Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau of what sort soever he must be Deaths Prisoner Nay let there be a concurrance of all in one let Samuel be both a good Man and a good Minister c. and have as many Priviledges as are incident to a man yet can he not procure a Protection against this Officer his Mother may beg his Life but none can compound for his Death Speak we this according to men saith not the Scripture as much Wise men die saith David and Fools die Rich men die and poor too and therefore he calls both upon the Sons of Nobles and of the Earth to mind the Lesson indeed the Heathens could compare the Sons of Adam to Counters Chess Stage-plaies in reckoning Counters have their several Place and use for a time but in the end they are all jumbled on a heap in a Game at Chess some are Kings some Bishops c. but after a while they go all into the same Bag on the Stage one is in his rags another in his Robes one is the Master another the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place such and no other is the state of man We wear death in our faces and bear it in our bones we put it upon our backs and into our mouths and cannot be ignorant of it Yea the dead proclaim this Lesson go to the Earth and they that make their Beds in darkness and sleep in the dust will tell you that it s neither wisdom nor power nor strength nor friends nor place nor grace nor any thing else that can exempt from this Tribute of Nature Our deceased Brother here before us speaks this to all this vast Assembly If greatness of Spirit feature of Body gifts of mind chastness of life soberness in diet diligence in a calling Prayers of the Church would have given any advantage against death darkness and blackness had not at this time covered us That there is no Prescription against Death appears by these Reasons The first of which is taken from the Decree of God it s a Statute enacted in that highest Court the voice of Heaven that man should once die No man as yet hath breathed but he hath had his death or translation no man is yet to come but he must either see death or an alteration so hath Heaven concluded it and who can possibly reverse it The second is taken from the matter whereof all men are made the Scripture compares man to a house whose foundation is laid in the dust whose walls are made of Clay the whole is but a Tabernacle and that of Earth and that of mans building as Paul after Job tells us this is the estate of man of all men some are more painted than some but all earthen Vessels some more clear than some but all Glasses all built of earth all born of Women and therefore all short of continuance as Job infers The third is taken from the proper cause of Death Sin Sin is Poyson to the Spirits Rottenness to the Bones where it comes and where doth it not come And therefore now what 's to be done Vse 1. Surely as men that must travel stand not to dispute but Arm themselves for all Weather So must we die we must that 's already concluded young and old good and bad c. Whatsoever we be now we must be dead anon You will think strange perhaps of my pains in this kind whilst I perswade a Mortality For howsoever we can all say in the general we are Mortal nothing so sure as Death yet when it comes to our own particular we dream of an Immortality in Nature we never set any bounds to Life we do not resolutely conclude I must die shortly I may instantly this day may be the last that I shall see this hour the last that I shall spend this word the last that I shall speak this deed the last that I shall perform this place the last that I shall breath in and so live by the day by the hour But it is our duty daily to consider what it is to die what goes before it what comes with it what follows upon it For first before we come to the very Gate of Death we are to pass through a very strait long heavy Lane Sickness first tameth us which many times is worse than Death it self that renders us unfit for all Religious Services Prayer Repentance c. as being a time not of getting but of spending that cleaves the Head and pains the Heart and wounds the Spirits and leaves us so distressed that Meat is no Meat the Bed no Bed Light no Light to us that makes us catch at Death for help But alas what help in Death if not fore-thought of Oh the Misery of a poor Creature that is so pained that he cannot live so unprepared that he dares not die he goes to Bed but cannot sleep he tastes his Meat but it will not down he shifts his Room but not his pain Death saith the Conscience would end and amend all wert thou prepared for Death but to die before were to lose those Comforts one hath and to fall under those Curses that are unsufferable Ah beloved we may intimate somewhat of his Misery but it falls not within our thoughts to conceive what his fears be who hangs between Life and Death Earth and Hell thus forthwith ready to drop into flames at every stroke of Death and to sink down down down till he be gone for ever And yet this is not all When I am dead saith the Carnal wretch all the World have done with me He saith truth all the World and all the comforts of the World have done with him indeed he shall-never laugh more he shall never have a moments ease more But though the World hath done with him yet God hath not done with him he sends for his Soul having first taken order that the Body be forth coming convents that and dooms that and casts that from him with greatest indignation into such a place such a company such a condition as would make the Heavens sweat and the Earth shrink to hear it Ah beloved therefore without all delays as a man that is now dying as well as he for whom the Bell tolls though not haply so near to Death set upon two things First set your House in order next your Souls For the first you have your persons and things to look unto To begin with Persons so live with your Wives being Husbands with your Servants being Masters with your Children being Fathers as becomes dying Men exercise such wisdom kindness faithfulness mercy every day as thou wouldest do if thou knowest it to be the last day And for things mark me well hearken not to Satan who disswades all seasonable wills because he would administer the Goods by being timely in this Errand thou shalt not shorten thy days but
require Lo now I deliver him to your own will Much more might be said but the hour strikes again Pilate is now risen the Court dissolved and Jesus is delivered into the hands of the Jews for Execution How that went on the next hour will speak only God prepare your hearts to hear devoutly and to consider seriously what Jesus the great Saviour of the World hath suffered for you CHAP. VI. Of Christ's Crucifying with its Appendices ABout Eleven they prepare with all speed for the Execution in the revolution of this hour we may observe these several Passages As 1. Their taking off the Robe and clothing him again with his own Rayment 2. Their leading him away from Gabbatha to Golgotha 3. His bearing the Cross with Simon 's help to bear it after him 4. His comforting the Women who followed weeping after him as he went 5. Their giving him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall. 6. Their Crucifying or fastening him on the Cross whereon he dyed 1. The Evangelist tells us They took the Robe off from him and put his own Raiment on him Origen observes They took off his Robes but they took not off his Crown of Thorns what served their Interest they pursued still but nothing of mitigation or mercy to the afflicted Son of Man 2. They led him away Some say they cast a Rope or Chain about his Neck by which they led him out of the City to Mount Calvary and that all along the way multitudes attended him and a Cryer went before him proclaiming to all hearers the cause of his Death namely that Jesus Christ was a Seducer Blasphemer Negromancer a Teacher of false Doctrines saying of himself that he was the Messias King of Israel and the Son of God 3. He bore his Cross So John relates before it bears him he must bear it and thus they make good their double cry Crucifie him Crucifie him first Crucifie him with it as a burthen and then Crucifie him with it as a Cross 4. He comforted the Women who followed weeping after him as he went along And there followed him a great company of people and of Women which also bewailed and lamented him but Jesus turning to them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children In the midst of his Misery he forgets not Mercy in the midst of all their Tortures and loudest out-cries of contumely of Blasphemy of scorn he can hear his following Friends weeping behind him and neglect all his own sufferings to comfort them Weep not for me He hath more compassion on the Women that follow him weeping than of his own mangled self that reels along fainting and bleeding unto death He feels more the Tears that drop from their Eyes than all the Blood that flows from his own Veins We heard before that sometimes he would not vouchsafe a word to Pilate that threatned him nor to Herod that entreated him and yet unaskt how graciously doth he turn about his blessed bleeding Face to these weeping Women affording them looks and words too both of compassion and of consolation Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves 5. No sooner he was come to the place of Execution but they gave him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall In that they gave him drink it was an Argument of their Humanity this was a custom amongst Jews and Romans that to the Condemned they ever gave Wine to drink Give strong Wine unto him that is ready to perish and Wine unto those that be of heavy heart But in that they gave him Vinegar mingled with Gall it was an Argument of their Cruelty and Envy 6. They Crucified him i. e. they fastened him on the Cross and then lift him up A great Question there is among the Learned whether Christ was fastened on the Cross after it was erected or whiles it was lying on the ground I would not rake too much into these niceties only more probable it is that he was fastened to it whiles it lay flat on the ground and then as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so was the Son of Man lifted up We may express the manner of their acting and his sufferings now as a Learned Brother hath done before us Now came the Barbarous inhumane Hangmen and begin to unloose his hands but how alas 't is not to any Liberty but to worse bonds of Nails Then they stript off his gore-glewed cloaths and with them questionless not a little of his mangled skin and flesh as if it were not enough to crucifie him as a Thief unless they flea him too as a Beast then stretch they him out as another Isaac on his own burthen the Cross that so they might take measure of the holes and though the print of his blood on it gave them his true length yet how strictly do they take it longer than the truth thereby at once both to crucifie and rack him And by this time we may imagine Christ nailed to the Cross and his Cross fixed in the ground which with its fall into the place of its station gave infinite torture by so violent a concussion of the Body of our Lord. That which I mean to observe of this crucifying of Christ I shall reduce to these two heads viz. the shame and pain 1. For the shame It was a cursed death cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree When it was in use it was chiefly inflicted upon slaves that either falsely accused or treacherously conspired their Masters death but on whomsoever it was inflicted this death in all Ages among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of Ignominy 2. For the pain It was a painful death that appears several ways As 1. His Legs and Hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastning and then pierced through with Nails 2. By this means he wanted the use both of his Hands and Feet and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the Cross as being unable to turn any way for his ease 3. The longer he lived the more he endured for by the weight of his body his Wounds were opened and enlarged his nerves and veins were rent and torn asunder and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still 4. He died by inch-meal as I may say and not at once the Cross was a death long in dying it kept him a great while upon the Wrack it was full three hours betwixt Christs affixion and expiration and it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Ghost It is reported that Andrew the Apostle was two whole days on the Cross before he died and so long might Christ have been if God had not heightened it to greater degrees of Torment supernaturally CHAP. VII Of the Consequents after Christs crucifying THE Particulars following I shall quickly dispatch As thus 1. About twelve when the Sun is usually brightest it
Earth Let 's never frown upon Friends departure but rather see if possible the Messenger of this good tidings and bless the Lord for our advancement in theirs Indeed beloved we weep too fast when tears deny sight of Mercies In the death of Samuel there is gain to him as well as loss to us both should be remembred I know many present to be sensible of the one I shall be wrongful to conceal the other Truth it is there is fallen a great Man in Israel But how fallen Like Abner upon a violent Hand Or dyed he like a Fool Was he unsensible of his Estate Were his Hands his Mouth his Heart tyed Was his end without Honour No Brethren he died in a ripe Age when the Lord had made the most of his Life he died in Peace he died with hopes of Life in his heart with words of Grace in his lips and his Sun did set in the highest point in greatest brightness time place manner company Men Angels God and all conspired together to do him all Honour in his death Bless the God of all spirits for this all ye that are Interessed in the same Profession and Religion Bless the Lord for this that he so died in such a place in such a time in such a sort as the Devil hath received a foil and Religion grace and honour by it And thus Israel hath done his part in Mourning in Burying Samuel at his House at Ramah And now the more particular Application of all this brings me directly to the sad occasion of this present Meeting even to lament the fall of that Choice and Excellent Person Mr. John Dunton in whose Death the Almighty testifies against us and even fills us with Gall and Wormwood I know you come hither to mourn so fully prepared for it that although I am but a dull Oratour to move Passion I may serve well enough to draw out those Tears wherewith your Hearts and Eyes are so big and full There is no need to call for the Mourning Women that they may come and for Cunning Women that they may take up a wailing to help your Eyes to run down with Tears and your Eye-lids to gush out with Waters The very looking down upon this Bier and the naming of the Man whose Corps is here placed and a very little speech of his Worth and our miserable Loss is enough to make this Assembly like Rachel not only to lift up a voice of Mourning but even to refuse to be Comforted Dearly Beloved I must needs confess I am this day called to speak of a Man so eminent and excellent so wise and gracious so good and useful whose Works so praise him in every Gate that if I should now altogether hold my Tongue the Children and Babes I had almost said the stones would speak upon whose Herse could I scatter the sweetest Flowers the highest Expressions of Rhetorick and Eloquence you would think I fell short of his worth you would say his very Name expresseth more than all my words could do Should I say of him as they of Titus that he was Amor Deliciae generis Humani Should I say of his Death as once the Sicilians upon the Grecians departure Totum ver periit ex anno Siciliano should I say he was not only as one of David's Thirty Worthies but one of the three one of the first three even the first and Chief of them the only Man in these Parts who Preach'd as he liv'd should I say our whole Land groaneth at his Death as the Earth at the fall of a great Mountain I might do it without Envy in this great Assembly Yea should I write a whole Book in his Commendation and Publish it many of you would say as a Philosopher once did who falling on a Book Entituled Encomium Herculis said with Indignation Et quis Lacedaemoniorum eum vituperat He thought it time ill spent to praise him whom none could blame And I believe your selves are resolved to make some such Monument of your high Esteem of him that after-ages as well as the present shall know you valued him above my words I know large Encomiastical praises of the Dead unless their Lives were Eminent in Goodness and free from any notable blot are much condemned by the most Judicious and godly Divines as a thing of very evil consequence because they often prove Confections of Poyson to the Living for many whose Lives speak nothing for them will draw the Example into consequence and be thereby led into hope that they may Press a Hackney Funeral Sermon to carry them to Heaven when they dye On the other hand it may be said that though common Graves deserve no Inscription yet Marble Tombs are not without some Epitaph Heroical and Vertuous Examples should not go with a common Pass but with a Trumpet Since then it must be so jacta est alea I shall impose upon my self this Law not to Build his Monument of common stones nor trouble my self and you to gather such Flowers to cast upon his Grave as grow in common Fields nor descend or stoop to any thing which is not worthy of your highest Imitation First then For his Personal Endowments he was certainly 1. A Person of a very sweet Nature and Temper so affable and Courteous and chearful that he gained upon all that conversed with him and if any tax'd him with any Pride or Moroseness or distantialness in his carriage it must be only such as did not know him he had so winning a way with him he might bid himself welcom into whatsoever House he enter'd Pride and Moroseness are bad qualities for a Man of his Employ and make men afraid of the ways of God for fear they should never enjoy a good day after 2. A Person of a very great Gravity and could carry a Majesty in his Face when there was occasion and make the least Guilt tremble in his presence with his very Countenance I never knew a Man better loved nor more dreaded God had given him such a spirit with power that his very frowns were darts and his reproofs sharper than swords he would not contemn familiarity but hated that familiarity that bred contempt 3. A Person of a very large Charity He had large Bowels and a large Heart a great dexterity in the opening of the bowels of others as well as his own to works of Mercy that I think I may say there is not a Church in England that hath more often and more liberal Contributions for poor Ministers and other poor Christians than this hath according to the proportion of their abilities 4. A Person of a wonderful Patience Notwithstanding the many Weaknesses and Infirmities which for a long time have been continually without ceasing as it were trying their skill to pull down his frail Body to the dust and at last effected it yet I never heard an impatient word drop from him When I came to visit him and asked him How do
Habit him as his Son and as a Son of such a Father by all which he maketh the full demonstration of a perfect Reconciliation and not content herewith to give vent to his Joy that it might not overpower him whilst he confined it to his own bosom and perhaps also that those who had shared with him in his sorrows for the loss of a beloved Son might participate also in the joy of his Recovery he goes on bring out also the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found and they began to be merry In the midst of this extraordinary Jollity it happens the Elder Son who had always continued in his Duty towards his Father comes out of the Fields where he had been Negotiating his Fathers Affairs and wonders at the unusual Jubilee And when demanding the occasion they of the Family had made him acquainted with the whole matter he takes it ill and interpreting this marvellous transport of Joy at his Brothers return to be in derogation from himself as if his Father was too easie and inclinable towards him but severe to himself and unmind ful of the long and faithful Service he had done him begins to Expostulate the matter somewhat warmly with his Father but the good Old Man mildly replies Son I am very sensible of and set a just value upon the long course of your Obedience and I have it both in my Power and in my Will to Reward you 'T is true I have not hitherto made such Solemn expressions of my Love to you as I have now done upon this Occasion for the case did not require it you as you have been always Dutiful to me so you have had my House and all I have constantly to accommodate you as you have never Rebelled against me so you have never felt the hardships your Poor Brother hath undergone by his Foolishness and as you that have never offended me never could distrust my Favour nor need not such demonstrations of my Reconciliation which this former Guilt and Extravagancies of your now Penitent Brother renders necessary in his case so also was I never over-whelmed with Grief for you who were never lost but forasmuch as we have beyond all expectation received your Brother again whom we long since despaired of and had given up for lost you cannot wonder and you must allow me this unusual transport for I say again This your Brother was lost and is found was dead and is alive again But I will now Paraphrase no longer upon the Parable it self but proceed to the next Verse in my Text which containeth in it the purpose and resolution which the Prodigal Son had in his Heart upon the consideration of his sad and desperate Condition I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants In the former Verse we have this Prodigal in his deep Meditations comparing things together and weighing them in the Balance But behold whilst he mused the fire kindled in his bosom and now he speaketh I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. In the words these three specials are observed First What he resolves to do I will arise Secondly To whom he will go viz. to my Father Thirdly What he will say Father I have sinned It was high time for the Prodigal to think of returning to his Father when he was perishing by his Disobedience and had no further refuge but in his Fathers Clemency and sure it is time for the sinner to Repent and return to God when if he be sensible of any thing he cannot but be apprehensive that in the course he is in the danger of his Eternal Ruine is as certainly impendent as it is more intolerable But now to come to the particulars And first we are to consider what he resolves to do I will saith he arise and go c. There is a three-fold Resurrection of a Christian The first is Sacramental and thus we rise again in Baptism The second is Corporal and so we shall rise again in the day of the Lord Jesus in our Bodies from the Grave The third is Spiritual which is his Resurrection in this Life in Soul from the death of sin Thus did this Prodigal arise and thus doth every true Penitent arise while he here liveth on the Earth The point may be this That Repentance from sin is as a Resurrection from death this is plain by the Apostles words Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Vse 1. Is this so then Repentance is no such easie a matter as the World takes it to be the work of Repentance is no less Miraculous than the raising of the dead it is a work that cannot be wrought by the power of Nature but such a work as must be wrought by the mighty Power of God Vse 2. And that shall be to stir us all up thus to arise for if the Soul while it is in the Body arise not out of the Grave of sin sure it is the Body shall never rise out of the Earth but to shame and confusion use all good means therefore that thou mayest have thy part in this that so the second death may have no power on thee for otherwise it is impossible to escape the power of it by no means canst thou escape the pains of Hell Torments if thou dost not here awake stand up from the dead and with Lazarus come forth And goe It was a good and Holy motion which he had of arising this he doth not quench but cherisheth and nourisheth it he adds more fewel to this fire begun though but a spark to the good motion of arising he adds the second of going I will arise and go First then learn The good motions of Gods Blessed Spirit at any time in any measure though never so weak begun are not to be choaked but to be cherished When the Lord shall put any good motion into our Hearts we are to nourish and cherish the same to one good motion we must add a second and to that a third and to them many more and so fall to blowing and give not over until at length they break forth into a comfortable flame of Godly Practise He brings a forcible Reason Whereby you are sealed unto the day of Redemption This is the only Evidence we have of freedom from Condemnation this is Gods Mark and Character set on us and seizing us for his own This is like the Blood that was stricken upon the door-posts which shall make the Lord to pass over us and not to suffer the Destroyer to come near us when he goeth to smite the Egyptians By this we are assured that the day of
which causeth us to walk in newness of Life and live unto the Lord. Secondly the same spirit that doth cause us to leave sin doth bring us to the Lord enabling us to cry Abba Father as the Apostle speaketh Vse To Reprove many who will indeed confess there must be a turning and will also practice a change but it shall be from bad to worse from one sin to another As for Example how many do turn from Prodigality to Covetousness From Swearing to Cousening From Atheism to Popery From Profaneness to Hypocrisie And if these are to be Reproved then much more are such to be Condemned who turn from God to Sin from a Protestant to a Papist from a Professor to an Atheist How far are these from true Repentance What hope can they have who come short of those that come short of Heaven Take good notice of this you that have been forward and zealous but now are become Apostates and Back-sliders and hearken to the Councel given to the Church of Ephesus Remember whence thou art fallen and Repent and do thy first works or else I will come against thee quickly except thou Repent In the last place let this Admonish us to look that our turning be a true turning And as by sin we have departed with this Prodigal from our Fathers House so let us also arise with him and set forwards towards Heaven So or And After this Prodigal had resolved to go and humble himself unto his Father he did not debate any longer about the matter but forthwith rose up and went his way Repentance is not to be deferred but presently to be set upon so soon as God shall put the motion into our Hearts There may not be deferring or procrastinating but a speedy practice and execution First God is to be served before all God ever required in his Service the First Fruits and the First-born The firstlings are his Darlings Secondly we ought not to defer in respect of the shortness and uncertainty of Life Our Lives they are compared to a Pilgrimage to the flower of Grass to Wind to Smoak to a Vapour to a Dream and the like All which sheweth the shortness of our time and therefore our whole Life is little enough to spend in Gods Service But farther as it is short so also it is uncertain We have no assurance to live one hour we are here but Tenants at will and know not how soon our great Landlord will turn us out of this earthly Tabernacle We may be cropt off like an ear of Corn for what is this life but as a nest of straw and clay soon shaken a pieces Many have seen a fair bright morning who never beheld the evening as the Sodomites And upon many the Sun hath set in the evening to whom it never appeared rising in the morning So was it with the rich Glutton in the Gospel Seeing this is so we have great cause speedily to repent Fourthly because for the present thy estate is fearful the wrath of God hangs over thy head by a twined thred if thou hadst Eyes to see it thou eatest in danger of thy life thou drinkest in danger walkest in danger sleepest in danger lying between death and the Devil as Peter did between the two Soldiers bound with two Chains Now who would be in such a danger one hour for the gaining of a World But we hasten to the Uses And first This reproveth that wonderful madness and exceeding great folly of such as procrastinate and defer their Conversion to the Lord and put off their Repentnace though the Lord call them thereunto and offer them never so fit an opportunity But I have time enough to repent in say some what tell you me of Repentance as yet Is not God merciful Did he not shew mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of
mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of his Conversion for it was this look that brought home this Prodigal He saw him and looked on him with the eyes of pity and by looking upon him infused into him the secret efficacy of his spirit and pierced his heart with the beams of his grace which so prevailed with him that it brought him to repentance as it did with Peter which made him to go out and weep bitterly for his sins after he had thrice denied his Master Thus they make it as a cause of his Conversion And taking it thus this point will follow The Conversion of a sinner is from Gods free Grace Gods Grace is the cause of it Many pregnant Examples might be brought both of the unregenerate before their Conversion as also of the Regenerate in their falls after their Conversion for the further confirming this point in hand What disposition was there in the Apostle Paul to further his Conversion was he not breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of Christ Jesus and had he not procured a Commission from the High-Priests to bind all that were of that way Did not God behold him a far off Did he not look upon him from the habitation of his dwelling And did he not thus behold Matthew the Customer Zacheus the Usurer Mary the sinner and us Gentiles When we were as the Apostle saith without hope and God in the World being strangers from the Covenant of promise and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel I could bring variety of Examples that would serve to strengthen the point but I will remember you but of one more and so hasten to the Uses and that is of Peter was not God fain to look on him afar off before he repented He had denied his Master once and wept not yea twice yet shed not a tear though the Cock had crowed And the third time he denies him yet weeps not until Christ beholds him and then as the Text saith he wept bitterly Assuredly if Christ had not cast an eye on him and beheld him with a gracious aspect had a thousand several persons questioned with him about his Master he would have denied him a thousand times Thus a sinner is like an Eccho he cannot speak first to God but must answer a voice from God The Reasons And needs must this be so because we are dead in trespasses and sins as the Apostle saith and as the Father of this Prodigal avoucheth of him dead not in a swoon but dead stone-dead as we say and therefore have no more power to stir hand or foot for the furthering of our own Conversion then Lazarus had power to come out of the grave before Christ called him A second Reason why Gods Grace is all in all in the work of our Conversion may be this That all matter of boasting might be taken away for we are very ready to ascribe unto our selves that which of Right belongs unto the Lord. Thus have we seen the Reasons now let us hear the Uses And in the first place this may serve for Confutation first of the Pellagians who affirm that our good Actions and Cogitations proceed only from from free-will and not from Gods special Grace The second Use is for our Humiliation There is no goodness nor aptness in thee to that which is good why then shouldest thou be lift up with any conceit of thy self Oh beware of this boasting for whereof hast thou to boast Surely of nothing but sin and misery Thirdly Let it be for Exhortation to all such as have any tokens and signs of their Conversion to ascribe all the Praise and glory thereof unto the Lord. Say with David Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be the glory For it is of his mercy not of thy deserving Is there
to have spoken Blasphemy and the Fact to be notorious he then asked their Votes What think ye And they answered and said he is guilty of Death They durst not deny what Caiaphas had said they knew his Faction was very Potent and his Malice great and his Heart was set upon the business and therefore they all conspire and say as he would have them He is guilty of Death Oh here is Jesus's Sentence which should have been mine He is guilty of Death But this Sentence was but like strong dispositions to an enraged Fever they had no power at that time to inflict Death or such a Death as that of the Cross they only declared him apt and worthy and guilty of Death 5. For Peter's denial and abjuration While these things were thus acting concerning Christ a sad Accident happened to his Servant Peter at first a Damosel comes to him and tells him Thou wast with Jesus of Galilee and then another Maid tells the by-standers This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth And after a while they that stood by spake themselves surely thou art one of them for thy speech bewrayeth thee q. d. thy very Idiom declares thee to be a Galilean thou art as Christ is of the same Countrey and Sect and therefore thou art one of his Disciples Peter thus surprized without any time to deliberate he shamefully denies his Lord And 1. He doth it with a kind of subterfuge I know not what thou sayest He seems to elude the Accusation with this Evasion I know not thy meaning I understand not thy words I skill not what thou sayest 2. At the next turn he goes on to a licentious boldness denying Christ with an Oath I know not the man and lastly he aggravates his sin so far that he grows to impudence and so denies his Lord with cursing and swearing I know not the man Here 's a Lie an Oath and a Curse the sin is begun at the voice of a Woman silly Damosel not any of the greatest Ladies she was only a poor Serving-maid that kept the Doors but it grew to ripeness when the Men-Servants fell upon him now he swears and vows and curses himfelf if he knew he Man O Peter is the man so vile that thou wilt not own him Hadst thou not before confess'd him to be the Christ the Son of the living God and dost thou not know him to be Man as well as God Say is not this the Man-God God-Man that called thee and thy Brother Andrew at the Sea of Galilee saying follow me and I will make you Fishers of men Is not this he whom thou sawest on Mount Tabor shining more gloriously than the Sun Is this not he whom thou sawest walking on the water and to whom thou said'st Lord if it be thou bid me to come unto thee on the water How is it then that thou sayst I know not the man Surely here 's a sad example of human infirmity if Peter fell so foully how much more may lesser Stars And yet withal here 's a blessed example of serious through Repentance no sooner the Cock crew and Christ gave a look of Peter but he goes out and weeps bitterly The Cock was the Preacher and the look of Jesus was the Grace that made the Sermon effectual O the Mercy of Christ he looked back on him that had forgot himself he revives his servants memory to think on his Master's words he sends him out to weep bitterly that so he might restore him mereifully to his favour again 6. For the abuses and delusions of the base Attendants offered to Christ the Evangelist tells us then did they spit in his face and buffetted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee And as Luke adds many other things blasphemously speak they against him what those many other things were it is not discovered only some ancient Writers say That Christ in that night suffered so many and such hideous things that the whole knowledge of them is reserved only for the last day of Judgment Mallonius writes thus after Caiaphas and the Priests had sentenced Christ worthy of death they committed him to their Ministers warily to be kept till day and they immediately threw him into the Dungeon in Caiaphas 's House there they bound him to a stony Pillar with his hands bound on his back and then they fell upon him with their palms and sists Others add that the Soldiers not yet content they threw him into a silthy dirty puddle where he abode for the remainder of that night But we need not borrow light from Candles or lesser Stars the Scripture it self is plain Observe we these Particulars 1. They spit in his face this was accounted among the Jews a matter of great Infamy and Reproach And the Lord said unto Moses if her Father had but spit in her face should she not be ashamed seven days We our selves account this a great affront and so did Job I am their Song and their By word they abhor me they fly far from me and spare not to spit in my face 2. They buffet him We heard before that one of the Officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand but now they buffet him some observe this difference betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one is given with the open hand but the other with the fist shut up and thus they used him at this time they struck him with their fists and so the stroke was greater and more offensive By this means they made his face to swell and to become full of Bunches all over One gives it in thus By these blows of their sists his whole head was swoln his face became black and blew and his teeth ready to fall out of his Jaws 3. They covered his face Mark 14.65 Several Reasons are rendred for it As 1. That they might smite him more boldly and without shame 2. That they might not have that object of Pitty in their view it is supposed that the very sight of his admirable form so lamentably abused would have mollified the hardest heart under Heaven and therefore they veiled and hood-wink'd that alluring drawing Countenance 4. They smote him with the palms of their Hands saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee To pass away that doleful tedious night they interchangeably sport at him first one and then another gives him a stroke we usually call it a Box on the Ear and being hood-wink'd they bid him a-read who it is that smote him And now the dismal Night is done what remains but that we follow Christ and observe him in his Sufferings the next day The Psalmist tells us Sorrow may endure for a night but joy cometh in the Morning only Christ can find none of this joy neither Morning nor Evening for after a dismal Night he meets with as dark a day what the passages of the
having taken thy leave of the World shalt better attend on Death Things therefore unlawful restore I say again restore Things Lawful dispose of and as in a Journey hasty and uncertain wait the Call Up then my Brethren and lose no time Now the Wind serves hoyse up Sail now is the Market make your Provision now is the Seed-time sow apace as yet you have all Advantages from Grace and Nature Word Sacrament Wit Memory Sense Strength c. Now apprehend the Opportunity Repent and be Pardoned believe and be saved obey and be for ever blessed If any hath perswaded himself otherwise my Soul shall weep in secret for his destruction which I know will be as certainly effected as now it is plainly threatned Be entreated then let God entreat you and once over-rule you You must die you must die but once being once dead you return not to make a new Preparation do that once well which being once well done will make you Men nay more than Men than Angels for ever And this is the Use for your selves A second respects our Friends Vse 2. Must all die is there no Remedy Then must we have patience in our Friends departure a common Lot no man should shrug at even in the Poets judgment who quarrels Summer for some heat or Winter for some cold a Thorn for pricking or a Brier for scratching who is angry that he is framed like other men subject to like hunger like thirst like sleep and why I pray should not our Friends resemble others in their death as well as in their birth We would not have them have more Eyes or Hands than others and why more days What do we make of Life what of Death Surely to the godly Life is but a Prison Death is an Advantage Say our Friends were tyed in Prison would we begrudge them liberty say toss'd on the Seas would you envy them the Haven say doubtful in the Skirmish would you be sorry for their Victory nay say but beaten with a Tempest would you not wish them at home Believe it Brethren this World is but a Sea a Prison this Life a Journey a Warfare if God hath prevented our Wishes shall he be returned frowardness Shall we trouble the Air with needless Crys my Husband my Father my Father as if we were the first Widows and Orphans in the World No let them mourn without hope whose life and death is without hope as for Christians who die living and live dying they lose nothing by death For first if we descend to particulars the body that is stript of all sinful and natural defects the abortions of sin and filled with all heavenly contemplations of mortal it becomes immortal of corruptible incorruptible there is no use of Meat Apparel Sleep Beds c. of dishonourable glorious like in its measure to the body of Christ which is the standard In short whatsoever might make to the annoying blemishing dishonouring disquieting of the body is removed whatsoever might make it amiable active honourable glorious comfortable is added the glory of the Sun will be but darkness to it For the Soul that is first eased of all the rags and relicques of sin delivered of Ignorance Pride Self-love c. delivered next of all the consequences of sin griefs guilts fears accusations yea delivered of all things which may any way import an imperfect state through an upright heart as Faith Repentance hungering after Righteousness c. And then in a second place it is filled with the Image of Jesus Christ First all the powers and faculties thereof are perfected and advanced above the ordinary strain of Nature Next all those Vessels are stuffed with knowledg love and all things else that are there requisite and not only so but the Soul is furnished with all the attendances of Christs Image everlasting joy perpetual peace a constant correspondency and communion with God and in brief whatsoever might offend stain blemish the Soul is removed and whatsoever might enrich it ennoble it and make it blissful is according to each mans measure added And thus of the person The rest we dispatch with all speed For the Estate thus there shall be nothing that shall be wanting that shall trouble distract or discontent there shall be nothing that the Soul shall then desire but there it is For the place thus There shall be nothing less than what shall be desired nothing more that can be desired what it is the Word no where for ought I know tells us The Church on Earth is more rich than Gold more precious than Pearl more bright than the Sun more glorious than the Moon but what is there to be seen Paul could not utter we cannot conceive only this we know that none shall be ever weary of it or willing to alter it Lastly for the Company there be of three sorts First Angels who shall not then terrifie but attend the worst and lowest Servant there shall be an Angel Secondly all the famous and godly men that ever lived there shall we meet with Adam Abraham c. there shall we be acquainted with David Paul Cypr. de morte ad Fratres c. Thirdly the blessed Trinity there shall we see him who hath done and suffered so much for us him whom the Fathers before and since his Incarnation so much longed to see Jesus Christ the blessed all which considered and believed what can we less do than abandon all fruitless and fleshly tears for our Friends departed what way are they gone but the way of all flesh with whom do they live but with Samuel with God Where are they but in better place and case with better Friends than ever before In stead of carking therefore do two other things First whilst Friends be present do the part of a Friend in praying for them in calling upon them and in fitting of them to death that so thou mayst have peace in thy self and hope of them in their departure else when thy Conscience shall say unto thee Wretched man thy Wife thy Child thy Charge is now dead and for ought thou knowest in Hell if not no thanks to thee for thou wast never the man that would call upon them pray with them or mind them of their Departures when I say thy Conscience shall thus great thee thou shalt not tell how to take it Secondly when they are gone to bed and fast asleep awake them not with thy cries but make ready to follow after so the time shall be best redeemed the loss and cross best improved and Satan who loves to fish in such troubled waters most prevented And so far this Use We will touch upon a third as we pass and that is this Must we all die then here is a cooler for the wicked and a comfort for the godly The wicked holds all his comforts only for term of life death ends his wealth his glory his peace his joy his comforts his contentments all his portions is only in
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men
the glory of the World comes to the Funeral all Israel all at once in the same 〈◊〉 they come from far they 〈…〉 wings of the 〈…〉 all Mourn 〈…〉 to bury him in his own Town at his own House What can be done more in Samuel's Honour To be Buried is an Honour buried in ones own Countrey much in his own place more but to be so buried as Samuel was in such a place by such a People with so many Tears so great a Solemnity this is Samuel's Happiness and the Saints Honour You see then our third Doctrine An Holy and Profitable Life ends in a Happy and Honourable Death Life is Deaths Seed-time Death Lifes Harvest As here we sow so there we reap as here we set so there we gather of Holiness Happiness and of a blessed Life a Death as blissful He that spends himself upon God and Man shall at the last have all the Honour that Heaven and Earth can cast upon him So Samuel found it so Jacob few men comparable to him in Holiness as few so Honourably Buried So Asa Hezekiah Josiah David c. but especially for Josiah and Hezekiah those great Reformers those Profitable Members the Text takes special notice of their Obsequies Josiah having received his Deaths-wound abroad is brought home in his Chariot and much Honour attends him to his 〈◊〉 he is Buried amongst his Fathers and 〈…〉 nay all Judah and the Neighbouring Towns are Mourners Vse And is this so Then here we see what course must be taken if we will arrive at Honour Men may dream to meet with Honour in many paths they may think to make their Name famous by other means But when they have tyred themselves in seeking this in by-paths as the young Students Elijah's Body they must with them seek in Heaven if ever they will find A Godly fruitful Life hath a fairer prospect towards Honour than all the Advantages in the World besides Be one as poor as Onesimus yet if Onesimus that is Profitable his Name out-lives him Be one as great as King Jehoram or Jehoiachim if he idle out his Life he lives undesired he dyes unlamented What we hear spoken we see executed in all Ages Consult with your own Experience and tell me whether the Names of Idolaters Drunkards Adulterers Swaggerers be not rotten and accursed in despite of all Monuments Titles Offices Policies Favours whatsoever When in the mean time the Righteous notwithstanding all slanders clamours imputations and aspersions is of blessed Name and Memory And if so feed upon the Wind no longer build Babels no more lay no more Foundations in Hell whilst you think to erect a Building by flattery baseness dependency lying swaggering c. but go to the Lord of Honour for lasting Honour Pray much Read much Hear much Honour him in all the passages of his Worship and you have his word for your Preferment And as for men be to them as Jehoiada was profitable and they shall be to you as Israel to him Merciful Ah the fruitful liver finds Mercy in his death his Conscience favours him and heartens him upon death it self The Angels of God those Officers of Heaven comfort him and fetch him in all state to his Crown the Lord of Glory receives him with all Honour and puts upon him the Glory of Heaven the Saints departed regard him as a part of themselves of Christ the Saints living honour his Name and follow him to Heaven with their Loves and Affections The wicked have a world of Commendations for him and the blind Balaam can say O that my end may be like his Thus Honour and Happiness and nothing else abide us hereafter if now we can lay forth our selves to God and Mans Advantage But for the wicked who bestow themselves in the World like Drones in the Hive who either have no Calling or do no Service and towards God so demean themselves as if they were his betters scorning his Children scoffing at his Word trampling upon his Name his Sabbaths his Worship let them never deceive themselves their Names shall rot they shall find no favour in Death their Consciences shall brawl them out of all quiet Men shall rifle into their lives their whoredoms treacheries villanies shall flie thorow the world every Drunkard shall sit upon them every rake-hell judge them censure them and deride them In the mean time whilst that the Name is thus torn below the Soul is brought before the Judge Convicted Committed to Hell covered with shame delivered up to everlasting contempt O then be not cursed but blessed be Happy be Honoured be well thought of in Life well spoken of after Death be Righteous be Humble be Serviceable this is the way as Heaven tells us a Samuels Life will draw on a Samuels Death nothing else In a second place let this afford comfort to fruitful Members and faithful Christians Let them know that the World will change ere-long the wicked who have now the applause must down the godly who are as yet under shame shall one day shine as so many glorious Suns in the highest Heavens Yield then beloved to the Worlds Sons let them have the place give them leave to speak the time will come when Honour shall know its home and Innocency have its Crown All the wiles in the World shall not keep the wicked from contempt nor all the wits in Hell the Godly from Honour Samuels Name may be over-cast and clouded for a time but in the end his light will shew it self Whilst he is present he is not valued but this is Samuels Honour when gone he is mist when dead he is lamented all Israel strives to do him all Honour Blessed be that Life that ends in so glorious a death thrice happy that Man whom Angels God and all Men do strive to Honour A true Christian may travel in life under Troubles and Contempts but marke his end and you shall find as Peace so Honour When he is Buried a true and honourable Funeral is Solemnized men mourn not in the Face but in the Heart respect him not in shew but in truth their Consciences Reverence him their Souls find a miss of him the Angels of Heaven man him in a goodly Train to Heaven the Saints on Earth follow him with greatest Affections to his Grave Seven nay thrice seven Years after the Funeral he is not forgotten Thus are the men whom the great King loves Honoured And now shall Men and Women bear with patience the absence of dearest Friends when it is for their outward preserment And when Christ would Marry a Child prefer a Friend advance our Acquaintance should we stand off No If this be the worst that Death can do to the Godly to strip him of his Rags and cloath him with Robes to free him from all contempts and possess him of greatest Honours to redeem him from all shame and to Crown him with Glory in the Hearts Mouths Consciences of Men in the face of Heaven and