sutable to his excellent nature The best of all worldly enjoyments if they exceed the Limit of Prudence and Sobriety may be pleasing for a time 't is true as long as men are bereaved of their sences through the height of Excess which is just as distracted persons reckon Fetters and Chains an Ornament But alas as soon as they return to themselves they find nothing but shame or sickness an aching Head or a weak Stomach or rotten Bones The transporting Pleasures of a Frolick all vanish in a night and all that remains is a fear that others will remember the indecencies of which they were lately guilty and have themselves forgotten Therefore I say considering those things are so truly vanity that they are all transitory which perish in the using that they are but imaginary Apparitions and at best no further grateful than they are fancied to be so it will follow that they should not be too eagerly courted nor should we spend too much time in their purchase Thirdly Inf. 3. Since our time here is so short and withal so uncertain we ought to make timely preparation for our removal hence Mans days are but as Grass consume in a moment our days are swifter than a Post our time is but like a writing upon a sand and of this every one must needs be sensible that ever looks abroad in the world and yet there are not many that lay this to heart as they ought nor do they consider their own frailty when they see others drop into their Graves It may be on a Funeral day or on the news of such a terrible mischance and fatal accident as this was men may have some natural suggestion that mortality is certain and death amazing But the next merriment wears off the sense of it and men follow their accustomed sports or business with as much eagerness as if they should never dye and lay Scenes for strange projects as if they were immortal and till they find themselves arrested by the Messenger of Death a grievous sickness they fancy it will always stand at a vast distance from them But this should not be so we know we must remove off from this stage and for ought we know the time is nearer than we are aware This Gentleman was as likely to live as any person here now present and yet within one hour that I saw him lively and well I heard the sad news of that accident which drew on death irresistably against all our good wishes to the ruine of our hopes and the grief of all Spectators Nay the change was so sudden and withal so violent that Art and Medicines were useless and the ready offices of all his Friends were utterly unserviceable but in a word he was stupid in a moment and continued so till he died which was shortly afterward And methinks this single instance is enough to add weight to the Argument and enforce the inference viz. that all men should provide in season for a removal hence For who can tell but the same or a like misfortune may befal either of us tho yet I say considering the circumstances they appear so amazing that I heartily do and every one may pray from such a death good Lord deliver us But yet allowing only that a sudden death is but barely possible yet who in his wits would run the hazzard of a following Eternity meerly for the Love of a fading perishing transitory uncertain world We must subsist after our souls and bodies are separated and therefore we ought so to spend our time in the body that it may turn to some account for our souls after our bodies are turned to dust which I express by making a timely preparation for our removal There is no one thing in which men are so contentedly cheated as in the notions of living and dying nay worse those who will not allow others to impose upon them tho but to the damage of a penny will yet impose upon themselves in this case which is a matter of infinite importance and many times hug their error so long that it proves irrecoverably damnable i. e. men drop into Hell while they caress themselves with the fond hopes of a following Heaven And this is a madness which possesses the generality of all mankind they put death and the other world at a great distance and then think themselves safe in all their extravagancies there they revel their senses indulge to Luxury make provision for the Flesh court the world and make but a sport of damnation And yet all this while are confident that they shall have time enough to reverse all this and meet Death long enough e're it call for them And that after a life of sin and vanity they shall dye very devout Saints and partake of their Blessedness Unaccountable stupidity What is this that so bewitcheth men What Circaean Cup should have power sufficient so to intoxicate them And so utterly to divest them of their Sense and Reason Nay what Amulet is that which can so powerfully resist the Force and Charms of the principles of Religion and make them so regardless of another world to which yet they may be transported for ought they know in the space of one hour There are many who have served this World with the same zeal coveted wealth with as much greediness indulged themselves with as much liberty carried themselves upon their appendant ornaments with as much state in a world that sinned as boldly and yet with the comfort of the same security in former days that men do now And yet many of us can tell how short they fell in their expectations that they died in the habit of sin where there have been no appearances of any colour of repentance and some in the very act where Charity it self can hardly suppose it at least I 'm sure Reason will not allow it In a word we have known some that have died in such a condition as considering the circumstances and with reference to the next world I 'm sure no man present would be content to dye in the same condition for ten thousand worlds Well Allow this but consider if we use such practices why may not we fear the some end In such a case fear is beneficial and foresight is greatly advantageous and therefore we should prepare in season for our removal hence 'T is a fatal delusion to reserve the practice of piety to the latter part of our lives 'T is an affront to God that we should sin away our Youth our Strength and our Vigour and at last bring him the lame offering of a decrepit old age which is rendred useless to our selves thrô the frequent debaucheries of Youth which no arguments could prevent Briefly Nothing can be said to justify those who believe a future state and yet all the time which they live here make no provision for it For I reckon future resolutions to be nothing but a trick to silence their consciences in this
demand from their Children in point of practice must be severe i. e. admit of no diminutions There must be no Commutation in the exercise of tender vertue for that will by degrees tempt Children to believe that 't is only indifferent But now when Parents keep a severe hand and a watchful Eye over their Children and will allow no abatements of their duty but encourage and reward them for doing well and render Vertue amiable from the consideration of that credit that attends it and Lastly when they recommend Religion to their choice from the consideration 1. That Gods Honor is concerned in it ☜ 2. That their own eternal Happiness depends on it then Parents have done their duty for their Children Secondly And then there is no doubt that those who have begun thus well will ever fall back those who are so forward in their way to Heaven can't fail of arriving thither with ease and comfort as well as be received with joy and glory He that hath been accustomed to do well will not admit of any temptation to biass him but his whole conversation will be heavenly his discourse alway grave as if seasoned with Salt ministring Grace to the Hearers his thoughts alway limited his desires bounded and his actions will be so innocent and withal his temper so obliging and his society so acceptable and withal so beneficial that all that know him must commend him And which is a comfort to himself he is alway in readiness for the coming of the Bridegroom Preparation for death includes more than a Death-bed-repentance or a faint Lord have mercy upon me He properly and he only prepares for death aright who lives every day with that care and watchfulness as if he were to dye ere the night i. e. not to fall wilfully into any notorious sin nor to allow little ones but every night confesses the Errors and Miscarriages of the day past and endeavours what he can to avoid the same in after times In a word 'T is an Early beginning to live well that can be truly accounted a timely preparation for our removal hence N. B. Fourthly Inf. 4. We should moderate our sorrow for the loss of any Friend how near or hopeful soever The days of man are but as grass says the text All Flesh is grass saith the Prophet I say 40. 6. and all the glory of it but like a Flower well then Are you discontented that your grass withereth Or are you perplexed that a flower fadeth No. This doth not disturb you for you know 't is natural Be it so mans days are no more but his removal hence is necessary and will you will you it lies not in your power to prevent that sate for that 's a war in which there 's no discharge And therefore to be angry that our Friends dye is to blame the wisdom of God who made them mortal or to be discontented that we can keep them no longer is to pretend to tell God what season is proper for him to do what we would have done which is to put our selves above him In a word we have no more solid reason to be grieved that our Friends dye I mean grief to excess than that a Stone descends or Water is moist or the Sun giveth light or Fire burns for all are alike natural But it may be said if ever grief be allowed when our Friends dye as Nature prompts it and there are not many who can conquer their passion so as to suppress it then in extraordinary cases it will follow that there should be extraordinary grief allowed will it not may be a Question I answer no or I ask to what purpose will your Friend be the more easy after he is dead if you tear your Hair or rent your Cloths or break your Rest or forbear your Meat and pine your self into a Consumption If you you can think so spare no Labour but rather take incentives to heighten a disconsolate passion to any degree this side your own expiration But if you can't suppose that the deceased Person for whom you so lament and whom you so passionately bewail is at all benefited thereby pray then to what purpose is it Or why make ye this ado I am sure it can be no comfort or ease to indulge those phlegmatick passions reason doth not require them nor religion tolerate them Or if no other argument can convince men how unserviceable excessive grief is in such a case I say that others shall shortly lament us as we now do our late dear Friend In a word therefore in all the circumstances of Life let our grief be moderate Summ. Appl. in all our concerns of Eternity let us be very vigilant Let it be our care to have Oyl alway in our Lamps We are but as Flowers we know not how soon we may be gathered hence let us be careful that we be not found unprovided If God should think fit to call us off suddenly are we now provided I know many don't care to put this question much to themselves but they would rather enquire after others that died in this manner but that is not any mans duty for any one to mind more than himself for himself But this I know and forwarn and testify viz. that where God continues the means of grace and makes all men a free offer of glory if they will but labour after it If men will prefer a Lust to Eternal Life Value Vanity beyond a Crown of Glory prize a Bubble before an Inheritance which fadeth not away if they slight the Threatnings of God and contemn his Judgments and despise his Mercies he will speedily execute Vengeance on those that so affront him And thô their time in general be but short yet God will cut off such in the midst of their days hasten their Destruction and send them quick into Hell and then they shall too late perceive their Folly which now they would not suspect On the other hand If from the consideration of the uncertainty of our continuance here we provide our selves for a removal and make it our business to look out that City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. If from the thoughts of a speedy death weare perswaded to mortify sin in our members presently if from the remembrance of leaving this world we are induced to fix our thoughts upon Heaven If the thoughts of leaving behind us all our Friends engage us to make Friends with the Mammon of Vnrighteousness If the leaving our wealth prevails upon us to lay up a treasure In Heaven Then have we lived long enough how little while soever we have lived then death shall never be sudden how unexpected soever it may seize us Lastly then our bounty our honour and splendor which are so many Flowers on us in Life of which death deprives us shall be all abundantly recompenced by a Crown of Righteousness which shall be a lasting ornament to our head to a never ending Eternity FINIS
A SERMON Preach'd at the FUNERAL OF John Melford Esq Of Nymet Episcopi in the Diocess of Exeter Who dyed aged eighteen years the 21st day of June through the sad occasion of a fall from a Horse and was buried at Southmolton the 27th day of the same month 1692. By Tho. Easton A.M. Vicar of Nymet Episcopi St. Luk. 13. 2 3 4 5. The Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices and those eighteen that were slain at Siloam were not sinners above all others Therefore Doctrinally Strange Judgments don't always infallibly denote the sufferers to be extraordinary guilty Non Laudem quaeras potius sed sustine famam Immeritam famam despice Disce pati LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul ' s Church-yard 1692. The PREFACE THe following Sermon was preach'd at the Funeral of a young Gentleman whom I dearly loved and it was never antecedently intended to be made more publick than at the time of its delivery at the interment But the misinterpretations that have been put upon it by some and the various reports that have sprang from thence by others have necessitated me to do what I never thought And I am rather willing to submit the whole to a Publick censure than that I should lye under the suspicion of abusing the credit of the deceased Gentleman or be guilty of that unpardonable Rudeness of designedly blaming the Conduct and Guidance of his surviving Friends which the uncertain Reports that I have met withal since the Funeral do so plainly intimate For I reckon now the noise is spread so far that those who know nothing of this discourse but only by bare report and that too not begun or propagated upon substantial grounds but as Mistake or Humor gave them first rise and vent they would have presumed me guilty of all that I am accused if I should decline this honest and safest way of a Justification I confess 't is no great wonder if Offenâ—es happen but yet it behoveth all men to see that they be not causeless In this particular I have sufficient reason to say that it is not thro my fault if any are offended 't is to be attributed to some other original than the following Discourse St. Paul complained and thought it a very hard case that he should be accounted an Enemy to the Galatians for telling them the Truth Gal. 4. 16 i. e. 't was very unjust that they should be wroth with the Apostle for speaking Truth tho it were harsh and they fell under the inevitable Lash of a severe Conviction But MINE is a WORSE case i. e. the cause of my being accounted an Enemy if I am so accounted is not equally manifest with that of the Apostles for be had taxed them of transgression in particular Duties and made the application of his reproof to particular persons and for this the offenders against the Rules of Christianity were offended with the Apostle that preacht it to them Had I done so I confess it might have been a cause in some measure plausible to justify some severe demonstrations of Anger and an evil Resentment But even by Confession nothing is positive only what is here mentioned is liable to misconstructions and Those that don't know the circumstances of the sad mischance of this Gentlemans Death will be apt to ascribe it to a then present Intemperance But if that could have silenced this Controversy or allayed this Heat I then did and now do declare I was personally with him within one hour and neither his Relations or myself or other Friends could in the least suspect it But if other inferences may be drawn from so plain a Discourse whatever their tendency may be or allowing them to indifferent suppositions and so by consequence may afford some ungrateful Conclusions I hope no good man nor no wise man will say that I am chargeable with all that Jarrago of Inferences that either Wit or Malice Ignorance or Curiosity may gather thence My aim was not God is Judge and Witness to make scandalous reflections upon past actions for I declare I know nothing whereof to accuse but I thought considering my method of discourse what I said was fairly deduceable from the words and if I have been particular in the directions I am sure I was designedly general in the reproof And that all those that shall please to condescend so far as to give this little piece an indifferent reading and afterward what censure they please may know fully and plainly the reason why 't was published and judge from thence whether there were any need of Jealousy or Discontent which hath occasioned so wide and common reports I have offered it to your view exactly in the same Method and Language that 't was first written without so much as altering a sentence scarce a single word excepting only that in the repetition of some remarkable Sentences there might possibly be some accidental Transposition And if the publication of it may upon second thoughts with deliberate perusal satisfy those who are particularly concerned in the sad occasion of the Funeral that here are no particular Reprehensions if it may have a favourable approbation from men unprejudiced if it may any way tend to the Reformation of any Person that so God may have the Glory when these or any of them happen with the glory of God attending them I have my only aim and beyond those I wish no more PSALM CIII 15 16. As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more AMong all the troubles to which we are subjected as we are men and which we have drawn upon our selves as we are sinners none is so dreadful as death the thoughts of being removed from this present place of abode to another state have deep impressions upon our Spirits and they also very melancholy and distracting and especially the more afflicting when we find the events of such considerations to affect our selves i. e. if we lose a Friend we are grieved But if we apprehend Death calling for us in particular it chills our Blood and casts a Damp upon our Courage Mirth and Jollity are neglected as insignificant and unsatisfactory and infinitely various surmises do mutually disturb our incomposed Senses so much that under the fears of approaching Death we lose the very advantages of Life And this natural aversion that all men have to dying or a final dissolution is mightily augmented by collateral causes v. gr 1. Some are extreamly fond of this World They are here as they think well at ease they have all that they can need and that makes them suppose and believe 't is all that they ought to wish for and therefore here they resolve to fix their Tabernacles and in this Region of reputed Felicity they would willingly continue a long time at least and for ever
for shall in a little time as surely be deprived of it as he now enjoys it But suppose this don't first happen neither i. e. suppose a Parent live a long time to enjoy what he hath I mean free from any personal troubles yet if an accident amidst his Prosperity happen to any of those things which he calls his own even that sowers the rest of his Enjoyments But a sickness in a Family fills the rest that are yet well with doubts and fears but Death drives men to those degrees of Impatience which they would blame in others and yet think they may justify in themselves or at least lawfully permit And yet after all Disquietudes and Torments the fate that hath befallen them is irreversible and the remembrance of what they had gives them a sad conviction that 't was not lasting and the consideration that they shall no more enjoy it might instruct them too that 't was at best but like a flower That that should not be too much prized of which they might so many ways be deprived That no wise man should glory in that of which so many casualties might rob him nor think himself much the better for that which he is sure he can't keep long Secondly Inf. 2. We should not too much addict our selves to this world I allow and affirm 't is every mans duty to manage that Fortune with which God hath blest him and to convey it as entire to his posterity as he received it from his predecessors And he that doth not make sutable provisions for his Family according to his Quality is worse than a Beast in any sense and in a religious one worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5. 8. Which is somewhat to be considered by those who frolick away not only their incomes but their very patrimony who revel to perpetual excess who drown their own sorrows in Wine abroad when at the same time their Wives and Families are forc'd to feed upon their own tears at home such there are shame on them who can so easily and incredibly cancel all the Obligations of Nature and prove so unaccountably cruel to their own bowels and yet put it off with a Jest who squander away their estates by Rioting and Drunkenness by Folly and Madness nay who mortage their Reputation and damn their Souls only to please one single sense And yet tell some of those Fellows how imprudent they act or how unreasonable it is that one man should so impoverish a Family to future generations especially that 't is wonderfully unnatural to starve his children at home which could subsist with comfort upon his superfluous expences all these perswasions are slighted and in a contemptible sort of way some have answered Let that God who feedeth the Ravens provide for the Rooks. This is stupid wickedness inferior to that of brute beasts and 't is a sordid temper this therefore be sure is not contained in the caution 'T is not Care that we condemn but 't is too much N. B. The necessary parts of our duty are thro a mistake stretched too far and by that means perverted from their original intent Because every man must improve his Talent which he hath received therefore some think that they must not allow any relaxation But they labour hard and fare hard tire their bodies and rack brains how to encrease their wealth and yet as their riches increase so do their desires too And by how much the more they have by so much the more are they covetous and greedy But this is to be too much addicted to the world and this is that which by consequence we condemn N.B. The reason why we should take some care in the world even for the things of the world is because we do not know but we may need them and God never allowed any body to be only an idle Spectator and no body pretends to challenge to himself an immunity from all employments But if a man have nought to do he is exceedingly more uneasy than when surrounded with business and it hath often puzzled many mens brains how to dispose of some of those that they called idle hours But now the reason why we should not spend too much time upon the things of this world is because we can't tell how long we shall enjoy them I really believe no man would much perplex himself about fine houses or new purchases that was assured he should dye within few months that he had obtained them and yet this may be any mans fate for the days of every man are but as grass and therefore methinks 't is not only needless but madness to be very sollicitous in getting that of which we have no assurance that we shall keep it but innumerable arguments to convince us that we must or at least may be deprived thereof in a small time Now this caution of not being too much addicted to this ☜ world is supposed to contain a twofold prohibition First With respect to those things that we are apt generally to account necessary such as are a subsistence for our selves and a competency for posterity Even those I say we must be careful not to extend beyond their proper limits but we ought to moderate our desires by the rules of Christian contentedness as knowing that every thing beyond conveniency is absolutely superfluous And those who have the greatest estates can only have but food and raiment that the rest is consumed by Servants or reserved for Strangers and it yields no other fruit than trouble or sorrow trouble to keep it and sorrow if it be lost But especially he that is a great admirer of the World is always unwilling to leave it and yet so fading is his nature that he can't long enjoy it and therefore from the uncertainty of our retaining the things of the world we ought in prudence to regulate our longing after them and because we can't long enjoy them we should not much perplex ourselves in their pursuit or weary ourselves in their acquisition Secondly But there is a worse case yet many devote themselves to the world upon no pretence of necessity or convenience but they rather become its slaves and spend their whole time utterly in the pleasures which it affords and in pursuance of its airy vanities But this the premises do highly condemn For if the uncertainty of our Life be a good argument to prevent too much care in lawful things much more is it an argument to restrain us from those practices which are not only unlawful but of pernicious consequence He that is born a man and endowed with a rational Soul should consider that he hath something else to do than to live meerly to the flesh that 't is a very irrational method of spending his time to consume the whole of it upon his worser part The remembrance of what little satisfaction he hath had in his former frolicks might induce a man to think that there is somewhat more