19. Herod looked on it so sad to die unlamented that he gave express command that when he died one of every Noble Family in his kingdom should be slain Dr. Abbot 6th Lect. on Jonah p. 124.1 that by that means his death might of necessity be lamented if not for love of him as the Tyrant had no reason to expect yet for the loss of others Joseph Antiquit. The saying of Solon Dr. Willet on Gen. p. 251. Mors mea non careat Lachrymis and let not my death want tears so it be done temperately is to be preferred before that of Ennius Nemo me lachrymis decoret Let no man mourn for me He hath lived Tellius inutile pondus a very unprofitable wretch who being dead is carried forth as servants carry out the sweepings of the House or guts of Birds or entrails of Beasts without any shew of sorrow Tears then at death of Friends are silent expressions of the usefulness of our dead Friend whilest living and of our value and esteem of him And if we seriously consider losses of this nature how can we chuse but weep For a wife to lose her husband the Guide of her Youth Pro. 2.7 who was a shield to defend her or as the Sun to chear her Gen. 37.9 10. must needs be a bitter loss So for a Husband to lose his Wife the Wife of his Youth Prov. 5.18 or the Wife of his Bosom Mic. 7.5 the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24.16 18. must needs be a bitter loss So for Parents to lose Children who have their being from them and from whom they expect comfort in their old age must needs be a bitter loss So how can Children chuse but weep at death of Parents to lose a Father that begot them Prov. 23.22 and took pains to provide for them 1 Tim. 5.8 so to lose a dear Mother that bare them nine months in her belly twelve months in her arms and many years in her mind and care must needs be a bitter loss Yet the Apostle in the catalogue of offenders that should come in the last dayes and surely ours are the last tells us of some that shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affection unnatural to Relations whilst living and when dead as if their hearts were hewen out of a Rock they are unmoved they can with dry eyes and cheeks behold the Funeral Solemnities of Parents Children Husband Wife c. without any shew of sorrow Though God strikes them through their Relations yet they have not grieved Jer. 5.3 let such consider that of the Psalmist Psal 28.5 because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up God there threatens such as are affected with sad passages of his providence the chief of which we conclude are loss of Friends and Relations The Poet had observed an unnatural Son that before the time would be enquiring into his Father's age Filius ante diem Patrios inquiret in annos He would have his Father wrapt up in his winding-sheet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mixtus fletui risus Sphinx Philos p. 316. that he might rip open his Baggs would have him in his Coffin that he might enter into his Coffers And when the time of his Fathers interment is at hand which to him comes never sooner than expected or desired this unnatural Son it may be goes clothed in black having a light and merry heart under a sad and mournful habit So many Wives that have lived it may be too loosly and wantonly at their husbands death like that woman that Joab sent for 2 Sam. 14.2 feigh themselves to be Mourners and put on monring Apparel Thus Bathsheba's mourning for her husband Uriah 2 Sam. 11.26 is thought by some to be hypocritical for by his death she was freed from her husbands rage from shame and punishment which she justly deserved and withal she had hopes to become a Queen as indeed she did But let such hypocritical Mourners consider without repentance their portion will be with Hypocrites where Mat. 24.51 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth In Hell there is weeping in good earnest And every tear shed is so far from quenching Hell-fire that like Oyl it will encrease the flame thereof and here I leave such unnatural wretches On the other side some there are that at death of Friends weep immoderately they weep till they can weep no more as the expression is 1 Sam. 30.4 they are so impatient that for ever after they lead disconsolate lives sitting daily inter suspiria lachrymas sighing sobbing and sorrowing they are so discomposed that they cannot as the Apostle commands attend upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. 7.35 They cannot pray nor meditate nor give thanks to God with that fixedness and composure as they ought to do Psal 57.7 And it may be they forbear going to Church because they cannot endure the sight of their friends grave Nay further they are not only inwardly pensive but outwardly passionate they fill Heaven and Earth with Exclamations Horrendis gravitèr Coelum pulsâsse querelis And many times passionate unsavory Speeches the scum of a discontented spirit proceed from them as from Jonah when his Gourd withered Jonah 4.8 9. He wish'd himself dead and tells God He did well to be angry even unto death St. Austin speaking of his Mothers Death said Aug. Confess lib 9 cap. 12. Oculi mei resorbebant fontem suum usque ad siccitatem His eyes had drained his very Fountains dry so excessive he was in weeping Indeed this hath been an infirmity in the best of men and women See Jacob at the supposed death of Joseph Gen. 37.33 34 35. He rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many dayes and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him His mourning like the swelling of Jordan Jer. 12.5 impetuously passed the banks of Reason So if mischief saith he befal Benjamin by the way in which ye go then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Gen. 42.38 So David hearing news of the untimely death of Absalom the text tells you ◠Sam. 18.33 The king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and as he went thus he said O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son David is too excessive in his grief and speaks things that were not fitting as passionate men use to do Would God I had died for thee Why David what would have become of the Kingdom what miseries would it have been involved in if Absalom had survived The violence of Passion here makes David forget himself Gods
Church and People So Naomi Ruth 1.3 5. had lost her Husband and two Sons and vers 19 20. because God had dealt thus bitterly with her she refuseth her Name will be called Marah that signifies bitterness and not Naomi that signifies pleasant she refuseth this Name being so unsutable to her condition So the women of Bethlehem at the untimely death of their Infants Mat. 2.16 18 mourn will not be comforted And indeed the female kind naturally is more disposed to tenderness than the male Isa 49.15 and so more apt to weep immoderately and as one saith of the two the more to be pittied and the more capable of excuse and pardon But yet immoderate Sorrow in none is to be allowed As we approve not then of a Stoical Apathy for the best of Gods Servants have passions in them See Dr. Renolds on the Passions Acts 14.15 James 5.17 and passions are the feet of the soul placed in the sensitive appetite by the finger of God and Nature so neither do we approve of passions when irregular for then they are diseases of the mind depravers of reason disturbers of the understanding and cause the wisest men to speak and act not like themselves We find our Saviour Luke 7.12 13. saying to the Widow who wept for her only son Weep not he doth not there forbid natural affection but inordinate passion not tears simply but their excess not tears of sympathy and parental tenderness but despairing repining tears To shut up this See Dr. VValkers Sermon on that Text. the Apostle would have us to mortify inordinate affection Col. 3.4 that of sorrow as well as that of anger c. now it is inordinate when set on wrong objects or when it is in extreams either defective or excessive This corruption or disorder in our affections must be purged out Now I shall lay down several Arguments to prevent inordinate mourning at death of Friends Take ten which are as so many Corks to the Net to keep the soul under such losses from sinking too deep in sorrow CHAP. II. Ten Considerations to prevent immoderate Mourning at the Death of Friends IN the first place Consider the Necessity of Dying For We must needs dye 2 Sam. 14.14 So Eccles 12.5 Man goeth to his long home Man indefinitely i. e. every man high and low rich and poor beautiful and deformed male and female young and old good and bad all go to their long home the Grave So Ps 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death See Mr. Dugards Sermon on that Text. Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the Grave Selah No though he now liveth yet he shall not alway live but sooner or later shall see Death Joshua and David call Death The Way of all the Earth Josh 23.14 1 King 2.2 This way all Creatures of the Earth walk and therefore Job calls the Grave The House appointed for all Living Job 30.23 No man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit Eccles 8.8 But when his time is come The Spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 Death that black Prince or King of Terrors So called Job 18.14 is an invincible Champion who riding on his pale Horse for above these five thousand years hath with an impartial stroke layd all flat before him The long-liv'd Patriarchs Adam Seth Enoch c. like stout Oaks held out long but were forced at last to submit to Death's fatal stroak as you my read Gen. Chap. 5. Statutum est omnibus semel mori Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to dye It is Statute Law enacted in the Court of Heaven the decree is establisted the writing signed and like the Laws of the Medes and Persians Dan. chap. 6. vers 8. never to be reversed whilest this world lasteth we onely read of two exempted since the Creation of the World Enoch and Elijah who though they dyed not yet underwent a change and the like is not now to be expected So then that all must dye is an universal rule admitting of no exception And how soon all we may be brought in as Examples to this general Rule we know not Even Kings on Earth are but Earthen Kings and like Nebuchadnezzars Image Dan. 2. stand on feet of clay and moulder away as well as others Aequo pede pulsat pauperum tabernas regumque turres Hor. I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Psal 82.6 7. Augustus mortuus est Nay Christ himself dyed the Lord of Life is put to Death though he did not sin actually yet because he had our sins by imputation Isa 53.6 1 Pet. 2.24 He stood guilty of our sins for he became our Surety and therefore underwent a dissolution though indeed he saw no corruption Acts 2.27 so Acts 13.37 Now as Phocion said to one that was condemned to the same death with him Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion doth So shall we be too much cast down at death of our Friends seeing the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles nay Christ himself hath tasted death's bitter Cup. Well then at death of your Friend consider that Job 21.33 Every man shall draw after him as there are innumerable before him Me-thinks this should somewhat alleviate our sorrow Seneca de consol ad Polib .24 Quis tam superbae impotentisque arrogantiae est ut in hâc naturae necessitate omnia in eundem finem revocantis se unum ac suos seponi velit An Heathen looked upon it as a great piece of weakness and pride for any man to expect that either he or any of his should be exempted from the general rule of mortality Consid 2 Secondly consider The friends you lose are not so much yours as God's 1 Chron. 29.14 All things come of thee saith David And St. James saith Jam. 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights c. Children among other things are the gift of God This Lesson our great Grandmother Eve taught us calling her first-born Cain saying I have gotten a man from the Lord Gen. 4.1 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musculus in locum By the favour help and blessing of God as his gift So saith Jacob Gen. 33.5 These are the Children which God hath graciously given me And God tells us he gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau Josh 24.4 Psal 127.3 Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Clavis coeli sepulchri cordis matricis in manu Dei It is God that opens and shuts the Womb at his pleasure See Gen. 30.2 22. God may say truly what Benhadad said falsly 1 King 20.3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine We use to bestow upon relations a term of propriety
may read Heb. 11. that Chapter is a little Martyrology ver 35 36 37. how some were tortured scourged stoned sawn asunder slain with the sword c. Mr. Fox or Mr. Clark in his Martyrology will tell you that many Martyrs had their skins pulled off joynts racked bodies torn in pieces c. willing to endure for Christ's sake what the wit of man could invent or cruelty impose Now God might have called thy Friend to such a death which would have been far more sad cruel and painful as to outward appearance Well then consider God might have delivered thy Friend into the hands of cruel man which would have been very sad as appears by David's speech 2 Sam. 24.14 but God cast him on a soft Bed amongst Friends who did carefully attend him and minister unto him 3. Consid The greater thy Friends pain was the more fervent prayers were put up for him You find David in Psal 38. lying under God's afflicting hand what servent ejaculations he sent up towards the Throne of Grace So Asaph Ps 77.2 In the day of his trouble sought the Lord. So Jesus Christ in his Agony prayed more earnestly Luke 22.44 Great Miseries make the loudest Eccho's in the ears of Mercy And as the afflicted party himself so all that saw him or heard of his misery would be ready to pity and pray for him Methinks the sad groans of a dying Friend are sufficient to dissolve an heart of stone into prayers and tears especially godly Friends would pray fervently for him And these are most likely to prevail for Jam. 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much That Ship saileth the surest to the haven of Heaven which is driven with the breath of godly mens prayers 4. Consid The greater the pain was the shorter was the continuance of it Dolor si gravis brevis si longus levis We reade how Aeneas kept his bed eight years and was sick of the Palsie Act. 9.33 We read of one that had an issue of blood twelve years Mat. 9.20 and had suffered many things of many Physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse Mark 5.26 So John 5.5 there we read of one that had an infirmity thirty eight years Now if thy Friend's pain had not been so great he might have continued still a burden to thee and to himself but the greatness of his pain hastened death which put an end to all trouble and grief his great pangs and struglings as throes of a travelling woman made way for deliverance And therefore 5. And lastly Consider Thy Friend is now at rest Rev. 14.13 Let them die of never so cruel a death if they die in the favour of God they are blessed for they rest from their labours It may be thou grievedst but little whilest thy Friend laboured for rest and wilt thou grieve much when he rests from his labours Whilst thy Friend was ground with the Stone or burnt up with a Feaver and rouled upon his bed without sleep thou hadst cause to weep and it was thy duty to sympathize with him Rom. 12.15 but being dead he is at rest Isa 57.2 for death to a Child of God is but a sleep Joh. 11.11 12 13. so Act. 7.60 and being buried he hath laid his head upon the lap of his mother for so the Earth is called Job 1.21 to be awakened again at the last Trump to the everlasting comfort both of soul and body And shall we now weep Surely this sorrow is unseasonable We prayed or else we were to blame whilst our Friend was in pain that God would deliver him and therefore when God by death hath put an end to all his pain we should give thanks to God and rejoyce rather than weep The Church our careful Mother hath taught us as much in the Funerals of the Dead We give thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our Brother or Sister out of the miseries of this sinful world Another cryes out 10th Apology answerd This Eriend of mine dyed of a sad mischance he fell into the Fire or Water or was kill'd of Lightning fell off a Horse or Cart or was shot in War or otherwise or he was kill'd by Thieves or wicked men c. or he fell suddenly sick groan'd sigh'd dyed And this troubles me that he dyed such a sudden violent and untimely death Answ From sudden death i. e. from death not thought-of and so not provided-for good Lord deliver us not only for our own sakes but for our Friends sakes too they 'l take it the less sudden it is the more patiently See how sadly Jacob takes the supposed death of his son Joseph upon the sight of his bloudy coat he too rashly concluded his son was dead that he was devoured by some cruel beast Significans inâ—ternum animi dilacerationem seu moestitiaeÌ„ And the Text tells you Gen. 37.33 34. He rent his cloaths in token as Pareus saith upon the place that his heart was rent through with sorrow and he put on sackcloth a coarse and sorry stuff which was the usual Mourning-Weed in those times And he refused to be comforted Thus his father wept for him for Joseph who dyed as he thought a sudden death David himself proclaimed a solemn and publick Funeral-Mourning for the death of Abner who was cowardly and suddenly slain when he did least suspect it by one that pretended peace and friendship And David himself laid aside his Royal Dignity and attended the Corps joyning with the People in that sad Consort as you may reade 2 Sam. 3. towards the latter end of the chapter So David weeps excessively for the space of three whole years because his son Amnon dyed so unnaturally untimely unexpectedly being kill'd by Absalom 2 Sam. 13.28 c. And we reade how the true Mother of the living Child had rather her Adversary should have the comfort of her Child than that it should dye a violent and untimely death 1 King 3.26 And in that appeared both the truth of her affection towards it and that she was the true Mother of it v. 27. Job hearing the heavy tydings of the sudden death of his Children could no longer contain but vents his grief in words being more affected with the sudden loss of his Children than all the rest of his Goods Job 1.18 19 20. But for your comfort 1. Consid It hath been the lot of some of Gods dear Servants to dye so Thus righteous Abel was suddenly butchered by his brother Cain Gen. 4.8 So old Eli though indeed he had his failings in not correcting and severely punishing his wicked Sons 1 Sam. 2.23 c. and 1 Sam. 3.13 as he should have done being chief-Magistrate as well as Parent yet questionless was a good man as may be gathered from sacred Story and the manner of his death was sudden he fell off from his seat backward and
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel that is power and providence determined before to be done Wicked men that kill our friends they are God's Sword or his Hand God works by them Psal 17.13 14. Old Eli saw Gods hand in the violent and untimely death of his two sons Hophni and Phineas and he took it patiently 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seems him good Say then with Job whose Children were violently cut off Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Septuag inserts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass blessed be the Name of the Lord. Another cries out 11. Apologie answered My Friend died of the Plague that loathsom disease and there was no funeral solemnity but he was carried forth like some sorry carrion and buried I know not where may be in some sorry pit and this troubles me Answ God lately in our dayes Anno Domini 1665. sent a fearfull Plague amongst us There dyed at London as appeared by the weekly Bill above eight thousand some weeks The Metropolis of this Nation hath been as it were plowed up and sown thick with dead Corpses Great pits were digged where the dead lay together as Sampson said of the slaughtered Philistines by heaps upon heaps Judg. 15.16 A sad time God knows they had Bells sadly toling People sadly sighing crying dying I believe many to this very day have sad thoughts of heart for the loss of dear friends and think they were not buried like Christians because there were no Funeral solemnities I shall therefore to chear up such answer the particulars Did your Friend dye of the noysom Pestilence for so it is called Psal 91.3 1. Consid Gods dear servants have lain under such distempers Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Some think he had the Plague vers 7. there is mention made of his Boyl which some conceive did arise from the Plague Job laboured under a Plague sore Job 2.7 He was smitten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an angry burning Boyl insomuch that his skin was broken and became loathsom Job 7.5 So David cryes out Ps 39.10 Remove thy stroak away from me some render Plagam tuam thy Plague which is a fearful stroak from God Indeed God promiseth Psal 91.3 c. To deliver his people from the noysome Pestilence But this as other promises of outward blessings is a conditional promise God will deliver his People if he sees it makes most for his glory and his Peoples good But God sees it good for them to dye of the Plague which though a sad affliction in it self is a means to hasten their glory God sent a fearful sickness amongst the Corinthians some think it might be the Plague because they did not receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with due preparation 1 Cor. 11.30 and yet they were chastened of the Lord saith the Apostle that they should not be condemned with the World v. 32. Godly Junius and his Wife died of the Plague as some report The Plague that hot burning distemper if God send it to his Children so that they dye of it like Elijah's fiery Chariot is a means to convey them more speedily to Heaven 2. Consid The Plague as all other sickness cometh by Divine Appointment See Exod. 15.26 Numb 14.12 16.46 Deut. 28.21 2 Sam. 24.14 15. Ps 39.10 The Plague is an Arrow of God's shooting a Messenger of God's sending And as the Centurion in the Gospel said to his under-Souldiers Go and he goeth Come and he cometh Do this and he doth it Mat 8.9 so God gives this Messenger charge whither it shall go how far it shall advance what execution it shall do and it faithfully obeys him Therefore say with David Ps 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth he means murmuringly impatiently c. because O Lord thou didst it 3. Consid God prizeth his People let them die of what distemper soever Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints He likes them not the worse for dying of the Plague 4. Lastly Consider They are happy let them dye of what distemper soever if they dye in God's favour Rev. 14.13 Their souls for the present are happy and at Christ's second coming their bodies shall be glorious 1 Cor. 15.43 The body though sown in dishonour is raised in glory Bodies spotted through sickness shall then be made beautiful bodies and all their deformities be done away Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 For Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall these also appear with him in glory Was there no Funeral Solemnity Answ It hath been an ancient custom to attend at the Funeral of Friends De Civit. Dei lib. 11. c. 13. St. Austin saith Non contemnenda sunt abjicienda Corpora Defunctorum Bodies of deceased Friends are not slightly and contemptibly to be cast away And again he saith Antiquorum Justorum Funera curata sunt De Cura pro Mortuis Exequiae celebratae Sepultura provisa The Funerals of good men were formerly celebrated with great solemnity Abraham takes care for the Funeral of his Wife Sarah Gen. 23.3 4. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah where his Wife lay Gen. 25.9 10. Jacob made Joseph swear to perform his Funeral Rites Gen. 47 29 30 31. and accordingly it was done with great solemnity Gen. 50 7 8 c. So all Israel lamented Samuel and buried him 1 Sam. 25.1 And David spake it to the commendation of the men of Jabesh-Gilead those loyal and grateful Subjects that they shewed kindness to their Lord Saul and buried him honourably 2 Sam. 2.4 5 6. so Jehoida was buried honourably 2 Chron. 24.15 16. so much people accompanied the Widows son of Naim to his Burial Luke 7.12 And devout men carried Stephen to his Burial and made great Lamentation over him Act. 8.2 Our Saviour Christ who was alwayes moderate in his expences and would have the fragments gathered up that nothing might be lost John 6.12 yet admitted Mary's costly Oyntment because against his Burial Mat. 26.7 c. Indeed it is promised as a mercy to have decent Burial Job 5.26 Thus God promised Abraham that he should be buried in peace and in a good old age Gen. 15.15 And it was promised Abijah 1 King 14.12 13. that all Israel should mourn for him and bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the Grave because in him there was found some good thing c. and it was accordingly performed ver 18. so the like was promised to Josiah 2 King 22.20 and he was peaceably buried though kill'd in War 2 King 23.29 30. It is a part of humane misery to be without decent Burial and it is threatned as a judgment on the Wicked
this he had said to God Job 10.2 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me When God takes away Relations he testifieth against you as he did against Naomi who had lost her husband and two sons Ruth 1.5 21 compared that something in your lives hath been displeasing to him God oft-times visits the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Exod. 20.5 34.7 2 Sam. 12.14 1 King 15.29 30. Isa 14.21 Parents may by their sins provoke God to bring upon their children a temporal but not an eternal death for Ezek. 18.20 The soul that sinneth it shall die Indeed all persons as well Children as Parents ow a death to God if not by reason of actual yet of original corruption that is in them Psa 51.5 Rom. 5.12 Yet God many times takes away Children and other Relations not having an eye so much to their sins as to the sins of parents and others that provoke God to inflict a penal evil Well then pray to the Lord to discover to thee thy sin which provoked him so soon to take away thy Friend Psal 4.4 Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still When others are a sleeping do you be a thinking what sins you were guilty of that might cause God to deprive you of such a Relation Search into God's Word and see for what sins God usually punisheth with loss of Friends Now God might take away thy Relation for such sins as these 1. Thy sin might be undervaluing thy Friend May be thou didst not prize him according to his worth and now God will teach thee the worth of him by the want of him You would not follow his good counsels reproofs example c. and therefore God might because you did not work by it put out this burning and shining Light It may be you dealt by him as the Philistines did by Sampson make sport with him and a laughing-stock of him and therefore God took him away Or 2dly Thy sin might be overvaluing thy Friend You might over-love him too much rejoyce in him or trust in him too much God breaks the Conduit-pipes when you forget the Fountain Gustavus the renowned King of Sweden said God would take him away because he was too much admired and his words were too true a prophecy Indeed hopeful Children godly Relations they are Jewels Mal. 3.17 but if you take them and make a golden calf of them and idolize them God may justly break them to pouder as Moses dealt with the golden Calf Exod. 32.3 4 20 compared So Hezekiah brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made when he saw the people give divine worship unto it 2 King 18.4 When you make Idols of Friends and Relations bestowing that love joy and delight upon them which is due to God he may justly break them to pieces Jonah took more delight than he should have done in his refreshing Gourd and that hand that sent it sent a worm to destroy it Fond Parents like foolish Apes kill their young ones with imbraces Or 3dly Thy sin might be foolish indulgence Eli was too indulgent towards his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not or according to the Original frowned not upon them he was too gentle in his reproofs and corrections as you may see 1 Sam. 2.22 c. and God threatned that all the encrease of his house should die in the flower of their age and his two sons Hophni and Phineas should in one day die both of them ver 33 34. And accordingly it came to pass 1 Sam. 4.17 So David too fondly affected Absolom and he lived to see him come to an untimely death Or 4thly Thy sin might be undutifulness to thy own Parents Absalom even now mentioned had once three sons as you may read 2 Sam. 14.27 but he lived to see them all buried as you may gather from 2 Sam. 18.18 Absalom was an undutiful child seeking to take away the life of his Father and God takes away his childrens lives Or 5thly Thy sin might be Lasciviousness or Wantonness You read 2 Sam. 12.14 The Child gotten in Adultery dieth Solomon loved many strange women 1 King 11.1 and he left but one son behind him as we read of in Scripture Rehoboam by name v. 43. and he no wiser than he should be as you may reade 1 King 12. Or 6thly Thy sin might be Bloodshed or Murder God threatned Ahab's posterity for his murdering of Naboth 1 King 21.21 so God threatned David for his murdering Uriah 2 Sam. 12.9 10. that the Sword-should never depart from his house and he lived to see two of his Children slain incestuous Amnon 2 Sam. 13. and rebellious Absalom 2 Sam. 18. Or 7thly Thy sin might be Oppression See Job 27.13 14 15. God there threatens that the Sword or Famine or some such sudden and fearful Judgment shall sweep away the Oppressors Children So Amos 4.1 2. There is the posterity of Oppressors threatned God may most justly take away the lives of their Children who take away the livelihood of others Children It is seldom seen that a covetous griping Oppressor or Usurer leaves many Children behind him For these and some other sins mentioned before God may suddenly deprive us of dear and near Relations Now what saith Conscience doth it not fly in your face and tell you that you have been guilty of some one or more of these sins With Pharoah's Butler call to mind thy fault this day Gen. 41.9 And having thus found it out 2. Confess it to God be deeply humbled for it and pray heartily for pardon thereof Say as Josephs Brethren did Gen. 42.21 We are verily guilty concerning our Brother Let your uncircumcised hearts be humbled and accept of the punishment of your iniquity as the Expression is Levit. 26.41 Turn sorrowing for your Friend into sorrowing for your Sins that have deprived you of his sweet society We find 2 Sam. 24. David sin'd in numbering of the People and God punisheth him in lessening the number of them See what David doth vers 10. His heart smote him after he had numbred the People and he said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done And now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy Servant for I have done very foolishly No sooner was David convinced of his sin by the testimony of his Conscience acted by the Spirit of God but presently makes his humble addresses to God confessing his sin and heartily bewailing his folly he prayes to God for pardon thereof vers 17. David seeing the People smitten by the destroying Angel he cries out Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done David knew very well that the People were not without their faults justly deserving this and a greater judgment yet reflecting upon his sin as an occasion of this judgment he endeavours to acquit them taking the fault wholly upon himself and
to perform God sent us not into the World as he did the * Psalm 104.26 Leviathan into the Sea to take our sport and pastime therein but he sent us hither as into a School to learn this one Lesson to die well Yet alas how negligent are most as if unconcerned herein This great concern is the least of their care Tell them of preparing for Death and they are ready to put us off as Felix did Paul Acts 24.25 Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee but we never read that he call'd for him after I shall therefore Courteous Reader lay before thee some Considerations to move thee to prepare thy self for Death according to the forementioned Directions And here I have a large field before me but as the Disciples passing through the Field of Corn pluckt onely an ear or two and rubbed them in their hands so shall I content my self with three Considerations amongst many and handle them as briefly as I can with conveniency First then Consider 1 1. By this means thou shalt live comfortably 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World Rejoycing and working Righteousness is put together Isa 64.5 What joy and peace is there in believing Rom. 15.13 If the Angels in Heaven rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner as the Scripture affirms Luk. 15.7 10. surely the joy of a sinner converted must needs be very great in his heart How can it otherwise be For such an one is reconciled to God his sins are pardoned whereupon follows peace with God and rejoycing in hope of the Glory of God as you may see Rom. 5.1 2. And this peace of Conscience passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 A continual Banquet together with the joy of the Harvest and of such as divide the spoyl are but dark representations of it Prov. 15.15 Isa 9.3 This is Manna in the Wilderness a foretaste and earnest of future Jubilees such an one is even in the Suburbs of Heaven so that the Term of a godly mans life who is continually fitting himself for Death may be truly called Hilary Term for a pure Christal Torrent of Divine Joy comes streaming into his Soul from the God of all comfort What should such an one fear Of whom should he be afraid At what should he be dismaid If he lives he lives to the Lord if he dies he dies in the Lord Living or dying he is the Lords Rom. 14.8 Object But do not we see those who take most pains in fitting themselves for Death most sad and sorrowful mourning for their own and other mens sins do they not meet with most trouble and afflictions so that their lives of all men are most uncomfortable Answ A carnal man can no more judge of a good mans condition than a pur-blind man can of Colours He is not acquainted with a good mans joy Prov. 14.10 The righteous have meat to eat which the World knows not of They have hidden Manna secret joy 2 Cor. 6.10 As sorrowful yet alwayes rejoycing Their weeping for their own and other mens sins Est quedam flere voluptas makes way for spiritual comfort As April-showers refresh the face of the Earth When the Righteous have been shedding tears at the Throne of Grace they oft arise from their knees with their hearts brim full of comfort If they meet with outward trouble as the Waves encrease so doth the Ark of Comfort arise above these Waves See 2 Cor. 1.3 4 5. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ We read Acts 5.41 how the Apostles rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer When Saint Paul was in that great storm at Sea Acts 27. When neither Sun nor Stars in many dayes appeared vers 20. In the midst of that danger his Soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in a quiet Haven Dr. Boreman in Serm. on Phil. 3.20 p. 33. even in the bosom of God In that great darkness he had a light within the light of joy and comfort because God was with and in him I end this with that of Solomon Prov. 29.6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare that strangleth his joy but the Righteous doth sing and rejoyce Consider 2 2. By this means you may die comfortably A man who in his life-time hath been fitting himself for death is not afraid of it when God shall please to send it He can say Come Death come Lord Jesus come and well-come He can say to Death as Adonijah did to Jonathan the Son of Abiathar the Priest 1 King 1.42 Come in for thou art a valiant man and bringest good tydings He knows Death sets his Soul at liberty out of the Prison of the Body as the Angel did Peter out of Prison Acts 12.7 Upon the sight of Death his Spirit revives as Jacob's did when he saw the Wagons that were sent to carry him from a place of penury and misery to a place of plenty and happiness Gen 45.27 When Moses the Servant of the Lord had finisht his course God bids him Go up and die in the Mount Deut. 32.49 50. Deut. 34.5 It is there said He died according to the Word of the Lord secundum os Domini The Jews say that his Soul was suckt out of his mouth with a kiss God dealt by him as a fond Nurse by her Babe kissed him and laid him down to sleep Elijah requests God to take away his life 1 King 19.4 Aged Simeon like a Swan welcomed his approaching death with this melodious Song Sapientis animus totus in mortem prominet hoc vult hoc meditatur hac semper cupidine fertur Sen. ad Marcium c. 23. Nunc dimittis c. Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word c. St. Paul cries out Cupio dissolvi Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better St. Ambrose ready to depart said to his Friends Non sic vixi ut me pudent inter vos vivere sed nec mori timeo quia bonum Dominum habemus He was neither ashamed to live nor afraid to die Old Hilarion being somewhat backward at first to entertain Death he checkt himself for his vain fears Egredore anima quid times Septuaginta annos servivisti Deo jam mori times Egredere Anima Go out my Soul said he what fearest thou Thou hast served God these threescore years and ten
of the rebellion of Corah and how the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed him up and his Company vers 32 33. So rebellious Absalom came to an untimely death and David was much moved with grief in that he died in rebellion 2 Sam. 18.9 33 compared See Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as Messengers of Death but a wise man will pacifie it and it follows vers 15. In the light of the Kings countenance is life Be not disobedient and irreverent in your carriage towards Ministers which are your Spiritual Parens You may read 2 King 2.23 24. Two She Bears destroyed forty two Children for mocking the Prophet Though Children yet God would not bear it in them Possibly as some think because there were so many gathered together they were set on by their Idolatrous Parents to do what they did and therefore God justly punished them with the loss of their Children Lastly Be not disobedient to Natural Parents God may justly deprive them of natural life that are without natural affection Prov. 30.17 Prov. 20.20 Mar. 7.20 The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it Homer though commonly reported to be blind yet saw and observed as much for speaking of one that did not relieve his Parents he tells us he lived but a short time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad Δ. Take heed then of disobedience to Magistrates Ministers or Natural Parents as you love your lives 2. Take heed of lustful uncleanness Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities about them burnt strongly in lust Jude 7. and God sent a strange fire to destroy them from off the face of the Earth Gen. 19.24 25. So God cut off Onan for his filthiness Gen. 38.9 10. So 1 Cor. 10.8 you read how that for uncleanness there fell in one day three and twenty thousand Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. c. 53. Pliny tells us of Cornelius Gallus and T. Aetherius two great persons in Rome that died in the act of unchastity The Dog-dayes of lust are very dangerous Indeed this sin consumes the radical moisture and so in its own nature tends to weakness and sickness and the shortening of a mans dayes The wise Man tells you The Harlots house enclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead Prov. 2.18 so likewise Prov. 5.9 11. Prov. 6.26 33 34 35. Prov. 7.22 23. Prov. 31.3 Solomons Mother there adviseth him not to give his strength unto Women 3. Take heed of intemperance in eating and drinking This is as a Knife to cut our own Throats see Prov. 23.1 2. When thou sittest to eat with a Ruler a Magistrate or some great Man consider diligently what is before thee and put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite Some read it impones cultellum gutturi tuo and then the sence is this thou dost as good as put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite thou mayest endanger thy life if thou feedest too plentifully So vers 29 30. Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at the Wine Our own luxuries as one saith fill us full of Diseases which shorten this our short day of life and set our Clock forward that it striketh dead before the time of our natural circle is gone about Deinde cogitemus saith Musculus Musculus in Ps 6.2 quae sit illorum vaesania qui per gulam intemperantiam seipsos donâ— sanitatis privant variis morbis obnoxios reddunt We may say of fasting and feasting as the Womâ—n sang of Saul and David Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands feasting kills more ten to one than fasting Poor people who have the shortest meals have commonly the longest graces and the best health The Glutton digs his Grave with his own teeth the Drunkard drinks healths so long to others that he hath none to himself Non est in potâ vera salute salus And it is but just with God to strike him dead that makes himself dead drunk Take heed then of this sin it is good advice at all times but most seasonable at this time which is a time of much feasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Aurea Carmina We ought saith an Heathen to have a care of our bodily health and to observe a mean in drinking dyet and recreation 4. Take heed of immoderate sorrow This like an heavy burthen breaks a man and makes him stoop Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop So Prov. 15.13 A merry heart makes a chearful countenance but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken David tells us Psal 31.10 My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World worketh death Immoderate sorrow for loss of worldly things weakens the body and hasteneth death 5. Take heed of impatience passion and discontent The murmurring Israelites were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 An impatient man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own scourge We say truly the hasty man never wants wo. Pettish fretful passionate persons like the Demoniack in the Gospel Mar. 5.2 3. wound and cut themselves Wrath is compared to fire in Scripture Gen. 39.19 20. Esth 1.12 Est intus flamma medullas This fire of passion devours and consumes that which should maintain natural life The passionate man like Mount Aetna consumes his own bowels with inward burnings Thus as Eliphas tells Job Job 5.2 Wrath killeth the foolish man Vexing and fretting under providential dispensations spends a mans spirits and puts him upon taking such unlawful courses as are oft-times attended with destruction Prov. 19.19 A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again q. d. A passionate man is no sooner delivered from one danger but he brings himself into another 6. Take heed of Envy Job 5.2 Envy slayeth the silly one If a man be so silly as to hug this Viper in his bosom he doth it to his destruction Envy like a Moth doth insensibly consume a man depriving him of health and the comforts of this life Hence the wise Man calls envy the rottenness of the bones Prov. 14.30 The envious man melts away at the prosperity of others as you may see Psal 112.10 Invidus alterius rebus macrescit opimis The Dart of Envy is as a worthy Divine observes like that in Homer Dr. Pierce in Sinner impleaded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad γ. v. 348. Reflexa est ei cuspis Scuto in valido It alway recoyls into the breast of him that shot it and mischieves most at rebound 7. Take heed of pride and ambition
sickness but Epaphroditus did not regard his life to supply the Philippians lack of service towards Paul Heming in Phil. 2.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat perperam consulere uti faciunt qui se in apertum vitae periculum conjiciunt Epaphroditus was willing to hazard health and life to supply St. Pauls wants And as Hemingius saith Hoc facere in loco pro Christo non est stultitiae aut imprudentiae sed verè coelestis sapientiae c. Thus to hazard life is not folly but true wisdom And as Musculus saith of Epaphroditus's sickness Muscul in Phil. 2.27 Id omnium erat optimum quòd in tà m pio verè Christiano opere incidit in hanc morbum beati sunt qui hoc mortis genere auferuntur ex hoc saeculo It was best of all that he fell sick in so good a work and happy are all they that die thus in the Work of the Lord Rev. 14.13 I end this point with that of our Saviour John 12.25 He that loveth his * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 66. Luk. 14.26 more then is fitting more then Christ his Church or Truth shall lose it in another World but he that hateth his life in this World loving it less for that 's the hatred here meant Gen. 29.31 then the Truth and Church of Christ shall keep it unto life eternal So much for this time Epaphroditus's Recovery Third Sermon PHIL 2.27 but God had mercy on him Dearly Beloved I Handled in the morning a Doctrine implyed which was this That life and health are mercies And in handling that Point as a Divine though TheologoruÌ„ minimus I shewed you Viam rectam ad vitam longam the true way to health and long life according to the Scriptures I shall not trouble you with repetition of what I then delivered because I have much matter before me and I would willingly finish this Text at this time I come then to the last and chief Point these words import which is this That God doth sometimes graciously recover or mercifully restore his People though they be grievously visited with sickness That God that knockt off Peters Chains and released him from Prison brought forth this Epaphroditus who like a Prisoner was confined to a sick Bed with few Attendants about him That God that ruleth the raging of the Sea Job 38.11 and stilleth the Waves thereof when they arise as it is Psal 89.9 put a stop in his due time to the fury of his Distemper We read of Dr. Willet that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in his Journey from London he was forced to take up his lodging at Hodsdon in Hertfordshire having by a fall from his Horse broken his right Leg there being sick he continued God's Prisoner about nine dayes together and died It pleased God as my * Abel Redivivâ—â— in life of Dr. Willet Author speaks who hath appointed to every man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own proper and peculiar kind of death and without whose providence not a Leaf falls from the Tree so to dispose of this Godly mans death that as a Pilgrim here on earth he must die in an Inn He was carried thence by Coach to his Town of Barley where he was Preacher and there buried He fell sick not far from home yet recovered not to go alive thither But Epaphroditus who fell sick at Rome above six hundred miles from Philippi through God's mercy was restored to health and returned to his People who were not a little comforted at the sight of him Now that God doth sometimes deliver his when nigh unto death is clear 1. From Scripture Texts see 1 Sam. 2 6. so Deut. 32.39 so Job 5.18 19. Eliphaz speaking of God saith He maketh sore and bindeth up he woundeth and his hands make whole He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee So saith David Psalm 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all So Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad salutes Bythner according to the Original it is Salvations in the plural Number because he delivers several wayes and at several times and is the God of all manner of Salvation Temporal Spiritual and Eternal and then it follows * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exitus i e Domini est educere a morte Bythner in locum Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death in most deadly dangers he oft-times sends in help 2. The Point is clear by Scripture-Examples God recovered Hezekiah who was deadly sick 1 King 20.1.5 So he did Job yea and David oft insomuch that he describes God by this Periphrasis Psal 9.13 Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death That is from the power of death E portis mortis i. e. è potestate mortis sumiter enim porta in Scripturis pro magistratu potestate quòd in portis solerent exerceri judicia Muscul Muscul in Psul 9.13 in loc So Psal 116.6 I was brought low and he helped me So God delivered Paul from deadly dangers as you may gather from 2 Cor. 1.8 9 10. Thus it was with Epaphroditus in my Text who being sick nigh unto death the Lord had mercy on him Significat quod attinebat naturae vires actum fuisse de vitâ illius ideóque quòd sanitatè restitutus erat singulari fuisse ope ac virtute Dei factum Muscul Muscul in Phil 2.27 Vbi humanum deficit ibi incipit divinum auxiliums Many thousands in this Nation who have been sick even unto death both in the apprehension of themselves and others have been raised up again by God as so many Acts and Monuments of his mercy I therefore cease any farther proof of this known Point and shall proceed to give you the reasons of it And here for your profit I will take the Proposition into two parts and accordingly to each give in the Reasons of the Point and then I shall put them together again and make application of the whole The first part is this God is the Deliverer of his People And the chief Reasons why he doth deliver them I conceive to be these three 1. Because he is related to them and they to him He is their Husband Head King Master Father c. and they are his peculiar People his Spouse Members Subjects Servants Children and what not that speak thâ—m a People near and dear unto him Surely then as Samuel said 1 Sam. 12.22 The Lord will not forsake his People for his great Names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his People 2. Because of his Promises of deliverance which he hath made to them See Psal 41.3 Psal 50.15 Isa 41.10 1 Cor. 10.13 These are precious Promises 2 Pet. 1.4 which God hath given to his People and in
as my Husband my Wife my Father my Mother my Brother my Sister my Son my Daughter my Friend c. Whereas the truth is they are not ours but Gods he is the absolute owner of them he made them and hath freely lent them to us without any certain time or date or promise of continuance and what is lent freely we cannot deny but may be call'd for most justly at the pleasure of him that lent it May not God most justly say as the Owner of the Vineyard to the murmuring Labourer Mat. 20.15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own Well then we hold our Friends non jure sed gratis not by a juridical right but upon favour and courtisie and if we enjoyed our Relations some time we should be thankful to God that hath lent them to us so long rather then murmur that he takes them so soon St. Jerome comforting Paula for the death of her Daughter Bresilla said Durum quidem sed tolerabile quia sustulit ille qui dederat It was a heavy loss but to be born patiently because he took that gave at first This comforted Job when amongst other things he had lost his Children Job 1.21 22. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Job considered that God had taken but what he gave at first and so doth thankfully resign up his losses to him Consid 3 Thirdly consider God hath a hand in death of Friends Psal 31.15 My times are in thy hand saith David times of plenty and times of poverty times of health and times of sickness living times and dying times are in the hand i. e. of the disposal of God He measures time of life in what proportion he pleaseth to some he gives a large piece to others a small remnant Job 7.1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth Here he puts it by way of question but Job 14.5 There he puts it out of question and takes it for granted That mans dayes are determined the number of his moneths are with thee O Lord thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass So that when a Friend departs that 's the time that God hath appointed So it is said of David Acts 8.36 After he had served his own generation by the will of God fell asleep c. Will of God may be annexed to his falling asleep as well as serving his generation he dyed then by the will of God and was gathered to his Fathers and saw corruption Job saith Job 30.23 I know that thou wilt bring me unto death and to the house appointed for all living Naomi said when she was deprived of her Husband and two Sons in a strange Land The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me and the Lord hath testifyed against me and the Almighty hath afflicted me Ruth 1.5 20 21. compared So Moses speaking of the frailty and shortness of mans life saith Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men Psal 90.3 Gods dixit is his fecit as in the first Creation he said Let there be light and there was light Gen. 1.3 So God here saith Return i. e. he makes them to return viz. to their Original The Body to the earth and the Spirit to him that gave it Eccles 12.7 So David tells us God takes away mens breath and then they dye and return to their dust Psal 104.29 God indeed is the orderer and ordainer of all conditions 1 Sam. 2.6 The Lord killeth and maketh alive he brings down to the grave and bringeth up So Isa 45.7 I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things Our Saviour tells us not a Sparrow falls to the ground nor a hair from our heads without the overruling providence of God Mat. 10.29 30. Here is Argumentum a minore ad majus If not a Sparrow a bird of small price and account or an Hair which is no essential part but made for convenience and ornament if these fall not to the ground without the will of our heavenly Father surely a Friend cannot dye but God wills it Let us then at loss of Friends patiently submit to Gods will The Heathenish Idolaters were loth to cast Jonah overboard but when they had cast lots and found it to be Gods will it should be so they patiently submitted 1 Jonah 13.14 Let not Heathens outstrip Christians Let us say with Christ John 18.11 The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it See Jobs carriage Job 1.20 21 22. He fell down and worshipped not murmured he charged not God foolishly by railing as though he dealt unjustly with him but saith The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken He saw the hand of God in whatever befel him and this was a strong pillar of supportment to his drooping spirit It is no striving against the stream or current of Gods powerful will Job 9.4 Isa 45.9 Let Gods authority over thee prevent impatience in thee God who doth what he will and will do what he pleaseth Psal 115.3 So Psal 135.6 He takes away and none can hinder him who will say unto him What dost thou Job 9.12 Say then when a Friend is dead Truly this is a grief yet I must bear it Jer. 10.19 And as Seneca saith Aequum est ut patientèr feras quicquid corrigere est nefas It is but fit to bear that patiently which we cannot remedy Consid 4 Fourthly consider God intends it for thy good Psal 119.68 Thou art good O Lord and doest good So vers 75. I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me So Psal 145.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Misericors The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy or according to Orig. merciful in all his works Plutarch in his Epistle consolatory to his Wife on the death of a Child amongst others hath this Argument We must always think well of what the Gods do Christians should consider that God in the saddest passages of his providence aims at their good Though indeed his ways be sometimes hidden yet they are alway just When clouds and darkness are round about him then righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his Throne Psal 97.2 Though his Providences sometimes seem to cross his Promises yet in the conclusion you shall see all things work together for good as Physick works for the good of the Patient Rom. 8.28 Every Rod like Jonathans 1 Sam. 14.27 hath Honey at the end of it All things even loss of Friends work together for good to those that love God We read how Sampson fetch'd Honey out of the carcase of the Lyon Judg. 14.8 9. So may we find or fetch good instructions from the Carcase of a deceased Friend God it may be took away such or such a Relation as the Widow of Sarepta said when
the young men the Kings Sons for Amnon onely is dead Now therefore let not my Lord the King take the thing to his heart 2 Sam. 13.31 32 33. If God hath taken away but one relation at a time let us not lay it to heart to grieve excessively seeing he continues to us several other Relations whom he for our sins might justly have deprived us of Besides God might have taken away our health wealth yea life it self and sent us to Hell It is of the Lords mercys that we are not consumed because his compassio is fail not They are new every morning great is thy faithfulness Lam. 3.22 23. Look round about thee and thou canst not chuse but see many precious mercies that thou still enjoyest And thou shouldst be thankful for what thou hast rather than repine at what thou hast lost Lot had most of his goods which he had not time to remove and his Sons in Law consumed in a fearful fire from Heaven and his Wise turned into a pillar of Salt before his eyes a fearful spectacle as you may read Gen. 19. Yet he counted it notwithstanding his great losses a great mercy that he had his life spared Vers 19. Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my Life And Job whose case as to outward losses was far worse than thine thought himself bound by the good to endure the bad Job 2.10 What Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil It was a fearful miscarriage in Rachel who under the want of Children cryed out to her Husband Gen. 30.1 Give me children or else I die She had no desire to live or she would die of discontent and grief under the want of Children It was a great weakness in Jacob that having so many Children left and living in so great honour and plenty yet took the supposed death of his Son Joseph so impatiently that he refuseth to be comforted Gen. 37.34 35. resolving to go to the grave mourning And no less excusable was Jonah who having his Gourd smitten grows wonderfully impatient Jonah 4.8 9. Whereas he might have thankfully reflected upon his late deliverance out of the Whales-belly Shall the want of one thing that we prize deprive us of the comfort we should take in the rest we do enjoy Shall great mercies sink to the bottom and be buried in Oblivion and light miseries swim on the top and be always thought on with repining grief God forbid If man do us but a small courtesie we usually are thankful but if God load us as he daily doth with his benefits Psal 68.19 we make light of that load and forget him What ado we make with a little misery and how little we make of much mercy A little misery afflicts us much and much mercy affects us but a little God help us I have read somewhere of Alcibiades an heathen that being told of one that had stolen half his Plate said chearfully I have cause rather to be thankful that he hath stolen no more than be troubled that he hath took so much A shame it is for Christians to think so much of what they have lost as quite to forget the mercies they do enjoy To such we may apply that speech of Absalom to Hushai Is this your kindness to your friend 2 Sam. 16.17 Or as it is Deut. 32 5 6. Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise c. To end this our condition here on earth is checker wrought and like the Pillar of the Cloud Exod. 14.20 It hath a light part as well as a black mercies we have as well as miseries Do not then stand alwayes poring on thy afflictions but likewise be pondering on thy mercies as the one will keep thee humble so the other thankful Consid 8 Eighthly Consider The invalidity of Weeping If we could shed rivers of tears and each tear were a Pearl yet it would not redeem our departed Friends from the Prison of the Grave If you could weep as one saith Aqua fortis Dr. Walker Funr Serm. on Luk 7 12 13 â— 14 â—â—râ—gia nulla retrorsum your tears would not dissolve the chains of death 2 Sam. 14.14 We must neeeds die and if once dead We are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again Death is a strict door-keeper all that pass out that way the door is shut on them they shall never return viz to converse more with us in this world or to enjoy those worldly comforts they once had and by death have lost See Job 7.9 10. So Job 10.21 and 14.7 8 c. and 16.22 So Psal 39. last vers All our groans sighs sobs and pittiful out-cries cannot awaken them out of the sleep of Death They shall never awake tâ—ll â—hey be awakened by the shril noise of the 〈◊〉 Trâ—mp Me-thinks I hear God saying to those that weep immoderately at death of Friends as Judas did in another case Ad quid perditio haec Mat. 26.8 What needs all this waste Tears are a pretious water let them not be prodigally poured out and all to no purpose into your friends Grave reserve them for an ingredient into Prayer Repentance c. Let David be your Pattern in this He prayed for his Child while living He fasted and wept for said he Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live but now he is dead wherefore should I fast and thus afflict my self Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.22 23. The Child being dead he wipes his eyes and rests contented Sen Consol ad Polib c. 23. Parcamus lachrymis nihil proficientibus And again saith Seneca Desinat dolor qui perit He would have us not weep immoderately at death of Friends because tears do not profit nor can recal the dead Consid 9 Ninthly consider The evil that comes by discontent and immoderate weeping 1. It is extreamly afflictive to a man A discontented man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-tormentor he erects his own cross Luke 21.19 In patience possess your souls So that by impatience we are dispossessed of our souls we are turned our of our understanding peace and comfort while Passion playes the Tyrant At such a time Reason and Judgment those superiour faculties of the soul are degraded and Fancy and Phrenzy step up in their room making a very Bealam within our own bosom It is called The yoak of affliction Lam. 3.27 Now you know fretting and vexing makes the yoke gaul and pinch the more An impatient person is an Hercules furens or like the man in the Gospel possessed with the Devil Mark 5.2 3. He wounds and vexeth himself none can bind him Nay as one observes he is worse than the Daemoniack there for he was among the
Austin 2. Consider God cannot punish a people more then in giving them their wills and desires Israelites would have Quails Ps 78.29 30 31. They did eat and were well filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust but this But carries the arrows of Gods indignation in its side while the meat was yet in their mouths the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them Psa 10.3 Ps 81.12 c. Rachel saith Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 God gives her children and she dies for it for Benjamin that was her second child and made up her wish hastneth her death as you may read Gen. 35.16 17 18. before Rachel came to her journey's end she travelled and had hard labour sore travel indeed for she went to her long home she journeyed into another world The Apostle saith They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare c. 1 Tim. 6.9 Our own will if God should grant it would soon ensnare us and occasion our destruction I end this with that of a learned * Dr Abbot upon Jonah 4.3 4. Lect. 26. Doctor God oft-times in love denyeth those things which we wish Jonah in a pet wisheth for death Jon. 4.3 4. he would needs die because the people of Niniveh lived Had God taken him at his word how unprovided had he been being cloathed with frowardness to appear before so high a Judge with what comfort could he have stood before the dreadful Tribunal If God should suffer us to be our own carvers we should soon cut our own fingers 3dly and lastly consider A Christian of a right metal and stamp one that hath the image and superscription of God upon him and will pass currant in Heaven he is content God should chuse his cross for him both for kind and duration Phil. 4.11 St. Paul had commenced Master in the Art of Divine Contentment I have learned saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whatever state I am in whatever things befall me as poverty sickness reproach loss of friends c. to be content Thus Christians should be content to be at God's finding and their heavenly Father's disposing Another cryes out 3d Apology answered I have lost a beautifull Child Nature was very indulgent to him endowed him almost with all symetry imaginable he had that by Nature which others counterfeit by Art he had a real no adulterate or painted comliness How seemly was every part proportioned what a curiously-wrought tabernacle was his body Psal 139.14 15. He was curiously wrought in the lowest part of the Earth i. e. * See Dr Hamona on that place in his Mother's belly He had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a right position of colours and disposition of members which two make up a compleat beauty Pulchritudo est membrorum omnium apta figura cum quâdam coloris suavitate Pareus in Gen. 39.6 Now to have a Jewel so resplendent and sparkling so suddenly snatched out of my bosom this troubles me Answ Parents many times too foolishly set their affections most on that Child that is most beautiful and therefore if God take away such a Child they look upon their loss as great How was David discomposed at the news of beautiful Absoloms death 2 Sam. 18.33 And Jacob before him was inordinately moved at the supposed death of his beautiful Joseph Gen. 37.33 34 35. But let such consider 1. Beautiful persons many times die soonest It is ordinary for fair flowers suddenly to wither Isa 40.6 7. Jam. 1.10 11. 1 Pet. 1.24 Venice-Glasses are more brittle than Brass-Pots or Earthen-Vessels There is rottenness at the core of the most delicious Fruit that makes it suddenly fall to the Earth 2. Consider If thy Child had lived its beauty might have exposed it to manifold temptations and troubles Beauty is a bait and provocation to filthiness hence that of Solomon Prov. 6.25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids Beautiful Sarah was taken by Pharaoh Gen. 12.14 c. and Abimelech Gen. 20. And had been much abused by them both had not God by a strong hand rescued her from the rage of their lust In what a sad condition was defloured Dinah and how much evil ensued upon it you reade Gen. 34. How was beautiful Joseph assaulted by his Mistress Gen. 39.6 7. and had been supplanted had he not had inward as well as outward beauty Joseph fuit pulcher formâ sed pulchrior virtutibus Pareus in Gen. 39. Bathsheba's beauty occasioned David's committing folly with her 2 Sam. 11.1 2 c. and what mischief ensued you may reade there in the murdering of Uriah So beautiful Thamar being defiled was in a most disconsolate desolate condition and blood-shed ensued upon it 2 Sam. 13.1 2 c. Outward beauty without inward grace is but fewel to maintain the fire of lust This fond thing we call Beauty is as Pindarus terms it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Venerial Goddesse's Embassadour So that as the Wiseman saith Prov. 11.22 As a Jewel of Gold in a Swines snout so is a fair Woman that is without discretion So then 3dly Consider Thy fair Child might have had foul Conditions Some have thought Beauty to be like a Circle whose center they made goodness and they were of opinion that as a Circle cannot be without a Center no more can a comely body be without good conditions And the Hebricians oft call that fair which is good and that good which is fair As Austin saith Consuetudo est Scripturae speciosos corpore bonos vocare Yet it is evident by Scripture and Experience that the fairest persons have many times the foulest conditions Being like painted Sepulchres containing much corruption or like some weeds in the Corn-field making a gaudy shew yet are very hurtful Saul was beautiful so was Absolom 2 Sam. 14.25 Goodly persons both yet bad men So Adonijah that would take the Crown from his Father's head was a goodly man As you may see 1 Kings 1.5 7. compared he was a goodly man fair in face and proper in body A goodly man he was but no good man And for the Female sex who were worse then Dalilah Jezebel and yet who more beautiful Outward beauty is at best but a common gift given as other outward blessings to bad as well as good Eccles 9.1 2 3. So then 4thly Consider God respects not any for outside beauty See Isa 3.24 Amos 8.13 Indeed we say Formosa facies muta commendatio est An handsom face is silent letters of commendation it draws the eyes and affections of men but yet it works not upon God For 1 Sam. 16.7 The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart God values not any for beauty or any other outward additament 5thly Consider Beauty is a very uncertain possession like a Rose the
of the World out of a confused Chaos and made Clay and Spittle likely to put out sight a means to recover it this God I say can bring it to pass that what thou thinkest will undo thee shall be a means to promote thy eternal good Oh the admirable harmony of Divine Dispensations in reference to mans Salvation To shut up this you know several herbs have several qualities some of them very bitter yet if a skilful simpler have the mixing of them he will make you a pleasing and wholsom sallade so there are many interchangable passages of Providence and some of them very bitter to flesh and blood yet divine Wisdom and Goodness will so order the matter that they shall in the end be both pleasing and profitable Jam. 1.2 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations For vers 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Indeed we read Psal 36.6 Gods judgements are a great deep And again Psal 77.19 Gods way is in the Sea and his path in the great waters and his footsteps are not known Which words some apply to the bringing of his People through the Sea and the waters returning to their course of which you read Exod 14.28 29. Others apply the words to the interchangable passages of Providence in reference to his Church the administration of the World and of every mans Salvation And so Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Gods wayes are many times cryptical full of Meanders we cannot trace them they are a compendious heap of intricacies oft going contrary to mans judgment and expectation and to our apprehended rules of common right Yet all his wayes are judgment that is justice and equity for he is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 Much may be above us because our ignorance is such that we cannot see a reason of his wayes but nothing is unreasonable or evil that proceeds from an holy wise loving and just God I end this with that of the Psalmist Psal 25.10 All the pathes of the Lord how rugged and severe soever to flesh and blood are mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant and his testimonies They may seem cruelty but indeed they are mercy though thou can'st not see it for the present yet thou may'st hereafter Another crys out 7th Apology answered This relation of mine dyed in the best of his age in the prime of his strength in the acuteness of his parts his Sun set at noon-day he fixed a Period where we made account of a Comma hoping at least half the Sentence of his Life was behind but it was broken off in haste and this troubles me Answ We do not much lament the death of Old persons because we know they could not live long Every mans Life as one saith is a Lease and an old mans Life is an old worn Lease ready to drop into the Land-Lords hand We expect a Taper should go out when the Wax is spent but to see the Lamp of a friends Life extinguished in its brightest and strongest lustre This troubles us But 1. Consid 'T is ordinary for man to dye in his full strength Job 21.23 24. One dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow c. King Edward the 6th that hopeful Prince fell asleep before noon and was laid untainted in the Bed of Honour So that good King Josiah died before he was 40 years of age as may be gathered from 2 Chron. 34.1 Nay Christ himself was cut off before he attained one half of the age of man described by Moses Psal 90.10 Nay David tells us Psal 39.5 Every man at his best state whether of age or honour is altogether vanity It being so ordinary for man to dye at or about the vigour of his age it should be the less troublesom 2. Consid If thy Friend had lived to old age what is that but an age of misery a stage of vanity an hospital of Diseases The dayes of Old Age are called Evil dayes by the Wise man Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them q. d. The dayes of old age bring so many aches and troubles along with them that if they be lengthened into years yet a man can find no pleasure or content but whole years together shall be full of weariness and sorrow Nay the very strength of the years of an Old man is labour and sorrow saith Moses Psal 90.10 Old people are oft-times a trouble to themselves and others 3. And lastly consid Thy Friend must at last have died Man's Life is by some fitly compared to a Lamp which may be soon extinguished by some fall or violent blast but if it escape these there is but a set proportion of oyl which will soon be consumed and then it goes forth of its own accord The Clock though it goes slowly strikes surely at last And the Sun in the longest day of its perambulation at last goes out of sight He that walks longest over the graves of others comes at last to his own So that if thy Friend had not died now he must have dyed some other time And if another time why not now Another cryes out 8th Apology answered This Relation of mine was loth to die he died comfortless desperate words idle vain talk unseemly gestures and speeches proceeded from him and this troubles me Answ Was your Relation loth to dye 1. Consid Many of Gods dear Children have at some time or other been loth to depart So was David Psal 55.4 5. and Psal 102.24 And Hezekiah Isa 38.1 And Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and fear of it denyed his Lord and Master The Godly cease not to be Men by becoming Christians as men they are sometimes afraid of Death which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malum corruptivum destructive to nature God hath imprinted saith a Dr. Abbot Lect. 6. on Jonah p. 126 127. judicious Divine a passionate love betwixt the soul and the body that they grieve to leave one another So that the spirit may be willing yet the flesh is weak What man is he whom God's Spirit hath not in a great measure mortified that feels not in himself oft-times an horror and a quaking to think of his dissolution 2. Consid Thy Friend though he might fear the pain of death yet he might rejoyce at the gain of death as many a man desires the Haven yet trembles at the voyage The pangs of death might a little affright him yet being dead if a good man let us not question his happiness Christ
went to the Cross with much care and many agonies nay the Apostle tells you that he feared Heb. 5.7 Did he die comfortless Answ 1. Consid It is one thing to have true comfort another thing to have the sence of it The sence of it as Divines say may be taken away for a while through the violence of the distemper or through Satans malice who is most busie at such a time to disturb a good man's peace The Devil that roaring Lyon who at all times goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 at such a time plays the Devil indeed and exerciseth what cruelty he may because his time is short Rev. 12.12 But though the sence of comfort for a while may be taken away yet their comfort is not quite gone See Isa 54.7 8. The holy Ghost the comforter where he once takes possession abides for ever John 14.16 2. Consid Our Saviour Christ He who was the only begotten Son in whom alone God was well pleased Mat. 3. last As he had not alwayes a sence and feeling of Gods love Mat. 27.46 so nor of spiritual and heavenly joy Mat. 26.38 39. His soul was exceeding sorrowful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declarat animum undique moerore obsessum circumvallatum His soul was besieged with grief and sorrow compassed it about So Luke 22.44 He was in an agony 3. And lastly Consid Though a good man seem to dye comfortless yet his end is comfortable Ps 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace If peace did not enter into him whilst living yet being dead he enters into peace Isa 57.2 He shall enter into peace that walks in his uprightness The Godly through tedious conflicts as the Israelites through a crooked and tedious wilderness come to the promised Land at last Did desperate words idle vain talk unseemly gestures and speeches proceed from him Answ Indeed many of God's dear servants have given sweet exhortations at the time of their death heavenly discourses have proceeded from them Jacob blessed his Sons Gen. 49. so Heb. 11.21 See the sweet carriage and pious discourses of Moses a little before his departure Deut. 31 32 33 Chapt. So Joshua dying exhorts the people to obedience Jos 23.14 and Chap. 24. So David when he was dying professeth his faith in Gods promises and declares the different state of the wicked 2 Sam. 23. beginning and instructs his son Solomon 1 Kin. 2.2 Blessed Stephen made a sweet end praying for his enemies Act. 7. latter end So blessed Peter about to put off his tabernacle ceaseth not to give good instructions and exhortations 2 Pet. 1.13 14 15. Such serious discourses of dying Christians as they instruct by standers and make deepest impressions upon their spirits so they afford abundance of comfort to living Friends to see so blessed a departure But if it fell out otherwise with thy Godly-Friend Consider for thy comfort That these frenzies and raving unseemly speeches and carriage if they proceeded onely from the person while sick did not proceed ex animo but ex animi morbo they proceeded not so much from the person as from his distemper fuming up into the brain or from want of sleep c. So it was with Job that God boasts of for his Servant as a Nonsuch Job 1.8 2.3 when he was sadly diseased in body he was sadly distemper'd in mind for in chap. 3. he curseth the day of his birth and chap. 6. so chap. 9. wisheth God would destroy him and cut him off And Job 13.14 like a mad-man he takes his flesh in his teeth And chap. 16.9 he said God hated him What unseemly speeches and carriage were in this good man in the time of his sickness So David under bodily distemper said he was cut off Psal 31.10 22 compared Asaph behaves himself as strangely see Psal 77.7 c. but these desperat words proceded from him in his sickness v. 2. Such speeches as these proceed not from the disposition of the heart but from the distemper of the head lightness of the phansie caused by the distemper of the body Mr. Smith's Essex-Dove T. 3. p. 143. A Christian may dye saith a Godly Divine of so strange a disease of the Flux Burning-Ague Stone Convulsion when either the Choler shooting up into the head or the disease working furiously upon the tender vital parts the party may dye strangely talk idely c. nay he may have his face and mouth drawn awry yet for all this be a dear Child of God Some may dye of an Apoplexy or dead Palsy in which case a man shall have his senses benum'd so as he may dye like a block without shew of judgment or reason yet may be in a blessed state For though the state of his body be changed yet the state of his mind and soul remains untouched August Tom. 9. de Disciplin c. 2. We may conclude for our comfort as St. Austine saith Non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit Audéo dicere non potest-malè mori qui benè vixerit I dare say it and say it again that he cannot die ill that hath lived well Another cryes out 9th Apology answered This Friend of mine was much tortured with his disease Oh the sad casts of his countenance how did he tumble and toss upon the bed of languishment without any intervals of rest nothing could tempt his eyes to let their curtains down Groans and sighs and sobs were his soul's passing-bell There was a sad parting betwixt soul and body And this troubles me Answ Indeed many are sore troubled to consider God should deal so severely with their relations in the time of their sickness They cannot chuse but sympathize with them and sadly reflect upon the groans and pains of deceased Friends But Consider 1. God is absolute Lord over all his creatures and his dispensations towards them are various God deals with some as with Enoch he takes them away and they hardly see or feel death whereas many others as dear to him are with Elijah carrâ—ed to Heaven as it were in a fiery-Chariot and by a Whirlwind Luther Abel Redivivus in Life of Luther without any bodily pain that could be discerned departed this life whereas Calvin was miserably wrack'd before he dyed having the Gout Feaver and Cholick all at one time Nah. 1.3 The Lord hath his way in the Whirlwind We cannot give a reason of all God's dealings towards the sons of men but considering he is absolute Lord over all his creatures this is reason sufficient we should submit unto him 2. Consid Thy Friend dyed not so cruel a death as many of God's dear Servants have done Christ himself dyed the death of the Cross which was a painful as well as a shameful death Phil. 2.6 7 8. Heb. 12.2 Naboth was stoned 1 Kin. 21.13 so was Zacharias 2 Chron. 24.22 and the Protomartyr St. Stephen Act. 7.59 You
his neck brake and he dyed 1 Sam. 4.18 So that good King Josiah 2 King 22.19 20. was suddenly cut off in War 2 King 23.29 30. So the Prophet that came out of Judah whether Shemaiah mentioned 1 King 12.22 or some other Prophet I know not neither ought we curiously to enquire or positively determine any thing where Scripture is silent yet he was a true Prophet as appeareth by his title 1 King 13.1 call'd a Man of God by the Message it self and confirmation thereof by miracles ver 4 5 6. And as a true Prophet so questionless a pious Man yet because he was too credulous in believing the lie of the old Prophet and did eat and drink contrary to God's Command a Lion met him and slew him v. 24. So blessed Stephen stoned in a popular fury was put to a sudden and violent death Act. 7.57 59. Let us not conclude any to be in a damnable state meerly because they die suddenly Indeed God threatens the Wicked with sudden destruction as Job 15.32 33 34. so Job 22.15 16. Psal 37.35 36 38. 55.23 Prov. 10.27 Eccl. 7.17 and elsewhere And I know that wicked men many times are suddenly cut off in their wickedness when they might have lived much longer as to the course of nature But all that die suddenly are not to be reputed wicked men For the Godly as you have heard may dye sudden violent and untimely deaths And the Wise-man tells you Eccl. 9.1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him All things come alike to all there is one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked c. The Barbarians seeing the Viper on Pauls hand thinking the venom would presently have invaded his heart and vital spirits so that he would have died presently rashly concluded him to be a Murtherer and that Divine vengeance would not suffer him to live Act. 28.3 4 6. Let not Christians like these Barbarians be rash censurers of any that dye suddenly seeing that Gods dear and peculiar People may dye so 2. Consid A sudden death is best if we be prepared for it Octavius Augustus as oft as he heard of any man that had a quick passage out of this world with little sense of pain he wished for himself and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Similem Sueton. such an easie death Suddenness saith that Prodigy of Learning Mr. Hooker because it shortens grief Eccles Polit. pag. 277. should in reason be most acceptable and therefore Tyrants use what art they can to encrease the slowness of death That monster of cruelty Caius Caligula would not permit those that he put to death to be speedily dispatched his command was this Ita feri ut se mori sentiat Sueton. Strike so that they may feel themselves dying and endure the pains of an enduring death Quick riddance out of Life is often both requested and bestowed as a benefit We read Judg. 8.20 21. that Zeba and Zalmunna chose rather to fall by Gideon than by Jether his son either because it was more honorable to be killed by a man like themselves rather than by a boy Mr. Fuller in his Coment on Ruth 1 Chap. Or rather as a learned Divine observes Because the Childs want of strength would cause the more pain And he adds Better to be speedily dispatched by a violent Disease than to have ones Life prolonged by a lingring torture And Erasmus somewhere saith Si pio homini deligere fas esset mortis genus nullum arbitror magis optandum quà m subitum If it were lawful for a godly man to choose the manner of his death I think a sudden death most to be desired and he gives this reason of it because Non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit he cannot dye ill that hath lived well For though death be sudden in its self yet in regard of his preparation for it and expectation of it to him it is not sudden Improvisa nulli mors cui provida vita Sad indeed it is to dye as Onan Absalom Amnon Ananias and Sapphira and several others that we read of in Scripture who were suddenly snatcht away in their wickedness From such a sudden death Good Lord deliver us For it is a speedy downfall to the bottomless-pit of Hell But if a man live as he ought to do in continual expectation of death and so set his house and his soul in order surely sudden death is best for him for it prevents much torturing pain which others met with upon their beds of languishment and besides this it is a speedy passage into Life Eternal 3. And lastly Consid Be thy Friends death never so sudden and violent it is that death which God in his providence hath allotted him God ordaineth our end by an immutable decree See Jer. 43.11 When he commeth Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.3 4. Lect. 26. pag. 543 he shall smite the Land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death to death and such as are for captivity to captivity and such as are for the sword to the sword This intimates that by the Providence of the Lord who did set that King on work several persons in their times are determined to their several ends We must not attribute any friends death as the Philistines would their destruction to Chance 1 Sam. 6.9 Homer speaking of Achilles that slew many worthy Grecians saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad α. v. 5. Joves will was fulfilled Homer though blind as some report yet saw the hand of God in their destruction And Mr. Fuller in his Coment on Ruth 2.3 4. some observe the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fortune is not used in all his Works It was only the ignorance of true causes that made the name of Fortune Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia sed te Nos facimus fortuna Deum Juven Sat. 10. For there is nothing fortuitous in it self seeing Gods Providence orders all events Indeed some things are said to happen in Scripture Ruth 2.3.4 Luke 10.31 but this is spoken not in respect of God but in respect of us because oft-times they come to pass not only without our purpose and forecast but even against our intentions and determinations but yet those things which thus fall out are ordered by the secret working of Gods providence We read 1 Kings 22.34 A certain man drew a Bow at a venture or according to the Orig. in his Simplicity 2 Sam. 15.11 not intending to bit Ahab yet God's purpose was to have Ahab slain and accordingly it came to pass for he smote the King of Israel between the joynts of the harness and the King dyed vers 37. Thus providence orders even casual events Christ's death with the manner was decreed by God Acts 4.27 28. Of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and People of Israel were gathered together
breaking no more doth righteousness the rich workmanship of God's blessed Spirit Ephes 2.10 preserve any man from mouldring to dust Moses Joshua David Job Daniel c. are dead and gone Dorcas that woman full of God works and almsdeeds which she did fell sick and died Acts 9.36 37. Holiness is no armour of proof to keep off the dart of Death The shield of faith and brest-plate of righteousness which are able to resist the fiery darts of Satan Ephes 6.16 yet are not able to defend a man from the dart of Death The best persons are not persons priviledged from the arrest of Death that surly Sergeant 2. Consid God can raise up other good men in their stead A Phoenix may arise out of the ashes There may hopeful branches come in their stead Uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus simili frondescit virgâ—metallo Virgil. See 2 Epist of John 1st 4th verses compared That Elect Lady that worthy Matron honoured for her wealth and liberality to the poor had Children constantly professing the true Religion and living according to it who might succeed her in works of charity and piety Buxtorf floril Heb. p. 204. The Jews have a saying Quandò occidit Sol vir illustris utilis oritur Sol viz. alius similis ipsi That never doth there die any illustrious man but there is another born as bright on the same day To which they accommodate that place See Mr. Patricks Serm. on Psa 90.12 Eccles 1.5 Nay they observe further that he makes some Star or other arise before the Sun be set as Joshua began to shine before Moses his light was darkned And before Joshua went to bed Othniel the Son of Kenaz was risen up to judge Eli was not gathered to his fathers before Samuel appeared to be a most hopeful youth and among the other sex they also note that Sarah was not taken away till Rebeccah was ready to come in her stead Furthermore we find in Scripture how Elisha succeeded Elijah Eleazer Aaron Haggai and Zechary supplyed the loss of Daniel and Christ arose in John Baptists stead And hopeful Timothy in the room of Paul the aged Consider then that others as good and useful in their generations may succeed in their stead 3. Lastly consid The happiness that a good man is estated in at death The righteous like Stars though they set in one place yet they rise in another These trees of righteousness are translated into the Coelestial Paradise so that though they be not with us yet they are with God If we truly love them we cannot but congratulate their feasts of joy their rivers of pleasures their palms of victory Dr. Stuarts Cathol Divin pag. 158. Aug. Manuals c. 7 de gaudio their robes of majesty their crown of glory O vita vitalis vita sempiterna sempiternè beata ubi gaudium sine moerore requies sine labore sanitas sine languore opes sine amissione perpetuitas sine corruptione In heaven there is life indeed an eternal blessed life where there is joy without sorrow rest without labour health without sickness riches without loss everlastingness without corruption Even Balaam saw the happy condition of such as dye in the Lord which made him cry out Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his Numb 23.10 Let us not then weep immoderately for those from whose eyes God hath wiped away all tears Let us rejoyce in their joy as we are commanded Rom. 12.15 and not weep as though we envied their happiness Indeed we have great loss when good men are taken away but let us not look altogether upon our loss but likewise on their gain and let the one at least counterballance the other 14. And last Apology answered Another cryes out 14th Apology answerd This Friend or Relation of mine lived an openly profane wretch and he died without any shew of penitential sorrow As he lived sottishly so for ought I could see he died securely I fear he is a damned creature and this troubles me Answ This complaint usually Parents take up over their wicked Children And if Parents have the least spark of grace or true love to their Children they cannot chuse but grieve to see their Children cut off in their wicked courses Sad it is to consider that their Children should be companions with Divels that their own flesh and blood should be fuel for the fire of Hell Indeed this is just matter of humility but not of discontented sullenness mourn under it you may but you must not mourn immoderately or murmur through discontent To this end let Parents consider 1. Consid Many of Gods dear Servants have had wicked Children Our first Parents Adam and Eve as Divines generally observe had laid hold on that promise Gen. 3.15 and were renewed by faith and repentance yet they had a very wicked Son their first-born Cain was an hypocrite and a murderer Gen. 4. So Noah a just man and upright in his generation and one that walked with God Gen. 6.9 had a cursed Cham. Gen. 9.22 Abraham whom God boasts of Gen. 18.19 had a persecuting Ishmael Gen. 16.12 Gal. 4.19 Isaac a good man had Esau a prophane wretch Heb. 12.16 Jacob who wrestled with God in prayer and prevailed Gen. 32.28 had Simeon and Levi as well as Joseph and Benjamin Samuel one devoted to the Lord when he was old made his sons Judges over Israel but they walked not in his wayes but turned aside after lucre 1 Sam. 8.3 David a man after Gods own heart had not only Salomon that was beloved of God but likewise incestuous Amnon ambitious Absalom and treacherous Adonijah 1 King 1.5 Josiah that good King left wicked sons behind him Jehoahaz 2 King 23.30 31 32 and Jehoiakim vers 34 36 37. so Jer. 22.18 Many more examples might be brought out of Scripture to prove this but in a point so clear and known to be too true by daily experience let these suffice Be content then thy case is not singular Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris 2. Consid Gods servants have been patient when God hath before their eyes cut off their children in their wickedness When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord by fire from the Lord as with lightning they were destroyed Livit. 10.1 2. And how doth their Father take it See vers 3. Aaron held his peace either because his grief was so great as that he could not vent himself in answerable expressions Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent or rather he held his peace being convinced of the justice of divine vengeance for Moses had said to Aaron This is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the People I will be glorified So old Eli's sons were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord 1 Sam. 2.12 though indeed being educated by their godly Father they
had a notional knowledge of God and his Laws yet they had not a spiritual practical saving knowledge You may read of their wickedness and how God threatned to cut off Eli's posterity Samuel tells him this sad news 1 Sam. 3.11 12. What saith Eli vers 18. It is the Lord let him do what seems him good Job's Children were no better than they should be they used to feast much and Job was afraid lest they should sin much at such a time Job 1.5 he feared lest at such a time of feasting they should offend God as we are apt so to do by excessive mirth immodest gestures luxury intemperance forgetfulness of the poor c. or by having irreverent thoughts of God and at a feast his Children were suddenly swept away by a great wind in the midst of their jolity vers 18.19 Yet see Jobs patient carriage vers 20 21 22. He charged not God foolishly but thought well of him and his providence notwithstanding the manifold miseries that befel him 3. Consid Weeping though never so excessive cannot recall them either from the gates of death or hell Incestuous Amnon being slain when drunk 2 Sam. 13.28 David bewailed him for a great while together vers 37 38 39. but as you may there read David at last ceased mourning because it would not fetch him again He was comforted concerning Amnon seeing he was dead 4. Consid God is glorified even in the destruction of the wicked Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil So Job 21.30 God got himself glory by wicked Pharaoh Exod. 9.16 So Exod. 14.4 17. Moses told Aaron even now mentioned that God would be glorified and this made Aaron hold his peace when his sons were cut off in their act of sin Levit. 10.3 See Rom. 9.21 22 23. 5. Consid If thy Child had lived longer he might have been a greater grief and burthen to thee He might with the Prodigal have spent thy substance in riotous living Luke 15.13 30. and so he would have brought shame to thee for he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his Father Pro. 28.7 Yea thy whole family might have fared the worse for him he might have taken such courses as would have brought him to the gallows which would have been a greater shame and grief to thee nay farther yet if he had lived longer he might have gone about to take away thy life from all which frights fear and shame God by cutting him off hath delivered thee It was sure a great weakness in David so pathetically to lament the death of Absalom 2 Sam. 18.33 who went about to take away his life 2 Sam. 16.11 and was a continual grief and vexation to him 6. Consid If he had lived longer he would have multiplied his sin here and sorrow hereafter Impenitent wretches as it is said of the Crocodile quà m diu vivit crescit daily add something to their stature in sin Job 36.13 The hypocrites or as it is in the Orig. Prophane men in heart heap up wrath So Isa 1.5 Why should ye be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Jer. 9.3 They proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. 2 Tim. 3.13 Evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse It was a sad curse wherewith David did imprecate some of God's implacable enemies Psal 69.27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity q. d. Give them over to a Reprobate sense as a punishment of their incorrigibleness that so they may encrease their sin here and sorrow hereafter Such as these do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 They do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heap up wrath in manner of a treasure which you know encreaseth by daily addition Forbearance we say is no acquittance God suffers some to run their race to the utmost length as the Amorites were suffered to make up the full measure of their offences to the full Gen. 15.16 He lets some wicked men live become old c. Job 21.7 but it is for their greater punishment at last For God will more severely punish these Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest saith God to the impenitent wicked wretch that I was altogether such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Confusion will cover that mans face whose sins God sets in order before his eyes Lasa patientia fit furor The longer the hand is in lifting up when it strâ—kes the greater will the blow be when it falls The Water-course the longer it is stopped the more violently it breaks foâ—th The Justice of God as one saith whilst dormant is crescent and though couchant will be rampant Psal 50.22 Consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces saith God and there be none to deliver you Well then consider if thy Child had lived longer it might have been worse for him 7. And lastly consider If he be damned who can help it Religion cannot be conveyed to Children as House and Lands c. it descends not from Father to Son John 1.12 13. What the Apostle speaks of Ministers may be here applied 1 Cor. 3.6 7. Paul may plant Apollos water but God gives the increase so then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the encrease The Husbandman may plant and sow yet he cannot bring down the early and latter rain to bring seed to perfection So Parents may instruct reprove exhort correct pray for Children and go before them by good example but it is God that must reform them It is God that quickneth such as are dead in trespasses and sins as we are all by nature Eph. 2.1 2 3 5. Regeneration is Creation-work v. 10. which is only proper to God A Parent can but shew the way wherein a Child should walk It is God that must draw him that way Cant. 1.4 John 6.44 It is God that delivers from the power of darkness and translates us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 It is he that effectually calls us out of darkness into his marvelous Light 1 Pet. 2.9 It is God that gives Faith Phil. 1.29 Ephes 2.8 He gives Repentance Act. 5.31 2 Tim. 2.25 He sanctifies us Jude 1. He saves us Eph. 2.5 8. Rom. 8.30 Well then if we have done our duty and yet fail of our end and desire viz. the conversion of our Children or any other Friends and Relations let us rest contented assuring our selves 1 Cor. 3.8 Every one shall receive his own reward according to his own labour not according to our success but according to our labour We may say Liberavimus animas we have freed our souls from the guilt we might have contracted through negligence Ezek. 3.18 19 20 21 And so the Will of the Lord be done Why should we vex our selves for what
we cannot redress Arch-bishop Abbot saith well to this purpose Lect. 24. on Jonah 4.1.157.158 If God according to his unsearchable purpose after we have done our duties leave our Friends in darkness let us admire God's Justice towards them and his Favour to us stand amazed at the one and kindly imbrace the other but be patient in both We may not take upon us to be more pitiful to our friends than God who is perfect Pity Let us in humility sigh and groan for them and be thankfull for our selves but let there be no anger no displeasure To shut up this We reade Exod. 14.31 That when the Egyptians were overwhelmed in the Cataracts of God's displeasure The People feared the Lord. And when Ananias and Sapphira were suddenly struck dead for their hypocrisie it is said Act. 5.11 Great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things So let the death of thy Relation cut off in his wickedness work a fear in thee and turn thy sorrow for him into sorrow for thine own self and manifold sins lest thou come also into the place of torment CHAP. IV. Containing some Practical Directions to prevent immoderate Weeping WHat I have delivered in former Chapters may suffice by way of consideration I shall now Direct to something by way of Practice to prevent excessive grief at death of friends I pray you observe these 8 Directions and put them into speedy practice 1. Direct Accustome thy self to bear lesser afflictions which you may daily meet with There is scarce a day passeth over our heads but God doth try our patience in one kind or other Job 5.7 Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Every day like a big-bellied woman is with child of somewhat and we know not before-hand what trouble it may produce whether great or small but Mat. 6.34 Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof q. d. Every day may bring enough grief and vexation with it do not by distracting care antedate the evil of it or add sorrow to it A Disciple of Christ must take up his cross daily Luke 9.23 If we daily bear lesser afflictions patiently we may be inabled to bear stronger tryals St. Paul by inuring himself to bear lesser crosses which he daily met with he could in time bear the greatest that God did lay upon him Phil. 4.11 I have learnt in what ever state I am therewith to be content Nay he makes a light matter of all afflictions 2 Cor. 4.17 The Prophet tells us Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Much good comes by a timely bearing the cross It will make a man suffer willingly v. 28. He sits alone and keeps silence because he hath born it upon him It will make a man suffer humbly ver 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust It will make him suffer willingly vers 30. He gives his cheek to him that smiteth him Milo could carry a Bull being used to carry it daily when it was a Calf by daily bearing lesser troubles you may be enabled for greater tryals But if you sink under light burthens what will you do when great ones come 2. Direct Expect such losses before hand It is reported of Anaxagoras and some report the like of Xenophon that he was not much troubled at the death of his son for said he Memini me genuisse mortalem I lookt upon him as a mortal man Troubles that come of a sudden and unexpected are most troublesome because they find uâ— unprepared to bear them An heavy burthâ—â— cast on a mans shoulders unawares startles him sinks him and makes him cry out because he thought not of it and so was not prepared to bear it Weigh then such burthens in your thoughts aforehand Qui sua metitur pondera ferre queat Spinx Philosophica p. 635. Look upon Friends and Relations standing like Nebuchadnezzars Image on feet of clay frail and mortal and that death ere long will separate betwixt dearest friends Ruth 1.17 Expect the worst that may befall thee Make account the time we live here is short Man and Wife and such like Relations must shortly part and then when this divorce comes you 'l weep as if you wept not 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. so moderate will you be in weeping 3. Direct Set not your affection too much upon any Relation The more we love any thing the more loath we are to leave it Isidore saith Cum gravi dolore amittuntur quae cum magno amore habentur Isodor de sum bonor Inordinate affection causeth extraordinary affliction according to that of the Poet Quem res plus nimio delectavere secudae Mutatae quatient si quid mirabere pones Invitus Horat. Epist 10. lib. 1. If we love and rejoyce too much in Relations whilst we have them we shall grieâ—â— too much when we lose them How impatiently did Jacob take the supposed death of Joseph you may read Gen. 37.33 34 35. There was such a vain of grief opened as could not be stenched and the reason was if any reason can be given for it He loved him more then the rest of his Children vers 3. So he is impatient of Benjamins going out of his sight Gen. 42.38 and all was because he loved him so dearly Gen. 44.20 Jonah overjoyed in his Gourd whilst he had it Jonah 4.6 But when the next morning God withered his Gourd vers 7. he takes it so impatiently that he wisheth his own death vers 8.9 We find Judg. 18.24 Micah was sore troubled when his Idol-Gods were taken away Many make Idols of their Children and Relations poor Idol-Gods that cannot defend themselves from death and when they are taken away they are sore troubled ready to weep themselves into their Graves with them whom they too much affected 4. Direct Labour to clear up your interest in God Make him your friend who will be light to you when you sit in darkness Mic. 7.8 and comfort you under any trouble 2 Cor. 1.4 5 6. Such an one that hath an interest in God may say in midst of trouble Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul God is indeed the souls only resting-place Jer. 50.6 God is Centrum quietativum animae Jehovah is compounded of quiescent letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Literae quiescentes to shew there is no true rest but in him And in him there is rest As Noah was safe in the Ark whilst toss'd with tempests Make then but God thy Friend and thou maist with Noah's Dove have recourse to the Ark and find rest there when flouds of miseries are abroad We read Mat. 8.26 Christ rebuked the Winds and Waves so that there was a great calm In him we may have peace in the midst of worldly troubles John 16.33 Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia If God give comfort
yearning in his bowels with bitter grief that he should be the cause of bringing this destruction upon his dearly beloved People So should we when our sins have been a cause to hasten the death of our dear Friend confess them unto God be deeply humbled for them and pray heartily for pardon thereof And then Thirdly and lastly Let us be careful to avoid these sins for the future This God expects Job 36.9 10. He shews them who are holden in the Cords of Affliction their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their ear to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity This the Church hath practised in times of great distress Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. Oh! how should our hearts rise against such sins as rob us of our dear Friends If any mortal man had murdered our Father or Mother Son or Daughter Brother or Sister or any other near and dear Friend or Relation We would not endure that man but prosecute the Law on him to the uttermost and we would rejoyce to see justice done upon him Our hand would not spare our eye would not pitty him Oh then take an holy revenge upon your Lusts which have provoked God to take away such or such Relations let your hearts be transported with infinite indignation against them 2 Cor. 7.11 Say in the Language of Elihu Job 34.31 I have born chastisement I will not offend any more nor provoke God in this manner by my sins to take away my Friends Mortifie therefore your earthly members fornication uncleanness inordinate affection c. Coloss 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kill or make dead Pursue these sins with a deadly implacable hatred not only odio aversationis but inimicitiae Oh! let not your sins survive any longer but as they have killed your Friend so let them be buried with him in his Grave Use 4 4. Imitate deceased Friends in what is good There is no Friend so universally bad but there is something of good in him worth imitation some good might be distil'd from him if we put under the fire of Charity Who so deeply buried * Refined Courtier p. 58. saith a learned man under the rubbish of his own ruines that something of goodness may not be discerned by a charitable Surveyor We find David commending Saul in that Panegyrick or Funeral Oration mentioned 2 Sam. 1. Do not like the silly Sheep leaping off a Bridge follow one another in irregular wayes to your destruction Nequaquà m facere nos improbos improbitas debeat aliena Salv. Salv. de Gub. Dei lib. 7 p. 241. What you find in any materially good follow it but chiefly imitate your godly Friends Phil. 3.17 But in as much as they have their failings as pure Gold hath its dross and the purest Wheat its Chaff follow them so far onely as they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Make then your godly Parents your Paterns as * Mr. Dugard in Epist deâ—icat to his Sermon on Ps 89 48 Constantines Sons are said to resemble him to the life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Write after those good Copies which deceased Friends have set you Jerom having read the Life and Death of Hilarion who died Christianly as he lived Religiously Well said he Hilarion shall be the Champion whom I will follow Zeno Cilliaeus consulted with the Oracle how he might live well and he received this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If he was of the same colour with the dead This he interpreted to mean That he should get and read all the antient Books that he could hear of and then steep and die his mind in those sacred Notions A * Mr. Patrick in his Serm on Psal 90.12 Reverend Divine saith of this Sentence what St. Paul did of Epimenides's Sentence Tit. 1.13 This testimony is true If you would live well Look as like to the dead in the Lord as ever you can and labour to turn your Souls into their shape As living Examples are to be followed so the dead are not to be forgotten Heb. 6.12 Be not slothful but followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises It is said of Abel Heb. 11.4 That being dead yet speaketh which as it may be understood of his blood calling for Vengeance Gen. 4.10 Heb. 12.24 So likewise of his example calling for our imitation Heb. 12.1 Well then was thy Friend a strict observer of the Sabbath a constant frequenter of the Ordinances a diligent reader of God's Word a faithful Instructer of his Children and Servants Was he a lover of good Ministers a reliever of good People a reprover of Vice an encourager of Vertue Was he much in praying laborious in his Calling Was he serviceable to his Neighbour faithful to his Friend a forgiver of his Enemies In a word Was he temperate meek patient peaceable humble honest heavenly-minded c If these and the like vertues were conspicuous in thy Friend Go thou and do likewise Luke 10.37 Though your Friend be dead and buried yet let his vertues live in your practice Use 5 5. Admire Gods goodness who as yet continues thee in the land of the Living Life is a mercy that we ought to bless God for Psal 66.8 9. O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard who holdeth our soul in life So Ps 103.1 2 3 4. The Psalmist there amongst other mercies blesseth God for healing his Diseases and redeeming his life from destruction Indeed God's delivering our Soul from Death is an effect of his bounty as ye may gather from Psal 116.7 8. It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Lam. 3.22 For God to maintain that radical moisture that Oyl that feeds the Lamp and Light of thy Life is as * Mr. Goodwin on Rom. 2.4 5. one saith as great a miracle as the maintaining the Oil in the cruse of the poor famished Widow 1 Kings 17.16 When thou therefore hearest of the death of any Friend Neighbour or Relation consider with thy self it might have been thine own case thou art made of no better Mould then he was 'T is God only that preserveth the House of Clay from falling to the ground As thou accompaniest him to the Grave to pay the last office of Love consider thou mightest have been carried forth and others have accompanied thee Is it not a miracle of mercy that the Dart of Death should kill many round about thee and yet miss thee Conclude that the Hand of God guides it and it is his meer mercy that thou art yet spared When Lot as I told you before had his Wife turned into a Pillar of Salt and his Sons in Law swept away by a fearful showr of Fire and Brimstone he took it for a great favour that God had spared his life Gen. 19.19 Behold now thy Servant hath found grace in thy sight and
on Luk. 7.12 13. p. 13. Dr. saith Their less confirmed constitution is sooner discomposed and out of temper Their fresher blood is more susceptive of infection their warmer and agil spirits more easily blown up into a feaverish heat and flame Infectious Distempers as Plague Measels Small-Pox c. soonest seize on the purest Complexions and speedily overturn the best-built structures of Nature The purest Fruit soonest perisheth When Jonah's Gourd was fullest of Sap and Verdure then the Worm smites it and it is gone Strong Cedars sturdy Oaks are hewen down when Death layes the Ax to the Root of the Tree Great Zerxes wept to think that the strength of his Army could not keep Death out of his Quarters If thou beest as strong as Sampson or David's three Worthies whom you read of in 2 Sam. 23.8 yet sickness may soon weaken thee and Death lay thee flat on thy back 2. Some measure their life by the lives of others as their Neighbours and their own Kindred They see many Neighbours older than they by many years and besides their Father is alive and Grandfather lived long Their Generation used to be long-liv'd and therefore they reckon on many years But this is deceitful reckoning for young men die as well as those that are striken in years see Job 21.23 24 25 26. So Job 36.14 They die in youth So Jer. 9.21 Death is come up into our Windows and is entered in at our Palaces to cut off the Children from without and the young Men from the streets Old Age is a Distemper that very few in comparison die of And though your Father be alive and your Grandfather lived long yet many times Children die before their Parents Gen. 11.28 Haran died before his Father Terah Absalom out-lived all his Children Naomi lived to see her Children buried as well as her Husband Ruth 1.5 So did Job Job 1.18 19. To end this The Sons of Jacob as * Mr. Fuller in his Comment on some of Ruth one observes when they came to the Table of Joseph sat down the eldest according to his Age and the youngest according to his Youth Gen. 43.33 But Death observes not this method he takes not Men in seniority but sometimes sends them first to their Burial that came last from the Birth and those that came last from the Womb first to their Winding-sheet 3. Some think they shall live long because they are temperate and chast Intemperance doubtless destroys many Plures gulâ quà m gladio More perish by gluttony than by the Sword Multos morbos multa fecerunt fercula Seneca Epist 95. And drunkenness is destructive to the bodies of those that delight in it Prov. 23.29 30. Whence come Dropsies Gouts Feavers Rheums and such like Distempers but usually from excess in eating and drinking Lasciviousness and excessive wantonness is likewise an impairer of strength Prov. 5.11 so Prov. 31.5 But yet the most temperate and chast men may die soon For these are very subject to infectious Maladies neither are they priviledged from manifold chances and unexpected surprisals which may suddenly put an end to life 4. and lastly Others because they have been sick and are recovered they hope to see many dayes But alas how ordinary are relapses into the same distemper that men think they are recovered of And those relapses as Physitians say and Experience doth witness most dangerous But if a man be perfectly recovered of one distemper how ordinary is it for that man to fall irrecoverably into another Ambros. de Obitu fratris 3 Tom. p. 16. Satyrus St. Ambrose's Brother returned from Africk by a perilous Voyage for he suffered shipwrack and escaped drowning very narrowly by swimming yet having escaped so great a danger within a short t me after his arrival and return to his Friends fell sick and died amongst them If you escape one danger you know not how soon you may fall into another If you recover of one distemper you are but reprieved for how short a time God only knows O courteous Reader deceive thy self no longer Death like a Mole is secretly undermining thee Thou art far nearer Death and the Grave than thou art aware of Consider 1. How many Diseases thou art subject to which like so many Worms lie gnawing at the Tree of Life The very eye as some Oculists observe hath above sixty Diseases attending it Innumerable then must the diseases be which the whole body is subject unto This Body of ours which is fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 like a curious Watch is soon out of order and oft-times Physicians with all their skill cannot mend it again Non est in medico semper relevetur ut aeger Ovid de Pont. Lib. 1. Eleg. 4. Interdum doctá plus valet arte malum Some mens Bodies are ground to pieces with the Stone some destroyed with the Epilepsie See Mr. Ley's Sermon on Jam. 4.14 or an Imposthume which insensibly gathers to an head breaks in a moment and stops the breath of mans Bosom or stifles the spirits of his Brain Some Bodies are blown up with the Cholick or Illiaca Passio Some eaten up insensibly by a Consumption some drowned with the Dropsie some burnt with a Feaver And indeed many new Diseases break forth amongst us which puzzle Physitians not only how to cure them but how to call them These bodily Distempers are as so many warning-pieces which God many times shoots off before he send his murdering-piece 2. De civit Dei lib. 22 cap. 22. Consider the manifold chances which may befal thee Quid de innumeris casibus qui forinsecùs corpori formidantur Aug. There are casual mishaps as well as Diseases innumerable which may prove destructive to life We all receive life but one way viz. by Generation but we may lose it many * Mille modis morimur Sen. l. 7. 1. Controvers wayes As we see in a Garden-Pot the Water is poured in but at one place viz. the narrow mouth but it runs out at an hundred holes If we ride on Horseback the Horse may start or stumble and cast us that we may rise no more Absaloms Mule running from under him hastned his destruction 2 Sam. 18.9 c. If we walk on foot we may take immoderate heats and colds which may bring with them incurable Distempers Thieves and Robbers may surprize us wound us and leave us for dead Luke 10.30 Some Beast or other may kill us as the disobedient Prophet was slain with a Lyon 1 Kings 13.24 Or a Drunkard worse then a Beast enraged by strong drink Prov. 20.1 may speedily dispatch us Walking in the streets a piece of Timber a Stone or Tile from an House may suddenly fall upon thee and strike thee dead As a piece of a Mill-stone thrown from a Tower broke the Skull of Abimelech Judg. 9.53 D. Stuarts Catholick Divinity p. 163. Martial makes mention of one that was kill'd with the fall of an Ice-sicle which caused
Tertullian said Nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae That he was born for penitential sorrow All that are fitted for death are Benoni's Sons of Sorrow and their tears for sin are so many dissolved Pearls Nay they do not only weep for their own sins but likewise for the sins of others So did Ezra Nehemiah Daniel c. They endeavour to wash away those sins with a flood of tears which they cannot bear down with a stream of power Thus did David Psal 119.136 So did Isaiah Isa 6.5 And Jeremiah wisheth his eyes were a Fountain Jer. 9.1 he would have them not to drop as a Limbeck but like a Fountain send forth streams of tears to bewail the sins and miseries of the People So St. Paul could not speak of the sins of others without tears in his eyes Phil. 3.18 Now as St. Ambrose told Monica weeping for her Son Austine Impossibile est tantarum lachrymarum filium perire So may I say to those that weep for their own sins and the sins of others it is impossible they should eternally miscarry Yea Austin himself said of his Mother and other good Women Mulierculae istae lachrymis suis Coelum nobis praeripiunt when we have done all we can with our learning these Women with their tears will get Heaven before us Indeed the way to Heaven is by Weeping-Cross Jacob as you read Gen. 29. could not obtain Rachel till he had first married Leah Heaven is a beautiful place as Rachel was a beautiful person but there is no obtaining it till we have got our eyes bleared Leah-like with penitential tears To end this Christ oft went as we read in the Gospel from Bethanie to Jerusalem So a true Christian must go from the House of Sorrow to the Vision of Peace 3. Preparation for Death consists In forsaking the sins we mourn for 3. Dir. Deplorata relinquendo After you have disgorged your sin by sorrowful confession take heed you turn not again with the Dog to your former vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 which if you do it will highly aggravate your sin not at all ease you of the burthen So saith St. Austin Qui pectus suum tundit se non corriget aggravat peccata non tollit And St. Bernard saith Verus poenitens semper est in labore dolore dolet de praeteritis laborat pro futuris cavendis A true Penitent saith he is full of sorrow and care sorrowful he is for what is past careful he is for the future to avoid the sins he hath sorrowed for And St. Ambrose saith Ille vere plangit commissa qui non committit plangenda He truly lamenteth the sins he hath committed who doth not afterwards commit such things as are to be lamented We ought to renounce all sin Peccatum in deliciis as St. Bernard calls it that darling sin which lies nearest the heart According to our Saviours Precept we should pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand i. e. Part with sins that are as near and dear unto us as the members of our body Mat. 5.29 30. Col. 3.5 Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur Better to part with a gangren'd Member that is offensive then endanger the whole life So it is better for you to leave your dearest sins or the occasions and incentives thereto then that the whole man should be utterly and eternally ruined by them St. * Jerom. lib. 2. Ep. 15. Jerom's counsel is to be followed Nulli parcas ut soli parcas animae Spare not lust but let it be mortified that so thy Soul may be spared for fleshly lusts war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Say not of any sin as Lot did of Zoar Gen. 19.20 Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live O my Friend there is no little God to sin against no little punishment reserved for any sin for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not said that the wages of this or the other sin is death but of sin indefinitely i. e. of all sin of every sin of any sin Death not onely temporal but eternal too for this is chiefly here meant as it appears by the opposition to eternal life in the Text is as due to every sin lived in as wages is to him that earns it And thereupon St. Austin said Audacior est qui cum uno peccato dormit quà m qui cum septem hostibus He is fool-hardy indeed that can sleep securely in any known sin Even those sins which you count small faults become great by frequent repetition and in a short time lay Conscience waste As small expences multiplied insensibly waste a vast Revenue and therefore saith the same * Aust lib. De decem chordis Father Noli illa contemnere quia minora sunt sed cave quia plura sunt c. What your little sins as you call them want of other sins in weight they make up in number and therefore take heed of them †See Resin'd Courtier Small wounds multiplyed will let out life and a great number of narrow leaks endanger the sinking of the stateliest Ship and several minute drops of Rain swell to an overflowing deluge Ehud kill'd Eglon who was a very fat man with a Dagger of a cubit long as you may read Judg. 3.16 a long Sword could have done no more it may be not so much A Pocket-Pistol Pen-Knife or Stilletto are more dangerous many times than bigger Weapons because not discerned and so no danger is suspected Thus it is with your small sins as you are pleased to call them they are not taken notice of by you and therefore you fear no harm from them whereas indeed because undiscerned they are the more deadly Resolve then with David to refrain thy feet from every evil way Psalm 119.101 Yea to hate every fable way vers 104. Vain thoughts vers 113. as well as lying vers 163. For Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all That is say some he makes it appear that he keeps no Precept in obedience to God for if he did he would refrain from every sin as well as any sin Or according to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase 'T is but a small excuse for you to think that this is but one transgression and therefore not considerable for obedience to God's Will is required universally to all that he commands and he that offends in one though he keep all the rest is guilty of the breach of that obedience and punishable as well as if he had broken all In vain doth any man hope for Heaven that lives in any known sin 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope viz. of seeing God in glory vers 2. purifieth himself even as he is pure Heaven is not like your common Inns that receive all commers or like the Ark in which entred both clean and
God's dearest Children Jacob was sick Gen. 48.1 So was Hezekiah 2 King 20.1 So Job was smitten with a sore Boyl from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot Job 2.7 8. He was so loathsome a Creature none would come near him he was fain to be his own Chyrurgeon and his dressing Instrument was a piece of a broken Pot see likewise Job 7.3 4 5 13 14 15 16. So David was sick nigh unto death read Psal 6. Psal 38. So under the New Testament we read Dorcas that Woman full of good Works and Alms-deeds which she did fell sick Acts 9.36 37. So Paul himself saith We had that Sentence of Death in our selves c. 2 Cor. 1.9 He means the great danger he was in by reason of his Adversaries or by reason of sickness or both Thus he was in deaths oft i. e. in deadly dangers 2 Cor. 11.23 So before this you read of some in the Church of Corinth that were chastned of the Lord by some violent sickness that they might not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.30 32. Timothy had but bad health which made the Apostle to give him this advice To drink no longer Water but to use a little Wine for his Stomachs sake and his often infirmities 1 Tim. 5.23 So we read of Trophimus the Ephesian Paul's Disciple and Companion in travels Acts 20.4 21.29 left of Paul at * This Miletum or rather Miletus Act. 20.17 was a City famous for Wool and Cloathing Nec Miletus erat vellere digna tuo Martial Miletum sick 2 Tim. 4.20 But we need not light up a Candle at noon-day and seek for that which is neither hid nor lost This truth is confirmed or Proposition verified by daily experience I therefore pass on to the Reasons of the Point which may be taken from three heads 1. From their natural constitution The Godly though they be the Sons of God by the grace of Adoption yet they are the Sons of Adam by natural production And as the Wood breeds a Worm that eats it the Garment a Moth that frets it and Fruit that which doth corrupt it so natural bodies produce Diseases to destroy them The bodies of the best are earthly houses 2 Cor. 5.1 which moulder away of themselves The Apostle calls the body even of the best men a vile body because Tot miseriis obnoxium subject amongst other miseries to sickness and distempers Calv in Phil. 3.21 If the humours of the body be but a little stirred they turn to the nutriment of a Disease Our very blood as Dr. Taylor saith wherein our life dwells is the scene under which nature acts many sharp Feavers and heavy Sicknesses Many men saith another * Mr. Byfield on 1 Pet. 2.24 p. 883. Divine that for the present are free from the pains of Diseases yet have their enemies in their bodies in divers parts of them laid as it were in Garison which may and will break out upon them at a time they know not 2. From inherent corruption The best besides original corruption have many actual provocations 1 King 8.46 Psal 19.12 Psal 143.2 Prov. 20.9 Eccles 7.20 1 John 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us If the best of us saith he hath no sin he sins in saying so De vero cultu lib. 6. c. 13. for this is sin in the best Nemo esse sine delicto potest quamdiù indumento carnis oneratus est Lactant. Now sin is the procuring cause of sickness Had not sin entred into the World there had been no sickness Had our first Parents continued in a state of holiness they had continued in a state of health and happiness everlasting but their eating the forbidden fruit brought Diseases upon them and their posterity It is sin that brings all mankind even the best to the Grave Rom. 5.12 And no wonder if it cast them upon a sick-bed Sin is the Pandora's Box that filleth the World with innumerable diseases and calamities Like another Jonah it raiseth storms and aestuations in the Body as he did in the Sea Jonah 1.4 7. compared What saith David Psal 31.10 My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing My strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed It was sin that weakned him and brought as it were his body into a consumption So Psal 38.3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger Agnoscit morbi istius causam esse iram Dei propter selera sua in se accensam Muscul in loc neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin So vers 5. My Wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness So Psal 39.11 God with rebukes doth correct man for iniquity Diseases are properly the Rod of the Lord and the Rod for the fools back seems to have been a Proverb amongst the Jews Prov. 10.13 26.3 Hence the Psalmist allusively tells us Psal 107.17 Fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted The best of men are no wiser than they should be nay they too oft play the fool as David did 2 Sam. 24.10 and no wonder if God chastise them with sickness 3. And lastly From Divine Ordination 1 Thes 3.3 The Devil cannot smite us with sores or sickness without God's Commission or at least without his Permission as you may see in the case of Job Job 2.6 Whatever may be the instrumental or material cause of any affliction yet God himself is the supream efficient Job 5.6 as Eliphaz said Affliction cometh not forth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground By this proverbial Speech he would have us look higher than to secondary causes even to God himself as the Author for so he is Isa 45.7 so Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it It is not to be understood of the malum culpae sed poenae evil of sin but of affliction and punishment God then sends sickness to his Children or he is pleased to exercise them with sickness and such like afflictions for good ends I 'le name two especially 1. For the purging out or preventing of sin Psal 119.67 71. so Isa 1.25 Isa 27.9 so Heb. 12.10 11. God sends sickness as he sent an Angel with a drawn Sword in his hand to Balaam Numb 22.32 to divert us from sinful courses God takes away corporal to recover spiritual health he weakens thee in body to weaken the body of sin in thee If he cast thee into a Feaver or burning Ague it is to refine thee and make thee a Vessel unto Honour sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work as expressions be 2 Tim. 2.21 I have somewhere read how Basil the Great that holy Man being much troubled with the Head-ach prayed to God to remove it and was at length
best for us to pay our Vows Deut. 23.21 Eccl. 5.4 5. we are perjur'd persons truce-breakers if we do not Defer not to put into action what God's Spirit in sickness put into intention Do as David did when he was brought low God helped him Psal 116.6 God delivered his soul from death v. 8. See his resolution v. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living He devoted himself to God's Service v. 16. Truly O Lord I am thy Servant I am thy Servant And he likewise resolved to pay his Vows v. 14. so v. 18. so likewise Psal 66.13 14. I will go into thine house with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble Let health strength life soul and body the products of Gods mercy be presented to his service Rom. 12.1 I end this with that advice which Christ gave to one whom he cured John 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee 3. Apply your selves to God in future straits pray unto him trust in him Thus did David Psal 116.2 Because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live So v. 17. I will call upon the Name of the Lord. So Ps 56.3 What time I am afraid I will put my trust in thee for v. 13. Thou hast delivered my soul from death So Ps 63.7 Thou hast been my help therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce See 1 Sam. 17.37 so 2 Cor. 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death saith the Apostle in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raised the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us It is good Scripture-logick as * Mr. Reyners Praecepts p. 266. one saith to draw conclusions of confidence from premises of experience Such then whom God hath restored to health when God casts them again into the Prison of a sick-bed let them be still Prisoners of Hope as the expression is Zach. 9.12 Suffer not Faith to flag and Hope to hang wing Lam. 3.26 It is good that a man should both hope and patiently wait for the salvation of the Lord. 4. Sympathize with others that are in misery If God have had mercy on thee go thou and have mercy on others Be not straitned in your bowels as some in the Church of Corinth were 2 Cor. 6.12 Oh pity and pray for such as are in sickness and misery and do them all offices of love and kindness that may be Not only God calls for this but the Law of friendship calls for it Job 6.14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend But yet Job's friends dealt very unfriendly with him as you may see v. 15. whom he compares to a Brook which in open weather when people have least need of water promiseth refreshment but in cold weather is frozen up and in hot weather is become dry so that the weary Travellers fall short of their expectation So you may find him complaining how he was forsaken of all Relations Job 19.2 c. insomuch that he begs their pity upon the account of friendship v. 21. Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my Friends for the hand of God hath touched me here is another Argument for if you touch or strike upon the string of an Instrument other strings move too When God strikes another with sickness we our selves should be moved with compassion towards them the sicknesses and miseries of others call for your help Jos 10.6 Acts 16.9 As the Father said of Lazarus's sores Quot ulcera tot ora so many sores so many mouths calling for the rich mans help Yea though they be their enemies you should pity them as David did Psal 35.11 12 13 14. Though compassion begin at the heart yet it should proceed to the hand and mouth help them with your counsels and prayers and purses too Sic mens per compassionem doleat ut larga manus affectum doloris ostendat What the good Samaritan did Luk. 10.30 c. By which passage our Saviour would teach us to have pity on those whether friends or enemies acquaintance or strangers that stand in need of our help v. 37. Go thou and do likewise The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies Alms comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies Pity Alms should be a fruit of pity 1 Joh. 3.17 If you who have known what it is to lie under sickness do not pity such folk who should if you do not who will 5. Lastly Give God the sole praise of all let him have the glory of the cure for to him it belongs and it is a piece of sacriledge to rob God of his due We should not give nor should any man take to himself the glory of a cure Neither Peter nor John Act. 3.12 Paul nor Barnabas Act. 14.11 c. durst take to themselves the glory of a cure Every Physitian should say as the King of Israel in another case said to the Woman crying out to him for help 2 King 6.26 27. If the Lord do not help thee whence shall I help thee The best Physitians can do nothing without Gods assistance Simples are but simple things without the blessing of God upon them Who put medicinal qualities into Drugs but the God of Nature Whence had the Physitian his skill to find out the quality of the Distemper and apply sutable means but from the God of Wisdom Jam. 1.5 Christ said Mat. 4.4 Man lives not by bread alone c. Nor is man recovered by Physick alone without Gods blessing Ps 107.18 19 20. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near to the gates of death then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distress he sent his Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions It follows v. 21. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men Quest But may we not thank our Physitian Answ Yes and you are too blame if you do not Ingratitude is an odious sin Gen. 40.23 compared with Gen. 41.9 It is one of the sins that makes the last times so perillous 2 Tim. 3.2 The Heathen thought you could not give a man a more odious title then to call him ungrateful Ingratum si dixeris omnia as though it was a compendium of all vices and indeed it is a decompounded sin Ahasuerus was too blame to forget loyal-hearted Mordecai so long who had been a means to save his life till it was almost too late to remember him He was to be commended for conferring civil dignities upon him afterwards as you read he did Esth 6. Let such as are unthankful to Physitians and to such as are a means to save their lives from destruction go to School to those Barbarians Acts 28.8 9 10. from whom they may learn lessons of Civility They honoured Saint Paul who healed many amongst them of many Diseases with many honours and when he with the rest of his company departed they laded them with such things as were necessary Well then you may and ought to thank them as Instruments but remember that God is the supream efficient They are to be rewarded and respected for their pains and care with us but God alone is to be praised for the Cure wrought upon us God is the Fountain they are but as Pipes to convey God's mercies to us Let us then give God the praise of all as the Angels sung Gloria in Excelsis Glory be to God on high Luk. 2.14 And as Christ hath taught us Mat. 6.13 For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen That Woman in the Gospel cured of the Distemper called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glorified God as you may read Luke 13.13 There were ten Lepers that lift up their voices and said Jesus Master have mercy on us Luk. 17.13 Yet being cleansed there was but one of them that turned back and with a loud voice glorified God vers 15. But Christ took notice of their ingratitude v. 17 18. There was but one of ten that returned to give thanks 'T is ten to one if God cure us but we prove ungrateful Oh let us not in sickness pray for mercy and in health forget to return thanks for the receit of mercy Non sonet illud tantum miserere Deus sed sonet etiam laus gratianum actio pro accepta illius misericordia Muscul in Phil. 2.27 David was much in praising God for delivering him from deadly dangers as the Psalms testifie Psal 30.1 3 4. 86.12 13. 103.3 104.33 116.6 12 17. 118.14 146. v. 1 2. So Hezekiah being recovered pens a Song of Thanksgiving Isa 38.9 c. Oh my beloved extraordinary mercies call for more then ordinary thanks Exod. 12.42 Communicate your experiences Psalm 66.16 Tell others of the cures God hath wrought Joh. 5.15 Mar. 5.19 The tongue is called our glory Psal 16.9 Let your glory sing praise to God and not be silent Psal 30.12 Wherein is your tongue a glory if not in setting forth the glory of God I end all with that Doxology of the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.17 Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS
forbidden Fruit he should surely die Now we know Adam did eat Gen. 3. and the threatning took effect for after that he had eaten every day some part of his life was gone The wise Man tells us Eccles 3.2 There is a time to be born and a time to die What no time to live Truly it may be the wise man thought this life-time was so short that it was not worth taking notice of or it may be he would give us to understand that all the while we live we are in a dying condition An Heathen by the dim candle-light of Nature had a glymps of this for saith Seneca Quotidie morimur quotidiè enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Vita hominum dum crescit decrescit dum augetur minuitur Cylind as a Candle you know is no sooner lighted but begins to waste it is not the last blaze that spends it but it spends all the while it burns So an Hour-glass is no sooner turned but presently the Sand begins to run out The longer a man lives the less he hath to live Oh did we but see the Glass of our Life running many of us would see but little Sand remaining Well then let your going to the House of Mourning and following the Corps to the Grave mind you of your mortality that God will shortly bring you to the Grave The House appointed for all men living Job 30.23 15th and last Use Lastly Let death of Friends put us upon preparing for Death Seneca said Aetate fruere mobili cursu fugit Use time while you have it He meant it not in that sence in which the merry Greeks and voluptuous Epicures take it 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die But he would have us to imploy our short time in doing vertuous actions Labour that the Temple of Grace be erected in your souls before the Temple of your bodies be pulled down I have read how Peter Waldo about the year 1160. a Merchant of Lyons Mr. Fuller in his Holy War rich in substance and learning was walking and talking with his Friends when one of them suddenly sell down dead which lively spectacle of mans mortality so impressed the soul of this Waldo that instantly he resolved on a strict reformation of life which to his power he performed Mr. Dugard in his Serm. on Ps 89 48. pag. 39. Ribad de vita Fr. Borgia lib. 1. c. 9. It is likwise reported of Sir Francis Borgia a Spanish Courtier That having been at the Funeral of the Empress and considering how little a Grave had devoured all earthly Greatness he said when he came home Augustae mors mihi vitam attulit The death of the Empress hath brought me life and forthwith he became a wonderfully reformed man So when Friends die and we return from their burial let us resolve to lay aside worldly vanities and return home more grave and serious Let us set our House and Souls in order Luke 12.40 Be ye therefore ready for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not As we know not the time of our general so neither of our particular judgment It is good for us to stand upon our watch Mar. 13.32 and to improve all our opportunities both of doing and receiving good that so we may be as the wise Virgins Mat. 25. having Oyl in our Lamps Grace in our Hearts and may be fitted and prepared to meet the Bridegroom of our Souls when ever he cometh Now because preparation for Death though last mentioned is a chief and principal use that we should make of death of Friends I shall therefore somewhat enlarge upon it and shew you in the next Chapter wherein it consists CHAP. II. Shewing wherein preparation for Death consists NOW preparation for Death consists in these following Particulars 1. In praying unto God 1. Dir. Praecandos Confess thy manifold sins at the Throne of Grace and pray to God for pardon thereof Moses David Daniel Paul and other good men mentioned in Scripture were conversant in this duty of Prayer Our Saviour himself in the dayes of his flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears Heb. 5.7 The * Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei Publican confessing his sins and most humbly suing out the pardon of them went away justified Luke 18.13 14. How did Christ remember the Thief upon the Cross praying to him Luke 23. 42 43. Jacob was frequent and prevalent with God in prayer Gen. 32.28 even when he was old and weak he humbly presented his devotion to God Gen. 48.31 Heb. 11.21 Stephen that saw Heaven opened Acts 7.56 as he lived so he died praying Abel rediv in life of Luther and Erasmus vers 59. Luther he died praying and resigning his Spirit into Gods hands Erasmus breathed out his Soul in these Ejaculations Mercy sweet Jesus Lord loose these Bands How long Lord Jesus How long Jesus Fountain of Mercy have mercy upon me c. Bishop * Dr. Bernard in life of B. Vsher Usher he died like Mr. Perkins who expired with crying for mercy and forgiveness Pray then to God that he would pardon your manifold sins and fit you for death say with David Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my dayes that I may know how frail I am Pray with Moses Psal 90.12 Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.2 p. 521. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Prayer rightly performed as a learned Doctor saith is the best Sacrifice which the Soul can send up into Heaven 2. Preparation for Death consists in bewailing our sins 2. Dir. Peccata deplorando We should be like Doves of the Valleys all of us mourning every one for his iniquity as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 7.16 A broken and contrite heart saith David O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 The words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means God highly prizeth a broken and contrite heart under the sence of sin St. Bernard saith Qui non plangit peccata non sentit vulnera He is not sensible of his spiritual wounds who doth not bewail his sinful condition And again saith another Father St. Austin Gravissima peccata gravissimus lamentis indigent Great sins call for great sorrows David saith Psal 6.6 All the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears and Psal 38.6 I go mourning all the day long so that night and day he mourned for his sins And Peter having sin'd he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26.75 The crowing of the Cock was a Monitor of his fault And some say he never heard a Cock crow after but he wept bitterly for his offence in denying so shamefully as he did his Lord and Master St. Paul complains of a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 * Tertul. lib. de Panitent c. ult