Many of them reject each other 420 421 c. The Doctrines and Practices of the Papists condemn'd by not a few of them 423 424 c. Clergy Their Prosperity the Lay-mans Privilege p. 17 18. Charity To enemies npon the Motives of generosity p. 28 29. Christ why he needed a Conformity to the law for uncleanness p. 275 276 c. his presentation 278 c. How to be presented by us 286 287. Christian Wherein his Bravery consists p. 63 64. how a disgrace to Christianity p. 153 154. and how a Glory p. 165 166. should press after Perfection 323 324. Church The rightful Power reduc'd to four heads p. 196 197 c. The necessity of its Authority 199 200 c. For the ending of strife 216 217. Conscience unaffectedly tender p. 89 90. Consideration of how great use 451 c. Controversies Their unseasonableness 439 c. Custome How the same from God and Belial p. 262. D Death often to be thought of p. 436 437 c. desirable p. 467 c. 478. An Instance of an happy calmness of Death p. 487 488. Deliverance Compared to the day p. 16 17 c. should be an inforcement to change of life p. 23. Despair Good and Evil p. 88 89 c. Devil How Instrumental to our Good p. 104 105 c. Divorce Why only permitted by Moses p. 353 354. Allowed by the Papists contrary to the Law of Christ p. 381 382. Drollery It s dangerous Tendency to Profaneness p. 335 c. 338 339. E Enemies Not to be Insâ—â—ed over p. 10 11. but rather obliged p. 27 28. England Characters of its state before his Majesties Restauration p. 12 13 c. p. 43 44 c. p. 58 59. p. 149. The Kings thereof Absolute 385. How by degrees incroached on by the Pope 386 387. F Faith How in many who think they want it p. 90. It s Victory over our sufferings p. 165 166 167. Fortitude Wherein it stands p. 64 65. Fear How useful p. 83 84 c. G God How the Author of all our sufferings and the sole support in them p. 161 162 c. To be serv'd with the best of what we are or can p. 281 282 c. Gospel How spread through the world p. 315 316 c. Gratitude Its Generosity p. 31 32. Motives to it in England p. 58 59. H Half-Communion Its Rise p. 358 376 377. How contrary to Scripture ibid. Hierarchy Twofold Civil as well as Ecclesiastical p. 212 p. 233 234 c. Humility It s proper season p. 36. Motives to it p. 266 270 c. I Ignorance aggravates as well as excuses p. 37 38. Impunity the greatest punishment p. 132 133. Impurity Legal a Type of Original Sin 265 266. Infallibility The chief Foundation of all Popish Errors 357 401 402. Acknowledged to be Incommunicable to any Church 429 430. Ingratitude It s chief Aggravation p. 66 67 c. Indifferent things what kind of necessity they acquire to themselves and how 202 203 c. 289 290 c. K King His Prerogative the Peoples Privilege p. 16 17. His right of calling Synods 197 198 c. His presiding in and over them 209 210. His Divine Institution and Supremacy p. 223 224 c. ad p. 258. L Lawes Their Original Institution threefold p. 203 204 c. Bind the Conscience though of Humane Institution p. 208. Learning The Vsefulness and Necessity of that which is but Humane p. 304 305 c. It s Insufficiency without the help of the Divine p. 313 314 c. It s right imployment p. 331 332 333 c. Lite Its shortness p. 457 458 462 463. It s uncertaintâ— 459 473. and Frailty 461. It s vexation 464 465 c. Motives to and the Method of Improving it 470 471 c. This life compar'd with Eternity p. 479 480. M Magistrates Their Ordination p. 232 233 c. ad p. 244. Their Subordination p. 245 246 c. Man Motives to his Humility from the baseness of his Matter p. 267 268 c. All equal in what respects p. 270 271 c. His twofold Original 454 455 c. Marriage It s Primitive Institution Vindicated p. 352 354. When first denyed to the Clergy p. 358 379. Contrary to Scripture and the practise of the Apostles 380. Mercy How Gods chiefest Attribute p. 77 78 c. 116 117. O Oath How it differs from Gods Word p. 110 111. Obedience to Magistratee a good work of the first rank p. 211 212. In things indifferent p. 293 294. Obligations cease to bind in three Cases p. 115. P People Not the Original of Government p. 233 c. and p. 243 244 c. Persecution Compar'd to the night p. 12 13. c. Pestilence How much worse than War p. 149 150 151. Tends the most to Humiliation p. 157. Ever laid on by an hand from Heaven p. 162 163. Popes Many of them coâ—fessedly Heretical p. 371 372 406 411 412. The Original of their Supremacy p. 359 366 367 c. Primacy of order allow'd to them 367 369. Prayer in an unknown Tongue contrary to Scripture and the practise of the Primitive Church p. 378 379. Preaching It s Different Effects p. 320 321. Praecepts Difference 'twixt them and a bare Permission p. 353. Pride How inexcusable in man p. 268 269. Priest His Duty p. 325 326 c. Promises of God Conditional as his Threats p. 113 114. Prosperity It s proper use p. 25 26 c. It s danger p. 33 34 35. It s proper season p. 50 c. It s mischief p. 51 52 c. It s dignity p. 60 61. Punishment It s threefold End p. 128 129 c. For the Amendment of Offenders p. 130 c. For the benefit of others p. 134 c. For the satisfaction of the injur'd p. 139 c. significant of the sin which it revengeth p. 147 148. Purgatory It s Original p. 358. Purification of the Virgin p. 259 260 c. R Rebellion A species of Sacrilegâ— p. 241. Reformation It s proper Season and Reasons of it p. 31 32 c. 61 62. The Moderation of ours from Rome p. 212 213. From the Court of Rome p. 388. Its causes p. 382 383. Justified p. 387. Repentance In what sense apply'd to God p. 109. Even in men it works Miracles p. 116 117. Not to be deferr'd p. 284 472 c. With the danger of deferring it ibid. ad p. 478. Five Tokens of a sincere Repentance p. 490. 491 492 c. Rome Its Church a particular Church and younger than Jerusalem c. p. 365. Confess'd by its Champions to be corrupt in point of Doctrine p. 373. And Practise p. 382 383 399 400 406. Is in no sense Infallible p. 403 c. ad p. 407. S Schisme On whom to be charg'd 384. Scripture Translated into Mother-tongues p. 377 378. Sermons The Danger of Idolizing them p. 321 322. Severity The mercy of it p. 100 101 c. p.
possibility to have kept him company in his sickness which I as earnestly endeavour'd as He desir'd it but his sickness was too short and my journey too long for either of us either to give or to receive that satisfaction I might have perfected that account which many witnesses enabl'd me to give in part Having thus far spoken of him to you I must only speak of you to others For such as reject what they deserve I think it a Panegyrick sufficient to make it known they will have none Having dedicated my papers to a person of your Indowments for whom to approve is to patronize them I also dedicate your person with the hopeful particles of your self to the peculiar protection and grace of God And as the Heirs of that Family which you were pleased by adoption to make your own have already been Lords of that seat for more than eighteen Generations which I can reckon so that the person whom I commemorate may inherit also that other blessing as an addition to that blessing which God hath given Him in your self confer'd in favour upon Jonadab the son of Rechab Not to want a man to stand before him for ever is no less the hope than the prayer of him who thinks himself obliged as well to be as to Write himself Your most importunate Servant at the Throne of Grace THOMAS PIERCE THE LIFELESNES of LIFE on the hether side of IMMORTALITY A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Mr. EDWARD PETTO JOB XIV 1. Man that is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live and is full of Trouble NOw ye have listen'd unto the Text Cast your Eyes upon the shrine too For that does verifie This by no less then an Ocular Demonstration You see the Reliques of a Person full of honour indeed but not of years he having had his December I may say in Iune and reaching the end of his Journy as 't were in the middle of his Course So that if I should be silent upon the mention only of this Text Man that is born of a Woman hath but a short time to live That very Hearse would present us with a visible Sermon Yet something I must say in Honour and Duty unto the Dead and something too for the use and benefit of the Living that as Death already hath been to Him 〈◊〉 it may be also to Us Advantage That some at least who here are present may go from Hence when I have done if not the wiser or more intelligent yet at least the more considerate and the better Resolved for coming hither I need not be teaching my weakest Brethren what common Experience hath taught us All either the Misery or the shortness or the uncertainty of our Days But yet recounting how many Souls do perish for ever in their Impieties not so much by wanting Knowledge as by abounding in the Thoughtlesness of what they know I shall not suâ—e be unexcusable having S. Peter for my example if I tell you those things which you know already An Honest Remembrancer is as needful as the most Eloquent Instructor to be imagin'd because we do less want the Knowledge than the consideration of our Duties S. Peter hath magnified the office no less than three times together in that Epistle which he compos'd a little before his Dissolution I will not saith he be negligent to put you alwayes in Remembrance though ye know these things and be established in the Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in Remembrance Again saith he I will endeavour that ye may be able after my Decease to have these things always in Remembrance When I consider that these words were by Divine Inspiration and that they were written for our Instruction yea and inculcated upon us no less than thrice in one breath methinks they tacitely reprove us for having such wanton and Itching Ears as will be satisfied with nothing but what is New Whereas the Thing that is to us of greatest moment is not the study of more Knowledge but the making good use of the things we know Not the â—urnishing of our Heads with a Richer Treasure of Speculations but the laying them up within our Hearts and the drawing them out into our Lives Men would not live as they are wont were they sufficiently mindful that they are men Did they but often enough consider how short a time they have to live how very often they are in Deaths before they dye how much their short time of life is more uncertain than it is short how very shortly they are to render a strict Account unto the Iudge I say not of every evil work but even of every idle word and of each unprofitable hour they would not make so many Demurrs in the important work of their Reformation The uncertainty of their Time would make them watchful over their ways that how suddenly soever they may be Caught by the common Pursevant of Nature it may not be by a surprize That they may not die with the Fools Motto Non putâram in their mouths Now to consider my present Text in the most useful manner that I am able I must bespeak your best Attention not so much to the Dogmatical as to the Applicatory part of my Meditations It being chiefly in my design to shew what Profit we are to reap from all such melancholy Solemnities as by many deep Mourners are sown in Tears What kind of Influences and Virtues from the great brittleness of our Lives are to be shed upon the Practice and Conduct of them What kind of Consectaries and Uses should flow from the one upon the other I shall not therefore wear out my little Time in any such accurate and logical Analysing of the words as would but serve to divert you from the scope and drift for which the holy man Iob did make them a part of his Preaching and for which I have chosen them to be the subject of mine own but shall immediately consider them as an entire Doctrinal Proposition exhibiting to us both the frailty and frame of man and the reason of the one implicitly rising out of the other Man is born of a Woman there 's his Frame Hath but a short time to live there 's his Frailty Hath but a short time to live because he is born of a Woman there is the Reason of his Frailty from the condition of his Frame Nor is he attended only with vanity but vexation of spirit As Iacob said unto Pharaoh His Days are Evil as well as Few However empty of better Things yet from the Bottom to the Top I mean from his Birth unto his Burial he is Repletus miseriis fill'd full of Trouble And yet by way of Application we may reflect upon the Text in a threefold Antithesis For To Man as born of a Woman we may oppose the same Man as
woman hath but a few dayes to live so it follows in the Text that even those few days are full of Trouble And indeed so they are in whatsoever Condition a man is plac'd for if he is poor he hath the trouble of pains to get the goods of this world If he is rich he hath the trouble of Care to keep his Riches the trouble of Avarice to increase them the trouble of fear to lose them the trouble of sorrow when they are lost And so his Riches can only make him the more illustriously unhappy If he lives as he ought he hath the trouble of self-denyals the trouble of mortifying the flesh with the affections and lusts the trouble of being in Deaths often the trouble of crucifying himself and of dying daily If to avoid those Troubles he lives in pleasure as he ought not he hath the trouble of being told that he is dead whilst he lives the trouble to think that he must dye the trouble to fear whilst he is dying that he must live when he is dead that he may dye eternally Not to speak of those troubles which a man suffers in his Nonage by being weaned from the breast and by breeding teeth in his boyage and youth by bearing the yoke of subjection and the rigid discipline of the Rod in his manhood and riper years by making provision for all his Family as servant General to the whole Not to speak of those Troubles which flow in upon him from every quarter whether by Losses or Affronts Contempts or Envyings by the anguish of some Maladies and by the loathsomness of others rather than want matter of trouble he will be most of all troubled that he hath nothing to vex him In his sober Intervalls and Fits when he considers that he must dye and begins to cast up the accounts of his sins it will be some trouble to him that he is without chastisement whereby he knows he is a Bastard and not a Son It will disquiet him not a little that he lives at rest in his possessions and become his great Cross that he hath prosperity in all things Not only the sting and the stroak but the very Remembrance of Death will be bitter to him so saith Jesus the Son of Sirach chap. 41. vers 1. Thus we see the Child of man or the man who is born of a woman is so full of Trouble to the brim that many times it overflows him On one side or other we all are troubled but some are troubled on every side Insomuch that they themselves are the greatest Trouble unto themselves and 't is a kind of death to them they cannot dye We find King David so sick of Life as to fall into a wishing for the wings of a Dove that so his Soul might fly away from the great Impediments of his Body He confessed that his Dayes were at the longest but a Span and yet complain'd they were no shorter It seems that Span was as the span of a wither'd Hand which the farther he stretcheth out the more it griev'd him He was weary of his groaning His Soul did pant after Heaven and even thirsted for God And he might once more have cryed though in another sense Wo is me that I am constrain'd to dwell with Meseck and to have mine habitation among the Tents of Kedar I remember that Charidemus in Dio Chrysostom compared mans Life to a Feast or Banquet And I the rather took notice of it because the Prophet Elijah did seem in some sense to have made it good Who after a first or second Course as I may say of living as if he had surfetted of Life cryed out in hast It is enough and with the very same breath desired God to take away for so saith the Scripture 1. Kings 19. 4. He went into the Wilderness a solitary place and there he sate under a Iuniper in a melancholly posture and requested of God that he might dye in a very disconsolate and doleful manner even pouring forth his Soul in these melting Accents It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am no better than my Fathers And if the Dayes of Elijah were full of trouble how was Iob overwhelm'd and running over with his Calamity when the Terrors of God did set themselves in aray against him how did he long for destruction O saithâ— he that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for Even that it would please him to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off How did he Curse the Day of his Birth and the Night where in he was conceived Let that Day be darkness let the shadow of Death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it let blackness terrifie it And for the Night let it not be joyned to the dayes of the year Let the Stars of the twilight thereof be dark neither let it see the dawning of the day And what was his reason for this unkindness to that particular Day and Night save that they brought upon him the trouble of being a Man born of a Woman for we find him complaining a little after Why died I not from the Womb why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the Belly And then for the Life of our blessed Saviour who is call'd by way of Eminence The Son of Man as I observ'd before that it was short so must I here put you in mind it was full of Trouble He was therefore call'd by way of Eminence Vir Dolorum A Man of Sorrows The Prophet adds he was acquainted with Grief For the whole Tenor of his Life was a continuation of his Calamities The Time would fail me should I but mention the hundreth part of those men whose short time of life hath seemed long to them even because they have felt it so full of Trouble But enough hath been said concerning the Doctrin of the Text. And it lies upon us now to make some Use. First then let us consider that if man as born of a woman hath but a short time to live It concerns us to take up the prayer of David that God will teach us to know our End and the number of our Dayes that we like Hezekiah may be fully certified how short our Time is It concerns us to take up the resolution of Iob All the dayes of our appointed time incessantly waiting till our change cometh It concerns us not to say with the rich man in the Parable we will pull down our Barns and build greater and there we will bestow all our fruits and our goods much less may we say with that other Worldling Souls take your ease eat drink and be merry for ye have much goods laid up for many years for alas how can we know sâ—lly creatures as
the Parable was speaking placentia to his soul soul take thine ease alledging no other reason than his having much goods for many years nothing is fitter to be observ'd than our Saviours words upon that occasion Stulte Thou Fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided However the men of this world have quite another measure of wit and do esteem it the greatest prudence to take their pleasure whilst they are young reserving the work of mortification for times of sickness and old age when 't will be easie to leave their pleasures because their pleasures leave Them yet in the Judgment of God the Son the Word and Wisdom of the Father 't is the part of a blockhead and a fool to make account of more years than he is sure of dayes or hours He is a sot as well as a sinner who does adjourn and shift off the amendment of his life perhaps till twenty or thirty or fourty years after his death 'T is true indeed that Hezekiah whilst he was yet in the confines and skirts of death had a lease of life granted no less than fifteen years long but he defer'd not his repentance one day the longer And shall we adventure to live an hour in an impenitent estate who have not a lease of life promis'd no not so much as an hour shall we dare enter into our beds and sleep securely any one night not thinking how we may awake whether in Heaven or in Hell we know 't is timely repentance which must secure us of the one and 't is final impenitence which gives us assurance of the other VVhat the Apostle of the Gentiles hath said of wrath may be as usefully spoken of every other provoking sin Let not the Sun go down upon it Let us not live in any sin until the Sun is gon down because we are far from being sure we shall live 'till Sun-rising How many Professors go to sleep when the Sun is down and the curtain of the night are drawn about them in a state of drunkenness or adultery in a state of avarice or malice in a state of sacriledge or rebellion in a state of deceitfulness and hypocrisie without the least consideration how short a time they have to live and how very much shorter then they imagine Yet unless they believe they can dream devoutly and truly repent when they are sleeping they cannot but know they are damn'd for ever if the day of the Lord shall come upon them as a thief in the night and catch them napping in their Impieties Consider this all ye that forget God least he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you Consider it all ye that forget your selves That forget how few your dayes are and how full of misery Consider your bodies from whence they came and consider your souls whether is it that they are going Consider your life is in your breath and your breath is in your nostrils and that in the management of a moment for the better or for the worse there dependeth either a joyful or a sad Eternity If our Time indeed were certain as well as short or rather if we were certain how short it is there might bâ— some colour or pretence for the posting off of our Reformation But since we know not at what hour our Lord will come this should mightily ingage us to be hourly standing upon our watch And this may suffice for the subject of our second consideration Thirdly let us consider that if our dayes which are few are as full of trouble it should serve to make us less fond of living and less devoted to self-preservation and less afraid of the Cross of Christ when our Faith shall be call'd to the severest Trials O Death saith the son of Sirach acceptable is thy sentence unto the needy and to him that is vexed with all things The troubles incident to life have made the bitter in Soul to long for Death and to rejoyce exceedingly when they have found the grave If the Empress Barbara had been Orthodox in believing mens Souls to be just as mortal as their bodies death at least would be capable of this applause and commendation that it puts a conclusion to all our troubles If we did not fear Him who can cast both body and soul into Hell we should not need to fear Them who can destroy the body only because there is no Inquisition in the grave There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners lye down with Kings and Counsellers of the Earth The servant there is free from his Master There is sleep and still silence nor can they hear the voice of the Oppressor Mors Bona si non est Finis tamen Illa Malorum But we have farther to consider the threefold Antithesis which we ought to oppose to the three Clauses in the Text for as man who is born of a woman hath but a short time to live and is full of trouble so man as regenerate and born of God hath a long time to live and is full of bliss A life so long that it runs parallel with eternity and therefore without a Catachresis we cannot use such an expression as length of time It is not a long but an endless life it is not time but eternity which now I speak of Nor is it a wretched eternity of which a man may have the priviledge as he is born of a woman but an eternity of bliss which is competent to him only as born of God And of this bliss there is such a fullness that our heads are too thick to understand it Or if we were able to understand it yet our hearts are two narrow to give it entrance Or if our hearts could hold it yet our tongues are too stammering to express and utter it Or if we were able to do that yet our lives are too short to communicate and reveal it to other creatures In a word it is such as not only eye hath not seen nor ear heard but it never hath entred into the heart of man to conceive Incomprehensible as it is 't is such as God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2. 9. If we compare this life with the life described in the Text it will several ways be useful to us for it will moderate our joyes whilst we possess our dear friends and it will mitigate our sorrows when we have lost them for it will mind us that they are freed from a life of misery and that they are happily translated to one of bliss Nay if we are true lovers indeed and look not only at our own interest but at the interest of the parties to whom we vow love we even lose them to our advantage because â—o theirs Lastly it sweetens the solemn farewel which our