands in your hands the faster you gripe Senec. Nat. Qu. lib. 7. c. 31 Aug. Ep. 82 ad Laâ—gum the faster it goes If you have the whole world pusilla res mundus est c. God and all that a man hath is no more than God and nothing that a man hath God is all in all doth all by all and is All without all Remember I beseech you that you are dying men you live in dying times in dying places you have dying relations get dying affections Remember you must die and when you die you shall carry nothing away Psal 49.17 on which words Augustin excellently vides viventem cogita morientem quid hic habeat attendis quid secum tollat attende Quid secum tollit multum auri habet multum argenti multum praediorum multum mancipiorum moritur remanent illa nescio quibus Wee bring nothing with us into this world saith that blessed Apostle 1 Tim. 6.7,8 Nothing of the world comes with us into the world wee are not born with gold rings on our fingers nor with silver-spoons in our mouthes nothing but sorrow and sin and it is certain wee can carry nothing out In that question propounded to the Rich man Luk. 12.19,20 Whose shall these things bee it is implyed that his they shall not bee Hee had the provision of them but can no longer have the possession of them your works may and will your wealth cannot follow you when you flit hence A bundle of staves will hinder a man in his journey one helps him Vide Plotin Ennead lib. 2. cap. 15 A little of the world will serve to bring thee to thy bed Let not the Heathens shame us Elurus could say Da mihi popicentam aquam Aquin. in Phil. 4.13 Dictum illud Epicuri habetur in Senec. Ep. 110. ipsi Jovi de faelicitate controversiam faciamus and Seneca excellently in his eighty and sixty eight Epistles speaks to this purpose but I must pass those passages Chrysostome propounds the question and gives the answer Was Job miserable when hee had lost all that God had given him No hee had still that God who gave him all this is enough I shall conclude this with that of Cardinal Barbarinus Chrys Hom. 4. de patientia Job Vide Barbarini poemata p. 165 Mitte super vacuum cultum curisque solutus Eripe te rerum strepitu sibi vivere dulce est Vive deo tibi sic vives te sola sequentur Post cinerem bene facta rapit reliqua omnia lethum Seventhly Let this Meditation teach you a lesson of Humility Though you bee Elohims yet you shall die like men and fall as this great man this day in Israel Oh what frail mortal sickly sinful bodies do you and I carry about us Our bodies are the Anviles of pains and diseases our mindes the Hives of innumerable cares and sorrows and when wee are extolled highest wee are but those painted spots against which envy and death direct their fatal darts Let not your hearts swell at the thoughts of your honourable pedigree or that you are the progeny of Noble Ancestors Remember that you are all base born till born again Juvenal could say of Moral vertue Prov. 12.26 Lib. de Educandis liberis Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus It is grace alone that makes you noble it is the righteous man that 's the excellent man Psal 16,2,3 Plutarch could tell the great ones of his age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and give mee leave to tell you that how nobly soever you are descended unlesse you bee virtuous your selves you disparage your Ancestors discredit your selves and shame your posterity Let not your Honours cause you to look high the lofty looks of man shall bee humbled and the haughtinesse of man shall bee bowed down the Lord of Hosts hath purposed to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable ones of the earth and shall not his counsel stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Carthus de 4. Novissim p. 22 Heu qui finis fortunae quam stultum est gaudere de loco sublimi praecipiti Inquit Mago frater Hannibalis saith Plutarch in his book de Educandis liberis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glory and honour is venerable but not stable are you high in worth bee humble in heart the way to bee truly honoured is to bee thoroughly humbled Let not your vast estates or great riches make you proud it was Absoloms saying What are all these to mee except I see the Kings face say you unto your souls what are all these to mee except I have saving grace The whole Turkish Empire is but a crust that God casts to a dogge as Luther said Nugas King of Scythia asked the messenger who brought him those rich presents and Ornaments from the Emperour of Constantinople whether those things could drive away calamities diseases or death if not those were not worth thanking for they are Dei ludibria as a Heathen calls
them Ubi supra like a Tennis-ball tossed hither and thither from hazard to hazard and anon out of the Court Notable is that of Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let not your power your policy your command or magnanimity puffe you up Insitum est humanis ingeniis imperio insolenter uti De Const lib. 2. c. 25 said Lipsius as great men have been carried about in an Iron cage The blood which now is warm shall freeze anon in your veins the marrow shall drie up in your bones your sinewes shall shrink and eye-strings crack within a short space you shall not bee able to help your selves Let not your beauty or bravery make you ambitious supercilious or haughty Your bodies are vile bodies not God but sin hath made them so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elut ubi supra beauty is a thing desirable but it is not durable it is but skin deep a raise with a pin or a daies sicknesse may spoil you of it Let not your Rings your Ornaments raise your spirits they are but badges of your sin and shame It argues a vain frothy heart to bee so proud of such petty things a naughty heart to bee proud of any thing If thy out-side be thy best side thou art poor miserable wretched Worthy Gentlemen when God lifts up your heads let it be your care to keep down your hearts all the world cannot keep that man up that doth not keep down his spirit Remember the doleful Catastrophe of Herod the great of Agrippa the great of Alexander the great you are all in his hand who touches the mountains they smoak who bindes Kings in chains and Nobles in fetters of Iron you are in his hand who will bring you to death and to the house appointed for all the living I shall close up this with that of Bernard Quid prosunt Divitiae quid Honores Divitiae non liberant a morte nec delitiae a verme nec honores a faetore nam qui modo sedebat dives gloriosus in throno modo jacit pauper in tumulo qui prius delitiis oblectabatur modo a vermiculo consumitur qui paulo ante in aula principium honorandus efferebatur modo in sepulchro ignominiosus jacet Eighthly Labour to get sin pardoned No sooner did iniquity enter into your souls but mortality seized on your bodies The parcels of dust which were bound together in Adam by a bond of Innocency were shaken loose upon the commission of his first sin and are not you of his posterity Death like an Archer sometimes shoots over the mark and takes one away that was above you sometimes short of the mark and takes one away that was below you sometimes on the right hand there falls a friend anon on the left then dies a foe but the game is never done till you fall and therefore it concerns you to importune the sin-forgiving God to wash your souls in the blood of Jesus to free you from the guilt and filth of sin Notable is that of Job c. 7. ult And why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity Observe the importunity of this holy man what 's the matter that Job so expostulates with God for the remission of his sin Bern. Peccare humanum est perseverare in peccato est diabolicum what need of so much speed and expedition hee gives you the ground and reason For now shall I sleep in the dust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall go into the earth I shall die thou shalt seek mee in the morning but I shall not bee It was Chrysostomes complaint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. in Mat. 22. c. it is in that excellent peece of his which Aquinas professed hee had rather have than to bee chief Lord of Paris Every mans care is and labour is about this present life but about pardon of sin Mallem habere opus imperfectum J. Chrys super Matthaeum quam esse dominus Civitatis Parisiensis Carthus de 4 Nov. p. 48 assurance of Gods love and things to come Death and Judgement Not a word is spoken O that the Lord would make his own discoveries unto you of the excellency and necessity of pardoning mercy without pardon of sin you can neither live well nor die well It is a mercy which God ever gives in mercy it is a mercy which makes way for the obtaining of eternal mercies it is a mercy which makes all other mercies to look like mercies taste like mercies and work like mercy it gives liberty to the soul in prison ease in bonds life in death sense of pardon takes away the sense of pain It is bonum comprehensivum in the bossome of it Jer. 33.24 all the riches of Heaven and Earth too are treasured up It is the souls Sanctuary as Augustin speaks The one thing necessary in the day of adversity then there is plus periculi and then it is suavius beneficium How few Princes and great men have you heard upon their knees confessing and praying with that man after Gods own heart For thy Name sake O Lord pardon our iniquities In hoc nomine vincam Luth. for they are great Most miserabley on will bee though now honourable wretched you will bee though now rich if you go out of the world as you come into the world with the guilt of sin upon your consciences Nulla satis magna securitas dum pericliâ—atur aeternitas It is not imaginable that your resurrections shall bee to glory if you die in your iniquity your graves shall bee but the suburbs of Hell You shall bee digged out of those burrows and dragged out of those nasty dens to answer for all your wicked pranks and practises done in your mortal bodies Petitions for pardon speak the Petitioners dependence on another great men will not close with this they would bee thought to have all others to depend on them themselves on none petitions for pardon suppose guilt and guilt the breach of a divine Law Princes and great men would bee reputed guiltlesse lawlesse Petitions for pardon intimate a power in God to punish delinquents penes quem facultas remittendi penes â—um potestas puniendi this is not much regarded The God who multiplies pardons as wee multiply provocations open our eyes to see the sinfulnesse of our sins and the dolefulnesse of our state Anon there will bee no place left for repentance nor remission neither in Christs heart nor ours Anon wee shall have no more comfort from that promise of pardon Prov. 28.13 if now wee neglect it then now the Devils have the gates of mercy shall bee shut eternally and neither Christ in a capacity to give nor your selves in a capacity to receive a pardon Remember O remember this lay not the greatest burden upon the weakest beast leave not the greatest work for your sick-bed It is no beginning to caulk the Ship when in a storm it is
of the living as they return from funerals it is said they pluck up the grass and cast it into the air repeating those words of the Psalmist They shall flourish and put forth as the grasse of the Earth Amongst the Romans it is said it was an usual saying of a dead friend abiit reversurus est Hee is gone but will come again Beloved Aug. Ep. 6. Melch. Ad. in Luth. p. 154 This Great man shall rise again comfort your selves in this you shall see him again and know and love him better than ever As Augustin spoke to the Lady Italica and Luther at his last supper Thirdly To conclude this The Lord hath a special care of your dead relations Keeps their very bones Psal 34.20 Hee leaves not his in the dust Rizpah watched over the bodies of the sons of Saul and guarded them against the fowles of the air 2 Sam. 21.10 but the Lord hath greater care of his children living dying and dead Observ 2. It is every mans duty to take notice of and to lay to heart the death of great men especially if they bee good men Know yee not How was Sauls death lamented Saul P. Mart. 2 Sam. 1.19 Sq. for whose salvation wee have nothing to say Nullum uspiam extat vestigium verae paenitentiae yet David and all with him rent their cloaths and wept hearing of his and Jonathans death The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places how are the mighty fallen Jonathan was a chief Patient in this woful tragedy but not the only subject of this doleful elegy Vide Perer. de laude Mosis Moses was a gallant man an excellent Philosopher more ancient than Socrates or Trismegist A notable Poet the Pen-man of eleven Psalms as Hierom thinks from the eighty eight to the hundreth though De Dieu saith some think Adam penned and sang the ninety second the morning after his creation how was Moses his death lamented in the Plains of Moab Vide Lud. de Dieu in Psal 92 Deut. 34,8 was not a book of Lamentation writ upon the occasion of Josiahs Death It is thought that that sad Poem or doleful ditty which Nazianzen could never read without tears lamentation was composed by the Prophet Jeremiah Orat. 12. mihi pag. 202 upon the fall of that most incomparable and unparalleld Prince whereof mention is made in the sacred Annales Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women speak of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel c. 2 Chron. 35.25 During the Captivity sundry Fasts were observed on set daies and on sad occasions The Fast of the fourth month the Fast of the fifth Zechar. 8.9 the Fast of the seventh and of the tenth Gedaliah the Protectour of the remnant of the Jews after their King was carried away captive was slain on the seventh month therefore they fasted and mourned Wee may write down this day this very day and mourn for the Death and Fall of this Prince and Great man the children yet unborn may also observe it when wee shall bee laid in dust Notable to this in hand is that of King Joash 2 King 13.14 Mark his pathetical exclamation and his plausible acclamation O my Father My Father the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof observe what lamentation hee makes though a wicked King And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him the Syriack reads it Act. 8.2 Gibre Mehemene Faithful men carried Stephen to his bed they wept for him bitterly or vehemently The Priests and sometimes Prophets too were not allowed upon special considerations in the Old Testament to mourn Ezek. 24.16 Thou shalt not weep nor mourn nor shall thy tears run down make no mourning for the dead forbear to cry c. but if wee bound our sorrows within the precinct of that Apostolical precept not mourning as men without hope Junius Brutus Valerius Poplicola Augustus c. viri optime de Rep. meriti annuo luctu fuerunt defleti wee may bee afflicted wee ought to weep and mourn our laughter should bee turned into mourning and our joy into heaviness Christ himself wept over dead Lazarus wee may over this Prince and Great man who was so useful an instrument both to Church and State grandis in eum est pietas as Jerom speaks of another Quae ratio Why are wee to take notice of and to lay to heart the Falls of Princes and Great men First Because when such men are taken away by death then Judgements hasten and post on apace Their dissolution is an evident demonstration of the Lords indignation upon the death of Crassus such miseries befel the Roman State saith the Oratour that life was not so much taken from him as a punishment as death bestowed on him as a reward In 2 Chron. 34.24 I will bring evil upon this place saith the Lord who owns all paenal evils and upon the Inhabitants thereof even all the curses that are written in this book why so see verse 25. Because they have forsaken mee and have burned incense unto other Gods Psal 39.11 Jer. 25.6 Lam. 3.39 Sin is the foundation of punishment God doth not punish nor afflict ordinarily but in case of sin Read on But as for Josiah the King of Judah say you unto him because thy heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God when thou heardest his words against this place and against the Inhabitants thereof and humblest thy self before mee Behold I will gather Thee to thy Fathers thou shalt bee gathered to thy grave in peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place and upon the Inhabitants thereof The Philosopher speaking of the Stars hath this passage when they shoot it is a sign of high winds following When zealous Magistrates Chytr de morte p. 75 and faithful Ministers shoot and slide into the earth such as survive may sadly conclude They are taken away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 Methusalem that great and godly Patriarch died Eo anno quo caepit diluvium Cartw. Electa Targumico-rabbinica in Gen. 5. 25 7. 4 Vide Philon. â— lib. 2. de Vita Mosis Senec. lib. 3. Qu. Nat cap. 27. Sq. Perer. in Gen. p. 338 the very year the flood came I know some have asserted that hee lived fourteen years after it and others say hee died seven daies before it His very name signified a messenger of death his death presaged that fearful Inundation the causes whereof I shall not now so muâ—h as hint at Augustin that great Ornament and Muniment of Hippo was taken away by death immediately before the barbarous Goths and Vandals sacked that City in which hee lived Ambrose his death was afore-runner of Italies ruine as Chytraeus reports and Luthers death according to his prediction was a fore-runner of