Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Is his mercy cleane gone for ever and doth his promise faile for evermore hath God forgotten to be gracious hath hee in anger shut up his tender mercies vers 7 8 9. Of latter times there are divers instances of very religious Christians among whom have been some worthy Divines who for a time have had their Faith so fearfully shaken as if it were ready to be pluckt up by the rootes as Luther that invincible Antagonist against the great Antichrist who after his conversion lay three dayes in desperation as M. * M. Perkins of spirituall desertion vol. 1. pag. 417. Perkins remembreth in his Booke of Spirituall Desertion Where also he makes mention of one M. Chambers who died in despaire saying he was damned Yet saith that judicious Divine it is not for any to note him with the black marke of a Reprobate for one thing saith he hee spake in extremity which must move all men to conceive well of him which was O that I had but one drop of Faith for by this it seemes be had a heart to repent and believe and therefore a penitent and believing heart indeed so far he and which may be an instance of much more moment to fence our hearts against finall despaire and to suspend our censures of others salvation when they seem as lost and forsaken by their heavenly Father We have it upon Evangelicall record that our Saviour on the Crosse cryed O God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 Such words he uttered as man when as God as agood * Habes in conquerente reliclum se esse quia homo est habes eundem profitentem Latroni in Paradiso regnaturum quia Deus est Hilar. Can. 33. in Math. Father observeth hee promised Paradise to the converted Thiefe Luk. 23.43 Thirdly Had this young Gentleman died before he had been delivered from his fearfull distrust I should have imputed those passionate words which he uttered not to the disposition of his heart but to the distemper of his head And in his head rather to the lightnesse of his fancy which is most easily both moved and misled and which with memory and common sense is familiar and common to mankind with the beasts of the field then to his understanding wherein man partaketh with the excellency of the Angells and should have made my conjecture of his death by the antecedents of his life in the state of health which were such as if he had taken S. Paul's practice for his patterne which was so to exercise himselfe as to have alwayes a conscience void of offence towards God and man Act. 24.16 And such a life as †Non potest male mori quibene vixerit audeo dicere non potest malè mori qui bone vixerit Aug. inoperib Tom. 9. de disciplin cap. 2. Augustine or some other antient Writer under his Name sheweth can never end in a wretched death He that lived well cannot dye ill I dare say saith he againe he that hath lived well cannot dye ill Fourthly But that we should make no more doubt of his happy death then of his holy life God gave him a glorious victory over his violent enemy as to ¶ Luther in the place forementioned M. Iohn Glover Act. and Monum vol 3. pag. 423. col 2. Mistris Kath Bretergh See the Book of her life and death pag. 12 13 c. printed 1617. M Peacock Fellow of Brazen-nose Colledge Oxford pag. 25 c. Printed 1641. divers others of his deare children for he gave him not only a just apprehension of those wild words which recalled to his remembrance when his passion was becalmed had escaped his lipps but withall such a detestation of them as to account them a rebellion against the promised mercies of Christ and such a resolution against them that in most emphaticall manner he professed I will never rebell against thee my God any more Never Never Never and being conscious to himself that this retractation of his was cordially sincere he said of it with like affectionate expressions Was there ever such contrition and so having recovered his comfort and resolved for death with assured hope of everlasting life within a little while after he gave up the ghost What now remaineth but that his soule received by God his heavenly Father his body be committed to his earthly Mother and the example of his life laid up as a Legacy for those that survive him especially for young Gentlemen and great Heyres as he was that whether they live to possesse the Inheritance of their Fathers below or not they may when they dye inherit the Kingdome prepared from the foundation of the world for which Kingdome good Lord we pray thee daily to prepare us and in thy good time bring us unto it for thy deare Sonne Jesus Christ his sake Amen FINIS
lives ‖ Arist Hist Animalium 11.6 cap. 22. being 30. yeares and what effects this affection worketh in the flesh when it is too fleshly Solomon partly sheweth Prov. 5.11 where he forewarneth the wanton of the consumption of the flesh by that meanes whereby though death approach with a slow pace yet it breeds a disease more painefull then death more shamefull then hanging and sometimes killeth as sodainely as the sharpest Sword when it is thrust to the heart whereof the †Plin. Hist cat lib. 7. cap. 53. Naturall Historian giveth for instance the example of Cornelius Gallus who had beene Lord Pretor and of T. Aetherius a Romane Knight both dying in the very act of unchastity Contrary to Love are Envie and Wrath yet as if they were reconciled for mans ruine they both concurte with it to impaire his health and to hasten his death Envie is a disease in the inward parts fretting asunder the heart-strings and eating into the very bones Prov. 14.30 which how unjustly soever set against anothers good for the dislike of that whether it be in deed or in appearance sets it on worke hath in this respect some affinity with justice since it joyneth the * Carpitque carpitur una suppliciumque suumest Ov Met punishment and sinne together for while an envious man repines at others he pines away himselfe and so is Eliphas his saying made good upon him to his hurt Envy slayeth the Ideot Job 5.2 Of Anger he giveth the same deadly sentence in the same place which is sometimes executed on the sodaine not only by a transient violence upon another but by an immanent vehemence upon the person of the Angry as a * Magirus against Galen Phi. 1.6 c. 16. late learned Philosopher sheweth confuting the opinion of an antient and famous Physitian and wondring that he holdeth otherwise and the reason he giveth of this deadlinesse of Wrath is because saith he it forceth the vitall spirits out of the heart without which a man cannot live Hope is another passion under which man is many times passive for hope deferred maketh the heart sick saith Solomon Prov. 13.12 and if utterly disappointed it turneth that sicknesse to death for as the Proverbe hath it but for hope the heart would breake so the hope being quite lost the heart is not likely long to hold out especially if the object of hope were a matter of moment Feare hath likewise a deadly force upon feeble spirits for ″ Causa multis moriendi suit morbum suum nosse Senec de brevit vitae ca. 18. pa 180. some have dyed for feare they should dye as a Gentleman at the siedge of S. Paul in France ″ Bishop Hall of Chistian moderation li 1. Sect 14. p. 158. fell downe starke dead in the breach without any stroake or touch save what his heart gave him by a fearfull apprehension of danger neere hand For sorrow how killing a passion that is we may learne by the plea of Judah with Joseph for the reducing of his Brother Benjamin back to Jacob It shall come to passe saith he when hee seeth that the Lad is not with us that hee will dye and thy servants shall bring the gray haires of thy servant our Father with sorrow to the grave Gen. 44.31 which though it usually kill by degrees inward griefe wearing the heart as teares doe the cheekes without yet sometimes it is such as slayeth outright upon the sodaine as * Charron of wisdome lib. 1 cap. 31. pag. 103. 1 Sam 4.18 some have observed and this appeareth by the holy story for that was it which smote old Eli to the heart before he fell downe and brake his neck for when a Messenger from the Warres brought sad tydings of the victory of the Philistimes against the Israelites hee fell backward and broke his neck upon the mention of the taking of the Arke which is particularly noted in the Text 1 Sam. 4.18 as the worst part of that ill newes and which set such a sad weight of sorrow upon his heart as bore him downe to the ground from whence he was never able to rise againe If any passion or affection be a friend to nature it is Joy yet that may prodigally dissipate the vitall spirits as the story of the Queene of Sheba sheweth 1 King 10.5 and what enemy more deadly then that when as * Plin. Nat. Hist l. 7. c. 53. Pliny noteth a Woman that thought her Son dead at the Battle of Canna dyed with an excesse of Joy at the sight of him could she have sped worse in the middest of the Battle ″ Ibid. so did Sophocles and Denis of Cicely being overjoy'd upon tidings brought unto them that they had won the best prize among the Tragicall Poets Besides the diseases of the body and passions of the mind within a man which in their excesse doe violently chase and force the soule out of its rightfull possession there come upon him many killing mishaps from without for very small matters may be of great moment to hasten the dispatch of death There is an ¶ In Nubia quae est Ethiopia sub Egypto venenum est cujâ—â— grani unius decima pars hominem vel unuÌ„ granum decem homines c. Dan. Senect Hypomnem Phys Hypom 2. cap. 2 pag 47. Ethiopian poison whereof one graine will kill a man in a moment and being devided into ten parts will kill ten men in a quarter of an houre and as mans life is a vapour so he whose breath if he would have formed it into a doome of condemnation might have been deadly to many had his breath stopped his life taken from him by the vapour or sent of a new white-limed Chamber It was * Hier. Epist Tom. 1. pag. 40. Jovianus the Emperour and the ‖ Bucholz Ind. Chronol Iud. Chronol ad An. 1574. p. 638. Cardinall of Loraine was lighted to his lodging and to his long-home both at once by a poisoned Torch and a lesse thing then a Torch a Candle lesse then a Candle the sent of the Snuffe of it may put a Woman into †Plin. nat hist lib 7. cap. 7. an untimely travaile and put her to pangs of Child-birth and of death both together The second generall cause of mans short and uncertaine life is bloody hostility for there are many men of blood and Belial and some are so mad upon desperate adventures that as the Wise man saith they lay waite for their owne blood they lurke privily for their owne lives Prov. 1.18 but more for the blood and lives of others who say unto their associates Come with us let us lay waite for blood let us lurke privily for the innocent without cause ver 11. We shall finde all pretious substance wee shall fill our houses with spoile v. 12. who out of greedinesse of gaine take the life of the owners thereof v. 19. and as out of greedinesse of gaine
A MONITOR OF MORTALITIE In two SERMONS By a consideration of the manifold and uncertaine surprizalls of Death guiding the pace and passages of a Temporall life towards the obtainement of life eternall OCCASIONED By the death of that hopefull young Gentleman JOHN ARCHER Esquire Sonne and Heire to Sir Simon Archer Knight of Warwick-shiere AND By the death of Mistris Harpur a Grave and Godly Matron Wife to Mr. Henry Harpur of the City of Chester and of the death of their religious Daughter Phaebe Harpur a Child of about 12. Yeares of age By Iohn Ley Minister of Great Budworth in Cheshiere DEUT. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Ita fit ut immortalitas excâ—â—sa in perpetuum ad tempus recepta Mortalitas hominem constituat in ea condâ—â—ione ut sit in qualibet aetate Mortalis Lact. de opificio Dei cap 4. LONDON Printed by G.M. for Christopher Meredith at the Signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard M.DC.XLIII TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL And worthy Knight Sr. Simon Archer and to the vertuous Lady the Lady Anne Archer his wife I. L. wisheth the most desirable welfare of both worlds Right Worshipfull BY these Papers which now I send you your suspensive thoughts of my silence wherein I conceive your charity would not bee forward to condemne me of neglect may receive satisfaction and assurance that I have neither forgotten how much your goodnesse hath engaged me to you and yours nor am willing to pretermit any fit opportunity which may represent me as gratefull to my friends as they are gracious to me They had sooner appeared in your sight if dutie to the publike had not anticipated my time and endeavours for another service And yet they are now so much more seasonable as time hath the more reduced you to that dispassionate temper wherein you were before your hopefull Sonne had made his happy change from Earth to Heaven And surely a departure hence to such a blessed place must needes be then most happy when remaining here as now if ever is most perilous I shall not need then I hope for support of your patience to presse upon you in particular the consideration either of his high advancement above the state of Mortalitie and misery or of GODS peculiar right to doe with his owne as hee will Matthew 20.15 Or mans common lot which is alwayes to be so subject unto death that the a Hebreum nomen Methim per sceva significat mortales per tzere mortuos Marian. Annot. in Deut. 2 34. Lorinus in eundem locum Tom. 1. Com. in Deu. p. 106. col 1. word in the Hebrew which in English is rendred men Deutr. 2.34 with the various situation of two little prickes signifieth as some observe both mortall or lyable to death and dead indeed And when it is the generall condition of all man-kinde it is held by the wise an Argument of b Quis tam superbae impotentisque arrogantiae est ut in hac naturae necessitate omnia in eundem finem revocantis se unum ac suos se poni velit Sen. de consolat ad Polyb c. 24. impotence or arrogance for any to expect a particular exception of themselves or theirs Nor because his death was in respect of the ordinary course of mans life unexpected or sodaine will it be requisite to commend to your serious meditation the saying of c Stultissimâ— sunt qui de morte immaturâ quaeruntur Lactant. de Opificio hominis ca. 4. Lactantius censuring the folly of those who complaine of deaths immaturity or the opinion of d Plin. Nat. Hist l. 7. cap. 53. Pliny That sodaine death is the greatest happinesse that can befall man It will bee enough if with the piety and prudence wherewith you were wont to read such serious and sad discourses you please to entertain this which I here present to your attentive perusall And although it be thus now proposed to common view it is yours by peculiar interest and that two fold The one Naturall in his name and by his occasion who in part by Nature once was yours but now by grace and glory is wholly Gods The other Morall as from my selfe who have a power and hold my selfe obliged in Iustice to doe you right herein and in Gratitude to give some publike Testimony in this kind how much I am and desire to remaine upon record From my lodging at the Bishops head in Pauls-Church-yard May 10. 1643. In most faithfull and affectionate endeavours your devoted Servant Iohn Ley. IT is ordered this nine and twentieth day of Aprill 1643. by the Committe of the House of Commons in Parliament concerning Printing that this Funerall Sermon upon Iam. 4.14 be printed by Christopher Meredith Iohn White On the Death of the Worthy Gent. Iohn Archer Esq IF to attend upon this sable Herse Griefe could break forth the language of a Verse Or that ought might be spoke save sighes and teares Which this hath taught us more then publike feares Sorrow should learne to number words and try The measur'd smoothnesse of an Elegie But I m'e a naturall mourner and can keepe In Griefe no method without forme I weepe My Quill is drencht in Teares Yet shall it truth By Parts relate and shew his full blowne youth Whose Life was pluckt like the more forward Rose Cause in it Rarenesse and Perfection growes His Autumne Vertues flourisht in the Spring Of Dayes And Harvest did his greene Yeares bring So pure and upright was his hallowed brest As sinne was not an inmate Ill no Guest His Passions wore his Livery and All Themselves his Servants not his Masters call As Nature gave them to him so did he By Reason keepe them under Lock and Key His mind was a Republique fraught with store Of Graces not comprisedith ' Indian Shore He chang'd no Vertue by the change of Aire Nor was he lesse himselfe because lesse Faire Rome might scorch off some beauty from his skinne But not imprint deformity within His Soule in Penitence was cins't betimes Not in Arrerage of some former Crimes And we may guesse by this uncalmed State Death came not for to punish but Translate So doth the tender Father stretch his Armes To ridde his Babe from neere approaching Harmes Confines it to it's home and makes it know Safetyes with him not in the street below Man 's but a wandring Child a Plant whose root Is rais'd to Heaven and still must upwards shoot His Head unlike to Earthly Grasses not found Or cherisht in the bosome of the Ground If then our Friend or Father snatch the Clay Wherein like Babes we insecurely Play And pull us from the storme which Clouds portend Shall we not kisse that hand and thanke that Friend 'T is true if by Arithmetick we count Thy Glasse of time Deare Sir many surmount Thy Yeares sinne longer but wee 'l to thy Praise Recount thy Acts whilest others
out of credit too so as if it were some base and beggerly rudiment and could not without indignity to the discipline of the Gospell be continued The cause of this dislike and disdaine besides the inconsideration and negligence of many hath beene an over-high estimation of it in some who have set it up above the preaching of the Word and that so farre as for it to put downe the afternoones Sermon and some to cry quittance with such contempt would excummunicate Catechising out of the Church and yet both pretend the edification or building up of the people in Religion strange builders they be doubtlesse who either refuse the foundation of Catechisticall grounds or admitting of the ground-worke permit not the super-structure of preaching to be placed upon it but since authority hath restored the Sabbath to its right of a double service from the Pulpit so that the sacred seeds-men are allowed according to Solomons counsell In the morning to sow their seed and in the evening not to let their hand rest because they know not whether shall prosper this or that or whether they both shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 It were to be wished that the other service were resumed to ordinary practise and if any have so far Idolized it as in a blinde zeale unto it to blaspheme preaching * Mr. Prin in the Epist Dedicat before his first part of the Antipath of the Prelacy Ep. pag. 13. saying that expounding of the Catechisme is as bad as preaching we must not for all that revenge the wrong done to it upon that exercise which is of so good use to edification as hath been shewed but as we keep up the reputation both of prayer and preaching though some have cried up the one to put downe the other so should we uphold the practice of preaching and catechising as usefull assistants the one to the other both being ordered so as in pious discretion they ought to be so as may most promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls and with this we may well conclude the forme of this Question and so proceed to a consideration of the matter of it and of that first in Generall then in Particular The latter will fitly fall into the handling of the answer to which I will reserve it and for the Former it may minister unto us an Observation for the moving of grave and serious questions such were those of our Saviour before cited out of his Sermon in the Mount to which we will adde another of his of a matter of more weight and moment then the whole world It is that in the 16th of Mat. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and loose his owne soule or what shall a man give in exchange for his soule which importeth that if there could be such a bargaine made that a man might have the whole world for the sale of his soule he should for all that be a looser by it for he might notwithstanding bee a bankrupt a beggar begging in vaine though but for a drop of cold water to coole his tongue Luk. 16.24 for prevention of which losse and distresse the Apostle multiplies many materiall questions in Emphaticall manner concerning the meanes viz. an utter estrangement from communion with the wicked which he presseth in this sort What fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse what communion hath light with darknesse what concord hath Christ with Belial what part hath he that beleeveth with the Infidell 2 Cor. 6.14 15. In such Questions as these is alwayes somewhat presupposed expressed or prepared whereby the hearer may be bettered since they are good to the use of edifying Ephes 4.29 and that they may be so to us we will now make some application of them and therein we shall first addresse a direction and admonition for materiall and profitable inquiries and then a reproofe to vaine curious and wicked Questions For the first it will be matter of great advantage Vse 2. for a prosperous passage to our Land of Promise to have in readinesse a catalogue of such Questions as may most conduce to quicken our consideration and care both of our present and future state and by them every day to catechise our selves in some such manner as this What is my Constitution whence mine Originall whither by dissolution shall I be drawne or driven am I not composed of a mortall body and of an immortall soule was not that at the first from the dust and shall it not at last be resolved into dust againe and my soule immediately derived from God infused by creation and created by infusion into my body and of much more value not only then it but then the whole world besides what is it that uniteth them together is it not the breath of life and what is that either breath or life is it any better then a quick vanishing vapour at least vanishable every moment And when it is vanished and my soule seperated from my body whither goeth it what becometh of it is it not put into a state whether of woe or welfare immutable and the lot of an happy or unhappy change answerable to the choice of an holy or unholy course And though by death my body be not only vile and lothsome both to sight and sent but farre asunder from my soule whether it be in Heaven or Hell for though Hell and the grave have both one * Sheoâ— Name the regions of darknesse and of the first and second death are at a very great distance will it not become by concomitance perpetuall partaker of the same condition with my soule whether it be carried by the Angells into Abrahams bosome or hurried by the Devils into the infernall pit Thence will fitly follow the question of the converted Keeper of the Prison I say keeper of the prison rather then of the prisoners for they were miraculously enlarged their bands loosed the doores opened by God for their deliverance Act. 16.33 What must I doe to be saved and must I not as he was presently taught be saved by my Faith by Faith in the pretious blood of the Sonne of God And doth not that Faith engage me to love him above all either things or persons and that love oblige me to keepe his Commandements even to the deniall of my desires and delights were they as deare unto me as my right eye or right hand to the laying downe of my life for him as he did for me and the renouncing of my nearest friends * Licet parvulus ex collo pendeat nepos licet sparso crine scissis vestibus ube a quibus te nutrierat mater ostendat licet Pater in limine jaceat percalcatum perge Patrem siccis oculis ad vexillum crucis evola Hieron ad Heliodoâ—uÌ„ Tom. 1 p. 2. when they shew themselves to me most affectionately friendly to take up his Crosse though I should be sure to sinke under
it as low as the grave and is it not my duty and his due having saved me from death by dying for me that I should serve him in holinesse and righteousness all the dayes of my life And besides my daily devotion to him doe I not owe him the solemne service of a weekely Sabbath in his Sanctuary and when I come to the place where his honour dwelleth should I honour him as hypocrites doe with my lipps and keepe my heart farre from him doth not he know the secrets of my soule better then any one knoweth either my body or my raiment which is most in sight and doth he not hate hypocriticall eye-service as a meere mocking of him to his face And should not I make his Sabbath such a delight unto my soule as not onely not to be weary of well-doing in the duties of the day but to long for the returne of it in the revolution of the weeke Is not his word more pretious then thousands of gold and silver in tast more delicious then the hony and the hony combe and are not the dainties of his Table his flesh for meate his bloud for drinke a more refreshing and satisfying Feast without cloying satiety then all the variety of Vitellius his Table though furnished with no fewer then * Suet. in vita Vitel. Chap. 13. 9000. dishes at a Meale And after these Quaeries of Piety that we may without halting and with uprightnesse and integrity walke in the duties of both Tables it will be requisite that for the practife of Justice and Charity we pose our selves with such inquiries as these Ought I not to doe unto all men as I would have all men doe unto me And is not this the summe of the law and the Prophets Math. 7.12 would not I be pittied comforted and succoured were I in any distresse of mind of body or estate Would I not if I had offended another rather have the wrong remitted then pursued to revenge And if another had offended me would I not wish that he should offer himselfe to reconciliation with me Would I be spoyled or defrauded of my right reviled to my face reproached or rashly censured behind my backe Such Questions as these taken first and last like a physicall receipt for the soule to which you may adde more of your selves and some more pertinent to your owne particular condition if by serious consideration put close to our consciences and pressed home to a full resolution and conclusion would make us better Christians in the Church better Subjects of the King and State better neighbours in City and Country better members of the family under any of the occonomicall Relations of husbands wives parents children masters or servants hosts or guests then commonly are to be found in the societies of men To these directions morall reason giveth her consent and suffrage as we may observe in the saying of Cicero to * Si haec duotecum verbareputasses quid ago respirasset cupiditas avaritia paululum Cicer. Orat. pro Quintio Nevius If thou hadst put this short Question to thy selfe what doe I or what am I about to doe thy concupiscence and covetousnesse had not made such post-haste to the prejudice of another mans right Now from our direction in putting interrogatories to our selves we must turne to correction and reproofe of those who either make no enquiries at all or make them amisse not of things materiall and usefull for the former sort there are divers who constantly forbeare that which the Apostle but in some cases forbids that is asking of Questions for conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.25 never communing with their owne hearts as the Psalmist counselleth Psal 4.4 nor examining themselves as the Apostle prescribeth 2 Cor. 13.5 they will have the more to answer for one day and the lesse to answer for themselves when their owne consciences which by their sensuality and Satans subtilty are laid a sleepe shall be awakened to witnesse against them at Gods Tribunall where when they shall be particularly questioned as Cain was Gen. 4.6 7 9. They will not be able to answer one of a thousand Job 9.3 Now for those who question amisse some are impertinent some trifling some curious and presumptuous some distrustfull some blasphemous Questionists for the first sort they are such as are busie and inquisitive into such matters as most concerne others but themselves little or not at all a spice of this inquisitivenesse appeared in Peter John 21. when he put the question concerning the beloved Disciple what shall this man doe ver 21. To which he received a round reply by way of reproofe If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me ver 22. In this fault Peter hath many followers for what one of the worthiest of the ancient Fathers complained of in his time is a part of many mens practice in every age * Curiosum genus ad cognoscendâ—m vitam alienam defidiosum ad corrigendum uam August Confes lib 10. cap. 13. There are a sort of men saith he who are curious in their enquiry into other mens lives and carelesse in correction of their owne and I would to God there were not many such almost in every place The second sort are such as the Apostle takes notice of and gives warning to beware of them and their questions calling them foolish and unlearned questions Tit. 3.9 2 Tim. 2.23 though there be some who pretend if not to a Monopoly yet to a Prelation of learning and in ostentation of it shew themselves such as Stapleton called Bodin ¶ Bodinus magnus nugator Stapleton orat contra bujus teÌ„poris politicos great triflers such are many of the Schoole-men who in their disputes when they should soberly propose and discusse materiall and profitable Problems in Divinity move and solve many very foolish and some very ridiculous questions whereof I could give you a Catalogue but that you would looke upon it as a list of too light a colour for the funerall habit I now weare Luther in detestation of their vaine jangling and doting about questions as S. Paul phraseth it 1 Tim. 6.4 with some transportation of spirit after his manner used an immoderate Meiosis of them which was this * Prope est ut jurem nullum esse Theologum Scholasticum qui unum caput Evangelij intelligat praesertim Lipsensem Luther Tom. 1 Oper. lat Ep 47. I had almost sworne said he that there is not one Schoole-Divine especially a Lipsian who under stands one Chapter of the Gospell or of the Bible and if his passion and opposition in Religion made him an incompetent Judge of their dictats you may abate in your belief as much as you please of the severity of his censure yet those that reade his workes and the chiefe Doctors of their School-Divinity may find cause perhaps to consent with Erasmus a man of a calmer spirit and acknowledged by two
Popes Adrian the 6th and Leo the 10th for a Son of the Roman Church Lutherus tātusest ut plus erudtar proficiam ex lectione unius pagellae Lutheranae quam ex tota Toma. Loc Com ex Luther operib clas 14 f. 50. who professed that himself profited more by one little page of Luthers writings then by all the Schoole doctrine of Aquinas whom Papists admire if not adore as an Angelicall Doctor The third sort are such as make presumptuous inquiries into and encroachments upon divine Counsels prying into the Arke of Gods privacy with such a busie and curious inquisitivenesse as if they would with a pick-locke rifle the Cabinet of his most reserved secrets and breake open every Seale to find out that which he would have concealed from all eyes This is a branch of that pernitious curiosity of our first Parents where to they were tempted by the Devill and which first thrust them upon a breach of Gods prohibition of the tree of Knowldge and afterwards thrust them out of Paradice and so from the fruition of all other fruits wherewith it was variously and abundantly furnisehed and hence also for satisfaction to over-curious Inquisitours are those audacious determinations concerning mens lives and fortunes by the calculation and casting of nativities and it was doubtlesse from the Devill that Saal consulted with the devill by the witch of Ender 1 Sam. 28.8 To these presumptions questions must be sorted such as that which some say was proposed to S. Angastine vi◠What did God before he made the world To which the answer was as sharpe as the question was sawcy viz. * Proesul ad baes Lybicue fubricabat Tartara dixir His queis serutari talia mente juvat Georg. Sabin Poet. That he made Hell for such curions questionists as he that mooved that question The fourth sort of offensive and faulty inquisitiours are those that shew more love to themselves then faith in God perplexedly and distrustfully demanding What shall we eate and what shall we drinke or what shall we put-on Mat. 7.25 humane care and providence I confesse is subordinate to divine and that so farre that he that sleights his part in obedience to God forfeits Gods part of beneficence to himselfe and to his whether person or estate and incurreth the severe censure of teh Apostle He that provideth not for his owne especially forthose of his owne house he hath aenyed the Faith and is worse then an Infidell 1 Tim. 5.8 Yet he provides ill for his soule who makes a mixture of diligence and difference in provision for the body The last and worst sort are thole blasphemous and Atheisticall questionists who in a deriding manner aske Where is the promise of his comming 2 Pet. 3.4 but especially such an one who asked of a Christian in scorne of Christ ¶ Theod l. 3. c. 18. Sozom l. 6. c. 2 Osiand Epit. Cent. 4. l. 3. c 3 4 Paraeus et Cornel à lop in Mat c. 13. v. 55 What is the Carpenters Sonne doing to day who returned him an answer as witty as the question was wicked He is making a Coffin said he for the funerall of Julian and his answer proved a Propheey for within a very little while after he was marked out for the Coffin by an Arrow from Heaven which he thought to be shot by Christ himselfe whom he tooke for his Antagonist and confest he was overcome and conquered by him Thus larre the question now the Answer It is even a vapour c. And this is a kind of definition of it but rather Rhetoricall then a Phylosophicall rather Metaphoricall then proper There is much adoe among the Philosophers especially betwixt Cardan and Scaliger how to define it this vapour as the Apostle cals it may be vanished away before a man can relate and poyse the severall opinions upon it and resolve which hath most right to put the rest to silence for the present it may suffice which is most received and that is this Life is the Act and Pigour of the soule and of it's Organ or Instrument the body while they abide united together Of this life the principall proofe and preservative both is breathing therfore when God gave life to the first humane body formed of the earth he is said to breath into his nostrits the breath of life Gen 2.7 And when he taketh away the breath man dieth Psal 104.29 And this breath is called a vapour and a vapour is called halitus a breath and as a vapout is soone vanished first appearing and after a while disappearing to speake answerably to the words in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originall so the breath is easily stopped and then the living creature liveth no more If I keep to my Text and it hath given me no cause to forsake it I must present you with a very plain and well known observation upon it which is That the life of man is very short Doct. and not more short then uncertaine If you tell me you know this already I shall readily confesse it and you cannot deny that neither your worke nor ours is done when we have taught and you have heard what you ought to know for your knowledge must proceed to practise and your practise commonly comes so slowly on in what you know that many times the notions which are most familiar to your understandings are the greatest strangers to your practise to which there is more adoe to perswade you then to instruct you and yet for matter of instruction I doubt not but we shall tell you somewhat worth your notice which most of you know not or if I should bring you no new thing for the matter I should hope though treating on the old theame of death to keepe life in your attentions for as * Eadem quae didicisti ita doce ut cum dicas novè non dicas nova Vinc. Leren contra beres cap. 27. Vinc. Lerenensis noteth the difference betwixt new for the matter and new for the manner the latter may be both profitable and acceptable without the former when known matter is set forth in a new mould or manner of handling And yet again I know not why ordinary things especially of necessary use should loose their acceptance because they are usuall for what is more constant and continuall then the vicissitude or alternate course of day and night of action and rest of refreshing by dyet and sleep yet no man thinks they return too often and to keep close to our present Argument it is both often observed and much commended in a great ¶ Philip the Father of Alexander King the father of a greater that he was well-pleased every morning to heare in the same words a Monitory of Mortality for his readinesse for death which might either steale-in or rush-in upon him every moment And that a man may doe that wisely which he can doe but once and which precludeth all retractation and remedy
if done amisse a wise-mans life hath been defined by a principall * Plato apud Cel. Rhodigin lib. 19. cap. 8. Philosopher to be a meditation of death if so it will be no prejudice I am sure to your prudence to attend with patience while I deliver you not in any very long speech some necessary notions of that which after a short appearance passeth away The shortnesse of life Vapour-like hath various expressions in the Scripture It is compared by David to a fading flower Psal 103.15 to a fleeting shadow Psal 144.4 and by Job to the passage of a Weavers shuttle Job 7.6 and here you see to a vanishing vapour which we must for reasons referre First to the prime and most predominant cause of all things Secondly to inferiour and secundary causes subservient to his purpose and providence For the first as God is the Authour and giver of life Gen. 2.7 1 Sam 2.6 so gives he the measure of it in what proportion best pleaseth himselfe unto Methuselah he made a very large measure as taken out of the whole peece of secular duration and to some he allowes but a snip of time as to Davids Child who lived not to receive the Seale of Circumcision set upon him as under the Gospell many by the Ministry of the Midwife are borne once but tarry not to be borne againe by our administration of the Sacrament of Baptisme though it require no adjournement to the 8th day as Circumcision did and of himselfe saith the Psalmist thou hast shortned my dayes Psal 89.45 even to the narrow measure of an hand-bredth Psal 39. v 15. and this he doth by his Power as a Creator and by his Office as a Judge rewarding sinne with death Rom. 6.23 2. For secundary causes besides sinne deserving death and provoking Gods Justice to hasten it upon sinners though to some death be sent in hast as an invitant to a feast not as a Serjeant to arrest they are within us or without us Within us Diseases and distempers in the humours and Passions Without us Poisonous Malignities wrathfull hostilities and casuall mishaps The gate of life is but one the posternes or trap-dores of death are many I may call them so for a man is taken by death as by a trap and that such a one as catcheth sodainly killeth certainely and holdeth fast what it taketh hold of 1. First for the causes within us to begin with diseases It is above 2000. yeares agoe that as * Ante bis mille firmè annos 300. morborum c. Erasm Chiliad Proverb dulce Bellum inexpert p. 298. Erasmus said in his Chiliads there have been reckoned up 300. Names of them and there be many under one Name many Namelesse which pose the Physitians not only how to cure them but how to call them and then they give it their passe under the name of the New disease and passe it will for they cannot stop it Of these though many feed upon nature by degrees and sometimes also without noyse as a moth eateth into a garment some sodainely destroy it as a fire doth a faggot of dried Thornes for divers dye with very short sicknesse and some without any sicknesse at all we have daily experience of various descants made by death upon this narrow ground of an hand-bredth as David measures the life of man Psalm 39.5 We see some grownd with the Stone some smitten downe with the Epilepsy or an Aposteme or as the Vulgar miscall it Impostume which secretly and insensibly gathered to an head may breake in a moment and stop the breath of mans bosome or stifle the spirits of his braine some blowne up with the Collick or Iliaca passio some eaten up by a Consumption some by a multiplication of * Pherecides of the Island of Syros dyed of a great quantity of Lice Aelian var. Hist li. 5. c. 28. Creeping vermine and some drowned with the Dropsie some burnt with a Fever And some of them are such Epidemicall malignities against the health and life of man that the Chambers of death are enlarged and great and wide caves to be digged for more roome where the dead are piled up as Sampson said of the slaughtered Philistines by heapes upon heapes Judg. 15.16 while faire and spacious roomes above ground are empty for want of living guests to lodge in them yea such desolations have been made among men by devouring Postilence as Thucidides and many other Authours have left upon Record that the living have beene scarce left enough to bury the dead 2. And for the affections and passions of the mind the distempers of them are no lesse deadly to some then the diseases of the body we will instance in Love and the contraries to it Envy and Wrath in Hope and Feare in Sorrow and Joy 1. For Love we finde the Church sick of Love to Christ Cant. 2.4 and we are sure that Christ dyed for Love of his Church Eph. 5.25 and that Love which is moerely humane hath by experience proved mortall to many what David wished to have suffered for Absolom saying in the pangs of his excessive Love unto him would God I had dyed for thee 2 Sam. 18.23 to the same have divers actually exposed themselves sometimes by deadly adventures for their friends sometimes with their friends to which danger nothing induced them but meere Love unto them but it is more ordinary for men and women both to dye of the excesse of this passion upon defect of enjoyment so might Ammon have done when he fell sick of longing for Thamar if Jonadab his carnall friend but spirituall enemy had not for the recovery of his body advised the ruine of his soule 2 Sam. 3. v. 2 3 4. And what was but fabled in the ¶ Ovid in his Fable of Iphis hanging hunselfe for love to Anaxarets Cumforibus laquei religaret vincula summis Inscruitque caput Metamorp lib. 14. Poet of Iphis laying violent hands on himselfe to the taking away of his life through impatience of his Love hath been often tragically acted by divers whose love to others for want of reciprocation of affection from them and of grace and reason to rule it hath turned to a deadly hate against themselves And where that affection is answered it hath proved as deadly in excesse as in defect of fruition especially when degenerated from Love to lust which is too familiar in the familiarity of different sexes as is obserued by Philosophers in Birds Beasts and Men for Birds they note in Sparrowes that they are very short lived by their frequent coition especially the male kind which * Plin. Hist nat lib. 10. cap. 36. they say commonly liveth not above a yeare and for the same reason doe Mules which are barren and ingender not much outlive Asses and Horses for they sometimes lived to the ¶ Idem lib. 8. cap. 44. 80 h. yeare but these seldome attained to halfe that age the ordinary measure of their
spectatour of the funerall solemnities of Queene Anne Mother to his Majestie that now is If he travell a stumble whether on horse-back or on foot may so lay him along on the earth as if he were to take measure of his grave whither after one remove followeth a commitment to close prison there to remain untill the great Judge of quick and dead release him If a man stay within doores as conceiving according to the ancient saying his house is his Castle his life may there many wayes be betrayed to death for a violent winde may blow downe the house upon his head and overwhelme him as it did Jobs children Job 1. and as in the raign of ¶ Stows Chro. continued by How p. 130. K. William 2d. 606. houses were blowne downe by a Tempest in London At his Table death may be in his diet for a Reyson stone stoned * Plin. Nat hist cap. 53. Anacreon to death a milstone could have done no more and an haire in a messe of milke sodainly strangled ‖ Idem Ibid. Fabius could death have made more haste or done him more hurt with an halter There may be death in the Cup for there may be a Fly in it and a Fly hath been the death of †Fox Martyr vol. 1. pag. 265. him who takes upon him much more then belongeth to man the Caiphas of Rome Pope Adrian the 4th Is there not then good cause to give but a passant advertisement by the way that we should not fall to our meat as an horse to the manger or a Swine to the trough before we have begged the blessing of God upon what we are to eat and that we take mannerly leave of God when we have done giving thanks to his goodnesse not only for his allowance of the good creatures for out nourishment but for a comfortable use of them that they have not become unto us as the Quailes to the Israelites accompanied with deadly wrath when the meat was in their mouths Psal 78.30 31. To draw towards a summary Conclusion of this great Arithmetician who brings in the finall account and number of all our dayes and makes such an exact reckoning of them as no man can controule we cannot but by experience of all times persons and places acknowledge that as a great * Plin. Nat. hist l. 7. c. 57. Phylosopher losopher and Historian observes though there be an infinite number of signes that presage death there is not one knowne that can assure a man of certainty of life and health Nor is there any Prescription of time to be pleaded against this King of terrours as death is called Job 18.14 no time unseasonable for his surprizall no night so darke but he can hit the marke no day so bright that we can discover his comming towards us if he will steale in upon us at unawares we shall neither heare his feet of wooll nor see his arms of steele but shall feele him haply when we doe not feare him and receive a wound from him for which no cure can be had of any No businesse so serious that can cause him to adjourne his arrest untill another day nor is there any more hope of escape from him by art or flight then there is of conquest of him by contending by fight This is the only King against whom there is no rising up as Agur phraseth the most absolute predominance Prov. 30.31 to make resistance against whose absolute Monarchy by no humane power or prevalence may be pretended If any it must be either the Prerogative of Kings or the vigorous and cordiall Antidotes of Physitians but not the former for the mortal sy the is master of the royal Scepter it mowes downe the Lillies of the Crowne as well as the grasse of the field Nor can the Physitians though called in as Advocates or Champions in the cause of nature to aid and protect it against this great warriour prevaile any thing at all to preserve it from death their strongest Cordialls are against him but as stubble to the great Leviathan Job 41.28 Nor can they so much as save themselves though by their art they professe the saving of others Nay as it were in scorne and contempt of medicines death sodainly snatcheth them away when they are applying their preservatives or restoratives to others as is storied of * Plin Nat. Hist l. 7. c. 53. Cajus Julius a Chirurgeon who dressing a sore eye as he drew the instrument over it was strucke with an instrument of death in the act and place where he did it I have hitherto shewed you the causes of mans mortall mutability and exemplified the shortnesse and uncertainty of his life in so many instances not meaning here to take up and set up my rest for though mans life be a vapour that soone vanisheth away I would have the observations of this vanity to be like the distilled Rose-water which comes downe from a vapour and drops into the bottle and is there preserved for especiall use and my desire and prayer now is that as it is in the 32. of Deutronomy My doctrine may dropps as the raine and my speech distill into your hearts as the dew as the small raine upon the tender herbe and as the showers upon the grasse Deut. 32.2 in a present application And I shall apply it many wayes for it may serve 1. As a spurre to our dsligence 2. As a whip or scourge for our negligence 3. As a check to vain confidence 4. As a curbe to concupiscence 5. As a prop unto our patience so farre my devotion to this service would proceed if my discretion told me I might expect your patience so long it growing now so late For the first Applic. 1. if our time and state in this life be as short and uncertaine as a vapour and that vapour be but an appearance of a thing rather then a thing indeed and that appearance after a while soone vanisheth away how diligent and watchfull should we be while it is present which is all the time of action allowed unto us to imploy it and improve it to our best advantage for the future Humane prudence will prompt us while we do enjoy it to make as good use of it as possibly we can and religious policy will stirre us up to present expedition and not to put off untill to morrow the performance of any good thing which we may do to day for at the next puffe of breath we may blow away our life but to use all diligence in doing of good while we have time as the Apostle admonisheth Gal 6.10 We have some examples of moment though most contrary in themselves yet tending to this very end viz. to shew where the time is but short the endeavour must be great to make it serviceable to most defirable ends Our Saviour of himselfe for our instruction and imitation hath said I must worke the worke of him that sent me while
it is day the night cometh when no man works Joh. 9.4 By day is meant the time of life while the vapour appeareth like a bright cloud Mat. 17.5 and by night the time of it's vanishing away by death wherin all things that had life and have it not are be-nighted and wrapped-up in darknesse yet there is betwixt the literall and figurative day and night this difference to be observed that the daies and nights have usually their turne in a proportionable measure of * In some places there is six months day together and six moneths night together Plin Nat. Hist l 2 c. 75. length and shortnes which mutually and interchangeably succeed one another so in our ordinary Clymats and in the extraordinary too where the day ‖ So in places of 50 degrees of latitude lasteth from the 10. of March till the 13. of September that is the space of 187. dayes of our account the night is as long and no longer but our day of life may be but the length of a few hours or which is much lesse minutes our night of death when we cannot work may be an age of many hundred years and to some it hath bin some thousands already besides there is no night naturall but is succeeded by another day so that if any thing be left undone there may be oportunity to redeeme the time and to make amends for precedent neglects but when the night of death is come there is not another day to follow it and to make supply for former failings It behoveth us then while it is day with us to be so much more intentively bent upon the businesse that belongeth unto us which is to worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 wherein we worke the worke of him that sent us as our Saviour did as we have the lesse time for it such was his diligence and therein his example should be our rule and upon the same ground he that is most opposite to our Saviour even the great destroyer useth double diligence and makes all the hast he can to out-work the children of light in a quick dispatch of deeds of darknesse His wrath is great because his time is but short Revel 12.12 he is enraged so much the more as by the shortnesse of time he is the more restrained for that he cannot do so much mischief as he would do and if he had more time he might do We should out of love desire to be like our good Lord and Master Christ and out of duty doe as he for our imitation hath done before us and we should not for shame sit down in sloth while Satan goeth about with all the haste and speed he can possibly make to devoure whom he may yea our diligence should be much more then his since our businesse is a great deale better I meane not that which most doe but that which all should do and our time much shorter both for that which is past and that which is to come For the time past he hath bin busie at his worke for some thousands of yeares already and yet may be for some hundreds more to come he may have time to bestirre himself in his trade of temptation But for our time for what is past it hath bin but short and that which is to come may be nothing at all to us the next houre for ought we know may be none of ours Secondly as this consideration of our transient life may serve for a spurre to make diligent so it may be in stead of a rod for the negligent who endeavour not to make any good use of their time while they have it to whom may well be applyed the saying of * Non exiguum tempus babemus sed multum perdimus non accepimus vitam brevem sed fecimus nec inopes ejus sed prodigi jumus Senec. de brevit vitae c. 1. pag. 165. Seneca which is That they have not received so short a portion of life though it be very short even like a vapour as themselves doe make it by their prodigall and carelesse expence of it Wherof one great part is cast away in doing nothing as in our sleep and infancy another we trifle out in meere childish vanities a third is partly mis-spent in youthfull luxury and a good part of the fourth is called a Reformation if the humor be changed from dissolute excesse to covetous desires and worldly cares for riches and honours and when either sicknesse or age maketh men unserviceable for themselves to such ends that little which remaines is poorely imployed on that for which the whole measure if it had gone all one way had bin little enough For what time or pains can be too much to save our soules from hell to estate them in Heaven when we die and to unite them and our bodies both in fruition of perfect grace and glory for ever which must be procured while this vapour appeareth or not at all who that thinkes of the excellency of that jewell which our Saviour advanceth in value above the price of the whole world of the ineffable felicity which God hath prepared for those that sincerely love and diligently seeke him can conceive that the whole life of Methuselah would make too long an apprentiseship though under many such hard masters as Laban was to obtain an eternall freedom in the City of Jerusalem which is above For my part I cannot sufficiently admire the beneficence of Almighty God who sets so great happinesse at so low a rate that in that little time while a vapour appeareth a man may purchase the obtainment of a most solid and ever during felicity Nor the folly of most men who of this short and uncertain measure imploy the least part of it to so excellent an end If a man having his lands divided into foure parts answerable to the foure fingers of Davids hand-breadth of life Psa 39.5 should leave one part of it wholy untilled to bring forth nettles or other wild weeds as the field of the sluggard doth Prov. 24.31 and should sow in one of the other three parts Darnell in another wild Oates and allot but a fourth for pasture and tillage when the whole if well husbanded would be little enough for necessary provision to support himselfe and his Family what would his neighbours thinke or say of him Would they not note him for such an one as either yet had not proceeded to the age of discretion or were gone beyond it to yeares of dotage or relapsed back to a second childhood Or if a man who hath a charge of wife and children and servants and but a competent portion for them all did carelesly cast away one part of his meanes at dice puffe away another in smoake swallow downe another in superfluous draughts and leave but a fourth part of all for all other charges that concern himself and those that are committed to his keeping would wise-men judge any
55.23 nay it may be not halfe a day for how soone is this vapour of life vanished away or if they be suffered to runne their race to the utmost length it is but as the Amorites were suffered to make up the measure of their offences to the full If then such wicked thoughts for sinfull plots in time to come arise in our hearts let us give them the check in some such words as these What doe I meane to project and forecast for sinne afarre off and to fore-speake an evill purpose and as it were to threaten God before hand for every sinne is an actuall affront of his Majesty and every fore-purposed commission against him is in effect a commination of him when my life is but a vapour and so much in Gods disposall so little in mine owne that I should promise to doe nothing but with the Lords premised leave as the Apostle taught in the Verse next beyond my Text You ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and doe this or that Jam. 5.15 The like limitation to this precept you may observe in S. Pauls practice Act. 18. 1 Cor. 4. 1 Cor. 6.16 Heb 6. and Socrates the wisest of the Heathens taught Alcibiades to be so mannerly in his language towards God as to use the like * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrates to Alcibiades reservation of his will and prelation of it before his owne if this phrase were familiar in our mouthes it would not only give present repulse to any evill purpose for the time to come but would be a powerfull charme against the returne of it and indeed a man dares not say of any future sinne I will commit it if the Lord will for if he so far respect the only unerring rule the will of God as to make respective mention of it he cannot admit of any notion against it The 4th Application of this transient uncertainty of mans temporall life may be a curbe to immoderate concupiscence and doting delight in worldly things whether Riches Honours or Pleasures which are the three great I dolls of carnall-minded men for why should any one much set his heart upon them either in longing for them or taking too much joy in them when so small a matter as the want of an empty complement congey or gesture of reverence may so imbitter many temporall contentments of the choisest kind and of a very high degree as to make them vanish into nothing even before the vapour of a mans breath and life be vanished away as the history of Haman sheweth whose temporall delights were but as a vapour by his owne confession of shorter continuance then his life Esth 5t. from the 10th vers to the 13. though that were shortened by a penall execution c. 7. v. 10. And if they should hold out as long as a man liveth they were not worthy of that estimation that many worldly men have set upon them but when a mans life vanisheth as a vapour and they vanish before how foolish a fondnesse is it to let loose our affections towards them and to fix them upon them when evill dayes and yeares may come wherein we shall take no pleasure in them as Solomon saith Eccles 12.1 but so much paine perhaps as may make a man so weary of life that the passionate expostulation of Job may be applyed to his case Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soule which long for death but it cometh not and digge for it as for hid treasure which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave Job 3. v. 20 21 22. But to the particulars first for Riches If a man were so rich as he would say he hath enough as few rich men will doe for most mens covetousnesse is like a Dropsie which makes a man though he drinke never so much to be ever thirsty yet to say nothing of the uncertainty of riches noted by the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.17 which as Solomon saith make themselves wings and flye away Prov. 23.5 without taking leave of the owner and leaving nothing but the print of talons in his heart to torment him they cannot availe to prolong the continuance of this transient vapour nor can they adjourne a mans removall to his long-home whether to Heaven or Hell for one day no not for an houre for Death is such a rigid Sergeant as will not be bribed by the richest Mammonist to put off his Arrest witnesse that rich and wretched Cardinall and Bishop of Winchester and Chancellour of England Henry Buford in the Reigne of King Henry the sixt * Fox Martyr vol 1. pag 925. Col. 1◠who perceiving he must dye and that there was no remedy murmured at death that his Riches could not reprieve him till a further time for he asked Wherefore should I dye being so rich if the whole Realme would save my life I am able either by pollicy to get it or by Riches to buy it fye quoth he will not death be hired will money doe nothing No nothing at all on this side the grave for a rescue or reprieve from death and beyond it below it as far as Hell the money that would buy the whole Vintage of wine throughout the whole world will not purchase a drop of water to coole an hell-scorch'd tongue Secondly for Honour as the morall Philosopher saith it is not in the honoured but in the honourer and not in words of praise and gestures of reverence which may be presented in hypocrisie or with derision but in the opinion of the head and affection of the heart and who can certainely tell what men thinke of him how their hearts are disposed towards him and if he know them for the present to be such towards him as he desired how fickle are mens fancies and favours how soone changed from reverence to contempt He hath read but little who hath not met with many instances of this kind in sacred histories and profane and observed little if not very young if he have not noted some in the experience of his owne time besides who knowes not that many men have been honoured with eminent Titles and Offices for that for which such as are truely worthy in whose acceptation is the truest and surest honour have abhorred them and if they have beene conferred as the reward of vertuous persons and so they should be or they are misplaced how much envy watcheth over them to find some meanes to bring them under and how potent that quick-sighted and sharp fanged Malignity is we may guesse by the question of Solomon Who is able to stand before Envy Prov. 27.4 If any man say this may be the condition of subordinate Honour as of the Favourites of Kings but that which is supreme is so excellent that as some have said with as much cruelty as vanity that for a Kingdome they would wade up to the chin in blood I answer First That
rather put him into present possession of Co-heyreship with thy Sonne then reserve him on earth to the expectation of the inheritance of his Father though he were none of those sons who are sicke of the Father thy gracious dealing with him and his glory with thee should make us rather rejoyce for his gaine then mourne for our losse at least meekly to submit to thy divine disposall even unto death especially when it is the conclusion of a godly life and the introduction of a glorious state which I doubt not to be the condition of his departure from the society of men By what manner of death God was pleased to translate him to a better life is not for the thing it selfe much materiall to enquire no more then in what vessell a man hath bin wafted over the waves of the Sea when he is safely received into the Haven or by what key whether of gold or iron he was let into a place of most pleasant repose Yet since it may be the desire of divers to be informed in it and all may and some I assure my selfe will be the better for it I take it to be a part of my present service to give you thereof and of some other remarkable matters such an account as though it be of sicknesse death and distemper of body and mind may be tempered into a saving receipt for the upholding of your spirituall health and consequently for the obtainment of eternall life which may be this He was by his complection as I take it naturally sanguine accidentally melancholy In this Temperament he was taken with a disease that hath a name of diminution The Small-Pox which Spider-like hath a venome more intensive in degree then extensive in measure and which as experience makes the observation is commonly a fore-runner of a great plague Being in conflict with this disease and nature partly suspended by the sadnesse and slownesse of Melancholy it was not strong and quick enough to expell the poyson to the outward parts upon which in the most hopefull working of the disease it should have been discharged The same usurping humour for the right of predominance in his constitution was in that which was naturall which slackned the pace and operation of nature was too active of it's selfe in troubling the fancy Hence and from some malicious and fubtle concurrence of Satan taking the advantage which the malady of his body and brain then ministred unto him his tongue was wrought to beare false witnes against Gods favour and his own welfare so farre as to utter some words favouring of distrust if not of despaire of his own salvation Now that we may not mistake those words as he did his State and thence infer some suspition of his safety it concerns us to take into serious consideration these particulars which may serve not only to right his reputation among the communion of Saints but to secure our own spirituall peace against the like perturbations It hath been usually a part of the Devils spight and pollicy to assault those most in their sicknesse whom he could least prevaile with in their health and to presse upon them with most importunity when he thinkes he hath but a little time to do a great deale of mischief Therfore his malevolence being the motive to his diligence he hath great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time Rev. 12.12 And there is not only proofe of it in divinity but reason for it in Philosophy from this maxime Naturall motion is more swift and violent towards the end of it now temptation is a transient motion and since his change from an Angell to a Devill as naturall to him as for heavy things to fall downwards therfore when it draweth nearer the end either his owne end or the parties whom he desires for a prey he will not creepe like a Serpent to deceive but rush in like a Lion to devoure and thence it is that the wicked many times die quietly like lambes whereas the godly are put to many sharpe violent conflicts with him both in life and death for it is with the one fort according to the saying of our blessed Saviour Luk. 11.21 The strong man armed keepeth the honse and so all is at peace But for the other he stormeth out-ragiously to disturbe his peace because he is kept out of possession and the more haply because he hath little hope to possesse so glorious a prize so that his fiercenesse is many times the effect of his foyle as in the 12. of the Revelation when he was disappointed of his prey of the woman that brought forth a man child she being carried by the wings of an Eagle out of his reach Rev. 12.14 he cast out of his mouth a flood of water after her ver 15. And when the Earth swallowed up the flood wherby he meant to have swallowed up both her and her child he was wrath with the woman ver 16 17. because he could not satisfie his rage with their ruine Secondly for further attestation of the godly's troubles doubts and feares of the favour of God somtimes with-holding his gracious countenance from them as if he did not meane to be mercifull to them we may produce as witnesses unto it the examples of two most renowned whether for Religion towards God or acceptation with God Job and David First for Job how deplorable and desperate did his condition appeare to be when he said The Arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poyson thereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God set themselves in array against me Job 6.4 and at the 16. Chapter I was at ease saith he but he broke me asunder he hath also taken me by the necke and shaken me in peeces and set me up for his marke his Archers compasse me round about he cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare he powreth out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Gyant Cha. 16. ver 12 13 14. What a tempest of temptation to distrust and despaire doe these patheticall speeches import and his deeds evidenced a desperate distraction as well as his words when as in a fit of spirituall frenzy He tooke his flesh into his teeth Chap. 13.14 Secondly for David how fearfull was his distraction how full of distrust was he when he thus complained My heart is sore pained within me fearfulnesse and trembling are come upon me and horrour hath overwhelmed me Psal 55.4 5. in the 77th Psalme whether it were a Psalme of Asaph as the composer of the Ditty for he was a Seer or Prophet and an inditer of Psalmes 2 Chron. 29.30 or a Psalme for Asaph as a Musition to set it into Tune or to sing it as the Title may be varied The Psamist there sheweth that himselfe had been under a black-cloud which ecclipsed the sight of Gods mercy from him when he passionately put forth such expostulations as these