fellows which they who are wont to make some extraordinary discoveries in every point or tittle of Moses his writing interpret to imply the moderate mourning of that holy Patriarch That expression likewise is taken notice of by some which follows in the next verse He stood up from before his dead as if it signified that he turned his eyes from her that so he might not be overcome with grief Sapiens sentit incommoda sed vincit Seneca To bear Afflictions decently hath been ever accounted so great a Vertue and Honour that some of the Ancient Heathens have too extravagantly thought it equalled men to God himself Vere magnum est habere in uno fragilitatem hominis securitatem Dei This is a great perfection indeed to havein one the frailties of a man and the security of a God to have a strong firm invulnerable temper of mind in our much yeilding flesh It is by all true Philosophy deemed to proceed from the greatest strength of Nature by all true Christianity from the highest degree of Grace The best and the wisest Persons have always been the most moderate Mourners It is observed of Augustus tho he lost all his Children and Nephews and was fain to adopt an Heir yet he was so little moved at their Death Hieron Ep. 3. ad Heliodorum that he constantly went to the Senate and neglected no publick Affairs Pericles likewise having lost two Sons of great hopes within the compass of eight days put on notwithstanding a white Garment and with a great constancy of mind went to deliberate about the necessities of the Commonwealth And the most excellent Dr. Patrick In his consolatory Discourses c. hath further noted That the Aegyptians mourned ten times as long as the Children of Israel seven days ordinarily contented the People of God for their Grief Gen. 50.3 whereas they that were strangers to the God of Israel extended their mourning seventy days Yea the greatest Mourning that the Israelites used for their two famous leaders Moses and Aaron was prolonged but to thirty days not half the time that those Heathens allowed And St. Hierom writes of one Melenia a holy and good Woman of his time who lost two Sons at once Ep. ad Paulam when her Husband lay unburied by her yet scarce shed a Tear for them but threw her self at the feet of Christ her Saviour saying I shall serve thee now O Lord with more ease and freedom because thou hast delivered me from the burden of my other cares That we may follow the best examples and under all our Calamities may mourn wisely temperately and religiously I shall shew you briefly 1. When our Grief is intemperate or inordinate when we weep beyond our Apostles stint or limitation 2. I shall endeavour to prescribe the most proper means for the qualifying and moderation of our Passions under our greatest and dearest losses As to the first of these our Grief may be immoderate and unreasonable either in respect 1. Of the Measure 2. Of the Manner 3. Of the Effects and Consequents thereof 1. In respect of the measure of it when it overflows its bounds and exceeds the nature and quality of its object Thus was Jacob affected with the apprehension of his Sons Death Gen. 37.35 2 Kings 18.33 Jer. 31.15 I will go down to the grave to my Son mourning Thus was David unreasonably moved for his Absolom And Rachel for her Children when she refused to be comforted 2. For the manner of it Grief is excessive and very sinful when it is attended with distrustfulness despair and a questioning of Gods Attributes his Justice Wisdom Goodness Power c. We must so bewail our Losses as 1. To acknowledg God's Justice That he doth in faithfulness and righteousness afflict us not without sufficient cause and provocations on our part Ezra 9.13 After all that is come upon us thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities The Heathen wise man called the Adversities of the World but tributa vivendi the taxes of Life The Christian wise man ought to know and bear them as the tributes of offending and why should a man complain a living man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 God may according to his absolute Dominion and Sovereignty lay sore Afflictions upon the best of his Servants Behold he taketh away and who can hinder him Who shall say unto him Job 9.12 Quos Deus amat indurat exercet non in delitiis sed in castris Sen. Ep. 67. what dost thou And in chastning his people he doth not always level his Arrows against their sins but designs them for tryals and exercises of their graces for tokens and Testimonies of his Fatherly love towards them yea when he passeth by a thousand faults in others he is wont to whip his Children if they do but tread awry You only have I known of all the families of the earth Amos 3.2 therefore will I visit you for all your iniquities Wherefore we are by no means to censure others hardly as Jobs Friends did him it is a plain case the greatest Sufferers are not always the greatest Sinners Judgment often begins at the house of God and he chastens every son whom he receives Heb. 12.6 Outward crosses like Hail and Snow light upon the best Gardens as well as on the wild Wast yet it is always some vapour below that breeds the storm which comes from above And there is sin enough in the best to justifie all Gods severities towards them Therefore tho we must not speak or think the worse of others for their Calamities Psal 73.15 lest we offend against the generation of God's children yet we must endeavour to see our own sins in our sufferings so far as to humble our selves under Gods correcting hand and still to acknowkedg that he is righteous in all his ways that he in Justice puniseth those remnants of sin which are in good men with those Temporal Afflictions for whom yet in Mercy he reserveth eternal Salvation 2. As we must give God the Glory of his Justice so of his Wisdom in his most severe dealings owning that he knows what is best and most expedient for us in every condition That he corrects us in Judgment as a prudent not as a passionate Father 3. We must acknowledg his Goodness and Love so far as it is consistent with his Justice and Wisdom that as he knows our Frame so he pities our Frailties As we ought to take notice of God's hand and his just Indignation against us when he striketh us for he is righteous and will not correct us but for our sin in like manner we must so resent his displeasure as not to doubt of his Favour upon our repentance and amendment for he is faithful and gracious and evermore corrects us for our good We are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Lastly We must rest
Christian Tranquility OR The Government of the Passions OF JOY and GRIEF IN A SERMON PREACHED At SHENTON in Leicestershire upon the occasion of the much lamented Death of that hopeful young Gentleman Mr. FRANCIS WOLLATSON an only Son and Heir to a very fair Estate By JOHN CAVE Rector of NAILSTON in the same County sometimes Fellow of Lincoln Colledg in Oxford and now Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Durham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epict. Amittant filios viri boni quidni cum ipsi sunt mortales Sen de provid Moris quondam fuit ut super cadavera Parentum defunctorum in concione pro rostris laudes Liberi dicerent instar lugubrium carminum ad stetus gemitus audientium pectora concitarent En rerum in nobis ordo mutatus est in calamitate nostra perdidit sua jura natura Quod exhibere senibus Juvenis debuit hoc Juveni exhibemus senes Hieron Ep. 3tia ad Heliodor His soul pleased the Lord therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked Wisd 4. LONDON Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-Yard MDCLXXXV To the Right Worshipful WILLIAM WOLLATSON Esq And his Vertuous Lady Madam ELIZABETH WOLLATSON THE wisest among the Heathen Writers have laboured much by their most Refined Discourses to settle a Tranquility of Mind an Evenness of Spirit in the inequalities the ebbings and flowings of Fortune But the Christian Philosophy only can effect what they have endeavoured by setting before us an immutable Eternity Heavenly Joys and Glories sufficient to abate our esteem of the most pleasing and splendid things here below and to keep us from sinking under the heaviest troubles of this Life By this Philosophy our great Apostle St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.16 Chap. 12.10 was strong at lest fainted not when he was weak and tho his outward man perished his inward man was renewed day by day he being assured that these light afflictions which are but for a moment in comparison would work for him and all his fellow-sufferers a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory whilst they with him look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen by any eye but that of Faith The same Philosophy enabled the Hebrews to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods Heb. 10.34 knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance And it instructs us all to lay up our treasures there where they will be safe from corruption and stealth Mat. 6.19 20. Yea because God hath laid up for us a Crown of immortal Life and provided so well hereafter for his dutiful children we are obliged to be less solicitous about our earthly portions and to bear all his fatherly chastisements the sufferings of short time with patience and contentment especially considering that they are prudent exercises and methods of discipline to prepare us for heavenly Tranquility and blessedness For those dismal Providences which draw clouds and darkness over Religious Families do but make them fitter to be presented to God and to partake of the inheritance with the Saints in light Col. 1.12 The Rod of God is to them a Staff and a comfort too if like the branch of a Fig-tree it be bitter and sharp it is like it fruitful too No Calamity comes as a Curse to a good House whose Stock is pious and whose Branches are holiness to the Lord. If any Leaf or any Bough shall fall untimely God shall gather it and bind it up in the bundle of Life There is no worldly evil in which a religiously disposed mind may not find matter of some content and comfort And truly as disconsolate as your Case appears it hath its lightsome mixtures and many refreshing mitigations Tho God took your beloved Son when he was just ripe for the world for he was come to Manhood at Sixteen when you and all that had a more remote interest in him promised your selves all the happy fruits of an excellent natural temper and of the accomplishment of an ingenious and religious Education yet he took him too in a time of great Peril and Temptation when his age was most inclined to vitious Compliances Because he pleased God Wisd 4. and was beloved of him when he lived among Sinners he was Translated lest that wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his Soul And I may here seasonably remind you that when a little before his last Sickness he was treated with some loose Atheistical Discourse too much in the mode of our times He spoke his abhorence of it and his utter dislike of such conversation however the endearments of kindred or kindness did otherwise commend it to him And I am told that at the approach of his Death which is usually most terrible to young men He prayed that you might be but as willing to part with him as he was to die God hath taken your only Son yet he hath left you two Vertuous and Dutiful Daughters who I pray and hope may be lasting and teeming blessings to you Scaliger and Lipsius two incomparable Persons were the last of their Family and Name and I never read that they were at all concerned for it And surely it need not be so great a trouble to us if it should please God to make the case our own Seeing our Name could not have lasted much longer in a short-lived World and seeing further that God hath promised to the barren and will make it good to the bereaved That if they chuse the things that please him Isa 56.4 5. he will give them a Place and a Name better than that of Sons and Daughters God grant that by patient continuance in well-doing and suffering you may daily seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality for that everlasting Name which shall not be cut off And that you may be effectually instructed by the Doctrine of this plain Sermon which was Preached and is Printed at your desire and wholly for your Service how to make the best of the worst that hath or can befal you and to defend against those two great Fountains of Temptation Pleasure and Pain that you may so happily govern the ruling Passions of Joy and Grief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. 1. Eth. l. 2. c. 3. which have the nearest Influence upon our practices That after your Troubles and Trials you may be in Heaven before your Translation by a Christian Tranquility an unshaken constancy of mind and a blessed Peace of Conscience and that you and yours may long prosper and be in Health ever as your Souls prosper is the hearty Prayer of Your Most Affectionate Kinsman And Faithful Servant JOHN CAVE CHRISTIAN TRANQUILITY 1 COR. VII 30. And they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not THESE words are part of an Inference from a Proposition foregoing at the beginning
their Objects Haec quidem philosophia nemini non est in ore sed paucorum animis vere serioque insidet as one observes upon the place Every one is ready to Preach this Philosophy but very few feel the true effects of it in their minds or express them in their Practices Tho the Heathen Orators Poets and Philosophers spake many excellent and acute Things of this kind and perswaded to Moderation and Patience from the mutability of Fortune the shortness and uncertainty of humane life Yet our great Apostle saw it needful to press Christians with the same consideration to be their serious Remembrancers to put them in mind of what they knew before to reconcile to their Affections a Truth which their understandings had already admitted and to incline their practice to follow their Judgments In imitation of this Divine author I am about to exhort beseech perswade you to consider well and lay to heart what you know to yield to the Authority of your own reason to do that which you cannot but be partly convinced is best to be done and which it is your Duty to do viz. to be moderate in your Enjoyments and your Sufferings not to murmure or repine at your losses nor to set your hearts too much upon your remaining Comforts Wife Children Houses Lands c. Because how dear and delight some soever they are to you they are at best but Treasures in earthen Vessels subject to a thousand Casualties If there were nothing else to abate their worth this alone doth it Their time is short In my Text we are advised First to asswage our Grief in occasions of trouble and then to temper and bound our joy when our Affairs succeed best But in my Discourse I shall alter the method and because I design to say least of the Affection of Joy I shall speak of it first and in a way introductory to what I have to say upon the mournful Subject And they that rejoyce as tho they rejoiced not The Fathers have made this observation on these words that the Joys of this World are but Quasi as if they were Joys not such indeed but rather Shadows or Images As when a hungry man eateth in his dream but when he awaketh Isa 29.8 his soul is empty The Pomps and Profits of the World are but Vanities to a Christian and when they appeared to our Saviour in the best Attire and Representation the Devil could give them he despised them all We are allowed a delight and comfort in temporal blessings but with such Qualifications and Restraints as rather becalm than advance our Affections rather wipe away our Tears and prevent Sighing than cheer our minds or maintain Mirth It was a seasonable hint that of Caenus the Macedonian to the conquering Alexander that nothing did better become him than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian Moderation of mind in his glorious Success and Prosperity Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches He may be pleased with them and the like blessings and take comfort of them but he must not glory in them he must not be too much conceited of them or vainly puft up with them He must not promise himself too much from them as if they were substantial lasting and abiding Goods Solomon the wisest of men adviseth us to cease from our own Wisdom not to lay too much stress upon our worldly Policies Prov. 23.4 for it will otherwise cease from us There is no knowledg nor wisdom in the grave whither we are all going Eccles 9.10 Again 1 Sam. 2.9 by strength shall no man prevail long and Riches will fail us when we most need them Prov. 11.4 They profit not in the day of wrath If these things and others of the like Nature wherein we are most apt to over-joy to glory and pride our selves do not in a short time fail us it will not be long before we leave them They and we are of a sickly kind declining and decaying daily Accipimus peritura perituri Our fairest and sweetest earthly delights are but a withering Posie in a dying mans hand How then in Reason can we be over-fond of them Why should we set our hearts and affections upon things which are not upon things which perish in the enjoyment which are passing away from us and from which we are passing daily If any thing here could justifie a transport of joy one would think it should be an agreeable yoke-fellow an indulgent husband or a complaisant wife or else hopeful children in whom we behold our fading drooping Age as it were budding and blossoming a-new from whom we promise an Heir to our Estate to our Family a strong support when we fail and to our selves a surviving Name and a lasting Memory But our Apostle puts in his Caveat here especially because here we most need it Let them that are married be as if they were not married because death will soon make a divorce between us and our beloved companions And our children are often laid to bed before us in the grave Therefore St. Chrysostom to season our Nuptial and Child-birth Festivities minds us how death runs through the Marriage-books If I die first or you or the child of us both how it is woven into every line and closeth up every Period to put a quasi non even into those rejoicings a bitter tho a medicinal infusion into our most pleasant enjoyments and expectations Our time and theirs is short This consideration That all our comforts here are but temporary and must die with if not before us methinks should if any thing moderate and sanctifie our Affections to them Frequent serious thoughts That all we have or can desire here will last us but to the grave should make us look upon them effectually but as the two sticks which the Widow of Zarephath gathered to dress an handful of meal and a little oyl that we may eat it and die But because we are unwilling and averse to think of any thing which should interrupt our present delights therefore our Apostle frequently inculcates Sobriety and Moderation in yea Mortification to our outward good things Let your moderation be known unto all men Phil. 4.5 Col. 3.2 the Lord is at hand Set your affections on things above for they are eternal not on things of the earth for they are mortal and perishing And in this St. Peter differs not from his beloved brother Paul 1 Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober take heed of inebriating or making your selves drunk with the things of this World Suffer not your hearts to run out too much after them or to be affected inordinately with them lest the day of the Lord overtake you unawares And there is a great deal of need of these counsels and cautions one upon another because as the Heathen Historian observes