anothers sufferings What Man in pain deems not his own distemper most insupportable How many does misfortune urge to wish that to themselves which Hezekiah deplores in others That when they being Children came to the Birth there had not been strength to bring forth (z) 2 Kings 19.3 even with Job unwishing their Nativities When we contemplate humane misery and add to that the infirmity of our constitutions Birth seems to render us as capable of wishing Death as secure of meeting it Nor seems Death only the design of Birth but its near Kinsman too for Death is Sleeps Brother sayes the Philosopher and Life 's a Dream sayes the Preacher (a) Eccles 6. A Dream like Pharaohs wherein Men like Beasts devour each other and the worse the better for bad Men prosper by defrauding good Men yet stile they this detestable success by the beloved name of good fortune yet ev'n in this good fortune besides the guilt what great unhappiness lies hid what tortures and what agonies of thought what nips of conscience and what keen reflections The splendid condition of evil Men holy David (b) Psal 37. resembles to a flourishing green Tree and in another Psalm he stiles Man Grass Now rich Men grow like Grass under that Tree much higher and much greener than the rest and sowrer too by much considering their sins and cares and oft too shorter-liv'd by much their too large growth inviting as it were Deaths fatal Sythe Nor does Job mend the character of Life when he compares it to a Poast soon ends the Stage after a restless journey full of haste and dirt But what a pleasant place the Journey ends in Why dread ye Death the Begetter of Ease sayes Menander (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. What is Death the laying down a heavy Burden sayes St Austin (d) Quid est Mors Depositio Sarcinâ—… gravis Aug. Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours sayes the Spirit (e) Rev. 14.13 This great advantage of Death prompted Isidorus Pelusiota to conceive that our Saviour wept not for the decease of Lazarus but because for the belief of the Jews he was to reduce him to that Life that vexatious Life from which Death had absolv'd him The Grave at once shuts up Mans Corps and Cares Hid in the dark there no misfortune finds him The Drum shall beat and yet his pulse not strike a stroke the faster The earth shall blush in her own childrens blood for her own childrens spilling it and yet his visage suffer the complexion neither of shame nor fear Sickness shall come and mingle Fevers with warm Sun-shine till each Neighbor dyes at once his Neighbors wonder and example till weary Graves implore the aid of more capacious Pits yet the Dead shall ne're molest himself with seeking Sanctuary in some distant dwelling where he may live a Coward to each strangers face or dye the business of Deaths further travel Poverty shall come and Want as an armed Man and Friends astonish'd at the sight withdraw like fearful Women yet still shall he lie void of want and care amidst the quiet company of his old Relations in the embraces of corruption to which he may say Thou art my Mother and of the Worms to whom Thou art my Sister and Brother (f) Job 17.4 And this perhaps might be some reason why the Muscovites if we believe (g) Observantur Dies obitus quem anniversariis cele brant epulis Sabel Enn. 10. lib. 3. Sabellicus do annually solemnize the Funerals of Friends with no less pomp than some of us our Nuptials And now so kind is Death so cruel Life that he who covets this deserves not that especially if we consider with Olympiodorus that 3. By Birth we enter into a capacity of actual sin which in the good Death puts an end to And could it but oblige the wicked so the Learn'd suppose that even to the Damn'd Death would be better than Life For penal Evil viz. Suffering is a less Evil than the moral viz. Sinning by how much less it opposes the Supreme Good Sin in the act has no colours but what desie God but Suff'ring wears the Livery of his Justice So that were but the Damn'd exempt from Sinning their posture were much better than this Life which still involves us in it in spight of all their Suffering But even as the Damn'd now are or ever shall be their Birth has nought to boast of over Death for to whom e're it is not good to dye it had been better he had ne're been born But however with the good the case is indisputable His Death outdoes his Birth by undoing Sin Sin Lifes Concubine for it ne're lies from it and Deaths Mother for the Apostle sayes it brings it forth This Mother dyes in bringing forth the Daughter The Viper makes her own Nativity her Dams Funeral revenging on her the harm she did the world in the production of so dire an off-spring Just so does Death destroy the cause of dying The good by suffering it desist to merit it for they desist to sin Hitherto we have consider'd the Obligations of Death in those ills it determines and Birth is swallow'd up in Victory now we must view II. That great Good which it introduces Like night it blots out one day to begin another For Dying makes a Man immortal and that great Argument which proves him but a Man promotes him to society of Angels But then still Death must be what Balaam wish'd O that I might dye the Death of the Righteous Man by his Birth assumes a Life by which he lives in daily likelihood of no longer living but he dyes into an incapacity of Dying We know that we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens WE KNOW sayes the Apostle (h) 2 Cor. 5.1 But why then is it said WHO KNOWS c Eccles 3.21 Quaer Our Translation is somewhat more favourable than either the Greek or Latin or indeed our ancient English Translations for that which we read Who knows the Spirit of Man that ascendeth upwards They render Who knows the Spirit of Man if it ascendeth upwards (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Septuag Si Spiritus c. vul lat Does then the learned Apostle contradict the wise King Or was his knowledge improv'd beyond the reach of Solomons One demands and demanding denies Who knows The other seems to reply We know To reconcile these places the Scotists distinguish betwixt Knowledge by Divine Revelation viz. Faith and Knowledge by Natural Deduction viz. Reason And then they reply that Ecclesiastes only demands this Who knows BY REASON whether the Soul be immortal And the Apostle tells us That although we may not attain the assurance of our Souls Everlastingness by Reason yet We know it by FAITH But this Reply falls short of satisfaction nor can these Texts refer to the Souls Immortality
mundâ—…â Elementorum corruptibilium qualitates quae corporibus nostris corruptibiâ—ibus congruchant ardendâ— penitus interibunt Atque ipsâ— substantia eas qualitates habebit quae corporibus immortalibus mirabili mutatione conventant Ut scilicent mundus in melius inrouaâ—us aptâ— accommodetur hominibus etiam in carne meliùs innovatis Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 20. cap. 16. From these things then we may raise these Conclusions 1. That the Heavens shall no more measure time For 2. Time shall be no more Rev. 10.6 And hence indeed in proper speech the Heavens shall be no more Shall is the Future Tense but in Eternity there 's no Futurity Now when there is no time but all Eternity who can without great impropriety say the Heavens shall be when Shall imports a time to come 3. If no time then no motion for time is the measure of motion (f) Tempus est mensura motus omnis motus est in tempore and therefore 4. No more action for without motion there is no action in Naturals 5. Therefore no more influence on Sublunaries for without action no influence therefore 6. No more generation nor corruption for these are not without influence Thus then the Heavens shall be no more And now IV. Man shall awake and be raised out of his sleep Methinks I see his Body now begin to be again Methinks I see the Sea like Jonah's Whale surrendring what it had long time conceal'd Methinks I see Men bolting from the Earth like Rabbets from their Warrens Some from the Waves some from the Graves I see just waken'd by the Trump and shaking off many their dew and many more their dust For they must awake they must be raised out of their sleep But it may be of use to mind the expression 't is they shall be rais'd not by their vertue but some others power But what is his Name if thou canst tell 'T is my Redeemer I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall raise me up at the last day (g) Job 19.25 My Redeemer There 's God's power Shall raise me up There 's Job's assurance At the last day There 's the time prescrib'd My Redeemer lives 1. To confute the Jews who disown his Resurrection 2. To prove that he also shall raise us up Christ the first-fruits afterwards they that are Christs 1 Cor. 15. For He shall raise me up To refute those who repute our expectation of reduction from the Grave as a Dream At the last day To confute Hymeneus Philetus and Hermogenes who concluded the Resurrection already accomplish'd because 't is recorded that the Bodies of the Saints arose Matth. 27. So holy Job even in the Text supposes and implies what there he expresses viz. That when the Heavens shall be no more Man shall be raised 1. Then he shall awake arise 2. How shall he be raised But 1. Mans Body shall arise These very Numerical Bodies these that we sin'd in or repented in Methinks I hear the Trumpet sound a Call wherefore Awake Awake Whoe're Where're Howe're you are Whoe're have been devour'd by Wolves those Wolves being strait devoured by Lyons those Lyons dying and strait devour'd by Kites Whoe're to Fishes have been made a Prey which even themselves have soon become a Prey to other Fishes Whoe're you are that in your Bodies have perform'd the Stages which fond Pythagoras prescrib'd to Souls in journeys through each various kind of Beasts Whoe're you are have been reduc'd to dust and dissipated through the spacious world till every dust has been remov'd a Mile from dust of kin to it Awake Awake indeed you must awake 'T is a resistless power that raises you 'T is God shall raise the dead Acts 26.8 But some may ask Query What if a Man devour those of his own species What if Claudius devour Sempronius and after time for due digesting him Claudius himself become anothers Meal How shall Sempronius and others in the like capacity be raised up in his own Numerical Body unless whatsoever was eaten by Claudius and may be conceiv'd to have become a part of his Body be restored Which if it be How then shall Claudius rise with his Numerical Body This is the Query which Objectors think Solut. is of itself enough to make a Sadduce But 't is indeed a trivial doubt and of no force to any but the willing For 't is not he shall arise as I observ'd before but he shall be raised which includes an unrestrained power to be the Agent and 't is the same Almighty Power which does support the living That God shall raise Man who now seeds Man He needs no aid of meat to keep a Creature living How obvious may we then conceive it though Claudius do devour Sempronius for God to strengthen Claudius and support him without permitting any of Sempronius to be concocted into his constitution especially since he compos'd not Man to be Mans food But now what think you if even to Reason for at that Weapon they must be encounter'd who contradict this Doctrine I say what if to Reason 't is a thing impossible but of the self-same Body there must be infallibly a Resurrection Not to trace all the Causes back up to the first to prove a God accomplish'd in whate're good reason ere thought good I shall suppose the Existence of a Deity already granted I know none deny it There being then a God he must be just but just he cannot be without a Resurrection For to mans eye the worst oft live and dye with least misfortune Now if no vengeance seize them after death where 's then the Justice and where 's then the God Will any say that after dissolution the Soul may suffer and still God be just although the Body sleeps But if the Body shar'd in sinning and be exempted from the suffering a Malefactor escapes then where 's the Justice and next where 's the God Or will you say as some are very forward that Death it self is the Bodies punishment But I say 1. the Soul and Body sin'd together for each others greater satisfaction in justice therefore we may think that they should suffer together for each others greater affliction But they by death so far does it resist their suffering together are far remov'd asunder if death then be the Bodies sole infliction still where 's the Justice 2. Can the Body be punish'd with what it never feels But oft great Sinners sink into the Grave under a stupefaction of the senses and dye extempore And if the flesh do only suffer death which brings no corporal pain for mighty corporal transgressions still where 's the Justice 3. The Body sinning against an infinite Person committed infinite sin for as we see in Treason the Object gives proportion to the Crime Infinite sin must have no finite suffering But Death is a finite suffering for that 's accomplish'd when the Soul is gone If therefore Death be all the vengeance to the Body where
proves few Mens Riches 't is all Mens love though it be few Mens study 't is Warmth in the Winter Sunshine in the Grave the Emulation of the Wise and the Envy of Fools A Good Name is Better than Oyntment Now by Oyntment some with Olympiodorus understand I. To flow in Riches and Delights reflecting upon that of David Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than when their Wine and Oyl increased as 't is in our Service-Translation of Psal 4.8 This the Psalmist elsewhere expresses by Rivers of Oyl the same word being there render'd Oyl which is here Oyntment Nay the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in this very place Translated by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Oyl which we with Symmachus teach to speak as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precious oyntment or rather indeed oyntment of a good savour which some as I said expound Riches c. These indeed are oyls or oyntments but like that of the (e) Eccl. 10.1 Apothecary full of drown'd Flies Infatuated men the sons of Ease and Sunshine perish here Here indeed according to holy David's language Rivers of oyl may be and such as flow like Pactolus upon golden Sands Here you may survey the prosperous rich man's state upon those Rivers Banks we have a Landtschape of Elms tall and fair and without fruit of Tantalus his Apples glorious to the eye to raise a distant expectation and deceive approach our Saviour's Fig-tree of a tempting shew and curs'd Job's Vine which shakes its Grapes off yet unripe his Olive too miscarrying in its flowers (f) Job 15.33 and Jonah's Gourd for shade without duration And here sleeps wealthy man and here he dies and oft unfortunately dies amidst delights like an unweildy body which sinks deep where the ground 's soft The Greeks perhaps might have their wealth more literally term'd oyntment who by expensive unction of their heads at once betray'd their riches and laid them out which practice was derided by Diogenes anointing his own feet and crying out That (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. in vita Diog. oyntment on the head lost all its virtue in the Air but from the feet sent up its sweets into the Nostrils But alas this made them sweet beneath the sex of men wasting their reputation with their unguents whil'st grown effeminate they often left their names the sacrifices to perfumes and sweet consistencies Besides what kindness could this do them in the Land of Moles and Pismires where all their odors found a Grave with them But a good Name perfumes the breath of Children and Childrens Children The wealthy may awhile blaze in the world with much shew and some heat and in a while like dying Coals cover themselves with Ashes when Death their universal Night approaches But a good Name survives in gleams of light and glows to long posterity A good Name is better than riches Prov. 22.1 That 's one sort of oyl or oyntment but a good Name is better than that and better also Than Oyntment which II. Is us'd in the anointing Kings for in this place the Chalde Paraphrase understands by Oyntment Superiority and Rule Saul was thus anointed (h) 1 Sam. 10. And his Successors had it in a manner as the Sacrament of their Authority Superiority and Rule This this is Ambition's gay encouragement when (i) Plutarch in vitâ Marii Marius thinks that GREATEST is a style much better than BEST when men fill splendid outsides with black and horrid insides not much unlike those odd Intruders into Mysteries that place Hell in the Body of the Sun when men regard not how much Devils they prove so that each man may stand on a high Mountain and cry All this is mine But though even harmlesly acquir'd what 's Dignity It makes men wonder and it makes men envy whil'st they look up to wish the Owner lower By this men swell into a Power publick enough to have whole Kingdoms curse them Men in mean garments may perhaps be slain but 't is like Ahab (k) 1 Kings 22. ver 34. with a Bow drawn at adventure But men in Robes are shot at with design and all like Syrians level all their darts at gay Jehoshaphat (l) 1 Kings 22. ver 32. O Dignity if rightly weigh'd an odious Priviledge By this men have a right to ride before like Postillions of the world for all the Beasts that follow to bespatter So that it well may be unwish'd in life but 't will at Death be surely unenjoy'd Man shall carry nothing with him when he dyeth neither shall his pomp follow him (m) Psal 49.17 I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men c (n) Psal 82. ver 6,7 Or else perhaps dye like the god in the Fable which every Frog dares trample and disdain when he perceives him to lie still But a good Name the poor man's sole felicity makes even the poor a Prince and so much more a Prince by how much more belov'd than fear'd and even interr'd he is obey'd by good men if not in particular commands yet in his publick example for imitation may be one sort of obedience And so lying still Gloriosa satis requiescit urna A good Name is better Than Oyntment which III. Is us'd in Funerals (o) Mos antiquitùs suit ut Nobilium Corpora sepelienda ungerentur cum aromatibus sepelirentur Eucherius Lugdunensis tells us 'T was an ancient custom to anoint Bodies to be buried and to interr them with perfumes And this the Jews as Casaubon (p) Casaub Exerc. in Bar. Annal. observes deriv'd from the Egyptians Some think this Solemnity attended with exenteration or embowelling for keeping But although this was customary in Egyptian Pollinctures yet have we not ground to conclude the Jews their Scholars in the practice the Septuagint skill'd in the Jewish customs using for anointing not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which meerly does import an unction so that amongst the Jews the unguents seem not so much intended for the conservation of the dead as to intimate the kind regards of the living to which in all probability our Saviour refers in saying She has beforehand anointed my body to the burial (q) Mark 14.8 But what 's this to a good Name What was this practice but a fond employment to deck the Body up in gaudy garments when 't was to take a journy in the dark to go hence and be no more seen They seem'd to take great care lest they should prove annoyance to the Worms or bring a savor which might be offensive to the curiousness of some Neighbor carkass But which abates the value of this oyntment Fools might buy it and Knaves sell it Survivers frequently bestow'd it upon those in Death whose Lives of all the world they would the least desire should be repeated The Ignorant might dye supply'd of this