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death_n	die_v	let_v	sin_n	8,430	5	5.2365	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44540	A sermon preached at the solemnity of the funeral of Mrs. Dorothy St. John, fourth daughter of the late Sir Oliver St. John, Knight and Baronet, of Woodford in Northamptonshire, in the parish church of St. Martins in the Fields, on the 24th of June, 1677 by Anthony Horneck ...	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1677 (1677)	Wing H2849; ESTC R7942	28,330	40

it as the Israelites in the Wilderness breaks down the limits of that vanity outdoes Adam that was the occasion of it nay goes beyond the Judg that doom'd that Gold to corruption The Creatures labour under vanity enough because they cannot serve us in that innocence and integrity we once stood in but to abuse them now they are under a state of misery and to force them to serve us in our sins is a bondage which will bear witness against the daring sinner in that day when God shall judg the secrets of mens hearts by the Gospel of Jesus Sinner that wine thou abusest to besot thy understanding suffers violence from thee thou dost ravish it serve thy lusts and it groans as it were under thy oppression and thou makest it vainer than Heaven ever made it God made it serviceable to thy infirmity and intended it as a remedy against the weakness of thy nature but when thou swallowest it to destroy thy nature to throw down the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which must guide thy actions and shed discretion into thy speeches and converse forcest it to make thee a beast and leave nothing in thee but the brutal part indeed scarce to leave thee sense and appetite thou dost offer greater insolence to it than Amnon did to Thamar Surely every man is vanity saith the Psalmist Psal. 39. 11. But he that tempts his neighbour to run with him into excess of riot Makes him worse than vanity the Adulterer and Fornicator that is restless till he hath caressed his Mistress as he calls her to consent to his folly The ill companion that solicits his associates to be lewd and prophane with him such persons make the creature so vain that a devout soul cannot but stand amazed at the enterprize vain indeed for they double and treble its misery and he that entices his friend into sin makes him besides his vanity a creature of the Devil The man before this sin was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward but the sin he is drawn into makes his burden greater increases his load and makes his pound of vanity a talent and as if his weakness and frailty here on earth were too little sinks him into Hell and as if the curse of God of old were too light a punishment makes him obnoxious to Gods everlasting malediction And such men must necessarily be of the first form in the Devils Kingdom for these make Devils help to increase the number of the Fiends and are Familiars that make men sinck with them into endless torments The Covetous who confines his money to his Chest and makes that lie still in his Coffers which like blood should have its circulation and as it is given him from Heaven should return to Heaven again by way of charity and doing good seems to be angry with God for giving that Creature so small a touch of vanity and therefore as if God had not made it frail enough makes himself Gods Officer renders the Dye deeper drowns it in misery and inflicts vanity upon it with a witness and Gods little finger he makes heavier than his loyns for he wants in the midst of plenty and is indigent while he knows not how to consume that which he hath already and this vanity increases if extortion and oppression joyn with it and tempt hm to wade through Orphans tears and Widows blood through the necessities of the Fatherless and through the cries and lamentations of the needy to make his heap much greater and certainly if the Creature is to be purged from its vanity by fire it 's but reason his body should be the fewel who hath loaded the Creature with so much vanity and misery and against Gods will and order too His stripes will be iustly doubled for his sin was so and he deserves to be punished both for his cruelty and disobedience The Scripture excludes such men from the Kingdom of Heaven and good reason for they are so given to vanity that they would attempt to make Gods Joys and Hallelujahs so IV. In the vanity of the Creature let us behold our own and whenever we take a view of the decay of terrestrial glories and see day die into night and Summer into Winter one hour one moment into another and herbs and plants shed their blossoms let us reflect upon our own death and departure hence The Stoicks were in the right when they defined Philosophy or Religion to be a Meditation of death He that is frequently engaged in such meditations embitters his sensual delights crushes his fondness of the world dares not live in those sins which other men allow themselves in and takes the readiest way to overcome himself for how should he be enamoured with earth that looks upon himself as leaving of it and what delight can he take in the laughter of fools or in jovial company that expects every hour to be summon'd to the Bar of Christ how should he set his heart upon his Farm and Oxen that looks every moment to be call'd to give an account of his Stewardship and knows not how soon the Arch Angels Trumpet will sound and the Judg of Quick and Dead awaken the world with his thundring voice Arise ye dead and come to judgment This even the Heathens were so sensible of that the Egyptians as every man knows had a Sceleton or Death's head set on amidst their greatest dainties and at their greatest Feasts to check vain mirth and to put their Guests in mind what they were shortly to come to This made the Patriarchs of old dig their Sepulchers in their Gardens while their glory was yet fresh in them that neither the pleasure of a Garden nor their business might take them off from a continual contemplation of mortality This made others order their Winding sheet to be carried before them others command their Servants to call to them every night they went to bed That their life was spent for their going to sleep they looked upon to be but a kind of going to their Graves And indeed he that thus thinks of death cannot be surprized when it comes for it is but what he look'd for and when it knocks at his Chamber door he can let it in and embrace it as a welcome Messenger with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation V. In the vanity of the Creature let us take notice of the odiousness of sin and it 's large demeri●s when God for mans sin hath subjected the Creature unto van●●y it shews what an abhorrency he hath from sinful actions and how displeased he is with transgression of his Laws in that he confines not the punishment to Man alone but extends it to the Creatures or to his Servants too To the generality of men sin seems but an inconsiderable thing and they fancy God to be altogether such a one as themselves they will not believe that sin hath that poison in it which

denied themselves in all superfluities that they might have the more to give to pious uses nay would not allow themselves conveniencies that they might be in a better capacity to cloath the Naked They stooped to the meanest offices and were not ashamed to converse with men of the lowest rank as with Brethren They laid aside their grandeur to obey the precepts of the Gospel and would not suffer any outward respects to take them off from a close adherence to God's will They would visit Hospitals and with their own hands dress meat for them that lay upon the bed of Languishing This World seem'd so contemptible to them that they prayed day and night to be deliver'd from it and it might be truly said of them that the World was crucified unto them and they unto the World And thus they despis'd the vanity of these sublunary objects and by despising believ'd it Disparage not your great immortal Souls Beloved Hearers they are capable of another happiness than this World can afford and when God hath provided for them Angels food and bread of Heaven why should you feed them with trash and husks to impoverish and weaken them for ever Arise Christians and depart for here is not your Rest. Advance into yonder regions of Bliss and live there where you may hope to live for ever Let the World be your Slave and God your only Master Let it not be said that your Souls are subject to Vanity as well as your Bodies and do something to convince the World that you dare to have your conversation in Heaven The Creature was made subject unto Vanity on purpose that you might flee away from it and breath after a more solid good Will you do less than Pagans Will you fall short of Men that never heard the Gospel Will you sink beneath those that never had any other light but what the glimmering Candle of Nature gave them Can you see Philosophers contemn this Vanity and dare you be in love with it Shall a Diogenes to shew how little these things which sensual men admire ought to be valued take as much delight in his Tub as Xerxes in his Babylon and in dry bread as much as Smindyrides in his sauces in ordinary spring-water as much as Cambyses in his richer fountains in common Sun-shine as much as Sardanapalus in his purple in his staff as much as Alexander in his Spear and in his Mallet as much as Craesus in his treasures Shall a Pagan look on these outward glories as unworthy of his affections and will you suffer yours to be entangled with them Shall a Plato a Socrates an Agesilaus a Spartan look upon these outward things as dross and dung trample them under his feet look upon them between anger and scorn and think it below a Creature made after the image of God to dote on Earth and dust and can you that pretend to have learn'd Christ and pretend to be followers of the humble self-denying Jesus come behind Heathens whom you call Blind and Wretched Will not they be your Judges one day Will not their temperance and abstinence condemn your greediness after these perishable objects Will not they shame you that did more by the strength of nature than you with all the encouragements of the Holy Ghost Will not this aggravate your neglect and change your Rods into Scorpions Will not this make your furnace hotter Will not this fill your faces with greater confusion Will God let your unprofitableness under the richest means of grace go unpunish'd And doth the clearest manifestation of Heaven add no weight to your guilt and stubborness If you turn the grace of God into wantonness will God play with it do you think as you do It was a Mahometan King could cause the following words to be written upon the Gates of his Pleasure-house and the story saith his Life was answerable to the grave Sentences This World will not continue long it 's pride and lustre will soon be gone Remember Brother and apply thy heart to him who only intended this World for our Inn. Let not thy life be united to this bitter sweet for it hath drawn in many first jested with them and then butchered them If thy Soul can but come away from her prison pure and undefiled and reach the Mark it 's no great matter whether thou diest on a Throne or on a Dung-hill O Christians delude not your own souls God is resolved they shall be withdrawn from this world while you live here or they shall never arrive to the inheritance of the Saints in light God is resolved they shall be loosened from this Earth even in the midst of your strength and health and plenty and liberty or they shall never ascend his Holy Hill Away then with those fond conceits that glue your hearts to things below Let God be the great and dear object of your souls Let the rivers of your delight run all into that Ocean For him spend your strength your labour and your care Make room for him in your hearts and whatever hath had supremacy or priority there pull it down and shew it the ruler it must for the time to come obey Breath after another Country where true and lasting pleasures are where the presence of God makes hearts chearful and ravishes souls for ever where the society of Angels gives content and endless bliss shuts out all imperfection and vanity and as they say of Boleslaus King of Poland that he used to wear his Fathers Picture in his bosom and whenever he was to do any thing of moment he pull'd out the Picture lookt upon it and begg'd of God that he might do nothing unworthy of so great so good so wise a Father so you let the Landskip of that celestial Country hang always before your eyes and whatever you are doing whether you are rising or sitting down whether you are walking or standing whether you are travelling or conversing with men still look upon that Pourtraiture and let this be your resolution to do nothing unworthy of that Heaven you are aiming at And then when you come to die and no friend no relation no acquaintance no riches no honours no children can give you ease this remembrance that your mind hath been endeavouring to extricate it self from the vanity of the creature and that you have lived like persons that have indeed looked for a City which hath foundations this remembrance I say will give you ease this will make you die with joy at the kiss of God as the Jews say of Moses and enable you to triumph over death O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory But thanks be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. III. The Creature is made subject unto vanity but what shall we say to those that subject the creature to greater vanity than ever it was condemn'd to The Idolater that melts his Gold and makes a God of

all true penitents find nor that there is that Hell in it when ever the Conscience awakes which Cain and Saul and Judas found They apprehend God childishly merciful and because he knows their frame forsooth that they are frail and weak he cannot be angry with them for not observing his injunctions They make him a Being without justice and though they could wish he would revenge their quarrel whenever they receive any signal affront of their neighbours yet they would not have him revenge their ingratitude to him and because they would not have him angry with them therefore they believe he will not and from their loose behaviour infer his good nature and please themselves with thinking that he will overlook their wilful errors because their nature abhors every thing that looks like pain and torment But these fancies Sinner are so far from extenuating that they but aggravate thy folly Alas it is not thy unwillingness to suffer that will allay Gods wrath nor thy tenderness to thy self that will make him express less hatred and indignation against thee If unwillingness to endure pain were a sufficient bar to justice what Malefactor would be put to death and if this plea will not serve on Earth sure I am it will be insignificant in the Court of Heaven and as light as sin seems now there will a time come when it will be weightier than Rocks and Mountains Though thou losest the sense of it yet God doth not forget the dishonour done unto him by it and when the monstrous load sunk the Son of God and pressed him that was infinite into a sweat of blood and made the immortal die think what a pressure it will be for thy impenitent soul for from such Christ hath not taken away Gods anger when the whole burden shall be thrown upon thee at the Revelation of the righteous judgment of God VI. Doth the whole Creation hope to be deliver'd from her bondage Then lift up your heads ye mourners of Sion and learn to imitate the Creature in its hope Doth the Creation as it were support it self with this hope from sinking into its primitive Chaos and cannot this hope of your everlasting deliverance keep your hearts from fainting under the darkest providence Behold the Husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain Jac. 5. 7. You sow in tears now the day will come when you shall reap in joy It 's but a little while and he that shall come will come The hope of a Kingdom keeps a captive Prince from murmuring and should not the hopes of that Kingdom which fades not away bear up your spirits against despair Have you fought the good fight so long and will you give over now Are you within reach of the Crown and will you lay down your weapons Are you within sight of the Haven and will you suffer shipwrack Behold that Jesus who was dead and is alive and is the King of the Princes of the Earth is hastening to your rescue you 'll see him ere long coming in the clouds of Heaven and all his holy Angels with him your afflictions then will all be changed into Eternal Freedom your waters of Marah into rivers of delight which make glad the City of God your prison into perfect liberty your Lions Den into a Palace your fiery Furnace into the light of God's countenance your Dungeon into Heaven your poverty into plenty your sickness into Eternal health your losses into solid possessions your shackles into kisses your setters into the kindest embraces your bryars into glory your thorns into a Crown O joyful day when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality and your rags be changed into splendid robes Who would not suffer a while to enter into that rest Who would be afraid of being destitute tormented afflicted when these storms are all to expire into Eternal Sun-shine The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that hears say Come Even so Come Lord Jesus Having thus led you from the Creature to the Creator I must crave leave to lead you back again from the Creator to the Creature viz. To the party deceased And here I could wish I were able to give you that account of her Life and deportment which in all probability you expect upon this occasion But when I shall have told you that it was not my happiness to be acquainted with her before she died you 'll soon pardon my silence in her Commendations And yet I dare not be so injurious to her Memory as to conceal the Character which those that knew her intimately were pleased to give of her Her Piety it seems was great and early and her Soul big with Devotion in an Age which is exposed to the greatest Temptations What Solomon learn'd by sad experience in his latter years she practised in the days of her youth and the fear of God which he found to be the only true happiness when he had run through all the risks of sin she embraced before she had tasted any of the Worlds pleasures She no sooner came to years of discretion but she saw that her greatest interest lay in loving God and understood that to remember her Creator before the evil days do come was the greatest prudence and policy As young as she was her eyes were fix'd upon a better World and it was hard to say which had her greatest care God's glory or her own Salvation Her affection to Goodness appear'd in her when Vice begins to flourish in other persons and she began to shoot out buds of Grace when others look upon 't as a piece of necessity to run out into Sin and Vanity The Word of God was the food her Soul delighted in and she thought no provision comparable to the Bread of Life which feeds men into Eternal content and satisfaction She had learn'd that God was one that did hear Prayers and to address her self to him was not the least part of her employment In these tender years she was already arriv'd to that knowledg which Philosophers formerly attained not unto till they were grown aged and was become Mistress of the greatest vertues at a time when others are apt to laugh at strictness and severity as a mellancholy humor She had already learn'd to scorn reproaches for Righteousness sake and did clearly apprehend that her greatest glory must be Religion and God's favour At those years when others hardly know what Heaven means she had already felt it in her Soul and she could guess at what Angels did above by her praising and magnifying the beauty and bounty of her Maker The fruits of the Spirit which are not seen in others before fifty appeared in her at eighteen and the joys of the Holy Ghost which are not counted modish till fourscore became familiar to her as soon as her reason began to exert it self into action She had already practised to lay up her treasure in Heaven and as if she had foreknown her death she made preparation for it at a time when others make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof What would this Plant have come to if it had grown up to its full height and stature and how glorious would this Tree have been if it had been permitted to spread its branches like the Cedars in Lebanon She that did already like Aarons rod bud and blossom and bear fruit how rich would the fruit have been if it had been warm'd some years longer by the Sun of Righteousness But the flower was too costly for this valley of tears and the soil here below too course for this curious Plant to thrive in God therefore cropt it to transplant it into Paradise and withdrew it from the eyes of men because it was a fitter spectacle for Angels FINIS Some Books Printed for James Collins THe Duke of Albermarl's Compleat Body of Military Discipline Fol. The Great Law of Consideration in order to a Serious Life by Anthony Horneck Preacher at the Savoy Octavo Essays on several Important Subjects in Philosophy and Religion by Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Quarto Two Discourses viz. A Discourse of Truth by Dr. Rust Lord Bishop of Dromore in the Kingdom of Ireland and the way of Happyness and Salvation rescued from vulgar Errors by Joseph Glanvil Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Twelves Bishop Wards Sermons before the King and other occasions Oct. Doctor Parkers Answer to Marvel Oct. Bishop Bramhall's Vindication of the Church of England Oct. Private Conference twixt a rich Alderman and poor Countrey Vicar by Dr. Pettis Oct. 2 Pet. 3. 16. Tertuli lib. 3. adv Marc. Luc. 12. 17 1● Matth. 23. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. Laert. lib. 6. de Diog. De 300 Statuis Demetrii Phalerei null● corrupit aerug aut situs sed omnes vivent ipso eversae sunt Demadis statuae co● flatae sunt in matulas Plutarch de Rei● Ger. praec Tertullian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. Voluptas bonum pecoris est Senec. a Campana luxuria perquam utilis ci●itati nostrae ●uit Invi●tum enim artis Hanniba●em illicebris ●uis complexa ●incendum Romano militi ●ibuit Val. Max. lib. 9. ● 1. b Aelian Lib. 5. de Animal c. 40. Max. Tyrius Dissert 21. In Strab. lib. 1● Vid. Trigant Com. de Exped apud Sinas Et Martin Hist. Sin lib. 8. Vid. Plat. in Axioch Job 1. 14. seq 2 Cor. 11. 26. Job 29. 3. 6. 19. c. 31. 4. Vid. Senec. Consil. ad Polyb c. 28. Hom● Via Helmont ●● Sympath Vid. Valer. Max. lib. 5. c. 4. Vid. Olear Rosar p●rs lib. ● c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Debarim Rabba