did he deal with that holy and upright Man Job read the History of his Patience and you shall see If the Devil be at any time silent the World will make an out-cry If the World with-hold its rage for a little space the Devil will invade their spirits It is said of him that when he accosted the Lord Jesus Christ himself and had spent all his Arrows against him Luk. 4.13 When the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season If he left him but for a little while in whom he could find nothing to fasten one temptation upon as Christ says in John 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Will he ever leave his Saints who have too much matter in them for his temptations to work upon He will not suffer them to be a moment quiet 1. He is continually striving against the very Being of Grace this Abaddon would utterly destroy it and maintains a War against it the Flesh lusting against the Spirit but that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 2. He is disturbing the exercise of Grace his posture you shall see in Zach. 3.1 And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him I have often thought in my solemn retirements of Anselms Bird fastned to a stone by a thread often striving to flie up but the weight of the stone as often pull'd him down again A true Emblem of a gratious Soul who many times endeavours to get up into the Divine Presence but as oft as he attempts it the Devil is at hand to hinder and pluck him down again Verse 2 Vse 2. If the Perfect and Upright mans end shall be Peace then the days of the Upright man shall have an end the Psalmist says Psal 39.5 6. Verily every man at his best state is altogether Vanity Surely every man walketh in a vain shew There is an Emphasis in every word Man is Vanity every man is Vanity every man at his best state is Vanity he is altogether Vanity verily it is a certain truth surely every man walks in a vain shew his life is but the shew or shadow of a life That Sentence is unto all Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return and there is no exemption from that general Statute-law Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment Heretofore to the Fathers of old their Lives were like a long Summers day but as sin at first brought in death so as sin multiplied it shortned mens days and now our Lives are like a Winters day in all respects cold cloudy dark and short 't is no sooner Morning but the Night approacheth Jer. 6.4 I may allude to that place The day goeth away the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Two things may be deduced from hence First Here is comfort for the Perfect and Upright man though his life be trouble yet his end will come and bring him peace the great Devourer the Grave that swallows up others shall give him meat and the strong Lion Death that feeds on others shall yield him sweetness When Abraham had fought hard till the going down of the Sun and rescued Lot that was taken Captive Melchizedeck met him with Bread and Wine for his refreshment who was King of the City of Peace So when the upright Saint hath been in his hot disputes to deliver his soul from his Spiritual Enemies our Melchizedeck the Lord Jesus Christ will refresh him with Bread and Wine for his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and will lead him into the City of Salem a Land of Peace as the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and after many a terrible shock and dangerous storm the perfect and upright Saint through the wise conduct of his Pilot shall arrive safely at his desired Port of peace For there remaineth a rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 Secondly If the Perfect and Upright man doth die then here is matter of serious consideration and lamentation for the living the life of Saints is to be desired and their death to be lamented unless we will incur that censure Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come 1. Consider what resentment the people of God had of old of the death of the Saints how they mourned and wept for them when they left their Society Jacob died and Israel wept Moses died and all the People mourned for him thirty days and when Stephen died Act. 8.2 Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him 2. Consider the great usefulness of living Saints especially in these three respects First As they are Supports Props and Pillars for so they are called Psal 75.3 The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it They that take this to be the Psalm of Asaph do understand these words to be the words of God that he preserves and upholds his Saints which are the Pillars of the Earth They that take the Psalm to be a Psalm of David for Asaph do understand them as the words of David that he would countenance and encourage the people of God who were the Pillars to uphold a shaking Kingdom If a Moses be removed out of the gap what should hinder why the Judgment should not break in upon the people Isa 1.9 The Prophet tells us that the people acknowledge Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small Remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah If God gather up his Jewels and takes them away he seems to be removing Himself that is a great truth Isa 57.1 Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come and an old saying many times true That they are taken away that evil may come Thus the Lord is said in Psal 78.50 He made a way to his anger When he had secured Lot he let down the fire upon Sodom and when he had Hous'd Noah in the Ark what could the wicked World expect but an over-whelming Deluge Thus they observed of old that the death of eminent Saints was the forerunner of some great Calamity as that long-liv'd Methuselah whose name doth signifie a Messenger of death died the year before the Flood came upon the whole World Augustine the year before Hippo was Sack'd Pareus a little before Heidleberg was taken Luther a little time before the Wars in Germany Ambrose a little before the Ruin of Italy What
Visibles or things seen as what they have of Invisibles or things not seen nor by what they have of this World in their present possession as by what they have of another World in futurition nor by what they are but what they shall be not according to the occurrences of Life but their happiness in Death which he thus demonstrates from his own observation and experience in the Text and context In the 35. v. of this Psalm he shews us the Wicked in all their pomp and grandeur I have seen the Wicked in great power and spreading himself as a green Bay tree or as in the Margin a green Tree that groweth in his own Soil And what is this goodly shew in the 36. verse he saith Yet he passeth away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found And why could he see no more of him He gives a reason in the 38. verse The Transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the Wicked shall be cut off But is it so with the Saints No Though they be like a dry Tree yet mark the Perfect man trace him through all the troubles of life Behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace The Text is a description of the Life and Death of a Pious man First his Life that is Perfect and Upright Secondly his Death and that is Peace The conclusion arises out of the Premises Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright c. From the doubling of the terms we may learn these three things as intended thereby First to mark him with a curious eye of observation and serious consideration to mark how he carries it toward God towards man how he is at home and abroad how he deports himself in every condition of Life mark him exactly in all his Natural Civil and Spiritual actions observe him Inside and Outside the more you know him the better you will love him and the better you love him the more you will look upon him Behold his Life and if there be no comliness in the outward appearance yet there is comfort enough in his Death The end of that Man is Peace Even Balaam did wish Oh that I might die the death of the Righteous that my latter end may be like his Secondly Mark him and behold him with an eye of imitation let the Upright man be the Copy after which you write Though we cannot safely follow Man in all things because the best Lights out of Heaven are but Moon-lights at best and have their blemishes yet we may safely follow them in their Uprightness and 't is our duty to follow them as they are followers of Christ Jesus especially in these three Specimens of their Uprightness First the Purity and Singleness of their heart having the testimony of a good Conscience that there is no way of Wickedness in them but they are like the followers of the Lamb in Rev. 14.5 In whose mouth was found no Guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God Secondly in the Beauty and Purity of a spotless life whose Conversation as well as Conscience is without spot and blame abstaining from all appearance of evil according to that Exhortation in Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as lights in the World Thirdly In a faithful perseverance in the ways of God to the end as in Prov. 4.25 26 27. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established Turn not to the right hand nor to the left which implies these two things especially First That there must be no decays nor faintings in the way and work of Holiness but a continual increase as in Prov. 4.18 The path of the Just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day lest it be with us as it was charged upon Ephesus as in Rev. 2.4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love As some understand she had left Christ who was the Object of her love or as others She left that degree and measure of love wherewith she at first loved him We must not only keep up the same heat of love and heighth of affections to Christ but love to Christ being a Divine fire must increase more and more till the Soul ascend in a holy flame into his Bosom Secondly There must be no diversion or turning from the ways of God neither to the right hand nor to the left i. e. either to avoid the frowns on the one hand or to enjoy the smiles of the world on the other hand Or else First Not turn to the right hand by any excesses or doing more than God hath commanded for God will say to men â—hat do so Who hath required these things at your hands Or charge us as he did the People Jer. 7.81 That they did that which came not into his heart Their hearts can never be right with God that is only right in their own eyes Secondly Turn not to the left hand by any defects or neglect of what God hath commanded but go straight on as the Kine that carried the Ark 1 Sam. 6.12 They went straight on and turned not as they went Let it be your aim to be thorow-pac'd in Religion throughout with God that though you cannot do all the good and shun all the evil you would yet you may be able to say as in Psal 18.21 I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God and in the shutting up oâ— our days appeal with good Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Thirdly It implies To behold the Upright man till he comes to the Grave Mark the Perfect man observe his Life behold him till ye see his latter end till ye see how he comes off the Stage the end of that man is to be considered as well as his beginning see him in Life see him in Death Death is said to be a mans End in several respects 1. As it puts an end to all the actions of his life when death appears it shuts the Windows binds up or breaks the Working-instruments Eccles 9.10 Solomon tells us Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest 2. 'T is the end of man because it brings man to the end of his Journey therefore when man dyeth he is said to go to his Long home Eccles 12.5 the Grave is said to be his Long home not his last home for the body must not lodge there for ever nor is it said to be his long home because he is long
world Joh. 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World Thirdly It is a peace that springs up from Purity and Sanctification the heart being purged the Conscience refined the Soul is full of peace within by the help of the testimony of a good Conscience goeth triumphant into his Eternal rest Thirdly Reason Reasons I shall give you some grounds or Reasons why they that are Perfect and Upright in their life shall certainly have peace in their death Reason 1 Reas 1. Because the God of peace hath an infinite intimate and everlasting love for his upright ones he loves them and they love him above all the world Cant. i. 4. We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee And he loves them as in Psal xi 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright He bids us behold the upright yea he beholds them with delight himself And in Psalm iv 3. He hath set apart him that is godly for himself he hath made a Covenant with them a Covenant of Peace and because he loves them he will lodge them in his Bosom Though Death can break the Knot of all human love and friendship yet it can never loosen the Bond of Divine Love as the Apostle says in Rom. viii 37 38. Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come Nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Secondly Reason 2 Reas 2. Because he hath proclaimed and promised Peace Rest and Glory to such Isa lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness And Rev. xiv 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And Psalm lxxxiv 11. The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly His time of Life is his time of War at the instant of Death the Warfare is ended and everlasting peace proclaimed his life is his Seed-time his end is the beginning of Harvest a full Harvest of peace and joy Psalm xcvii 11. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the Upright in heart When the body and soul of the Upright do part asunder the body betakes it self to rest in the Grave the soul flies into the regions of peace in the Divine Presence Thirdly Reason 3 Reas 3. Because God is righteous and he will recompence his Saints 2 Thess i. 6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us And thus you shall see Christ leading them into a land of peace Rev. vii 14 15 16 17. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes It is great trouble that Saints undergo and a hard matter for a man to maintain his integrity amidst so many snares frowns and flatteries of the world This is their great comfort and encouragement and shall be their reward to inherit peace at the last As Lamech said Gen. v. 29. When the Lord gave him his Son Noah whose name signifies Rest and whose person was a type of Christ This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Which the Apostle also intimates 1 Cor. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Implying 1. That Saints are not altogether hopeless in this life 2. That all their hope is not here Fourthly Reason 4 Reas 4. Because when a Perfect and Upright man dieth he is gone out of the reach of all those things that might annoy his peace where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest Job iii 17. and are wafted over into Emmanuel's Land where they have all those glorious enjoyments in which they shall eternally acquiesce 1. He is totally freed from all evil sin cannot be there Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Here he is full of complaints Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But when he dies he sings this Epinikion I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. When the Perfect and Upright man dies he and his Portion and Inheritance are brought together the Heir is restless in his expectations till he comes to the Inheritance but here the Portion is God himself which the Saint hath many times with much pleasure survey'd and hath had thereof many a delightful prospect of Faith rejoycing in it as sweet and full and satisfying and now doth possess that Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for him in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 and shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 3.17 3. He comes to enjoy his Beloved in Glory of whom he said when he saw him by Faith Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands and in the 16. verse Yea he is altogether lovely What will he say when he shall see him and be with him in his highest Exaltations in Glory 4. All his Graces shall be then compleated and there shall be no more place for desire for he shall sit down at that Fountain-head where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Verse 1 Vse Informs that if the Perfect and Upright mans end be Peace then his life is full of trouble he hath trouble within and trouble without as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 7.5 That he had no rest in the flesh but was troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears Saints in this life sail as it were upon a Sea of glass mingled with fire the Persecutions of men the Buffetings of Satan the Law in their Members make their present state unquiet How
A FUNERAL SERNOM DELIVERED Upon the SAD OCCASION OF THE Much Lamented Death OF JOHN GOULD Late of CLAPHAM Esq Who put on Immortality Aug. 22. 1679. By P. Lamb Minister of the Gospel Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. vi 12. LONDON Printed by M. C. for John Smith at the Sign of the Hand and Bible on London-Bridge 16â—9 TO The truly Pious and Religious GENTLEVVOMAN Mrs. JVDETH GOVLD Late Wife of JOHN GOULD Esq AND To all the rest of the Inhabitants of CLAPHAM Grace Mercy Peace c. I Did not know how to pay may Respects to the Memory of so Eminent a Saint and Worthy a Person as our late too early Deceased Friend nor how to give so lively a Testimony of my entire affectionate love to your Souls nor make my serious Sentiments and Sympathy which I bear with you in this our common loss manifest to the Worlc nor answer the Call of so Stupendious awakening a Providence if I had not according to my little skill broken the bonds of Modesty and rear'd this Pillar In perpetuam hujus Rei Memoriam inscrib'd with that golden Sentence from Heaven Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that Man is Peace You have here presented to you that from the Press which once you heard from the Pulpit wherein I follow the counsel and conduct of wiser heads than my own The Lord hath lately alarm'd us with much Sickness and many Deaths Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are no little things yet I am afraid we are no more affected with them than the People of Israel were with Amasa's Death 2 Sam. xx 12. While he lay dead in their sight they all stood still but when he was removed and a Cloth laid over him they all went on in pursuit of Sheba the Son of Bichri So while we see our Friends dead or dying we are a little serious but when they are laid in their Graves we follow this World and are apt to forget Death and Judgment to come Though we know it is not the Riches of this World but the Righteousness of Christ not greatness but goodness that will stand us in stead when we die May this little Book lie before you to mind you of these things it will serve as King Philips Boy who saluted him every Morning with a Memento Philippe quod sis mortalis It contains nothing but seasonable plain truths concerning a Plain and Vpright man from one that had rather speak five words in plainness to Edification than ten thousand in a forc'd style or vain affectaion That which I greatly desire at this time is Elisha's wish to Elijah 2 King 2.9 that now you have sustained a very great loss in the departure of so useful a Friend A double portion of his spirit may be upon you I shall now leave you to read and transcribe in your hearts and copy out in your lives these few Characters and Rules of a Perfect and Vpright man that you may have Peace at the last which the God of peace grant both to you and to him Who is Your most entirely Affectionate Friend and Faithful Servant P. L. A FUNERAL SERMON ON PSALM xxxvii 37. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace A Little before Israel after their long Wilderness-Pilgrimage were to pass over Jordan Moses that eminent Servant of the Lord to whom he had committed the conduct of his People died in the last Chapter of Deuteronomy and at the 8th ver the Children of Israel wept and mourned for him 30. days and rather than he should want a Funeral Sermon the Great God with reverence be it spoken became the Preacher himself Joshua 1.2 saying Moses my Servant is dead This day you all know there is a Great Man fallen among us and what Terrible waters of Jordan we must pass through who can tell He is taken away in the fullness of his strength and in the day of his usefulness and activity your bitter mourning sad countenances and weeping eyes proclaim your sad and serious Resentment and whiles we are grieving here upon Earth that we have lost the Company of so Excellent a Person and so Dear a Friend we may take an easie prospect and see how the Glorious Angels and Glorified Spirits rejoyce and sing together in Heaven at the approach of his refined Spirit to be of their Society Out of that respect and honour that I bear to his Name and Memory and from that Reverence and Holy awe that is due to such a sad and signal Providence of the Almighty that neither He nor It may be slighted or too soon forgotten I have erected this Monument with this Inscription Mark the Perfect Man behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace As men are wont to preserve the Memory of their dear Deceased Friends and Relations by drawing their Pictures as much to the life as they can that so they may have some shadows by them of their unexpressible worth So I would present you with this Character of our departed Friend wherein if my Pencil fail the Spirit of God hath done it to the life in this Text which is both a lively description of this deceased Saint and a full breast of living Counsels and Comforts for us his surviving Friends viz. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace This whole Psalm is the Golden Key of David that opens the Cabinet of the hidden mysteries of Providence There are mysteries in the Works as well as in the Word of God The Psalmist undertakes a Vindication of those unintelligible and astonishing Dispensations of Providence when the Supream Lord and Governour of the World shall send Prosperity into the Houses of the Wicked and cause the Sun-shine of outward Mercies to rest upon their Tabernacles and crown their Families with an affluence of all temporal Comforts When his dearest Saints sit solitary their Habitations full of darkness their Nights wearisome nights their Days days of trouble and nothing but sufferings sickness and sorrows attend them to their Grave He imparts to us this Heavenly art or skill how to discern and understand aright these various workings and dealings of God and that he doth these two ways First by shewing us the use of that Spiritual Telescope Faith by which we may perceive and give a right judgment of these things and behold the purpose of God through his Providence and be able to reconcile Providences and Promises when they seem most contrary and in the Saints most cloudy and darkest day of trouble see the bright side of the Cloud and apprehend the Sun-shine of Divine favour upon their Spirits and that when he gives the Wicked their hearts desire at the same time he sends leanness into their souls Secondly By directing us to judge of men not so much by what they have of
in Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 2. In your civil commerce take heed to your spirit that you may be Perfect Just and Righteous in all your dealings shall Religion suffer among them that seem to love and own it Shall Piety be accounted a piece of Pageantry and Profession be esteemed no better than a Religious Cheat by the world through your unjust practices and so Religion have cause to say under all her Reproaches These be the wounds that I have received in the House of my Friends To Lie Dissemble violate Faith to break Promise and to break in Trade with design to defraud others and raise their own Families shut up Shops to shut out Creditors from their just dues is become a most prodigious practice a common and Epidemical sin both in City and Country the more is the pity if any such be concern'd that should have a better regard to the honour of Religion He that will be a compleat Christian must observe Second-table-duties as well as First-table-duties lest the World say of us that we are like Gods in our Meetings and Devils in the Market Saints at Church and Cheats in the Shop and on the Exchange These loose and unjust dealings of Professors are the things that hurry the World into Atheism this is one of those great Evils of our times that makes God angry and Men Atheists 2. Direct Principle your hearts with a true love to and fear of God 1. A true love to God and then you will serve God for God not as poor Tenants serve their Rich Landlords out of force or servile fear or as Lactantius said of the Graecians That they did worship their Gods alios ne noceant alios ut prosint their black Devils or mischievous Gods that they might not hurt them as well as their white Devils or more favourable gods that they might receive good from them 2. With a true fear of God without which we can never be true to God or Man As Constantius once tried his Courtiers when he publickly declared that those of them that would not forsake Christianity and the Worship of the true God and turn to the Idol-worship should be Banish'd his Court and when he found that many for Court-honours forsook their Religion he discarded them and entertain'd those only that did adhere to the true God saying They that will not be true to God will never be true to Man 3. Let Love and Fear go together Love will make us serve God willingly and true Fear will make us perform our duty to God and Man faithfully Let these two be as Aaron and Hur that held up Moses hands steddy to keep our hearts stedfast and upright with God Thirdly Direct Remember the Eye of the Lord is upon all your ways a Deus videt Angeli testantur God beholds and his Angels bear witness is enough to make any man cautelous and upright in his walking He sees us whose Eys are ten-thousand times brighter than the Sun in Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple i◠Lords Throne is in Heaven his eyes behold his eye-lids try the Children of men as a Judge who tries the cause and matter by the ear and observes by his eye the Malefactors countenance I have often told you and now tell you again Man may deceive Men but he cannot deceive God 1 King 22.34 Though Ahab disguis'd himself and girt on his Harness never so close yet could he not keep off the fatal 〈◊〉 So though the Hypocrite disguise himself he cannot hide from the eyes of God nor escape his Righteous hand Lastly Mind seriously Death 4 Direct and Judgment to come Jeroms Sive edo c. Semper vox illa terribilis sonat in auribus meis Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Rise ye Dead and come to Judgment would be a dreadful and awaking peal in the Ears of all sleepy and careless Sinners 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and in Eccles 12.14 For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil When Death comes it draws aside the Curtain then all your false and vain pretences will be exposed to publick view Death plucks off the Sinners Vizor and unmasks the Hypocrit and then though he lived in honour and esteem in the world comes off the Stage like a Fool and dies with shame The second Use of Exhortation is to prepare for the Perfect and Upright mans end 2 Vse of Exhort there must be an habitual and actual preparation First consider 1 Consid no man knows how soon he may die Death is a slie and impartial Messenger who is deaf to all intreaties and arguments and cannot be bribed 't is not greatness nor goodness nor youth nor age nor riches nor interest can supersede it wherefore as Christ saith Luk. 12.35 36. Let your loins be girded about you and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord. If Death delay its coming it is the Bridegrooms favour that the Bride may make her self ready But when God cuts down the sound and fruitful Trees that are all spine 't is a wonder he spares the rotten unsound and barren Trees that cumber the ground There be three things one of which we shall never escape First There be sudden unseen Occurrences or Providences of God by which men are taken off and of these they say Casus nunciat mortem latentem these accidental strokes of providence do shew us that death lies in ambush Some men die at Land sometimes at Sea sometimes they go forth well in the Morning and in a moment are dead Secondly There be Sicknesses and Diseases of which they say Morbus nunciat mortem appropinquantem every pain and distemper in the body is a real warning of deaths approach if we should escape both these there is Thirdly That which will certainly take men off Old age of which 't is said Senectus nuncia◠mortem praesentem Decrepit infirm Old age is Death begun in the body so that Nil habet quod speret senectus Old age can hope for nothing but Death Secondly Consider 2 Cons He that is prepared for Death before it comes shall not be afraid of the King of Terrors when he comes Though Death be in it self terrible yet I may allude to that in Isa 11.8 The prepared Saint shall play on the hole of this Asp and put his hand on the Cockatrice-den and not be afraid What Agag proudly and presumptuously said he may truly and