last than to turn a Beggar out of his House of Hurdles WHAT Ground there is for that Observation The Life of Man is short of Kings shorter of Popes shortest whether it be because they are subject to Envy and a Rival-ambition or because they that stand high are prone to be giddy headed and consequently are aptest to catch a Fall I list not now to enquire certain it is since they are part of Adam's sinful Progeny that die they must their strength is not the strength of Stones which yet the very drops of Water wear out nor their Sinews of Brass or Iron which yet the Rust and Canker consumes DEATH like Caesar Taxes the Whole World and his Mortal Sythe Mows down the Lilies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field The Mighty of the Earth have no more Dominion over it then the British King Canutus of Kent had against the Seas incroaching upon his Throne Those who have a just Power of Life and Death as to their Subjests have none over their own to prolong their Lives or protract their Deaths one moment Nay couldst thou by thy Power and Policy exalt thy Throne above all the Thrones of all the Kings upon the Face of the Whole Earth and proclaim thy self Vniversal Lord and Monarch and send Yokes by thine Embassadours to all the Princes and States of the Universe Yet the Time will come and will not tarry when the Grandees and Potentates of the World who have gone down into the Dominions of Death and Darkness before thee may take up this Proverb against thee and say Art Thou also become weak as we Art thou also become vanity like unto us The Globe at One end of the Library and the Skeleton at the Other was a pretty Emblem of what we are now Discoursing and may signifie thus much that supposing a Man Master of the Whole Ball yet his Spirit shall be taken from Him that He may be dissolved and become Earth ‖ Tobit 3.6 Diogenes is brought in by Witty Lucian as Jearing the Ghost of Alexander after Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is Alexander Dead as well as Diogenes Alexander had then learnt that he was not Immortal and co'd say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's no wonder I am Dead since at best I was but a Man WHATEVER course God gives to our Fortune Nature will certainly maintain and keep hers and make the Pulse beat alike in Men of High degree and those that are obscure and will inflame both alike with Fevers and chill both alike with Rheums and finally close the Eyes of both alike by Death which draws the Curtain of the Stage and then the Comedy of Fartune is at an End Nature which brought them forth Naked takes them in more naked then she brought them forth Stripping the Soul off the Body and the very Flesh off the Bones Death divesteth all the Actors of this Play of Life of the False Properties of Fortune and then Who can say This is the Noble and that the Ignoble Dust for in Death there is neither Small nor Great neither Male nor Female neither Bond nor Free the Greatest shall lye as low as the Meanest every One there shall be but as his Neighbour and as his Brother in the Flesh BUT for the further Illustration of this Great Truth That no Period of Life no State or Quality is secure a Moment from the Arrest of Death that all our Destinies are hurstled in the same Urn and sooner or later we shall be all carried into Eternal Exile let us turn to and ruminate a little upon these following Texts for thus it is Written * Heb. 9.27 It 's appointed for ALL Men Once to Die No Priviledge no Immunity from the Grave It 's a Statue-Law that hath been in Force in all Ages and will be so to the End of Time The Decree is irresistable and you may pretend as soon to obstruct the Course of Nature or hinder God's Covenant of Day and Night as to preserve Men of what Names or Titles soever Dignify'd or Distinguish'd from going to the Place appointed for all Living This is called in another place †Josh 23.14 the Way of all the Earth Some walk indeed on the Golden Sands others in Dirt and Mire but the same Vncontroulable Necessity involues all and whatsoever the Way be Plea ant or Troublesome yet every One passeth in it with equal steps measur'd by the same invariable Spaces of Hours and Days and arrive at the same common End of Life Again * Rom. 5.12 DEATH passeth upon ALL Men for that ALL have Sinned Whatever it is that makes Men Great makes them not more then Men nor less then Sinners and the Work and Wages are inseperable for the Wages of Sin is Death Nay Death found a Passage where Sin had made none even the most Holy Jesus was Dead and Buried Again †Isa 40.6 7 8. ALL Flesh is Grass and the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withers the Flower fadeth But is this a Truth so Universal that it admitts of no Exception Are not the Princes and Herves of the World exempted Have not They something in them that may be a Preservative from the insults at least of this Tyrant Death Something that They may upon Occasion plead against the Common Fate The Prophet seems to agree to this and therefore makes some difference betwixt the Great and the Person of Low Estate But what is it No other then what is between Green Grass and a Flower which tho' more Beautiful and taking to the Eye and pleasing to the Sense is every whit as subject to be trod under foot as the Grass and as they grow together in the same Field are equally liable to be cut down by the Edge of the same Sythe Nay say they escape the Browsing Mouth of the Beast the Pruning Knife the Plucking Hand and the Nipping Air yet are they still perishing still fading and will wither away of themselves Again * Psal 39.5 VERILY Every Man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity Every Word strangely Emphatical In the Original it runs Every Man is every Vanity Imagine what Vanity you will Man is that This is the true perfect Mapp of the Little World Man drawn and Colour'd by the Pen of the Royal Prophet as his Hand was guided by the Holy Ghost Behold I shew you a Mystery The Lesser World Man is more comprehensive of Vanity than the greater Again †Psal 89.48 WHAT Man is He that Liveth and shall not see Death Shall He deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave Selah The meaning is No Man can escape it Which is the reason that the Assertion is not left bare and naked but fixed with a Selah to assure the Truth of it or so to engage our Attention as not to pass it by till we have given it a Serious and a feeling Thought Upon which account
it 's highly probable that Man is not here express'd by that common word Adam which tells him how that He was basely born from the Earth and derives from the Ground nor by that word Enos which implies his Accidental or rather Providential Infirmities Sicknesses and Sorrows but Geber he is called which represents Man in his most topping Circumstances either of Honour or Greatness in the best and greatest Figure that possibly he can make Q. D. What Great what Mighty Man is there that liveth and shall not see Death Once More * Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods and all of you the Children of the Most High but ye shall dye like Men and fall like One of the Princes Or rather by much as some render the Hebrew And the Princes shall die as One or as any One i. e. as any other Ordinary Man Great Ones indeed are Baptized with God's own most Reverend and Glorious Name they be as Gods by Deputation and by Authority delegated from on High but it is all but tanquam Lumina illuminata as Stars are Lighted from the Taper of the Sun all Earthly Majesty being but a Ray of that which is Omnipotent and Independent above in Heaven Even there all Crowns are cast before the Throne of God †Revel 4.10 Therefore is it added They shall die like Men In the Eminency of Dignity they resemble God being clad with Majesty and Honour before the People yet in the frame and Substance of their Bodies are of the same Materials with the poorest Creature you can meet in the Streets So that it is certain tho' They be Gods with Men yet if I may be Pardon'd in turning the Words they are Men with God and their Lot is to die as other Folk and Inherit the Place of a Skull Nay may we not here fix a farther Remark and say that such Persons are not onely Mortal as others but many times sooner cut off and more Subject to Violent Death then the Inferiour Part of Mankind Of the Kings of Judah from Rehoboam down to Zedekiah there were in Number Twenty Six of them that is almost a Third part Slain Again of the Kings of Israel from Jeroboam down to Oshea there were also Thirty in Number that is a just Half Slain And if we look into our own Stories and our English Chronicles they are all Bloody from the Conquest downward of Three and Twenty deceased Princes we find Eight that is more then a Third part Slain What a dreadful thing would it be amongst the Populace if One in Three were Subject to violent Death But this by the by tho' not altogether impertinent to the Argument under Consideration But why this Pains-taking you may say to make out a Truth which Every Hour of the Day Demonstrates and none doubt of in their retired Thoughts Let it be so yet for all this since there is a vast Difference betwixt a bare Speculative Knowledge Swimming upon the Understanding and a Practical Sanctify'd and Reduplicative One when we know the Truth as we ought to know it by Influenceing our Wills tempering our Affections and steering all the Courses and Passages of our Lives which is called by the Apostle a Knowledge according to Godliness and knowing of the Truth as it is in Jesus it may be feared we do not know this Truth in this Sense as common as it is David understood the Difficulty of it and therefore about to make a Sermon of Man's Frailty He begins thus I will incline mine Ear to a Parable I will open my dark sayings * Psal 49.4 And the Prophet going to proclaim all Flesh is Grass brings it in with the Solemnity of a Dialogue 'twixt a Voice from Heaven and Himself The Voice said cry and he said what shall I cry The saying was so Dark and our Natures so averse to digest it that there is need of Crying and Crying again 1. THEREFORE The Message is to you O Nobles Princes and Governours O Earth Earth Earth hear the Word of the Lord †Luke 12.40 Be ye ready also Stand upon your Watch-Tower look towards the West to the Setting of the Sun and since ye know not the Hour that this Arch-Thief will come to break up this sorry little House of Clay which the Soul of the Greatest Man is confined to no higher usually than Two Yards if so high but nothing over Watch with a Watch more jealous than Besieged Cities keep that have their Eyes and Ears open to all Alarms to every approach and single Motion of the Enemy LET not this be the Language of Greatness or so much as their inward Thought That their Houses shall endure for ever and their Dwelling Places to all Generations since they know that Man in Honour abideth not but is like the Beast that perisheth But this rather seeing it cannot be avoided but they must be visited with the Visitation of all Men Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last End be like His. Let it never be observed that there is the least shadow of Likeness 'twixt them and Him we read of in Luke 12.19 Who from the abundance of his Wealth thought he should live a prodigious while saying Thou hast Goods laid up for many Years Soul take thine Ease eat drink and be merry as if nothing wo'd destroy but starving since they know how unexpectedly he received his due Character for that his vain assurance for God said unto Him thou Fool and the Punishment of it too This Night shall thy Soul be required of thee Rather let this Light and Vnderstanding and Excellent Wisdom be found in them since they have not a Power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit by Temperance and Humility of Soul which afford a particular Scene of Pleasure to enjoy what is given with Patience attending the Appointment of God when ever His Pleasure shall be that they shall tast of Death IT 'S amongst the Memento's of the Ancient Greeks * Stob. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being Momentary and Mortal it becomes a Man to be Humble not to advance upon so loose a Foundation which like Quicksands or Quagmires in a short Time swallow up the Building that is rear'd upon ' em How ridiculous wo'd he be that sho'd bestow much Time to hew and square and polish Cakes of Ice in order to Build him a Splendid Palace which he should fancy to be comparable to the Etherial Mansions of Heaven A Sober thought upon the Matter of our Bodies that we are onely a Lump of Clay a little refined Dust that moves and breaths for a Moment but drops immediately into its First Principles wo'd cure the most Arrogant and Exalted of the Folly of Pride and the Madness thereof As Sovereign a Remedy it wo'd be against those Flatuous and High Imaginations of the Heart as we are told a dead Hand is by rubbing it on the Tumours of the Body to allay disperse and as
it were Mortify those Irregular and Deformed Excrescencies And the same shame would happen to Vs upon the Reflection that doth to the Bird upon the sight of the black Foot after it hath been spreading and perusing its gaudy Train of Feathers If indeed the Body which was from the Earth was to return to it no more it would be another matter and Pride would admit of a very fair Apology But the Law of Death runs thus c. All Honours Titles c. to the contrary in Any-wise notwithstanding Nor co'd all the Vain-gloriousness of an Haughty Herod exempt him from the stroak of the Destroyer or make him other than a louzy God * Acts 12. HEAR this all ye Guilded Potsheards of the Earth ye Great Ones that wo'd fain nestle in the Clouds and in your soaring Thoughts with that proud Persian Sapor write Brother to the Sun and Moon that have deify'd your selves in your own Imaginations of your Heaven upon Earth hear this and rouze your selves from your bewitching Dreams submit to what Sense and Reason and Experience and Scriptures speak so loud and disdain not to make it a Peice of Religion seeing the Grave expects you and bids its other Corps make Room to provide against that Hour when your Names shall be written in the Shell and you taken away by a kind of Ostracisme 2. IT is to Vs It speaks that we repose not our Confidence in any Son of Man let him appear never so big and lofty Because this will be to make Falshood our Refuge and to hide our selves under Vanity The Duty that we owe to those in Eminency is Faithfulness and Obedience not Considence and Trust Alas What can Dust do for Dust If the weak trust in the weak how shall it be made strong Affiance is an Act due from the Creature onely unto God whose is the Power and whose is the Dominion and an high Affront we offer his Majesty if when He lends us any of these Precious Jewels we deal as the Israelites did in the Wilderness and turn our Golden Ear-rings into an Idol And most certainly true it will be found in the Conclusion That never any Persons smarted more under the Disappointment of their towering Expectations than those very Men that made Flesh their Arm. The Troops of Tema looked the Companies of Sheba waited for them they were confounded because they had hoped they came thither and were ashamed †Job 6.19 20. CEASE we therefore from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of * Isa 2.22 And let us follow that Advice which is given us by a great Prince from God †Psal 146.3 4. Put not your Trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no Help it is not tanti not worth the while His Breath goeth forth he returneth to his Earth in that day all his Thoughts perish * There is nothing in these words of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pope John 22d would gather out of them as tho' after Death his Soul should Sleep and think of Nothing What they express is that all his great glistering thoughts when alive at Death come to Nothing Happy is the Man that hath the God of Jacob for his Help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is which keepeth Truth for ever whose Name is from Everlasting †Isa 63.16 But altho' we are not to rely or stay upon them yet know this too that it is a Sin against all Conscience and Equity not to make doleful Resentments upon not to eye the hand of God in the Death of the Princes of the People which calls to mind the Third and last Proposition viz. 3. THAT the Death of Great and Public Persons sho'd be signally remarked and deeply lamented especially where it is precipitated and has not in it the Unavoidable reason of Old Age and the fulness of days It 's fit when such are taken away that their Death should be solemniz'd by a Tribute of Tears levied upon the Whole Kingdom Our Souls ought then to be Elemented as it were of nothing but Sadness and Sorrow and the Misfortune should command a Brinish Shower Can any Man forbid or fault this Holy Water Who would not be Baptiz'd in such a Fountain If that Tyrant John Basiliwic of Muscovy exacted Phialas sudore plenas the Sweat wiped off his Subjects Brows to be preserv'd in Glasses purely for Him to look upon Certainly it may be justly expected when a Vertuous Prince is taken away not onely that the Eye-lids should gush out and that the Publick Face of the Nation sho'd be bedew'd with Tears but that a Subsidy also sho'd be bottled up and kept in store in Remembrance of the Loss and the Severe Infliction THE Hearses of such Magnificent Persons have in all Ages been thus Mournfully Attended not onely of such who have dropt away with Age but theirs who have been blasted in the Tenderness of Youth * 2 Chron. 35.24 All Judah and Jerusalem Mourned for Josiah HOWL then Fir-Tree for the Cedar is fallen Doth it not grieve you all ye that pass by to see such a Goodly Plant lye on the Ground which but now stood with Admiration Can you go unconcernedly on the other side of the Way as the Priest and the Levite did by the Wounded Man and have no Sense or Impression of the Blow What! no more than That which Dies e'en let it Dye and that which falleth let it fall Nay which is worse can you be pleased at the stroak and express your Odious Joys at the Breach Like the Inhabitants of the Earth who rejoyced when the Two Witnesses were Kill'd and sent Gifts one to another †Rev. 11.10 O Cursed Insensibility O bitter Spirit O Ominous Presage of further Calamity When we were in the Dregs of Misery and Church and Nation lay as it were gasping under the Bitterness of Death Heaven took pity upon us and recover'd us by the Hand of our now Dread Sovereign and we all saw the Great things were done for Vs whereof we were Scandalously unthankful For which Iniquity we received of the Lord a just Punishment in the Death of the Late QVEEN But yet in the midst of that Judgment he remembred Mercy and as if we were a Land that the Lord our God careth for He extended Peace to it like a River and like a flowing Stream * Isa 66.12 But instead of a Religious Improvement of it the Land abounds in Transgressions and the City is full of Perverseness Insomuch that Death is come up again into our Windows and enter'd into our Palaces †Isa 4.11 and God hath taken away a Prince in his Anger So that our Condition too much resembles that of Jerusalem which the Mournful Prophet bewails in the 55th Chapter v. 18. There is none to guide her of all the Sons she hath brought forth neither is there any to take her by the hand of all the Sons she hath brought up And loth I am to say that this was the very Method God took when he Threatn'd to Stretch out the Line of Confusion and the Stones of Emptiness upon it The Nobles shall be called to the Kingdom and there sho'd be none there and all her Princes sho'd be nothing i. e. there sho'd be no Princes or Nobles left that shou'd be fit to take the Rule and Government upon them and then he tells them not Sarim but Sirin not Princes but Thorns sâ—o'd come up in her Palaces not Chorim but Chochim not Nobles but Brambles in the Fortresses thereof and it sho'd be an Habitation for Dragons and a Court for Owles God forbid that ever our Island shoâ—â—d be made a Spectacle to Men and Angels in this respect Well! the Power is lodg'd in our own Hands by a Repentance in common happily to Prevent it O Repentance it is thou alone canst save us Help us Thou Joy of Angels and Crown of Nations Turn in unto us and let England take Shelter under thy Wings I will plant the Cedar and the Shittah-tree and the Myrtle and the Oyl-tree the Fir the Pine and the Box-tree together that ye may know and consider and understand that the Hand of the Lord hath done it * Isa 41.19 What tho' we be ranged under Contrary Perswasions and a Diversity of Judgments and Opinions is amongst us yet were our Hearts Vnited in the Fear of God could we Walk by the same Rule in turning to the Lord even this heavy Loss of the DVKE woâ—â—d soon be made up and God wo'd Continue to be Gracious to the Land thro' the Blood of Jesus which is Sprinkled upon Nations as well as Particular Persons And then let the Priests of Rome build Seven Altars and add Seven more to them and let them Offer upon Every One Seventy Times seven Bullocks and as many Rams Masses Reliques Candles Hosts and what they please let them Continue to Shake our Foundations with the Engine of their Brain and their Subtilty and call in all the Devils in Hell to their Consultation and Gather together the Kings of the Earth against us Tush it 's in vain and the Evil they Devise they shall not be able to perform for the Lord s with us and the God of Jacob is our Refuge To which God and Lord be Ascrib'd all Honour Power and Praise by both Worlds now and over Amen FINIS