and sleep imports awaking IV. That when the time is come wherein the Heavens shall be no more then Man shall be again he shall be raised out of his sleep I. Then Death is a sleep For Death Job apprehends by lying down But Death is fourfold 1. There 's a Death to Sin and that 's the Death of Grace When Men being dead to Sin live no longer therein (c) Rom. 6.2 But mortifie the deeds of the flesh (d) Rom. 8.13 Hence the Philosopher tells us it is one way of dying by our contempt of pleasure restraint of passion (e) Morietiam dicitur cum anima adhuc in corpore constituta corporeas illecebras Philosophiâ docente contemnit cupiditatum dulces insidias reliquasque omnes exuit passiones Macrob lib. 1. in Somn. Scip. cap. 13. 2. There 's a Death to Grace and that 's the death of sin or rather in sin Hence some are said to be dead in trespasses and sins some to have a name that they live and yet they are dead for to be carnally minded is Death (f) Rom. 8.6 3. There 's a Death to the Actions of the Body 'T is the dissolution of the Compositum and that 's the Death of Nature So first God said to Adam In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye (g) Gen 2.17 i.e. be liable to Death And secondly because he eat himself into Mortality 't is said of all his Successors (h) Psal 89.48 What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death The second sort of Death and this are join'd together Mat. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead i. e. sayes St Austin (i) De Civit. Dei lib. 10. cap. 6. Let the dead in sin bury the dead in nature 4. There 's a Death to Vnhappiness and that 's the Death in Hell a Death of Soul and Body being their separation from felicity and this is call'd the second Death Rev. 20.14 The first Death is the separation of the Soul from sin But this is far from sleep 't is a continual watching The second is the separation of the Soul from Grace This is a sleep we must avoid from this we must not only wake before the Heavens cease to be the Heavens that they are but also before we return to the earth that we were or else we must be dead in this sin for ever for the Damn'd protract their sinning with their suffering The fourth is the separation of both Soul and Body from glory rest and hope so far is this from being rest or sleep therefore The third the Death of Nature or rather Death according to Nature viz. the separation of the Body and Soul must be this sleep But yet because the Body not the Soul in that disjunction desists to live and act the sleep we speak of appertains to that nor in propriety of speech can that or lying down be attributed to any other thing This is that sleep which he must be asleep who does not frequently perceive express'd in Sacred Writ She is not dead but sleepeth (k) Matth. 9.24 We shall not prevent them which are asleep (l) 1 Thes 4.15 Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life (m) Dan. 12.2 c. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth (n) Joh. 11.11 When Stephen had said this he fell asleep (o) Acts 7.6 Thus generally departed Kings in Scripture are said to have slept with their fathers And thus the Poet Sleeps are the little Mysteries of Death (p) p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand Now it resembles or rather is a sleep in that it corresponds with the definition and properties of sleep 1. Sleep binds the Senses up (q) Arist de Vigil Som. so the Philosopher It is the Ligament of Sense and such is Death Where 's then the eye which dotes on specious objects and is it self esteem'd one which never is well satisfi'd with seeing nor ever satisfies with being seen Upon the sleeping and the dead the Sun or whatsoever glories of the Skies layes out his light in vain Midnight and Noon are equal shades to them Where 's then the Ear through which Trumpets convey life to the hands and Tabrets to the feet whil'st holy David at the sound of the one fights for the Ark and at the noise of the other dances before it To Sleep and Death these are no more than Silence Midnight and the Grave are two Exceptions against Noise Awake you may ye Lute and Harp but to what purpose when 't is not I my self awake right early Where 's then the Scent And where 's the difference betwixt the Dormant and the Dead The one perceives no sweetness in a Bed of Roses nor yet the other in his Apartment strow'd with Flowers Corruption shall make this last as the Sister concluded of Lazarus yield an ill savour but neither last nor first discern a good one nor yet disdain a bad one Where 's then the sense of Tasting Then sweet and sowr fall into indistinction Then nought is palatable nor disgustful No rarity contended for in meats nor property in sawces no relish vaunted of in fruits nor gusto in the wines No no there is no other Epicure in sleep than Fleas nor in the Grave than Worms Where 's then the sense of Feeling To those that soundly sleep and to the dead Good English Broad-cloth may contend with Sattin And were not Men alive as reasonless as Men asleep and dead are sensless an Act for Funerals in home-made Woollen might be embrac'd with less reluctancy What feels the living sleeper what the dead The one perceiving not the Thief which robs his Purse nor the other the Sexton which strips his Carkass Then what is Sleep but Death (r) Quid est somâ—m gelidae nâ—s i mortis imago abbreviated Or Death but Sleep protracted 2. As to Anxiety and Care their Natures much accord In Sleep they dye in Death they fall asleep Farewell in both to doubts and jealousies to fear and grief When weary'd with distraction how welcome does Man entertain repose in Bed or in the Grave Man goeth forth unto his labour until the Evening and then the sleep of a labouring Man is sweet (s) s Eccles 5.12 so much for Sleep In the world ye shall have tribulation (t) John 16.33 yet proceed to work out your salvation (u) Phil. 2.12 That when the night of Death approaches and none can work you may be happy with those that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours (w) Rev. 14.13 So much for Death in both conditions Trouble finds a Grave What though the world be lost in horrid fears like to benighted Men And in that night what although Groans like Screams of Owls grow loud and Joyes like dying Swans have sung their last Yet what 's all this to those that are at rest 'T is to the waking
Imprimatur Aug. 18. 1676. G. Jane R.P.D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacr. Dom. Two Sermons Preach'd at the FUNERALS Of the Right Honourable ROBERT LORD LEXINGTON AND THE LADY MARY his WIFE By Samuel Holden A.M. late of Lincoln Colledge in Oxford and Chaplain to his Lordship Deceased LONDON Printed for J. Edwyn at the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1676. A FUNERAL SERMON Upon the Right Honourable ROBERT Lord LEXINGTON Who dyed Octob. 11. 1668. The SERMON being defer'd till Decemb. 21. Being the Day of his Birth ECCLES Chap. VII Ver. 1. A good Name is better than precious Oyntment And the day of Death than the day of ones Birth THese words of Consolation call for the perusal of Mourners of Eyes from which Tears must be wip'd away e'r they can read them Solomon designs the confutation of sighs especially when inordinate for good Men deceas'd and to unlearn Survivors that obstinate Grief which Nature or the Fashion may either feel or imitate This Spectacle of Death seems to bid Mourn and in the words of David to enquire Know you not that there is a Great Man dead in Israel But then the recellection of his life past and the apprehension of his life present counsel to refrain and in the words of David's Lord advise Weep not for me but weep for your selves Which counsel I designing to enforce selected this Position of David's Son A good Name is better than precious Oyntment c. Still still methinks the words do whisper me that there 's no reason we should be perplex'd with long deploring of the Good But then methinks the Audience whispers me that there 's no reason I should perplex my self with long insisting upon that Advice for shortness of Concern to some and length of time to others have already Preach'd my Introduction I shall therefore address my self to the words A good Name is better than Oyntment c. A Bad Name there is none so Bad to covet though many design the Actions that deserve it A great Name most Men wish though few attain success so great as may atchieve it The first of these the wicked have Wisd 2.4 and the foolish deserve whil'st they by oppression add field to field and call their Lands after their own names Psal 49.11 The second viz. A Great Name the Babel-builders desir'd Gen. 11.4 Let us get us a Name the Jews were promis'd Zeph. 3.19 I will get them praise and 〈◊〉 in every Land and the Gyants enjoy'd being 〈…〉 Men of Renown Gen. 6.4 Hero 〈…〉 who burnt Diana's Temple design'd this 〈…〉 esses the first being the proud Câ—nt 〈…〉 ed memory And 〈…〉 ny more still hunt for what thousands strive to fill the World with noise and studiously expose their breath to dangers to live in the surviving breath of others This Name when once grown guilty of decay how boldly do Men struggle to regain making too oft a balsam of their own hearts blood to cure a bleeding estimation This Name how many Heathens have acquir'd for Curtius that his Name might find no Funeral leap'd living into one and (a) Hippobotus quoted by Diog. Laert. in vita Empedoc is Empedocles became a voluntary Loser in his Person to be a Gainer in his Memory casting himself alive into the flames of Aetna to be talk'd on after Death and dying the prey of fire that he might live a life of smoke But alas what imports such a Name to the Dead which besides their want of fruition is vary'd at the discretion of the living How many Men have made their lives give light to others seeking Virtue in the dark and left when dead bright beams of Fame to guide them In which beams some Men admire much lustre others find strange alloyes of darkness and of shade Thus Life is succeeded by dubious reputation as Daylights room 's inherited by Moon-shine in which some kind Spectators see a Man some idle heads a Bush and some a Dog The breath which often makes up Mans repute obtains the fate of common Air returning what wholsome or infected lungs shall make it Concerning the Apostles even alive some in amazement cry (b) Acts. 1.12 What meaneth this But others in derision They are fall of new Wine But could the world be so little the world as to be uniform and constant in its opinions yet what 's a Name that 's only Great It is a Monument built like stupendious Pyramids more for Mens wonder than their approbation Fame is a noise resembling that of Thunder which rattles in our ears and makes no Musick 'T is Goodness gives the relish A Good Name Now ev'ry Name that 's Great is not still Good nay a Great Name is very often Bad whil'st a Mans sense of his own power and glory enclines him to act by presumption conceiving himself secure from controul As Heathens in Lawrels defi'd Thunder Herod had a Name as great as he had Virtue little The Chimney is the highest part of the House and 't is the foulest too Good Names are the acquisitions of Goodness not of Power of Triumphs over Vices not over Kingdoms 'T is Moderation not Titles must be known unto all men (c) Phil. 4.5 Those make Menlive the Slaves of Epithites and dye perhaps the Martyrs of Orations and slattering Inscriptions 'T is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text only imports a Name and the Hebrew omits this Attribute of Good it being the addition of the Septuagint or vulgar Latin or else as Lorinus sayes of the Chaldee But though the word 's not in the Original the Sense is there It is the Good Ecclesiastes means for Names no more than Great are not so useful as to outvalue precious Oyntment they seldom live before the Owners dye and then each enjoyes them but the Men that should But a Good Name though it survive the Man and though himself be sensless of the rumor yet he possesses the result of all those Actions that acquir'd it being happy by them and what though other Men alone discern the clinking if I enjoy the treasure Besides Solomon must needs mean a Good Name because none but of Power and Eminence gain Great Ones But even the mean and poor may reach to that repute which is to them better than Oyntment and which way may that be but by being good That 's not the atchievement of the brawny arm alone the feeble knees may have it 'T is not a thing so proud as ever to inclose it self in Cedar but is oft the Tenant to low Roofs and Cottages whil'st Lazarus is a Name better than Julius Caesar A Great Name so differs from a Good Name as a Great Man does from a Good Man and whatsoever Virtue Man may discern in Man proportionably entitles him to that Appellative of Good Now that stile that title should be all Mens Avarice (d) Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solummodo arrogantis est sed omnino dissoluti Cic. though it
anothers sufferings What Man in pain deems not his own distemper most insupportable How many does misfortune urge to wish that to themselves which Hezekiah deplores in others That when they being Children came to the Birth there had not been strength to bring forth (z) 2 Kings 19.3 even with Job unwishing their Nativities When we contemplate humane misery and add to that the infirmity of our constitutions Birth seems to render us as capable of wishing Death as secure of meeting it Nor seems Death only the design of Birth but its near Kinsman too for Death is Sleeps Brother sayes the Philosopher and Life 's a Dream sayes the Preacher (a) Eccles 6. A Dream like Pharaohs wherein Men like Beasts devour each other and the worse the better for bad Men prosper by defrauding good Men yet stile they this detestable success by the beloved name of good fortune yet ev'n in this good fortune besides the guilt what great unhappiness lies hid what tortures and what agonies of thought what nips of conscience and what keen reflections The splendid condition of evil Men holy David (b) Psal 37. resembles to a flourishing green Tree and in another Psalm he stiles Man Grass Now rich Men grow like Grass under that Tree much higher and much greener than the rest and sowrer too by much considering their sins and cares and oft too shorter-liv'd by much their too large growth inviting as it were Deaths fatal Sythe Nor does Job mend the character of Life when he compares it to a Poast soon ends the Stage after a restless journey full of haste and dirt But what a pleasant place the Journey ends in Why dread ye Death the Begetter of Ease sayes Menander (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. What is Death the laying down a heavy Burden sayes St Austin (d) Quid est Mors Depositio Sarcinâ—… gravis Aug. Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours sayes the Spirit (e) Rev. 14.13 This great advantage of Death prompted Isidorus Pelusiota to conceive that our Saviour wept not for the decease of Lazarus but because for the belief of the Jews he was to reduce him to that Life that vexatious Life from which Death had absolv'd him The Grave at once shuts up Mans Corps and Cares Hid in the dark there no misfortune finds him The Drum shall beat and yet his pulse not strike a stroke the faster The earth shall blush in her own childrens blood for her own childrens spilling it and yet his visage suffer the complexion neither of shame nor fear Sickness shall come and mingle Fevers with warm Sun-shine till each Neighbor dyes at once his Neighbors wonder and example till weary Graves implore the aid of more capacious Pits yet the Dead shall ne're molest himself with seeking Sanctuary in some distant dwelling where he may live a Coward to each strangers face or dye the business of Deaths further travel Poverty shall come and Want as an armed Man and Friends astonish'd at the sight withdraw like fearful Women yet still shall he lie void of want and care amidst the quiet company of his old Relations in the embraces of corruption to which he may say Thou art my Mother and of the Worms to whom Thou art my Sister and Brother (f) Job 17.4 And this perhaps might be some reason why the Muscovites if we believe (g) Observantur Dies obitus quem anniversariis cele brant epulis Sabel Enn. 10. lib. 3. Sabellicus do annually solemnize the Funerals of Friends with no less pomp than some of us our Nuptials And now so kind is Death so cruel Life that he who covets this deserves not that especially if we consider with Olympiodorus that 3. By Birth we enter into a capacity of actual sin which in the good Death puts an end to And could it but oblige the wicked so the Learn'd suppose that even to the Damn'd Death would be better than Life For penal Evil viz. Suffering is a less Evil than the moral viz. Sinning by how much less it opposes the Supreme Good Sin in the act has no colours but what desie God but Suff'ring wears the Livery of his Justice So that were but the Damn'd exempt from Sinning their posture were much better than this Life which still involves us in it in spight of all their Suffering But even as the Damn'd now are or ever shall be their Birth has nought to boast of over Death for to whom e're it is not good to dye it had been better he had ne're been born But however with the good the case is indisputable His Death outdoes his Birth by undoing Sin Sin Lifes Concubine for it ne're lies from it and Deaths Mother for the Apostle sayes it brings it forth This Mother dyes in bringing forth the Daughter The Viper makes her own Nativity her Dams Funeral revenging on her the harm she did the world in the production of so dire an off-spring Just so does Death destroy the cause of dying The good by suffering it desist to merit it for they desist to sin Hitherto we have consider'd the Obligations of Death in those ills it determines and Birth is swallow'd up in Victory now we must view II. That great Good which it introduces Like night it blots out one day to begin another For Dying makes a Man immortal and that great Argument which proves him but a Man promotes him to society of Angels But then still Death must be what Balaam wish'd O that I might dye the Death of the Righteous Man by his Birth assumes a Life by which he lives in daily likelihood of no longer living but he dyes into an incapacity of Dying We know that we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens WE KNOW sayes the Apostle (h) 2 Cor. 5.1 But why then is it said WHO KNOWS c Eccles 3.21 Quaer Our Translation is somewhat more favourable than either the Greek or Latin or indeed our ancient English Translations for that which we read Who knows the Spirit of Man that ascendeth upwards They render Who knows the Spirit of Man if it ascendeth upwards (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Septuag Si Spiritus c. vul lat Does then the learned Apostle contradict the wise King Or was his knowledge improv'd beyond the reach of Solomons One demands and demanding denies Who knows The other seems to reply We know To reconcile these places the Scotists distinguish betwixt Knowledge by Divine Revelation viz. Faith and Knowledge by Natural Deduction viz. Reason And then they reply that Ecclesiastes only demands this Who knows BY REASON whether the Soul be immortal And the Apostle tells us That although we may not attain the assurance of our Souls Everlastingness by Reason yet We know it by FAITH But this Reply falls short of satisfaction nor can these Texts refer to the Souls Immortality
and when they lay down in the Bed of dust might sleep as sweet as Socrates But it is one good quality of a good Name that 't is the wise man's purchase and vouchsafed in his death only to those whose lives men lov'd This is an Oyntment which when the waters are come in almost unto our Souls still floats above and makes the wise esteem himself out of the reach of drowning like Oyl it heals the wounds bad times inflict like Oyl 't will keep us safe although perhaps repute may be attempted to be venom'd with the poyson of Asps which lies under some lips A good Name is better than precious Oyntment and The day of Death better than the day of one's Birth Zeno thought Life and Death in themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things indifferent because whatever in it self is bad can by no circumstance be render'd good and whatsoever in it self is good (r) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. in vita Zen. he thought it was not in our power to use either ill or well at pleasure But be they things indifferent in themselves or be they not this is most certain that there is no such felicity in Life as may justifie our customary fondness in it or horror in Death I mean abstracted from sin and its consequences as may countenance our general aversion from it (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand Nay when compar'd with Life Death may look temptingly surely a great and aged Judge of Beauty informs us that it has the better features Death is better than Birth better therefore than Life 'T is of more friendship too or if in Death be ought of enmity since 't is said the last Enemy that shall be destroyed is (t) 1 Cor. 15. Death we may defeat it by dying ere it comes though living in Christ by Faith yet dying to Sin by Repentance which may be much improv'd even by contemplation upon Death thus conquering Death by minding Death killing it self with it self like the Athenians who before defenceless made themselves walls of Tombs and Gravestones Now Deaths Priviledges lie I. In what it ends II. In what it begins I. In what it ends St Jerom instances in the imprisonment in the Body from which Death delivers the Soul Although perhaps the posture of the Soul in state of separation may not so properly be reputed freedom since 't is a property fix'd to its essence to be in such a state desirous of reunion Insomuch that some in that place of St Peter (u) 1 Pet. 3.19 concerning Christ's Preaching to the Spirits in Prison have render'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expectation making the separated state of humane Spirits a Prison because they are debar'd the satisfaction of their so natural inclinations But however with St Jerom 1. Death puts a period to uncertainty and doubt to which our Birth entitles us making the wise unsure what we may prove and Fools misread the Alphabet of Heaven to find what Letters make our future Fortunes By Birth we enter into Life so dubious that Pyrrho and the Scepticks doubted not to doubt of every thing and to resolve all knowledge into scruple and conjecture Through all the parts of time with Solomon we live uncertain of our time and know not what a day may bring forth We all are strong Idolaters of to morrow neglecting well to manage present time by our too great anxiety for the future for hours which we presume shall come but which for ought we know the Sun shall never live to make For who can tell but ev'ry Night may close his eye and hang the world in mourning for his death Vncertain are we in our Friends like Amasa (w) 2 Sam. 20.9 or Julius Caesar we well may perish the deluded Sacrifices of pretended Brothers or adopted Sons For Natures do not ever answer Names nor is it alwayes Truth which tempts our eye-sight with the fairest Print Vncertain are we in Enjoyments Riches make themselves wings wings like the Butterfly's gilded and flutt'ring and unresolv'd how to bestow themselves They from the good oft travel to the bad oft do they quit a Rose hover awhile then light upon a Thistle Vncertain is our Health the slave of weather vary'd with Heat and Cold it shakes at a Frost and sickens at a Sun-beam whil'st poor Physicians mortal as our selves the real Sons of our Infirmities though the pretended Fathers of our Healths offer at Reasons to protract Man's life and then themselves dye to confute them Vncertain are our Joyes which like Belshazer's appear upon our faces soon to be dash'd with some surprize some hand upon a wall nay Joy is so uncertain that it is uncertain if such a thing exist on this side Heaven Nay more Vncertain are even our selves when we cannot confide no not in our own dispositions but teach to morrow to repel those Acts which yesterday allow'd and make this hour correct what seem'd discretion in the last and that with some new wisdom to be controll'd the next All these and more Vncertainties our Birth begins But then comes certain Death for what man is he that lives and shall not see (x) Psal 89.48 Death and shuts out all Contingencies Man then enjoyes a blessed security But then it must be one who by a second Birth has gain'd exemption from a second Death for else his Certainty is dismaller than Doubt Man being dead no more consults the variable Moon nor studies Heaven to mistake his Fortunes upon Earth no more regards the wind for him it still may blow and where it lists may blow no more by doubting Friends shall he deserve to find them what he suspects them he then no more shall fear the wings of riches nor clog them with his cares to stay their flight no Mene Tekel then shall startle him nor shall he abate his pleasures whil'st he has them with dread lest he too soon should be without them no more shall he distrust his constitution nor ask his trembling pulses how he does nor shall he any more have reason to diffide in his own resolves 2. Birth begins temporal misery Death ends that Although the good are never truly wretched yet few there are that make themselves such Monsters as in the common crowd not to complain 'T is not alone at others Funerals that we contend to be in mourning but each Man in his own losses pursues the fashion and what he wants in woe makes out in noise he puts his Fortunes into black to court his Neighbors pity so that whil'st he cloaths his complaint with sables much above the quality and true estate of his exigence he makes his misery as it were his boast and it appears more like the daughter of his pride than his misfortune as if Jerusalem's sad exclamation became his mouth Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow (y) Lam. 1.12 Each mans particular unhappiness is to his own eyes magnifi'd beyond the proportion of
alone for of that even Socrates and Plato were sufficiently secure even by rational Collections Nay 't was the general persuasion of Heathens for who amongst them apprehended not something of bliss or pain on the other side the Grave And 't is indeed very demonstrable were it at present so convenient that Humane Spirits are all Deathless So that Lorinus conceives it only an Article of Faith to shallower Intellects whose weakness craves the assistance of Divine Discoveries to make them apprehend it But nevertheless Dependance on Gods Word for the firm credence of the Truth is a practice more secure and commendable even in the most acute capacities But in Answer to this doubt Solomon here by ascending upward means but the same with that in his 12th Chapter of Ecclesiastes Ver. 7. And the Spirit ascendeth unto God who gave it which imports not only the humane Spirits eternity but also if of the pious its felicity not only its perpetuity but also its place of abode in that perpetuity And here indeed REASON falls short and FAITH flies home The Heathens knew that their Souls should not die but how or where they should live how ignorant were they how unsatisfi'd We may well ask with Solomon Who knows by REASON the place and posture of our Souls surviving But yet we may answer with the Apostle By FAITH we know that when this earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolv'd we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This with the rest are Deaths Priviledges So that although it be the rich and bad Mans Fury yet 't is the poor and good Mans Mistriss The good Man courts her to advance his Fortune I desire to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ which is far better The other for his Sanctuary and in his own defence To both the Grave is advantageous and to dye is gain Better is their Death than any natural thing that attended their Lives and better than Birth that began them But though the Text be full of Consolation to the dying Man or his surviving Friends though Death exceeds either our Birth or Life Yet we must wear this Caution in our Bosomes not wilfully and violently to exchange our Life for Death We all must study to provide for Death not to procure it The encouragement will never justifie some bold Pretenders who furiously lay hands upon themselves and court not Death but ravish her 'T was once indeed a Learned Mans (k) Dr Donn persuasion though alter'd afterwards That Self-murther did not any thing intrench on the Divine Authority nor violate that great Command Thou shalt not kill presuming that Injunction only related to the Lives of others But if to theirs then also to our own though not in Precept yet in Presupposal Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self is our Saviours Summary of the last Six Commandments So that in our own Bosomes we bear directions for our deportment towards others Our Nature then being presum'd averse from wishing that we might be rob'd our selves we are commanded therefore Not to Steal So likewise in False Witness and Defamation and as in other Precepts so in this it being presuppos'd that none would willingly anticipate his End by engaging himself in his own Death it follows therefore Thou shalt not kill thy Neighbour And how can that Command which presupposes the Negative permit the Positive But what if murdering our selves we murder others too Examples oft contract a guilt by others imitation And who can pronounce Brutus innocent of Portia's blood when she learnt death of him and dy'd enamor'd on the fatal President (l) Plutach in vita Bruti in fine Nay what if I in my own private fall become a general Assassinate For he that kills himself does what he can to kill Mankind and were the World as docile in sins of pain and horror for horrid enough Death seems though 't is not so as in guilt of other complexions Killing might grow infections till the Universe became but one Aceldama one Man would dye his Neighbors destruction and become a Rule for the next Man to expire by he to the next and so throughout the specìes till ne're a vein were left in Humane Nature to bleed the sin over again But though as some may think there should be no intrenchment upon Gods Command in Self-destruction yet stands not his Veracity inviolate For on what grounds could he assert That Man remains uncertain of his latter end man knoweth not his time (m) Eccles 9.12 if it be subject to his own disposure He that may be his own Executioner may be his own Prophet too and readily foretell that Fate which he has liberty and power to make Nor is this kind of Death as Cato and others fancy'd the strong result of generous spirits but the offspring of timorous dispositions For though those Tyrants over their own flesh relented not at those Black Guards which still stood ready muster'd in the vale of Death yet dreaded they those bloody Colours which they saw display'd against them on the Plains of Life proclaiming to the world that they durst dye because they were afraid to live If this be Bravery and Courage each Fool may be a Hero with the assistance of misfortune and a little peevishness and though he lives like Nabal and folly with him he may depart the world like a Counsellor and lie down in the dust as wisely as Achitophel So that although kind Death does make us Presents richer than Life yet we may not snatch at them All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come The great felicity we would atchieve is lost by eager and too hot pursuit Death catches back its benefits like Tantalus's waters from hasty and too violent endeavours Thus we may make our Angel prove our Fiend Sufferings have oft Sin has sometimes instructed pensive and dejected men to seek ease in the Grave but they have lost it by thus seeking it nay they have hastened desolation and lengthned it to everlastingness When Sins reduc'd to memory have wrought despair and arm'd Men to their proper ruine their streams of grief have drown'd where they should but have wash'd their blood has then unsanctify'd their tears and blotted out in fury whatever good Lines Remorse had written Though Death be pleasing when 't is well considered yet patient submission to Divine Decrees is one great feature which presents her lovely Whereof our memories may soon relapse into a fresh example and these Garments hang like Phylacteries to mind us of him Shall I say his Name is better than Oyntment than Oyl And yet my Language shew not like the worst of Oyls the Oyl of Flattery Shall I attempt the description of his Life His Cheeks now cannot blush How say you then Shall I present you now after his Death with Catalogues of Epithites and Praises which though the virtues of his life deserv'd yet one great virtue of his life his
modesty would not in his life have endur'd to hear It is the custom too but be it so too common therefore for desert so singular And it perhaps might blemish that great worth should I describe it for it might be said He liv'd beyond others but was bury'd like them Besides in publick to display his Name were to disprove it rather for by pretending to give you a description of his worth I should but seem to say It was so little that you before were unacquainted with it But I 'le take leave to recommend to you some Worthies to whose Renown most here perhaps are strangers You knew not Sempronius Densus Plutarch whom in a general defection from the Roman Emperor nothing in Life could invite unto inconstancy and Death it self which most Men repute something could nothing scare from Loyalty You knew not Aristides stil'd the Just whom the Athenians Love furnish'd with that name that name the true begotten of his own disposition though also the begetter of their envy his meekness was so signal that his breath was noted to perfume the names of many but to blast the estimation of none You knew not Philopoemenes whose Humility high Fortune found impregnable He thought Content a glorious Heaven of which to take a prospect he suppress'd all his own lustre and in the bottom of Humility like Men in Pits saw that Heaven to best advantage permitting not his sight to be divided with scatter'd beams of his own glory Nor yet knew you Pelopidas of whose friendship no weather ever vary'd the complexion He still persisting towards all to whom he ere pretended Amity an unalter'd Friend made all the world his own Friend You knew not that Aratus who then conceiv'd he study'd most Self-interest when most he did expend his industry and thoughts to his Countries publick benefit he liv'd the gain of all Men and he died their loss Nor knew you Marcus Brutus signally observed for kindness to his Wife and Family whom scarce a Virtue left unfrequented and scarce any Mans Love unattended Now will you have the Sum of all We read that these were brave and that they dy'd That they dy'd worthy of much longer living had life been worthy to defer their dying If still you are desirous to know more of them be pleas'd to read it there and then cast up how much a precious Name enjoyes of fragrancy above all Oyntment And whil'st your thoughts are there employ'd you 'll find what all these wanted true Religion too What words of life made up his dying breath How did he draw in common Air to return it odours His languishing being full of pious fervent and of frequent Prayers and Ejaculations with which his choice had furnish'd well his memory out of our Liturgy by his dying practice approving his living judgmentâ— expiring as much as Man can guess in great submission to the Father consolation in the Spirit Faith in the Son and Duty to the Sons Spouse the Church Now when these things have met your observation you 'll think he justifi'd the close of the Text and that his latest hour did surmount his earliest Living we all enjoy'd him now we see what a small spot of ground he being dead possesses But his Name lives and fills up room enough and I have room enough to live upon his Name but that I 've liv'd too long upon your patience You knew him I know you knew him You lov'd him knowing him you must love him You remember him you have reason to remember him O that we could all conspire to imitate him confiding in your memory my Discourse may now as he did bid you all Farewell It has liv'd like him to more than an ordinary Age though not like him in extraordinary value Convenience now will prompt you to conceive the minute of the Sermons Death to be better than those of its Life As the Conversation of the Sermons Subject has instructed us to conclude the Day of his Death better than that of his Birth Now to that God with whom he is to whom the issues of Life and Death belong Be all Honour and Glory henceforth and for evermore AMEN ANOTHER Upon the Right Honourable THE Lady MARY his WIFE Who was Buried in his GRAVE September 25. 1669. JOB XIV Ver. 12. So man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more they shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep THe Flesh whose Livery these Walls are dress'd in has slept almost a Year and hither now retires the other part of that one Flesh to share in his repose Vexatious Life is oft compar'd and well to Thorns and Bryâ—rs and of some Bryars no end appears above ground Now such a Bryar was our last years Life having both ends in the earth When the first Corps of these lay down in peace and these black Curtains first were drawn about his Bed of dust that Text of Ecclesiastes (a) Eccles 7.1 A good Name is better than Oyntment c. became the Subject of our Meditations In the first words of that Verse the Wise man applauds what indeed all Men wish a good Name and in the last he gives no small Encomium to that which all Men fear viz. Death Death is said to be wedded to our humane Natures And though to timorous dispositions who view her at a distance she seem a Bride but of a ghastly hew yet Solomon who had more thoroughly perus'd her features seems to dress her in the character he gave the spiritual Spouse in the Canticles Thou art black but comely c. And since that Text applauded so her Countenance what throngs has her distended Arms embraced as if Mens deaths were the result of fondness rather than force and she had vanquish'd them more by Attraction than Constraint and as if they had not expir'd so much her Captives as her Lovers Nor is their stay unlike the stay of kindness 't is long 't is very long Man fails from off the face of earth as the (b) The Verse preceding the Text. Waters fail from the Sea and as the Tydes in Rivers decay and are dry'd up And as those Waters do again return into the Sea and Tydes into the Rivers so shall Man find the effects of Renovation but not alas with equal expedition to what the Sea and Floods enjoy The Heathen Poets much delight themselves with Fables of their Jove fancying amongst the rest that visiting Alâ—mena he stretch'd out the night unto the length of three but his three nights to this of Death were but a twinkling Man being once laid down to sleep in the Pavilion of Death Vntil the Heavens be no more he shall not awake nor be raised out of his sleep How obvious in the words are these Collections I. That Death 's a sleep II. That 't is a long sleep Till the Heavens be no more III. That the Heavens shall once be no more for Death is but a sleep
shall be no more When once our drowsie temples are bound up with Deaths swarthy Night-cloaths Farewell to Spring which is our growth in grace Farewell to Summer and fruits meet for repentance Farewell to Sunshine being the light of grace And Farewell showres the droppings of the Sanctuary For man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more c. II. 'T is then a long Sleep Till the Heavens be no more A time of tedious distance for ought we know But yet how near soever if we reflect on those who went before us how much soever Death resembled Sleep in quality 't is much beyond it in the quantity The grand distinction of these sleeps consists in their duration A Sand participates the essential properties of Earth But ah when their dimensions come in competition that nature of the Earth which the Sand possesses is but enough to priviledge it from being nothing So Sleep though constituted of the calm and gentle qualities of Death when we peruse them in their just extent appears in the comparison to have but so much ease as does but just exempt it from being labour Here we soon sleep and strait as quickly wake Our lives are but successive and short fits of darkness and of light And if the night protract itself beyond our slumbers how restless grow we tortur'd with repose and making our ease our anguish But Bodies once asleep beneath the Coverlets of Turfs find not themselves so hasty to be stirring We shall remove no Curtains with our hands nor with our eyes seek day-light in a Window nor with our vain enquiries look for glimmerings in the East No no we shall not hunt for day till we shall miss the Heavens from which it us'd to start We now lay not our selves to sleep until our selves or servants those Deputy selves have put out the Candle but being laid down in Death we shall not wake till he that never sleeps puts out the Sun For the Sun shall be turn'd into darkness (n) Joel 2.31 and be no more our light (o) Isa 60.19 The Sun and Darkness shall at once forsake us nor shall the one I mean Death withdraw its drowsie shades till the other wraps his Sun-beams up in Sables and instead of bidding Good-Morrow like a Bridegroom * Psal 19.5 shall bid Good-Night like a Mourner But as soundly as we shall sleep in Body so surely was Lactantius in a Dream who with the other Chiliasts would humble Christs celestial Sovereignty into an earthly Throne to be erected at Jerusalem and be establish'd for 1000 years for which space also he presum'd the Martyrs should be empowred with sublunary dominion and enjoy pleasures equally terrestrial with their jurisdiction Now the foundation of this phantastick building they lay upon a ground which will not bear it they instance in Rev. 20. and from these expressions The Devil is bound for a thousand years ver 2. And the Souls of the Witnesses or Martyrs liv'd and reign'd with Christ for a thousand years ver 4. They conclude That Satan shall literally and temporally be bound and the Martyrs temporally rule And lest we should conceive they understood this their Supremacy to be only in Spirit they not only insist upon ver 4. where 't is said The Souls of the Witnesses liv'd and reign'd But introduce the fifth verse where 't is said The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finish'd †i. e. Those that are dead in Body and in Graâ—e shall have no Resurrection at all till all things are accomplished and then they shall arise to a second Death But these that had part in the first Resurrection i. e. from Sin the second Death which is of Soul and Body shall have nâ— power â—…n From hence concluding That the Martyrs Souls should all this while be reunited to their Bodies which only can be suppos'd to live again * For the Soul lives not again but continues to live And lest Error should be too narrow to expatiate in their Fancies rove yet further and recur to 2 Pet. 3.8 where one day is said to be with God as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day Inferring hence That the Worlds Glass shall be 7000 years in running out in proportion to the seven dayes which make up every Week and since the seventh day had a Prescription of Repose and Piety the six preceding being lights to guide men into toyle and sweat they fancy the last thousand years must supply the room of a continued Sabbath to the Saints after the first 6000 years being spent in industry and expectation But this opinion does directly thwart that Text (p) Matth. 24.36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels c. And the other opinion contradicts that other Text (q) John 18.36 My Kingdom is not of this world But both oppose our present Text which sayes Man i. e. all Mankind except those which rose with Christ to attend him their first-fruits and to whom they limit not their fancy'd Empire awakes not till the Heavens be no more Yet even St Austin (r) Nam etiam nos haec epinati fuimus aliquando Aug. de Civ Dei lib. 20. ch 7. once indulg'd this misconception although with an opinion more refin'd and which alotted not such carnal pleasures to this dominion of the Saints as other Patrons of this Error did But on review and better thoughts he tells us That by a thousand years being a perfect number is meant the latter Age begun by the Messias in the fulness of time in which the Devil is bound i. e. he does not with his old more boundless power detain the world in Error and enjoy his former usurpation of Souls (s) Aut certe mille annos pro omnibus anâ—…s hujus seculi posuit ut perfâ—cto numero notaretur ipsa temporis plenitudo Aug. ibid. But for the Saints although their Bodies should remain the slaves of Sepulchres those only excepted which arose with Christ yet should their spirits reign with Christ in Heaven * Quamvis ergo cum suâ—… dum jam tamen corum animae regnant cum illo Idem ibidem And this exactly squares with that My Kingdom is not of this world not but that Bodies too shall partake his triumphs but that will be not till the Heavens be no more III. Why then the Heavens shall be no more For should they still continue as they are and should man ne're revive whil'st they continue so how could his Death be term'd a Sleep to which no waking ever should succeed The Heavens now are like an open Book full of strange Characters which men consult how wisely let their effects determine to be inform'd when great mens Lives shall be no more when Kingdoms and when States shall be no more when publick Blessings and when publick Curses shall be no more But there will be a