vaile over our sorrow till wee haue heard what God hath to say vnto vs by the mouth of me his vnworthy minister from these words of Moses Moses the servant of the Lord died c. The providence of God which like a well drawne picture eies every particular persoÌ„ in this great house of the whole world and is as inward and familiar to every action therein as our spirit is to our raines did most plainely manifest itselfe in the birth and life in the death and buriall of this man of God For to say nothing of his birth and life wherein both the wisdome and the power of God were deepely printed these words you see call vs to a consideration of his death described in the fifth verse wherein you mâ—y see wee may obserue first the person Moses secondly his praise The Division the servant of the Lord thirdly his period and end he died fourthly the place in the land of Moab and lastly the cause according to the word of the Lord. Had it beene but a privat person yet being so rarely qualified as he was who could haue commanded his passion so much as to bid sorrow be silentâ— but behold it is Moses a guid a governour a prince among the people or had he bin a governour that had proved either a traitour to his Prince or a tyrant to his people both Prince and people might haue beene glad but it is Moses the servant of the Lord or had he beene but gon into the mount to talke with God we need not so haue grieved but hee is dead or had it beene in his owne country the land of Canaan which God had giuen him and his people for inheritaÌ„ce or at home in his owne house but it is there in Mount Nebo vpon the top of Pisgah in the land of Moab where he was withinken of that sweet country And yet that you may not be cast downe with all these crosse accidents or cry out vpon badfortune or condemne the fates or father these crosses vpon some maligne aspect of the planets and constellations knowe that nothing hath come to passe in all this but by the wise guidance and direction of Gods alseeing providence Moses a great man Moses a good maÌ„ is dead that in a strange land but according to the word of the Lord. In the words theÌ„ the person comes in the first place to be coÌ„sidered the consideratioÌ„ thereof that Moses a governour a great maÌ„ is dead affords vs this doctrine that Doct. 1. A great govenour quick ly gone the most carefull conscionable Magistrates caÌ„not look to liue longer yea oftentimes diesooner then other meÌ„ Wise Salomon godly David religious Iosiah are all gathered to their fathers and the most wise godly and religious must follow them assoone as those persecutors of his church and children For first they are but men and therefore mortal Gods in calling but men in condition I haue said yee are Gods and you are all the children of the Psal 82. 6 7. most high but you shall dy like men you princes shall fall like others Secondly the sinnes of the people doth oftentimes provoke God thus to punish them by depriving them of such benefit which they set so light of This punishment God denounceth by his Prophet The Lord God of Israell will take away from Ierusalem and from Iuda hthe stay the strength even all the stay of bread I say c. all the strength of water the strong man and the man of warre the iudge and the Prophet the prudent the aged the captaine of fifty and the honourable and the counseller and I will appoint children to be their princes and babes to rule over them the people shal be oppressed one of another and every one by his neighbour the children shall presume against the ancient and the vile against the honourable Thirdly the Lord doth sometimes suddainely cut theÌ„ off that they may not see the misery which hee sends vpon the church or common wealth this God promiseth as a special blessing vnto that good king Iosiah because thine heart did melt thou hast humbled thy selfe 2 King 22. 19. 20. before the Lord wheÌ„ thou hardest what I spake against this place and against the inhabitants of the same hast rent thy clothes and wept before me behold therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers and thoushalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eies shall not see all the evill that I will bring vpon this place Thus the righteous perish and no man considereth that they are taken away from the evill to I say 57. 1. come See then beloved what cause we haue to pray for Vse the life and perseruation of godly governours as the Apostle exhorts to prevent their death to our power as 1. Tim. 2. 1. the Israelites praied David that he would not goe forth 2. Sam. 21. 17. to battle least he should quench the light of Israel to bee thankeful for them when we haue them and to be sorrowfull when we see them taken away I know not whether it be our coldnesse in praying or our carelesnesse in praising God for such gracious governours as he hath given vs or whether God be but preparing some heavie iudgement against this whole land his iudgements are secret and I leaue them to himselfe but sure we are senselesse if we cannot see how deeply the Lord hath wounded vs in the head and heart and whole body of this land the remembrance whereof is yet fresh and bleeding He hath wounded the whole kingdome by the vntimely death of a most worthie Prince he hath wounded the court by the suddaine cutting off of a most wise counseller and now he hath wounded the country by depriving it of so honorable a maintainer of peace by righteous iustice If then a king thought he had cause enough to lament the sicknesse of a Prophet not only kindly to visite him but compassionately to weepe over him then giue mee leaue as a Prophet to bewaile the death of a great prince a wise counsellour a worthy pillar of the coÌ„mon wealth in the same words O my father my father the 2. King 13. 14. chariots of Israell and the horsemen of the same or as David lamented the death of Saul Yee daughters of Israel weepe for Saul which cloathed you in scarlet with pleasures 2. Sam. 1. 24. and hanged ornaments of gold vpon your apparell In respect of themselues we haue more cause to ioy and saie as Hierome of his sinnefull time Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non videt Nepotian is a happy man that liues not to see the wicked world and as Saint Ambrose speaketh of such a one he was not so much taken from vs as from daÌ„gers But for our selues and sinnes which haue provoked God we cannot sorrow enough When God ships his Noahs it is a signe there is a floud
plainely to be such Knowe you not saith Rom. 6 16. the Apostle that to whomesoever you giue your selues as servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether it be of sinne vnto death or of obedience vnto righteousnesse Yea saith St Austine Quot vitiorum servus tot dominorum quot dominorum tot daemoniorum so many sinnes thou servest so many masters and so many masters in this matter so many divels For what is it but the powerfull command of sinne which like Mark 9 22. the divell in the man possessed casts vs sometimes into the fire where we burne and boile with lust sometimes into the water where either we swim in vaine delights or are drowned in the drunken pleasures of this flattering world sometimes it blowes vs vp into the aire with a giddy desire to hunt and hauke after the honours and preferments of the world and anon againe throwes vs down groueling vpon the ground nayling our affectiōs to this earth with the covetous desires of worldly goods In choosing a master one wisely admonisheth vs to beware of three sorts of men thy enimy thy servant thy fellow servant Hee serues his greatest enimie that serues the divell hee serues his fellow servant that serues the flesh and hee serues his servant that serues the world It is base then to serue the world for that is to become a vassall to our servant it is an vncertaine service to serue the flesh so wayward so weake so fraile so fickle that we may feare every hower to be turned out of dores it is an vnthriftie service to serue the divell the more worke wee doe him the worse wages and the more stripes and the wages of the least worke we doe him is death It is follie Rom. 6. 23. then to forgoe Gods service and serue any of them for they will bring shame at the last Where then is the glory of our gray haires where is the honor of our houses and blood where the credit of our politicke heads when we suffer our selues to be ensnared with sin we know it is evill and we know it is of the divell and al the world knowes that wee are wise enough to know it we hate the name of it and we are ashamed of the sunne when we commit it we know that the end of it is death and the fruit of it shame to our honor houses and yet we wil not forsake it Looke but back vpon your sinnefull liues you that liue still in the same tel me what comfort take you now in the pleasure of those sinnes which you haue committed What profit in those Rom. 6. 21. things whereof you are ashamed as the Apostle speakes Nay where is your reason vnderstanding that suffers you not to see that by your sinnes you are no better then beasts in a faire forwardnes to degenerate into divels I will conclude this vse with the words of S. Bernard verily if the beasts could speake they would call wicked men beasts A second vse is for instructiō that as we desire that Vse 2. praise which is perpetuall and that honour which will both hold out here on earth and helpe vs to heaven we will make the service of God our chiefest and greatest care Many courses there are to compasse seeming honor but all of them are quickly blasted and will wither away Nay they are all accursed and will bring shame in the end but he that honoureth me him wil I honor 1. Sam. 2 30. saith the man of God vnto old Ely Diverse men propose divers ends vnto their liues and actions and therefore vse divers meanes One runnes to the court another to the campe a third to the schooles all in hope of honor Would you know the safest course in this case Let the honor and service of God be your chiefe aime so shall you be sure your end cannot be dishonourable For els what wil you do Whither will you go to get you a great name To the court This glorie is like glasse bright but brittle and courtiers saith one Plutarch are like counters which sometime in account goe for a thousand pound presently before the count be cast but for a single penny But for true commendations when all the glory of court kingdoms shal be dasht and dampt and the lustre of their honor bee wrapt vp in darknes or covered in the dust the memory of our Moses shall ever be blessed who being in great credit in Pharaohs court and accounted the sonne of Pharaohs daughter chose rather to indure affliction with the children of God then enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season Heb 11. 25. esteeming the rebukes of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Wilt thou shew thy wisdome in deepe plots and politique imployments in church or common wealth Beleeue it no wisdome that is not from heaven and hath ground out of Gods word will hold out long Whatsoever is repugnant vnto it or is not sanctified by it will end in shame labor rather for a sanctified heart then a politique head Achitophel was as wise as the most and yet who ever plaid the foole so 2. Sam. 16. 23. much as he The shame of his fact like Naamans lepro sic cleaues vnto his name he saw his counsell contemned 2. Sam. 17. 23. and therefore goes home sets his house in order and wisely hangs himselfe Yea the diuell as deepe a polititian as all the men in the world yet the foolishest creature that ever God made to worke his owne wo. It is not policie then that can praise thee What is it a sweet fluent tongue whereby thou canst tie the eares of those that heare thee and ravish them with admiration of thy eloquence Herod had this yet hee could Act. 12. 23. not perswade the wormes to pitty him nor preserue his name from everlasting infamy Is it gay gorgeous apparel wil grace thee No if every silken coat had care to saue his soule all that glister with gold without had grace within what a happy world were we in But all the pompe of apparel in silkes and velvets gold and silver cheines and ornaments wil never haue that honorable commendations that the holy Ghost giues to those poore persecuted Christians which wandred vp and downe in sheepes skinnes and in goats skins who notwithstanding through their faith and patience obtained a good report Will you build vp your Heb. 11. 39. names by some glorious buildings Looke you lay the groundworke in sanctitie and the true service of God else building you may build but nothing but a Babel a tower of confusion which will fall downe and crush you to peeces Where is now the praise of Nabuchadnezzers pompe The very rubbish ruines of it are long since ruinated but his shame for his prowde boasting is not this great Babell c and his punishment to feede Dan. 4.
30 Ibid. 28. with the beasts of the field shall never bee blotted out Builde vp your selues your sonnes and families in the feare of God and then your houses and honors shal cōtinue longer then those that build them castles and cal their lands and livings after their owne names Els feare the curse which the Prophet hath pronounced Wo vnto Psal 49. 11. Jer. 22. 13. him that buildeth his house by vnrighteousnes and his chambers without equity and vseth his neighbor without wages and giueth him not for his worke hee saith I will build me a wide house and large chambers so he will make himselfe large windowes and seeling with cedar paint them with vermilion shalt thou raigne because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar Did not thy father eate and drinke and prosper when he executed iudgement Will you continue you name by your numerous progenie and multitude of children descended from your loines So might Ahab haue hoped if his sinnes had not beene a cause to cut of his seed and posterity But we knowe how his seventy sonnes had all their heads laid in a basket 2 King 10. 6 7 2. King 9. 33. on one day his wife Iezabell eaten vp with dogs all his posterity rooted out as the Prophet had pronounced To conclude this point then let the glory of God and his service be your chiefest aime speake for it stand for it fight for it die for it Sound it in your mouthes manifest it in your liues defend it with your swords and if need be seale it with your blood and so your names shal be blessed when your flesh bones shal bee consumed yea both body soule happy when your names shal be buried in oblivion The court you see cannot truely commend you your politique heads will no way profit you your moving eloquence cannot better you your gay clothes cannot grace you your stately house litle helpe you nor your multitude of children maintaine your honour heare on earth or procure your happynesse in heaven this only title given by the spirit of God vnto Moses to be the servant of the Lord is worth all the rest and will last for ever From the person Moses and his praise the servant of the Lord I proceed to his end or period death Moses 3. Part. the servant of the Lord died His period or end Doct. Neither great nes nor good nes is a good pleate against death It is neither his greatnesse you see nor his goodnesse that can purchase him a supersedeas against the arrest of death he that had fed many when they were readie to starue for hunger and refreshed many when their soules fainted within them for want of drinke hee at whose commande came frogges and lice and haile and darknesse and blood and blisters hath not his breath in his owne hand But I haue heretofore spent much time in pressing this point of mans mortalitie how death without difference of degree or condition summons all sorts of men Prince and Priest people the captaine and the common iouldier the master the man the mistresse her maid haue the same end they may die of diverse diseases at diverse times in divers places but they all die death hath the sole soveraignty of all the worlde and knockes assone at the great mans castle as at the poore mans cottage Would to God we were wise to apply this to our Vse owne selues for doth it not iustly reproue such as seldome so much as mind their mortalitie but liue here as though they thought verily they should never die If these men had no religion yet reason would teach them that their strength is not the strength of stone yet this the very drops of water weareth nor our sinewes of brasse or iron and yet this the rust and canker consumeth but a vapour but a smoake which the sunne soone drieth or the wind driveth away It was wittily said of Epictetus the Philosopher who going forth one day and seeing a woman weeping that had brokē her pitcher and the next day meeting another woman weeping that had lost her sonne heri vidi fragilem fran gi hodie video mortalem mori Yesterday saith he I saw a brittle thing broken and to day I see a mortall man die And what difference betwixt these two Much one manner of way for take a glasse saith St Austine which as it is bright so is it much more brittle then an earthen pitcher keepe it fafe in a cupboord where it may be free from the violence of outward wrong and it may continue many thousand yeares but take a man of the most pure complexion of the strongest constitution and keepe him as safe as thou canst hee hath that in his bosome and within his owne bones that will bring him to his end Nay I heare some say saith the same Father as I remember that such a one hath the plague or the plurisie and therefore sure he will dy but we may rather say such a one liueth and therefore sure he will die for diverse haue had those diseases did not die of them but never any man lived that did not die The consumption of the liver is a messenger of death the consumption of the lungs the minister of death the consumption of the marrow is the very mother of death and yet many haue had these diseases and not died of them but there is another kinde of consumption which could never yet be cured It is the consumption of the daies the common disease of all mankind and whereof all must die David spake of it my daies are consumed like smoake Let mee then warne Psal 102. 3. you and stirre vp your meditations of your mortasity with the words of our Moses who hath walked that way before vs Deut. 32. 29. O that men were wise then would they vnderstand this then would they consider their Deu. 32. 29. latter end Wee are vnwise that wee consider not the times past the evill we haue committed the good we haue omitted the benefits of God we haue abused the time we haue mispent and yet we grieue not because we thinke not yet whether we shall die More vnwise are we not to consider things present as the shortnes of life the difficultie of salvation the small number of such as shall be saved and yet wee shame not because we thinke we shal not yet die But most vnwise that we consider not things to come death iudgement hell al to come and yet we feare not because I feare wee thinke we shall never die O that we were wise then would we consider our latter end Wise Princes vse to prepare tenne yeares before hand for a field of one day beloved let vs lay vp something every day for the last When we shall wrastle with death if wee winne that skirmish we haue enough and when or where wee shall come to the conflict who can tell For Moses when hee
was now ready to set foot in the promised land liues not to enioy it but when he comes within kenne of it it pleaseth God to prevent him by death to take him away in the land of Moab Which is the fourth particular that I proposed to be handled name ly the place where Moses died In the land of Moab See after all the care paines that Moses hath taken with this people to bring them 4 Paâ—t The place to the promised land now that he was come neere the confines and borders of it God had set him in such a place where he might see it hee suddenly here calls him out of this life Whence wee might well obserue the fickle state and condition of all worldly things Moses greatest comfort I imagine both against the tediousnesse of the way and weiwardnesse of this people and the perplexities of his owne soule was to consider how happy he should bee when after all this hee should come to liue quietly in the land of Canaan and now behold that he is ready to come into it he is suddenly Doct. All worldly hopes quickly vanish cut of O the vncertainty of these worldly things O the vanitie of those men that vex themselues with hope of such things as they shall never haue Great mens favours and old mens shooes thou maist looke for perhaps hope for but never trust to And yet how many Cameleons are there that liue onely by the aire and breath of hope not of heavenly but of earthly things which when a man should put forth his hand to lay hold vpon vanisheth away and is seen no more One hopes to growe rich suddenly his trade failes him another hopes for his fathers or some other old mans living and the old man outliues him a third hopes to rise to honour and his meanes are taken from him The hope that is deferred saith Solomon Prou. 13. 12. maketh the heart sicke If then the hope be defeated mee thinks it should die Moses had as much reason to hope to come to this happy land as any man living of any earthly thing and yet how is his hope quite dasht wheÌ„ a maÌ„ would not haue dreamed how his comfort could haue beene crost It is wisdome then to hope for such things as we may haue and to ground our hope vpon such a foundation as cannot faile Let the word of God be the ground of thy Christian perswasion and so thou maist boldly hope for heaven A second point which from the consideration of the place I will propose and lightly passe by is the vncertaintie of the place where wee shall die As death spares not any persons so it respects not any place When thou art walking peaceably with thy brother in the fieldes thou maist bee murthered as Cain was Gen. 4. 8. when thou art sitting quietly in thy chaire thou maist fall backward and breake thy necke as old Eli did wheÌ„ thou art at thy devotions in the Temple thou maist 1. Sam. 4. 18. dy there as Zenacherib did yea at the very altar as Ioab Isay 37. 37. 1. King 2. 34. Iob 1. 19. 2. King 2. 24. while Iobs sonnes were feasting the house falls vpon them while the scoffing boyes are mocking beares come from the wildernesse and devoure them while Chore and his company are contending the earth opens Num. 16. 31. and swallows them while the captaines their fifties are fetching the Prophet perforce to the King 2. King 1. 10. fire falls from heauen and consumes them Thus death dogges vs wheresoever wee goe and hath his darts ready wheresoever we are Let this then teach vs to take heed that wee bee alwaies Vse prepared for death seeing it is so vncertaine where it will meet vs. Go to now you that say to day or to morrow we will goe into such a city and continue there a Jam. 4. 13. 14 15. yeare and buy and sell and get gaine and yet cannot tell what shall be to morrow for what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and afterward vanisheth away for that you ought to say if the Lord will and if we liue weÌ„ will doe this or that Nay go to you that by play pastime driue away the remembrance of death nay by surfeiting and drunkennesse hasten your owne death and yet never thinke of dying How will you dare to looke death in the face whom you would not vouchsafe the least roome in your hearts nay whom eftsoones you did in your daring humours scorne defie Let experience tell whether many do not meet with death in places of greatest mirth now merry and presently mourned for whether a bone in our meate may not choak vs or a haire in our milk strangle vs or a stone in a raisin stop our breath as it did AnacreoÌ„s O theÌ„ let vs whersoever we are whithersoever we walk make the meditatioÌ„ of our end our vade mecum best companion least like vnthrifty servaÌ„ts in great mens houses having their allowance of light mispending the same in dicing or dancing or drunkennesse at last are faine or rather forced to goe to bed darkling so while we neglect the time of light in this life which God hath granted the night of our death do suddainely surprize vs when we do litle dreame of it To him that is to walke through some darke and dangerous place one light carried before will do more good then many that are brought behinde so the serious preparation for death before it come armes vs both with more confidence against it and comfort in it then that which comes not till death call I will conclude this point with our Saviours words Take heed to your selues least at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfetting druÌ„kennesse Luk. 21 34. 35 26. and cares of this life and least that day come vpon you at vnawares for as a snare shall it come on all theÌ„ that dwell vpon the face of the earth watch therefore and pray continually that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe and that you may stand before the sonne of man Giue me leaue now I beseech you to apply these things to our present occasion before I proceede to the last particular in my text When our Saviour Luk. 4. 20. light vpon a place of Luk 4 20. the prophet Isaias had red it in the audience of the people hee closed the booke gaue it againe to the Minister and sate downe said this day is this scripture fulfilled in your eares and all bare him witnesse I doubt not beloved but you wil all witnes with me this daie that what you haue hard the same you haue seene and the words which I haue handled are fulfilled in your hearing Moses a great man and our Moses the servant of the Lord is dead and hee died in the land