perfection of thy purity Patriarches haue fallen Prophets haue fallen Apostles haue fallen starres haue not beene so fixed but they haue fallen Angels not so firme but they haue fallen Trust not then in the righteousnes of thy workes for they are but polluted trust not in the integrity of thy nature for even it is defiled but rely vpon the mercy of God for that only is absolute in the merits of Christ for they and they only are alsufficient And say with David If thou Lord wilt be extreme to marke what is Ps 130. 3 4. done amisse O Lord who may abide but there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared Thus you haue seene both the party Moses his praise the seruant of the Lord and his end he is dead and the place where in the land of Moab And as in their liues you haue seene how like they were so were they in many particulars like in the manner of their death I will only point at them Both died in a strange place where they were but within view were now come to take the comfort of that pleasant country that God had promised and provided for their posterity Both died when they were in outward appearancelike to liue long For of Moses it is said here that his eies were not Deut 34. 37. dim nor his naturall force abated And may we not saie so of this second Moses whose vnderstanding sight and hearing other sences might easily be observed to haue beene more sharpe and quicke then many that haue not past halfe his yeares was it not much that a man of his yeares and of so much imployment should haue at his dying day neither gray haire nor vnsound tooth Yea I may say it was little lesse then a miracle that his vitall and naturall powers should continue evē vntill his dying day in that perfection when all his vitall parts as appeared afterwards were so strāgely corrupted as that if the most learned Physitions had knowne the state of his body as they imagine it hath beene these many yeares they could not haue hoped nor conceived how he should cōtinue so long in that health and strength as continually he did His sicknesse was but short and saving some fits not very sharpe his carriage therein I dare speake it vpon the word of those that were continually with him very quiet and patient When the Minister of God came to him to fit him with comfort and confidence against the terrours of death having prepared himselfe for this purpose he entertained him kindly hard him attentiuely professed he received much comfort by him made a worthy confession of his faith with his owne mouth and intreated his company comfort againe assoone as conveniently he could resort vnto him In the meane time how his minde was busied we may imagine by that worthy acknowledgement of Gods loue vnto him when he thanked God that in all that time of his sicknesse hee had neither a bad thought nor a bad dreame But death is now at his doores and as he liued quietly and peaceably so he layes him downe like a lambe never opened his mouth to murmure nor moved anie part of his body to striue and struggle with death but with a deepe groane as from a sorrowfull repentāt soul sends his soule into the hand of his Savior where now no doubt he rests in ioy There followes now Moses his funerall which as appeares in the next verse was performed as honourably Ver 6. as ever was hard of euen by God himselfe yet so secretly as his sepulcher could never be seene vnto this day And haue not the godly friends of our honourable Moses herein shewed their loue and care by as honorable a solemnity as I thinke most of our eies haue seene The last thing is the mourning sorrow which followed vpon his death The children of Israel wept for Ver. 8. him in the plaine of Moab thirty daies and haue not we as great cause to sorrow in respect of our selues And yet that our sorrowe may not exceede knowe that though Moses a great man and Moses a good man the servant of the Lord be dead in the land of Moab yet nothing hath hapned in all this but by Gods appointment according to the will of the Lord which was the last point I proposed out of the words of my text and which I can onely touch now The point of doctrine which wee may obserue frō Doct. All crosses commeth frō God Amos 3. 5. hence is this What soeuer crosses and calamities doe befall vs here they come not by fortune or hap-hazard but at Gods appointment and his all-ruling providence Can a bird fall into a snare where no fowler is Amos 3. 5. Men that lie vnder Gods punishing hand or some heauie crosse are like a bird in a net whereinto we often fall before we see the fowler and being caught the more we striue struggle to get out the more we intāgle our selues therein Now it were a strange thing to see nets and snares set themselues to catch birds without a fowler and no lesse strange it is that crosses and calamities should befall any man at hap-hazard without a guide and governour Which the Prophet plainly proposeth Ibid. v. 6. ver 6. Shall there be any evill in the citty and the Lord hath not done it Who gaue Iacob for a spoile and Israel Isay 42. 24. to the robbers Did not the Lord because we haue sinned against him Isa 42. 24. Howsoever men may attribute the plague of pestilence to the infection of the aire or party about vs the calamity of the sword to the malue of the enimy the desolation of famine to fowle wether consumptions vnto want of exercise feuers and burning agues to the malignitie of some dish of meate or draught of drinke rightly too as to the second causes yet the holy Ghost wold haue vs to look to a higher hand in all these for it is God that sends both pestilence Deut 28. 21. 22. and famine and the sword and consumptions fevers and burning agues Deut. 28. 21. 22. Let this then for this present perswade vs to patience Vse vnder al crosses Thou hast lost thy father or friend or childe by vntimely death as thou dost imagine and therefore criest out either of want of care in their keeper or want of skill in the Physitian or absence of friends and sayest as Mary did to our Saviour if thou hadst beene here my brother had not beene dead or thou Ioh 11. 32. condemnest thy hard hap and considerest not that it is Gods hand Thus haue the children of God begunne their serious consultations in the day of affliction and hereby beckned as it were to themselues for silence Dominus est it is the Lord. When that heavie newes came to old Elies eares which whosoever should hear his two eares should tingle hee imposeth silence to
vaile over our sorrow till wee haue heard what God hath to say vnto vs by the mouth of me his vnworthy minister from these words of Moses Moses the servant of the Lord died c. The providence of God which like a well drawne picture eies every particular persoÌ„ in this great house of the whole world and is as inward and familiar to every action therein as our spirit is to our raines did most plainely manifest itselfe in the birth and life in the death and buriall of this man of God For to say nothing of his birth and life wherein both the wisdome and the power of God were deepely printed these words you see call vs to a consideration of his death described in the fifth verse wherein you mâ—y see wee may obserue first the person Moses secondly his praise The Division the servant of the Lord thirdly his period and end he died fourthly the place in the land of Moab and lastly the cause according to the word of the Lord. Had it beene but a privat person yet being so rarely qualified as he was who could haue commanded his passion so much as to bid sorrow be silentâ— but behold it is Moses a guid a governour a prince among the people or had he bin a governour that had proved either a traitour to his Prince or a tyrant to his people both Prince and people might haue beene glad but it is Moses the servant of the Lord or had he beene but gon into the mount to talke with God we need not so haue grieved but hee is dead or had it beene in his owne country the land of Canaan which God had giuen him and his people for inheritaÌ„ce or at home in his owne house but it is there in Mount Nebo vpon the top of Pisgah in the land of Moab where he was withinken of that sweet country And yet that you may not be cast downe with all these crosse accidents or cry out vpon badfortune or condemne the fates or father these crosses vpon some maligne aspect of the planets and constellations knowe that nothing hath come to passe in all this but by the wise guidance and direction of Gods alseeing providence Moses a great man Moses a good maÌ„ is dead that in a strange land but according to the word of the Lord. In the words theÌ„ the person comes in the first place to be coÌ„sidered the consideratioÌ„ thereof that Moses a governour a great maÌ„ is dead affords vs this doctrine that Doct. 1. A great govenour quick ly gone the most carefull conscionable Magistrates caÌ„not look to liue longer yea oftentimes diesooner then other meÌ„ Wise Salomon godly David religious Iosiah are all gathered to their fathers and the most wise godly and religious must follow them assoone as those persecutors of his church and children For first they are but men and therefore mortal Gods in calling but men in condition I haue said yee are Gods and you are all the children of the Psal 82. 6 7. most high but you shall dy like men you princes shall fall like others Secondly the sinnes of the people doth oftentimes provoke God thus to punish them by depriving them of such benefit which they set so light of This punishment God denounceth by his Prophet The Lord God of Israell will take away from Ierusalem and from Iuda hthe stay the strength even all the stay of bread I say c. all the strength of water the strong man and the man of warre the iudge and the Prophet the prudent the aged the captaine of fifty and the honourable and the counseller and I will appoint children to be their princes and babes to rule over them the people shal be oppressed one of another and every one by his neighbour the children shall presume against the ancient and the vile against the honourable Thirdly the Lord doth sometimes suddainely cut theÌ„ off that they may not see the misery which hee sends vpon the church or common wealth this God promiseth as a special blessing vnto that good king Iosiah because thine heart did melt thou hast humbled thy selfe 2 King 22. 19. 20. before the Lord wheÌ„ thou hardest what I spake against this place and against the inhabitants of the same hast rent thy clothes and wept before me behold therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers and thoushalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eies shall not see all the evill that I will bring vpon this place Thus the righteous perish and no man considereth that they are taken away from the evill to I say 57. 1. come See then beloved what cause we haue to pray for Vse the life and perseruation of godly governours as the Apostle exhorts to prevent their death to our power as 1. Tim. 2. 1. the Israelites praied David that he would not goe forth 2. Sam. 21. 17. to battle least he should quench the light of Israel to bee thankeful for them when we haue them and to be sorrowfull when we see them taken away I know not whether it be our coldnesse in praying or our carelesnesse in praising God for such gracious governours as he hath given vs or whether God be but preparing some heavie iudgement against this whole land his iudgements are secret and I leaue them to himselfe but sure we are senselesse if we cannot see how deeply the Lord hath wounded vs in the head and heart and whole body of this land the remembrance whereof is yet fresh and bleeding He hath wounded the whole kingdome by the vntimely death of a most worthie Prince he hath wounded the court by the suddaine cutting off of a most wise counseller and now he hath wounded the country by depriving it of so honorable a maintainer of peace by righteous iustice If then a king thought he had cause enough to lament the sicknesse of a Prophet not only kindly to visite him but compassionately to weepe over him then giue mee leaue as a Prophet to bewaile the death of a great prince a wise counsellour a worthy pillar of the coÌ„mon wealth in the same words O my father my father the 2. King 13. 14. chariots of Israell and the horsemen of the same or as David lamented the death of Saul Yee daughters of Israel weepe for Saul which cloathed you in scarlet with pleasures 2. Sam. 1. 24. and hanged ornaments of gold vpon your apparell In respect of themselues we haue more cause to ioy and saie as Hierome of his sinnefull time Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt Nepotian is a happy man that liues not to see the wicked world and as Saint Ambrose speaketh of such a one he was not so much taken from vs as from daÌ„gers But for our selues and sinnes which haue provoked God we cannot sorrow enough When God ships his Noahs it is a signe there is a floud
30 Ibid. 28. with the beasts of the field shall never bee blotted out Builde vp your selues your sonnes and families in the feare of God and then your houses and honors shal cōtinue longer then those that build them castles and cal their lands and livings after their owne names Els feare the curse which the Prophet hath pronounced Wo vnto Psal 49. 11. Jer. 22. 13. him that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnes and his chambers without equity and vseth his neighbor without wages and giueth him not for his worke hee saith I will build me a wide house and large chambers so he will make himselfe large windowes and seeling with cedar paint them with vermilion shalt thou raigne because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar Did not thy father eate and drinke and prosper when he executed iudgement Will you continue you name by your numerous progenie and multitude of children descended from your loines So might Ahab haue hoped if his sinnes had not beene a cause to cut of his seed and posterity But we knowe how his seventy sonnes had all their heads laid in a basket 2 King 10. 6 7 2. King 9. 33. on one day his wife Iezabell eaten vp with dogs all his posterity rooted out as the Prophet had pronounced To conclude this point then let the glory of God and his service be your chiefest aime speake for it stand for it fight for it die for it Sound it in your mouthes manifest it in your liues defend it with your swords and if need be seale it with your blood and so your names shal be blessed when your flesh bones shal bee consumed yea both body soule happy when your names shal be buried in oblivion The court you see cannot truely commend you your politique heads will no way profit you your moving eloquence cannot better you your gay clothes cannot grace you your stately house litle helpe you nor your multitude of children maintaine your honour heare on earth or procure your happynesse in heaven this only title given by the spirit of God vnto Moses to be the servant of the Lord is worth all the rest and will last for ever From the person Moses and his praise the servant of the Lord I proceed to his end or period death Moses 3. Part. the servant of the Lord died His period or end Doct. Neither great nes nor good nes is a good pleate against death It is neither his greatnesse you see nor his goodnesse that can purchase him a supersedeas against the arrest of death he that had fed many when they were readie to starue for hunger and refreshed many when their soules fainted within them for want of drinke hee at whose commande came frogges and lice and haile and darknesse and blood and blisters hath not his breath in his owne hand But I haue heretofore spent much time in pressing this point of mans mortalitie how death without difference of degree or condition summons all sorts of men Prince and Priest people the captaine and the common iouldier the master the man the mistresse her maid haue the same end they may die of diverse diseases at diverse times in divers places but they all die death hath the sole soveraignty of all the worlde and knockes assone at the great mans castle as at the poore mans cottage Would to God we were wise to apply this to our Vse owne selues for doth it not iustly reproue such as seldome so much as mind their mortalitie but liue here as though they thought verily they should never die If these men had no religion yet reason would teach them that their strength is not the strength of stone yet this the very drops of water weareth nor our sinewes of brasse or iron and yet this the rust and canker consumeth but a vapour but a smoake which the sunne soone drieth or the wind driveth away It was wittily said of Epictetus the Philosopher who going forth one day and seeing a woman weeping that had brokē her pitcher and the next day meeting another woman weeping that had lost her sonne heri vidi fragilem fran gi hodie video mortalem mori Yesterday saith he I saw a brittle thing broken and to day I see a mortall man die And what difference betwixt these two Much one manner of way for take a glasse saith St Austine which as it is bright so is it much more brittle then an earthen pitcher keepe it fafe in a cupboord where it may be free from the violence of outward wrong and it may continue many thousand yeares but take a man of the most pure complexion of the strongest constitution and keepe him as safe as thou canst hee hath that in his bosome and within his owne bones that will bring him to his end Nay I heare some say saith the same Father as I remember that such a one hath the plague or the plurisie and therefore sure he will dy but we may rather say such a one liueth and therefore sure he will die for diverse haue had those diseases did not die of them but never any man lived that did not die The consumption of the liver is a messenger of death the consumption of the lungs the minister of death the consumption of the marrow is the very mother of death and yet many haue had these diseases and not died of them but there is another kinde of consumption which could never yet be cured It is the consumption of the daies the common disease of all mankind and whereof all must die David spake of it my daies are consumed like smoake Let mee then warne Psal 102. 3. you and stirre vp your meditations of your mortasity with the words of our Moses who hath walked that way before vs Deut. 32. 29. O that men were wise then would they vnderstand this then would they consider their Deu. 32. 29. latter end Wee are vnwise that wee consider not the times past the evill we haue committed the good we haue omitted the benefits of God we haue abused the time we haue mispent and yet we grieue not because we thinke not yet whether we shall die More vnwise are we not to consider things present as the shortnes of life the difficultie of salvation the small number of such as shall be saved and yet wee shame not because we thinke we shal not yet die But most vnwise that we consider not things to come death iudgement hell al to come and yet we feare not because I feare wee thinke we shall never die O that we were wise then would we consider our latter end Wise Princes vse to prepare tenne yeares before hand for a field of one day beloved let vs lay vp something every day for the last When we shall wrastle with death if wee winne that skirmish we haue enough and when or where wee shall come to the conflict who can tell For Moses when hee
himselfe and armes himselfe with this resolution it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good It is the Lord 1. Sam. 3 18. who hath more right to my soule then I haue to my selfe more power over my body then I hane over a thought in my soule and shall I not be silent when he sends for one of them and saies they shall be sundred What other shield was it wherewith Iob repelled all those venemous darts which either in the death of his children or losse of his substance or the running of his sores or the cursed perswasion of his wife or the miserable comforts of his friends or the malitious and importunate accusations of Satan were cast vpon him when in all this nothing came from his mouth but thanked be God The divell made no doubt I thinke but he would haue blasphemed and his wife a more dangerous divell in his bosome perswaded him to curse and his flesh and fraikie no doubt was forward enough but what kept him backe even this resolution The Lord giueth and the Lord taketh away even as it Iob. 1. 21. pleaseth the Lord so come things to passe I conclude with Tertullian Totūlicet seculum pereat dum patientiam lucrifaciam I care not though the whole world perish so I may gaine patience But our Moses is not perished his soule liues in heaven and himselfe liues still on earth in that noble slemme that hath sprung from his stocke is now risē vp in his stead Whom I wil humbly sollicit in the same words that God speakes vnto Ioshua Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise It is now no longer Ioshua 1. 2. time for you to pinne vp your selfe within your private walls no time now to sleepe vpon the bed of pleasure and delight Arise the Common-wealth calls for you to stand vp in the roome of your honourable Father the eies of all are cast vpon you frō their harts wishing you would be pleased to set before your eies your fathers footsteps and to walke therein Doubt not of Gods blessing vpon you in such courses but what God speakes to Ioshua in the same Chap. v. 5. you may imagine even spoken to you As I was with Moses so will I be with thee I will not leaue thee neither for sake Ver. 5. thee be strong and of a good courage And againe vers 7. Only be thou strong and of a most valiant courage And againe V. 7. ver 8. Haue I not commanded thee saying be strong V. 8. and of a good courage feare not nor be discouraged for I the Lord thy God will be with thee whither soeuer thou goest Behold a threefold exhertation let it arme you against a threefold temptation the world the flesh and the diuel all which are linked in a hellish conspiracie to hinder and discourage every one in any good course especially such as are set in high place or are imployed for the publike good Hee had need therefore both of a sound head and a sanctified heart that should hold out in a high place Wherein consider I beseech you that your care of religious cariage should bee so much the greater as Gods loue hath beene the more in raising you aboue many in the world The goodnesse of a private man is his owne and his sinnes seldome hurt any but himselfe but the goodnesse of a principall man is the whole countries and his sinnes infectious vnto many The common meanes which both the world the flesh and the diuell vse in this wanton age of the world is the contagiō of bad company which you haue cause to curse and avoid because the canker common ly eates into the goodliest flowers in the garden seldome settles vpon netles and such worthlesse weeds And surely such as our company is such either wee are or such we will be shortly or such wee would bee thought to be or at least the world will iudge vs to be such Let mee therefore beseech you even for the glory of God the honour of your house the good of your country the comfort of your friends the peace of your owne conscience and the salvation of your owne soule take heed of bad company Out of good and godly minded men chuse your acquaintance out of your acquaintance cull out some fewe for your friends out of your friends some one familiar whom you may trust with your selfe herein I doubt not you shall find more sollid comfort and content then in varietie of company which will be bold enough to thrust in vpon you then in great multitudes which will be ready enough to flatter you In a word for you are wise vse those good talents of wisdome and wealth and honour which God hath given you so as Gods glory may gaine by them and you shall be sure not to loose at the last Nay you may assuredly look to heare both on earth and in heaven It is well done good servant and faithfull thou hast beene faithfull in much I will make thee ruler over more enter into thy masters ioy FINIS