out like blasing starres or loose their light like twinkling gloworms therefore let us study for our souls and not for the senses for we have but a short time to make use of the senses for when we dy we are as persons faln a sleep who have their senses tyed up Thirdly death is like unto a sleep because as sleep takes away all the sorrows of labour for the sleep of a labouring man is sweet so death takes away the irksomnesse of all wordly employments Eccles 5.12 Fuga laborum Naz. Depositio sarcinae gravis Aug. Aerumnarum requies Salust Gen. 15.15 for what is death but the flight of labours the laying off of a heavy burden the repose after troubles When the last houre of the day is come people leave working in the vineyard when the master appears the tasks are taken out of their hands and they are no longer talent-busy Abraham used double diligence a while but at last he goeth to his fathers in peace no more afterward to be disquieted Blessed are the dead which dy in the Lord. they rest from their laboure a solemne and serious rest is then proclaimed Rev. 14.13 therefore Paul that had felt enough of the exercises and exigents of this life desires to be dissolved and the faithfull sigh 1 Phil. 23. 2. Cor. 5.4 and are burthened to have mortality swallowed up for they know that the grave should be unto them as Gods pillow to ease their a king temples as his couch to relieve them Peace shall come Es 57.2 Non nobis ereptus es sed peri. culis non nos amisisti sed ingruentium calamitatum formidine caruisti Amb. orat Funeb De Sat. they shall rest in their beds every one that walketh before him Therfore saith Amb. of his brother Saterus Thou art not taken away from us but perills thov hast not lost us but art freed from the feare of future troubles Oh then that we know not the sweetnesse of death that we feare it loâ—k pale at it shunne it that we would beg a stay of it that we would if it were possible buy it off we would do any thing rather then str p our selves for the grave endure all the calamities upon earth rather then death it is grief and anguish to us to step into bed but alas in the meane time we do not know it consider the nature of it mark the issue of it Non est damnum morientis Paulin. in vita Amb. for it is no dammage to the dying as Amb. told Caâ—igonus unlesse freedome be a dammage if thou beest godly dy when thou wilt thou diest to comfort we are never happier then in death yea never happy before death Non major felicitas est quam in morte immo nulla felicitas ante mortem Ier. then the manieles are taken off which did so pinch our wrists and the yoke slipt off which did so chafe our necks we have then given our last grone and shed our last teares Oh then how joyfull ought that passage to be which being dispatcht there remaines no more care or grief Oh therefore fear life but feare not death Quam illud iter jucundum esse debet quo confecto nulla reliqua cura nulla sollicitudo futura sit Cicero 1 Tus Quest Eccl. 8.8 Rev. 21.46 here thou maist be too secure or else there thou canst not be unhappy if sinne do not hurt thee death cannot nay let us but carry inward atonement peace of conscience into our graves there will be no fearfull dreames to trouble us in our sleep Here every day hath its grief but there is not a minute of anguish here is a correction house but there all the whips are taken off from our backs here we weep our selves half blind with the smart of infinite miseries but there all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes hee we faint under incessant imployments but there the labourer taketh his rest there we sleep Fourthly death is like unto a sleep in respect of a resurrection for as the sleepy man riseth from his couch so the dead from their graves though we be at our repose yet we shall not quite sleep out our eyes remain buried in bed no he will draw open the curtains pull off the clothes Mors non absumptura corpus sed corruptionem corporis Amb. and make us look up again broad-waken death doth not destroy the body but the corruption of the body it is but the dissolution not the destruction of nature no the body that sweet companion of the soule shall again renew its fellowship Dissolutio non destructio naturae Anselm Dulcis animae socius Athenagoras For thou turnest man to to destruction and sayest come again ye children of men they which sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken there is a resurrection of the just we think we are quite buried and we are but put to bed Oh then that we know not our dying hopes the righteous hath hope in his death when he suspends his life Psal 90.3 Dan. 12.3 Luke 14.14 Prov. 14.32 he hath not ended his hopes no a g acious person when he feeleth the malignan cy of a disease when he seeth the impotency of phisicall receipts when he perceiveth the death pâ—onges at his heart when his sinews shrink uâ— hâ—s bloud congealeth his teeth set when he is stretching forth a dying hand to seale away all his estate to a warm cloth when the soule-bell is set out and watchers and winders are in his eye when he apprehends sensibly apparently that dy he must all this doth not terrify him for though he hath a drowsie brain and knoweth that he must go into natures black room yea put his cold feet into that same unwarmed bed even a bed of clay yet he well understandeth that he shall but pull the clothes a little over him cover his naked limmes remove himself out of the noise of the world to take a short nap and then he shall drowse no longer but step out of his grave even as a man at the least call steps out of bed What matter then if we should instantly put on our night-clothes if this houre were our sleeping houre for though we turn to ashes we cannot turn to nothing no these ashes of ours are sacred God is the keeper of our dust as out of dust he first framed us so out of dust he shall again restore us we shall meet with our old bodyes and we shall meet with our old vertues there shall be redintegration of nature and grace not a drop of contrition a spark of devotion a mite of charity shall be lost but all our good works like old friends shall come again to visit us at our return we do not dy to perish but dy to prepare for a resurrection for as the sleepy man riseth out of his couch so shall we out of our graves So that beloved the day of this life will not alwayes last no the shadows are stealing on the diall the evening star at last will appeare sleeping time will come Oh let us be carefull to put a Lazarus into bed to have this sleep come into the eyes of one of Christs friends so shall we sleep in a persumed bed yea sleep as it were in Gods withdrawing room where our rest shall be short and our wakening sweet we shall dy comfortably rise again joyously and reigne gloriously which that we may do the Lord grant for his mercies sake Amen FINIS
covenant into thy mouth and hatest to be reformed such an one may say with the Father I have drawne out a faire picture which exceeds the Painters beauty and have set others on shore being tossing my selfe still upon the waves of dangerous sinnes Pulchrum depinxi hominem pictor foedus aliosque ad perfectionis â—â—itus redigo qui adhuc in delictorum fluctibus versor Greg. in Pastoral Therefore our Brother was carefull to have the best man of the parish best instructed even to have his owne demeanour a kind of translated Scripture or the great Text to his people lest when he had preached to others himselfe should be found a Reprobate The behaviour then of this our deare and reverend Brother was nothing else but the high prospect of vertue and as hee wanted not grace so what wanted he else to make him an eminent Minister I known 1 Cor. 4.1 it is required of the Disposers that every one bee found faithfull and a faithfuller steward there was scarce belonging to the whole family that as he digged the gold mines for treasure and sought for wisdome as for Silver so he dispersed his Ingots with great fidelity He laboured in the Word and doctrine laboured till his labours were a burthen laboured till he was scarse able to labour yet his feeble and crasie body could not intermit his paines but hee strove with nature and forced himselfe beyond nature 2 Tim. 2.15 2 Cor. 8.23 Es 62.6 a diligent workman hee was and one that needed not to be ashamed he was one of those Messengers of the Churchs that was the glory of Christ a Watchman that did not hold his peace upon the walls day nor night How many of you saw the Evidence of the Spirit in his teaching How many of you have the seale of his Ministry upon your consciences a multitude of lost groates were found by the light of this Candle many thousand Converts have occasion in this City to blesse God that ever their eares came under his charming that ever they stood within the presence of such a Pastour according to Gods owne heart Ier. 3. who did feed them with wisdome and knowledge A Saint then he was in the whole course of his life but an eminent Saint in his Ministery But if his Pulpit could not save him Ibin asunt ubi consenuit jamque quod erat turbidum expiravit aromatice olere Plut. in mor. Athletae cum metam vident accedunt propius et si fessi approperant Thriv l. 1. c. 1. mon. exemp his Death-bed did Our Ibis having purged out of him every thing that was offensive and ill savouring did at the last gaspe smell most odoriferously yea like one skilfull in running of a race when he drew nigh to the marke he did quicken his pace Oh how admirable were his passages upon his death-bed he departed like a passionate Pilgrim longing to set foot upon his owne Countrey Hee did not then onely patiently endure affliction or spy out Death sapping into his walls but hee turned himselfe out of this world and looked out with an aking ey to see his last Messenger approch he declared a lively confidence that he had of a mysticall union with God and aspired to have the fruition of those joyes that he had got an engagement of by faith Here I might speake much but I am strooke mute by the command of my dead Friend he hath silenced me from publishing any thing that passed between us in private concerning his spirituall scrutiny his profession of faith or the experimentall grounds that he found in himselfe of divine favour But this I assute you that he died like a man singularly studied in the deepest misteries and sealed up his life with a most judicious and firme consent to his professed principles yea I never met with a more Angelicall tongue and ravished soule upon such a solemne occasion His life then was admirable but his death memorable there he was a Saint in transcendency Dead then he is but dead to his God dead he is but with the death of a Saint God and his saint are met and after all the miseries of death what can we expect but that which is pretious if the world should still look upon him with an ey of neglect God no doubt lookes upon him with an eye of divine favour let him therefore be in thy sight as he is in Gods sight Oh that thou sawest but the honour that is done unto him above I that thou sawest but the noble entertainment which he hath received at Court what brightnesse did there shine upon him at the opening of Heaven gates what an extasie hath this soule felt by the raptive Hallelujahs of Angels the hidden Mannah is already melting in his mouth the robe of glory is upon his back the crowne of eternity is set upon his head the which sought for wisdome more pretious then Rubies Pro. 3.15 Prov. 20.15 Ps 126.6 Eccles 7.1 and had the lipps of knowledge which are as a precious jewell which went forth weeping bearing his pretious seed with him and left a good name behind him better then a pretious ointment he knoweth no doubt before this time the benefit of a pretious faith 2 Pet. 1.1 and hath felt the comfort of the great and pretious promises 2 Pet. 1.4 he is gotten into the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.19 whose foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones joyned to his blessed Redeemer that pretious tried corner stone laid in Sion Es 28.16 Oh then let us not looke sad at his death for it is the death of a Saint pretious let him be in our memory for he is pretious in Gods sight Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Text. Jo. 11.11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Christ is going to Judea v. 7. and the Disciples thinke he is going to a stone heape for the Iewes sought lately to stone thee and wilt thou goe thither againe v. 8. No saith Christ my intention is not for the stone-heape but a dust heape I may goe amongst the living but my purpose is for the dead this journey is not for my wakefull enemies but my sleeping Friend Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Lazarus I often visited thee at thy house I will now visit thee at thy grave though Iudea be a place envious ominous yet I will venture to the stone-heape for the dust-heapes sake therefore Let us goe into Iudea for it is the sleeping couch of my Friend Our friend Lazarus sleepeth In the Text consider 1. The Nature of the person Our friend 2. His name Lazarus 3. The accident sleepeth First for the Nature of the person in which two things 1. His Disposition A friend 2. His relation Our friend First for his disposition Doct. 1 A friend Christ would goe into Iudea for a Friend From hence observe that the memory of a friend should be pretious it
they should live ever is beyond Natures Covenant or any divine grant though they have many priviledges yet they have not this in their Charter Let it suffice therefore that they have not lost their graces or lost their soules but onely a fraile life a life that was never given them long to enjoy Part therefore with such with an humble submission to Gods pleasure seeing thou lettest them but go to be Bed-fellowes with the Saints for all Saints step into this couch Our friend Lazarus sleepeth But why is death here called a sleepe First because it comes upon us unexpectedly for sleep doth creep upon us and steale into the ey men are asleepe oftentimes before they felt any drowsinesse about them even as they sit and talke divers times they fall asleepe So Death comes oftentimes unlooked for we are snoring in our graves before we dreamt of bed time The number of all our days are with thee 14 Iob 5. They are upon tale and God only knew the number of them thou which hast a months-mind to this life thou maist be deceived in thy account thou keepest no very good Almanacke about it before the next new Moone come to the full thou maist be in thy wane No man knoweth his end 9 Eccl. 12. no this same end is of such a doubtfull nature that the wifest cannot resolve of it I know not the day of my death saith Isaac Gen. 27.1 Wee may have skill in many things but wee have no skill in the death-point no this were Causas penitus tentare latentes to busie our wits about hidden causes these are the secrets of Nature Abdita natura Naiades ignorant ignorat Inachus ipse The purest and the prudentest are hert to seeke we are not so much as morrow read James 4.14 for We know not what shall be tomorrow A morrow there will be but whether out morrow or no it 's uncertaine something there will be but whether death or life we cannot determine No we are deepe schollers till death come to examine as but she ever poseâ— us in an Adverbe of time and a future verse Cras quid â—ls Oh then that men put such confidence in life which lookes so quick-sighted as if they had rubbed all sleepe out of their eyes as if it were a long time before they should go to rest For art thou summoned thinkest thou yet with a Deaths call No 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou saist with old withered Galba still mee thinkes my sprightly vigour remaines within me such mens spirits decay not they feele not a symptome of death about them people thinke they may take their owne time of sleeping dy when they lift howsoever they looke for some warning some hint of death they thinke they shall not dy in their suites they shall live to pay home such an adversary they shall not dy at their bowsing-bowles they shall live out such a joviall meeting they shall not dy in the midst of their purchases they shall locke such a neighbour out of doores chase such an heire out of his burrow his muse first Dy they shall but they shall not dy yet Ex infidiis adoritus Bern. But on beloved this same death workes by stratageme her ambustment breakes out and her mine springs before persons ever dreame of an enemy None have a more dangerous life then they which presume of life None dy more wretohedly then they which thinke to dy at leisure Oh therefore well tempered health strength of nature let mee send the Sepulchre fray to your doores the deaths-dread to your hearts for the lasty Gallant is not so puissant but he may be instandy cast on his backe the miracle of beauty hath not such amiable cheekes but that she may ere long looke carkasse grisly Oh thinke upon Herod who was strooke from heaven whilst the people were deifying him and marke Jesabel who had her braines dashed out whilst she looked out at the window as the Paragon of beauty consider Corah Dathan and Abiram which went downe quicke into their graves whilst they were priding their selves in their gifts and endowments Oh therefere give over your thoughts of this world conâ—uâ— not with a Witch that old witch of flesh and bloud but let God have thee to day lest Death have thee to morrow for Death is asleep and sleepe commeth unexpectedly Secondly Death is asleepe because it doth ty up the senses for as in sleepe a man doth neither see nor heare nor taste c. So there are no pleasing objects to be presented to dead men for hath Death any reservation of comforts no Wee are as water spiltupor the ground 2 Sam. 14.14 that were we never so first of cleere water or siveet water yet the earthen pitchers will be turned upward and the moisture of earthly contentments powred out Doth not their dignity goe along with them Iob 4.21 yes such is the indignity that death put upon us that it will not leave us any dignity Psal 49.17 Eccles 9.5 We take nothing away with us when we dy we are all as stript creatures The dead know nothing at all no they are strangers to those things which were their daily recreements Mine ey shall not returne to see pleasure Iob. 7.7 we have done with pleasure when we have done with life as the vermine run away when the house doth fall so doe all the jovisances of this life forsake us when we drop into our graves yea a Funerall doth drowne all earthly delights Vt naufragium submergit merces Chrys even as shipwrack doth the rich merchandise Oh then that people are so heart-deepe in worldly vanities that they are generally so sense-sicke I to please the senses to delight the senses this is that which we all aime at our Markets and Exchanges our Ships and our Shops our Stillaries and our fruiteries are all for the senses the senses have their needle stitching their spiceries seasoning their shittle running in every corner there is much planing and graving pruning and inoculating for the senses we fetch downe the fowles out of the sky we take the bottome of the Sea slay the earth and dig all the oare out of Mines for the senses Milleners Mercers Minstrels Stage-players Persumers Conservers Feather-makers are a I Tradesmen to serve five Customers the five senses or this whole world is but one entire Incorporation divided into severall companies for the senses But Oh beloved are we not senselesse in this doting upon the senses yet senselesse and gracelesse too for God hath appointed us to seek for things permanent and what duration in those thing they do but slenderly refresh us Leviter refrigerant breviter deficiunt Bern. Voluptatum sumus tenaces ut illae sunt fugaces Amb. and are suddenly perished we are very tenacious of them but they quickly glide from us they drop away like autumne leaves and were off like a crimson glosse they go