〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR The Dust returning to the Earth BEING A SERMON Preached at the INTERRMENT Of that Excellently accomplisht Gentleman Tho. Lloyd Esq Late of Wheaten-Hurst in the County of Glocester upon Tuesday the 22th of December 1668. By THO. WOOLNOUGH Rector of the Parish of St. Michael in the City of GLOCESTER 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. In the SAVOY Printed by T. N. for James Collins and are to be sold by J. Jordan Bookseller in Glocester 1669. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR The Dust returning to the Earth BEING A Sermon preached at the Interrment of that excellently accomplish'd Gentleman Tho. Lloyd late of Wheaten-hurst in the County of Glocester Esquire upon Tuesday the 22th of December 1668. ECCLES 12. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it MAn is frequently wont to be termed a Micro-cosme or Little World not without cause The great World consists of two general parts Heaven and Earth so doth Man of two parts not unlike Soul and Body The Heaven is superior both in Place and Nature of a substance pure and splendent and altogether Divine the Earth is both in site and dignity many removes off the matter of it sordid and ignoble the very sediment dreggs and settlings of the Chaos Thus is the Soul of Man a Spirit bearing the resemblance of God himself whom we call so Divinity in a less Volume a smaller Character The Body is but a heap of rubbish The Heavens are continually in motion so is the Soul of Man their motions are incredibly swift so are those of the mind The Earth is sixt and unmoveable and so is the Body in and of it self and for its motion is beholding to the Soul which acts it Thus then hath the Little World as well as the Great One its Heaven and its Earth which are no other in the Language of my Text than the Dust which returns to the Earth as it was and the Spirit which returns to God that gave it Various are the mutations and vicissitudes of Man's life yet after all our postures we come back to As we were Thousands of miles doth the Sun pass in the compass of 24 hours yet where he began his journey to day he will not fail to set out to morrow This circulation of humane life is and cannot but be visible even to the ordinary Observers of Nature in her course Our first Stage is Infancy thence we advance forward to Childhood thence to Youth so to Man's Estates to Middle Age at last we arrive at Old Age and when at that which is called Decrepit we are got to Infancy again come back to As we were yet is not this the last Stage neither there is one farther when Death approaching the Dust returns to the Earth as it was and the Spirit to God that gave it If we look into the Antecedent part of the Chapter we shall find Salomon giving young Persons good Counsel to make use of that Flower of their Age and to do betimes that Work by the leaving of which undone they will undo themselves To make Hay as we say while the Sun shines Old Age he warns them is coming and brings its indispositions along with it the clouds return after the rain v. 2. He that puts off the Service of God till then is likely to serve him but lamely at the best Whilst Blood is in our Veins and Marrow in our Bones Religion is to be minded God will have the best of our years or none When an aged Frost hath chain'd the Current of the Blood Devotion is hardly like to thaw it Now is the acceptable time now is the day of salvation To day if ye will hear his voyce Heb. 4. 7. Graphically doth our Preacher here describe Old Age and its infirmities and that at large in sundry verses ye may know Apelles by his Draught It were too tedious for me at this time to paraphrase upon the several elegant though seemingly mystical expressions hereunto accommodated He closeth all at the close of all and that is Death in the words of the Text He brings Man to the Grave and there he leavs him The Dust returning to the Earth c. The Words are then you see a Periphrasis of Death represented to us under the notion of a return twofold with reference to both its Subjects and Terms The Subjects of it are Soul and Body the Terms of it to the Earth to God Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it That I may go plainly to work and not soar above the apprehensions of any I shall in this Verse take notice of but two things and they are The rise and tendency of Mans Body and Soul His Body's rise from the Earth its tendency to Earth Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. His Soul's rise from God he gave it its tendency to God It shall return to God that gave it These particulars in the words easily resolve themselves into two Propositions One touching the Body of Man the other the Soul That touching the Body is this That it was from the Earth at the first and to Earth at length it must That concerning the Soul this That it had its being originally from God and to God ultimately shall it return Of which Propositions by way of Explication first as far as shall be needful and then by way of Application The Body was from the Earth how Our Bodies we now have according to the ordinary course of generation from our Parents they are not immediately made of Earth true But Adam's Body the Holy Story witnesseth was so made Gen. 2. 7. whence then the first Body came all are said to come his Body was from the Earth immediately ours from his and therefore mediately from the Earth The greatest of Men is but Terrae filius and may say to Corruption Thou art my Father as Job 17. 4. What signifies a long Pedigree In vain do men tire the Heralds to prove the antientness of their Descent whilest the rising one step higher might serve to bring down their Pride many steps lower put in but the Son of Earth too and Salomon will be found to have done them more right than Clarenceaulx One ap there is which even the Welshman hath omitted ap Dust Wouldst thou have thy Pedigree drawn out O Man or Woman who ever thou art Let me commend thee to this King at Arms and he will quickly tell thee whence thou comest even from Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was The Dust Mark that too He vouchsafes the Body no better a Name than Dust upon good grounds Why should it be rather nam'd what it is than what it both was and shall be The reasons of this Appellation are two to one Dust A bold word
all this Must not thou shortly to the Land of Darkness Must not this Body of thine resolve into rottenness and putrefaction 2. See we hence how little the Grandeur and Gawdery of this World is worth that the Body must to the Grave when all is done it must to Earth Pallaces and Crowns cannot keep off Death Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede Pauperum tabernas Regumque turres saith Horace aptly Tell not Death when it approacheth of Noble Blood of great Estate of Honours and the like all these signifie nothing Art thou a Son of Adam yea or no Is thy Body from the Earth If that thou canst not deny he values not thy high looks If from Earth thou camest to Earth thou must return Thy Mother Earth saith he desires thy embraces be not too proud to own her yet if thou beest it matters not I bring power enough with me to force a stronger than thy self This same Honour is a taking thing See Men in their Ruffe in all the Pageantry of Fortune and weak eyes will be dazled by their splendor who would not desire to be in their case and say with Saint Peter at the Transfiguration It is good for us to be here I but follow a great Man to the Grave see him but making this return see his Body descend into the Slymy Valley the Dust returning to the Earth as it was and then who can envy him His Gâ—ory and his Pomp shall not descend after him saith the Psalmist Psal 49. 17. Again 3. If the Body must to the Earth let us be advised hence to endeavour whilst we are here to redeem our selves from the power of the Grave by worthy actions Our Bodies must rot let us not so carry our selves as that our Names should do so too that is the Curse of the Wicked Prov. 10. 7. The name of the wicked shall rot but The memory of the just is blessed saith the same verse There are three things belonging to every Man his Soul his Body his Name the one must die the other cannot die the third may be preserv'd The Soul must live for ever in weal or wo the Body will to the Earth none can help it To procure the dissolution of the one or reprieve the other from death is not in our power but the keeping alive our Name is in our own hand This is one of the Stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is in our power by deserving well or ill of the World to leave a sweet savour or a stink behind us It is the advice which Pliny the younger a man no less ingenious than learned gives his Friend from the consideration of the shortness of life in the 70th Epist of his Third Book Sed tanto magis hoc quicquid est temporis futilis caduci sed non detur factis certe studiis proferamus quatenus nobis denegatur diu vivere relinquamus aliquid quo nos vixisse testemur This most concerns Persons of rank and quality that have many eyes upon them that are taken notice of in the World by reason of the inequality of their height they being like Saul higher by the head and shoulders than the rest of the people for such Persons to live in a Cloyster like Snails in their Houses to steal away like Plebeians through the Crowd unseen to have their way like the way of a ship in the sea without track to leave no token that they were unless this That they begat Children What a Disgrace What a shame Much more to live onely in the Curses of the People to be remembred for naught but Cruelty and Oppression grinding the faces of the poor and the like The generous spirits among the Heathens were alwayes wont to affect immortality which for that their bodies could not reach and to the Doctrine of the Soul they were in great part strangers they endeavoured by their vertues to supply and make out whâ—… was wanting to the frailty of their Bodies 'T is true we are acquainted with the Souls immortality and know that death makes not an end of the whole Man we know that there shall be a resurrection of the Body too but yet next to the care of providing for the Souls happy Eternity should be that of leaving a good Name behind us A good Name which is as pretious Oyntment Eccles 7. 1. This is the way to deliver our selves from Death indeed Never doth he die whose Soul lives in Heaven and whose Name lives in the World the Grave hath onely its Thirds in such Cases which cannot be denied it I have done with the Body to which our first Proposition had respect and I fear I have given it too large a share so great is the advantage of coming first It were pity that the Souls part should be scanted I 'le do it what right I can by the leave of the time and your patience And the Spirit shall return to God that gave it The Spirit is from God That is the first part of the Proposition which we are now to improve And so 1. Learn we hence to think aright of the Dignity of our Souls they are of a heavenly Extraction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are his Off-spring Acts 17. 28. Is not this Soul too good to debase to the service of sin to the service of Satan What Did the Soul come from God and shall it be given to the Devil God forbid What a Fool was Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage Worse Fools are all they that sell their Souls for the Pleasures of Sin less substantial than so meer smoak and air We laugh at them who having Estates descending to them from their Ancestors improvidently squander them away No Spend-thrift like the Sinner who trifles away his Soul the Gift of God 2. Learn we the immortality of the Soul if it be from God that is as we have seen immediately created by him then can it never cease to be by the means of any thing besides him He only who gave it a being can take away its being He can annihilate it if he pleaseth otherwise it must needs remain That which is made of matter can be no more durable than that matter of which it is made Hence the Earthen Body must of necessity have its period It is one property of Earth to be friabilis subject to crumble into dust but the Soul having no prae-existent matter but being created of nothing is necessarily evinc'd to be à parte post eternal 3. Did God give us our souls Let us then bequeath them to him to keep He onely can keep them who created and gave them It is St. Peter's counsel to commit our Souls to God in well doing as to a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. where he hints at this very thing that we are upon viz. the resigning of our Souls to God upon this consideration That we had them from him To the same purpose speaks St. Paul
but have a care of a knock keep it whole as long as thou canst for if once it fall asunder it is no longer of any worth the matter of it is but Earth good for nothing however the form of it may for a time commend it both to thy self and others Let young people think of this especially in whom the sin of Pride is wont to be most predominant When thou art dressing thy self at thy Glass O young person admiring thine own form and ready with Narcissus to fall in love with thy self think then What do I take all this pains for to deck a piece of Earth my body is no better And as Humility within our selves so let us learn it with reference unto others from this consideration Who are we that contemn our poor Brethren Are they ragged and beggerly Are they mishapen and deformed what then Their Bodies are made of no worse matter than our own all are but Earth Much less let any of us dare to magnifie our selves against the great God adventure to take up the Cudgels against Heaven Will the Terrae filii the Sons of Earth make war with Jupiter yea though Gyants great in strength and stature Alas poor Earth Shall the Clay magnifie it self against the Potter Good God! that ever Earth should be so proud as to defie its Maker What are we all the men of the world joyn'd together but so many Earthen Vessels Let but God smite us and we crumble to dust yea how easily can he dash us to pieces one against another Let not Earth then dare to incur the displeasure of the Almighty let us in all humility reverence and obey him O Earth Earth Earth hear the Word of the Lord. Let us serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling as Psal 2. 11. least we be broken with a rod of iron and dasht in pieces like a Potters Vessel as v. 9. Again Are our Bodies of Earth then 2 Let us not make our selves slaves to them What shall the Divine Soul serve the Earthen Body for shame This is for Servants to ride and Princes to go on foot Let us not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof as Rom. 13. 14. Let us curb and check the Body when it grows malepert and domineers let us make Earth know it self Do we come hither think we into the world for naught but to gratifie our Bodies to eat and drink and sleep c. These bodily services how much of our pretious time do they take up Some they must as we are men but as little as may be they should as we are Christians Let it not be said of any amongst us Dum comuntur aluntur annus est How many are there who make Idols of their Bodies who worship an earthen god the grossest and most stupid Idolatry imaginable Some make their back their god others their belly these we read of Phil. 3. 19. Whose God is their belly who mind earthly things The things of the Body are and must needs be earthly things for the Body it self is but Earth Let us mind the Body less and the Soul more Let us not feed the Swine and starve the Child The Soul is the Treasure which we have in these Earthen Vessels as they are call'd 2 Cor. 4. 7. Let us secure the Treasure and not be much solicitous about the Vessels 3. Are our Bodies Earth We might from hence too take notice of the infinite Wisdom of God the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle calls it who of such rough matter can frame such excellent pieces This commends the Workmans art that he can make Earth so glorious Let us take notice of this not to make us proud which we have been already caveated against but to cause us to glorifie God with these Bodies of ours By the way too Let us be hence confirmed in our belief of the Resurrection if God couâ—d of very Earth make such Bodies as these why can he not of Earth raise them up again No matter what the stuff be if God be the Workman 4. See we hence the necessity of death or something aequivalent to it that change mentioned 1 Cor. 15. 51. Why we have Earthen Bodies and these are not fit for Heaven What should Heaven do with Earthen Pitchers The azured Windows of that Imperial Pallace need no such Flowre-Pots No This corruptible must put on incorruption this Earth must be refined from its dross and dreggs e'r it be fit Company for Angels Again 5. Let us learn not immmoderately to fear them that can onely kill the Body break an Earthen Pot a great matter who cannot do as much as that Neither is the Conquest great on their part nor the loss much on ours Let us not fear the wearing out of our Bodies in Gods Service or the laying down these Earthly Tabernacles in his Cause for his sake and at his Call Little will we do for him upon whom we will not bestow a piece of Earth A Crown of Glory is a good reward 'T is a thriving way of negotiation thus to barter with God to get Heaven for a piece of dust laid out But I hasten and pass from this to the later Branch of the Proposition The Body must to Earth again As it was saith the Text. Had it not been for the sin of Man the Body should have been immortal it was sin that brought in death In the day that thou eatest thou shalt die Gen. 2. 17. Yet this immortality of the Body would have been not ex natura sed gratia The Body is made of dying ingredients Earthen Ware will crack one time or other The Pitcher goes not so often to the Well but it comes broken home at last To die is in Nazianzen's Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To pay a Debt to Nature There are then two reasons why the Dust must to the Earth 1. The natural frailty of Mans Body which declines towards the Grave 2. Gods Decree for the punishment of sin To the Earth the dust must such is its Nature and to the Earth it shall such is Gods determination Well Learn we hence too 1. Not to be too fond of these Bodies of ours not to tiddle them to satisfie all their wanton appetites and desires to live like Epicures How will that delicate Body do to lie down in the Grave which here even tires the Soul to invent ways of making much of it Yet this it must come to nolens volens The wind must not blow upon thee O Man or Woman here what a care thou hast of thy self This and the other is not good enough for thee to eat nor this or that to wear Thy Luxury must rifle no less than 3 Elements yea thy Eye must be fed as well as thy Belly Quasi gula crapulae non sufficeret etiam oculis caenamus ipsis oculis est gula saith Pâ—…tean And remotest Countries must be ransackt to furnish thy Back and why