into thy bed-chamber by these glories and ioies to the ioies and glories of heauen Why hast thou changed thine old way and carried vs by the waies of discipline and mortification by the waies of mourning and lamentation by the waies of miserable ends and miserable anticipations of those miseries in appropriating the exemplar miseries of others to our selues and vsurping vpon their miseries as our owne to our owne preiudice Is the glory of heauen no perfecter in it selfe but that it needs a foile of depression and ingloriousnesse in this world to set it off Is the ioy of heauen no perfecter in it selfe but that it needs the sourenesse of this life to giue it a taste Is that ioy and that glory but a comparatiue glory and a comparatiue ioy not such in it selfe but such in comparison of the ioilesnesse and the ingloriousnesse of this world I know my God it is farre farre otherwise As thou thy selfe who art all art made of no substances so the ioyes glory which are with thee are made of none of these circumstances Essentiall ioy and glory Essentiall But why then my God wilt thou not beginne them here pardon O God this vnthankfull rashnesse I that aske why thou doest not finde euen now in my selfe that thou doest such ioy such glory as that I conclude vpon my selfe vpon all They that finde not ioy in their sorrowes glory in their deiections in this world are in a fearefull danger of missing both in the next 17. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who hast beene pleased to speake to vs not onely in the voice of Nature who speakes in our hearts and of thy word which speakes to our eares but in the speech of speechlesse Creatures in Balaams Asse in the speech of vnbeleeuing men in the confession of Pilate in the speech of the Deuill himselfe in the recognition and attestation of thy Sonne I humbly accept thy voice in the sound of this sad and funerall bell And first I blessethy glorious name that in this sound and voice I can heare thy instructions in another mans to consider mine owne condition and to know that this bell which tolls for another before it come to ring out may take in me too As death is the wages of sinne it is due to meâ— As death is the end of sicknesse it belongs to mee And though so disobedient a seruant as I may be afraid to die yet to so mercifull a Master as thou I cannot be afraid to come And therefore into thy hands O my God I commend my spirit A surrender which I know thou wilt accept whether I liue or die for thy seruant Dauid made it when he put himselfe into thy protection for his life and thy blessed Sonne made it when hee deliuered vp his soule at his death declare thou thy will vpon mee O Lord for life or death in thy time receiue my surrender of my selfe now Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit And being thus O my God prepared by thy correction mellowed by thy chastisement and conformed to thy will by thy Spirit hauing receiued thy pardon for my soule and asking no reprieue for my body I am bold O Lord to bend my prayers to thee for his assistance the voice of whose bell hath called mee to this deuotion Lay hold vpon his soule O God till that soule haue throughly considered his account and how few minutes soeuer it haue to remaine in that body let the power of thy Spirit recompence the shortnesse of time and perfect his account before he passe away present his sinnes so to him as that he may know what thou forgiuest not doubt of thy forgiuenesse let him stop vpon the infinitenesse of those sinnes but dwell vpon the infinitenesse of thy Mercy let him discerne his owne demerits but wrap himselfe vp in the merits of thy Sonne Christ Iesus Breath inward comforts to his heart and affoord him the power of giuing such outward testimonies thereof as all that are about him may deriue comforts from thence and haue this edification euen in this dissolution that though the body be going the way oâ— all flesh yet that soule is going the way of all Saints When thy Sonne cried out vpon the Crosse My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me he spake not so much in his owne Person as in the person of the Church and of his afflicted members who in deep distresses might feare thy forsaking This patient O most blessed God is one of them In his behalfe and in his name heare thy Sonne crying to thee My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me and forsake him not but with thy left hand lay his body in the graue if that bee â—hy determination vpon him and with thy right hand receiue his soule into thy Kingdome and vnite him vs in one CoÌ„munion of Saints Amen 18. At inde Mortuus es Sonitu celeri pulsuque agitato The bell rings out and tells me in him that I am dead 18. MEDITATION THe Bell rings out the pulse thereof is changed the tolling was a faint and intermitting pulse vpon one side this stronger and argues more and better life Hiâ— soule is gone out and as a Man who had a lease of 1000. yeeres after the expiration of a short one or an inheritance after the life of a Man in a Consumption he is now entred into the possession of his better estate His soule is gone whither Who saw it come in or who saw it goe out No body yet euery body is sure he had one and hath none If I will aske meere Philosophers what the soule is I shall finde amongst them that will tell me it is nothing but the temperament and harmony and iust and equall composition of the Elements in the body which produces all those faculties which we ascribe to the soule and so in it selfe is nothing no seperable substance that ouer-liues the body They see the soule is nothing else in other Creatures and they affect an impious humilitie to think as low of Man But if my soule were no more than the soule of a beast I could not thinke so that soule that can reflect vpon it selfe consider it selfe is more than so If I will aske not meere Philosophers but mixt Men Philosophicall Diuines how the soule being a separate substance enters into Man I shall finde some that will tell me that it is by generation procreation from parents because they thinke it hard to charge thâ— soule with the guiltinesse of Originall sinne if the soule were infused into a body in which it must necessarily grow foule and contract originall sinne whether it will or no and I shall finde some that will tell mee that it is by immediate infusion from God because they think it hard to maintaine an immortality in such a soule as should be begotten and deriued with the body froÌ„ Mortall parents If I will aske not a few men but almost whole
feare of death that there was not a house where there was not one dead for therupon the Aegyptians said we are all deaâ— men the death of others should catechise vsâ— to death Thy Sonne Christ Iesus is the first begotten of the dead he rises first the eldest brother and he is my Master in this science of death but yet for mee I am a younger brother too to this Man who died now and to euery man whom I see or heare to die before mee and all they are vshers to mee in this schoole of death I take therefore that which thy seruant Dauids wife said to him to bee said to me If thou saue not thy life to night to morrow thou shalt bee slaine If the death of this man worke not vpon mee now I shall die worse than if thou hadst not afforded me this helpe for thou hast sent him in this bell to mee as thoâ— didst send to the Angelâ— of Sardis with commission to strengthen the things that remaine and that are ready to die that in this weaknes of body I mighâ— receiue spiritual strengâ—h by these occasions This is my strength that whether thou say to mee as thine Angell said to Gedeon Peace bee vnto thee feare not thou shalt not die or whether thou say as vnto Aaron Thou shalt die there yet thou wilâ— preserue that which is ready to die my soule from the worst death that of sinne Zimrie died for his sinnes saies thy Spirit which he sinned in doing euill and in his sinne which he did to make Israel sinne For his sinnes his many sinnes and then in his sinne his particular sinne for my sinnes I shall die whensoeuer I die for death is the wages of sinne but I shall die in my sinne in that particular sinne of resisting thy spirit if I apply not thy assistances Doth it not call vs to a particular consideration That thy blessed Sonne varies his forme of Commination and aggrauates it in the variation when hee saies to the Iewes because they refused the light offered you shall die in your sinne And then when they proceeded to farther disputations and vexations and tentations hee addes you shall die in your sinnes he multiplies the former expressing â—o a plurall In this sinne â— and in all your sinnes doth not the resisting of thy particular helps at last draw vpon vs the guiltinesse of all our former sinnes May not the neglecting of this sound ministred to mee in this mans death bring mee to that miserie as that I whom the Lord of life loued so as to die for me shall die and a Creature of mine owne shall be immortall â— that I shall die and the worme of mine owne conscience shall neuer die 18. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God I haue a new occasion of thanks and a new occasion of prayer to thee from the ringing of this bell Thou toldst me in the other voice that I was mortall and approaching to death In this I may heare thee say that I am dead in an irremediable in an irrecouerable state for bodily health If that bee thy language in this voice how infinitely am I bound to thy heauenly Maiestie for speaking so plainly vnto mee for euen that voice that I must die now is not the voice of a Iudge that speaks by way of condemnation but of a Physitian that presents health in that Thou presentest mee death as the cure of my disease not as the exaltation of it if I mistake thy voice herein if I ouer-runne thy pace and preuent thy hand and imagine death more instant vpon mee than thou hast bid him bee yet the voice belongs to me I am dead I was borne dead and from the first laying of these mud-walls in my conception they haue moldred away and the whole course of life is but an actiue death Whether this voice instruct mee that I am a dead man now or remember me that I haue been a dead man all this while I humbly thanke thee for speaking in this voice to my soule and I humâ—ly beseech thee also to â—ccept my prayers in his behalfe by whose occasion this voice this sound is come to mee â—or though hee bee by death transplanted to thee and so in possession of inexpressible happinesse there yet here vpon earth thou hast giuen vs such a portion of heauen as that though men dispute whether thy Saints in heauen doe know what we in earth in particular doe stand in need of yet without all disputation wee vpon earth doe know what thy Saints in heauen lacke yet for the consummation of their happinesse and therefore thou hast affoorded vs the dignitie that wee may pray for them That therefore this soule now newly departed to thy Kingdome may quickly returne to a ioâ—full reunion to that body which it hath left and that wee with it may soone enioy the full consummation of all in body and soule I humbly beg at thy hand O our most mercifull God for thy Sonne Christ Iesus sake That that blessed Sonne of thine may haue the comsummation of his dignitie by entring into his last office the office of a Iudge and may haue societie of humane bodies in heauen as well as hee hath had euer of soulesâ— And that as thou hatest sinne it selfe thy hate to sinne may bee expressed in the abolishing of all instruments of sinne The allurements of this world and the world it selfe and all the temporarie râ—uenges of sinne the stings of sicknesse and of death and all the castles and prisons and monuments of sinne in the graue That time may bee swallowed vp in Eternitie and hope swallowed in possession and ends swallowed in infinitenesse and all men ordained to saluation in body and soule bâ— one intire and euerlasting sacrifice to thee where thou mayest receiue delight from them and they glorie from thee for euermore Amen 19. Oceano tandem emenso aspicienda resurgit Terra vident iustis medici iam cocta mederi se posse indicijs At last the Physitians after a long and stormie voyage see land They haue so good signes of the conâ—oction of the disease as that they may safely proceed to purge 19. MEDITATION ALl this while the Physitians themselues haue beene patients patiently attending when they should see any land in this Sea any earth any cloud any indication of concoction in these waters Any disorder of mine any pretermission of theirs exalts the dâ—sease accelerates the rages of it no diligence accelerates the concoction the maturitie of the disease they must stay till the season of the sicknesse come and till it be ripened of it selfe and then they may put to their hand to gather it before it fall off but they cannot hasten the ripening Why should wee looke for it in a disease which is the disorder the discord the irregularitie the commotion and rebellion of the body It were scarce a disease if it could bee ordered and
the toppe of that that wherein so many Absolons take so much pride is but a bush growing vpon that Turfe of Earth How litle of the world is the Earth And yet that is all that Man hath or is How little of a Man is the Heart and yet it is all by which he is and this continually subiect not onely to forraine poysons conueyed bâ— others but to intestine poysons bred in our selues by pestilentiall sicknesses O who if before hee had a beeing he could haue sense of this miserie would buy a being here vpon these conditions 11. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God all that thou askest of mee is my Heart My Sonne giue mee thy heart Am I thy sonne as long as I haue but my heart VVilt thou giue mee an Inheritance a Filiation any thing for my heart O thou who saydst to Satan Hast thou considered my seruant Iob that there is none like him vpon the earth shall my feare shall my zeale shall my iealousie haue leaue to say to thee Hast thou considered my Heart that there is not so peruerse a Heart vpon eaâ—th and wouldest thou haue that and shall I be thy Sonne thy eternall Sonnes Coheire for giuing that The Heart is deceitfull aboue all things and desperately wicked who can know it Hee that askes that question makes the answere I the Lord search the Heart When didst thou search mine Dost thou thinke to finde it as thou madest it in Adam Thou hast searched since and found all these gradations in the ill of our Hearts That euery imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is onely euill continually Doest thou remember this and wouldest thou haue my Heart O God of all light I know thou knowest all and it is Thou that declarest vnto man what is his Heart VVithout thee O Soueraigne goodnesse I could not know how ill my heart were Thou hast declared vnto mee in thy Word That for all this deluge of euill that hath surrunded all Hearts yet thou soughtest and foundest a man after thine owne heart That thou couldest and wouldest giue thy people Pastours according to thine owne heart And I can gather out of thy Word so good testimony of the hearts of men as to finde single hearts docile and apprehensiue hearts Hearts that can Hearts that haue learnt wise hearts in one place and in another in a great degree wise perfit hearts straight hearts no peruersnesse without and cleane hearts no foulenesse within such hearts I can find in thy Word and if my heart were such a heart I would giue thee my Heart But I find stonie hearts too and I haue made mine such I haue found Hearts that are snares and I haue conuersed with such hearts that burne like Ouens and the fuell of Lust and Enuie and Ambition hath inflamed mine Hearts in which their Masters trust And hee that trusteth in his owne heart is a foole His confidence in his owne morall Constancie and ciuill fortitude will betray him when thou shalt cast a spirituall dampe a heauinesse and deiâ—ction of spirit vpon him I haue found these Hearts and a worse then these a Heart into the which the Deuill himselfe is entred Iudas heart The first kind of heart alas my God I haue not The last are not Hearts to bee giuen to thee What shall I do Without that present I cannot bee thy Sonne and I haue it not To those of the first kinde thou giuest ioyfulnes of heart and I haue not that To those of the other kinde thou giuest faintnesse of heart And blessed bee thou O God for that forbearance I haue not that yet There is then a middle kinde of Hearts not so peâ—fit as to bee giuen but that the very giuing mends them Not so desperate as not to bee accepted but that the very accepting dignifies them This is a melting heart and a troubled heart and a wounded heart and a broken heart and a contrite heart and by the powerfull working of thy piercing spirit such a Heart I haue Thy Samuel spake vnto all the house of thy Israel and sayd If you returne to the Lord with all your hearts prepare your hearts vnto the Lord. If my heart bee prepared it is a returning heart And if thou see it vpon the way thou wilt carrie it â—ome Nay the preparation is thine too this melting this wounding this breaking this contrition which I haue now is thy Way to thy Ende And those discomforts are for all that The earnest of thy Spirit in my heart and where thou giuest earnest thou wilt performe the bargaine Naball was confident vpon his wine but in the morning his heart dyed within him Thou O Lord hast giuen mee Wormewood and I haue had some diffidence vpon that and thon hast cleared a Morning to mee againe and my heart is aliue Danids heart smote him when hee cut off the skirt from Saul and his heart smote him when hee had numbred his people My heart hath strucke mee when I come to number my sinnes but that blowe is not to death because those sinnes are not to death but my heart liues in thee But yet as long as I remaine in this great Hospitall this sicke this diseasefull world as long as I remaine in this leprous house this flesh of mine this Heart though thus prepared for thee prepared by thee will still be subiect to the inuasion of maligne and pestilent vapours But I haue my Cordialls in thy promise when I shall know the plague of my heart and pray vnto thee in thy house thou wilt preserue that heart from all mortall force of that infection And the Peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding shall keepe my Heart and Minde through Christ Iesus 11. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who in thy vpper house the Heauens though there bee many Mansions yet art alike and equally in euery Mansion but heere in thy lower house though thou fillest all yet art otherwise in some roomes thereof then in others otherwise in thy Church then in my Chamber and otherwise in thy Sacraments then in my Prayers so though thou bee alwayes present and alwayes working in euery roome of this thy House my body yet I humbly beseech thee to manifest alwayes a more effectuall presence in my heart then in the other Offices Into the house of thine Annoynted disloyall persons Traitors will come Into thy House the Church Hypocrites and Idolatrers will come Into some Roomes of this thy House my Body Tentations will come Infections will come but bee my Heart thy Bed-chamber O my God and thither let them not enter Iob made a Couenant with his Eyes but not his making of that Couenant but thy dwelling in his heart enabled him to keepe that Couenaunt Thy Sonne himselfe had a sadnesse in his Soule to death and hee had a reluctation a deprecation of death in the approaches thereof
death of a sinner drowned in my sinnes in the bloud of thy Sonne And if I liue longer yet I may now die the death of the righteous die to sinne which death is a resurrection to a new life Thou killest and thou giuest life which soeuer comes it comes from thee which way soeuer it comes let mee come to thee 17. Nunc lento sonitu dicunt Morieris Now this Bell tolling softly for another saies to me Thou must die 17. MEDITATION PErchance hee for whom this Bell tolls may bee so ill as that he knowes not it tolls for him And perchance I may thinke my selfe so much better than I am as that they who are about mee and see my state may haue caused it to toll for mee and I know not that The Church is Catholike vniuersall so are all her Actions All that she does belongs to all When she baptizes a child that action concernes mee for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too and engraffeâ— into that body whereof I am a member And when she buries a Man that action concernes me All mankinde is of one Author and is one volume when one Man dies one Chapter is not torne out of the booke but translated into a better language and euery Chapter must be so translated God emploies seuerall translators some peeces are translated by Age some by sicknesse some by warre some by iustice but Gods hand is in euery translation and his hand shall binde vp all our scattered leaues againe for that Librarie where euery booke shall lie open to one another As therefore the Bell that rings to a Sermon calls not vpon the Preacher onely but vpon the Congregation to come so this Bell calls vs all but how much more mee who am brought so neere the doore by this sicknesse There was a contention as farre as a suite in which both pietie and dignitie religion and estimation were minglâ—d which of the religious Orders should ring to praiers first in the Morning and it was determined that they should ring first that rose earliest If we vnderstand aright the dignitie of this Bell that rolls for our euening prayer wee would bee glad to make it ours by rising early in that application that it might bee ours as wel as his whose indeed it is The Bell doth toll for him that thinkes it doth and though it intermit againe yet from that minute that that occasion wrought vpon him hee is vnited to God Who casts not vp his Eie to the Sunne when it rises but who takes off his Eie from a Comâ—t when that breakes out who bends not his eare to any bell which vpon any occasion rings but who can remoue it from that bell which is passing a peece of himselfe out of this world No Man is an Iland intire of it selfe euery man is a peece of the Continent a part of the maine if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea Europe is the lâ—sse as well as if a Promontorie were as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were Any Mans death diminishes me because I am inuolued in Mankinde And therefore neuer send to know for whom the bell tolls It tolls for thee Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie as though we were not miserable enough of our selues but must feâ—ch in more from the next house in taking vpon vs the Miserie of our Neighbours Truly it were an excusable couetousnesse if wee did for affliction is a treasure and â—carce any Man hath enough of it No Man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it and madâ—â—it for God by that affliction If a Man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold and haue none coined into currant Monies his treasure will not defray him as he trauells Tribulation is Treasure in the nature of it but it is not currant money in the vse of it except wee get nearer and nearer our home heauen by it Another Man may be sicke too and sicke to death and this afâ—liction may lie in his bowels as gold in a Mine and be of no vse to himâ— but this bell that tels mee of his afâ—liction digs out and applies that gold to mee â— if by this consideration of anothers danger I take minâ— owne into Contemplation and so secure my selfe by making my recourse to my God who is our onely securitie 17. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God Is this one of thy waies of drawing light out of darknesse To make him for whom this bell tolls now in this dimnesse of his sight to become a superintendent an ouerseer a Bishop to as many as heare his voice in this bell and to giue vs a confirmation in this action Is this one of thy waies to raise strength out of weaknesse to make him who cannot rise from his bed nor stirre in his bed come home to me and in this sound giue mee the strength of healthy and vigorous instructions O my God my God what Thunder is not a well-tuned Cymball what hoarsenesse what harshnesse is not a cleare Organ if thou bee pleased to set thy voice to it and what Organ is not well plaied on if thy hand bee vpon it Thy voice thy hand is in this sound and in this one sound I heare this whole Consort I heare thy Iaacob call vnto his sonnes and â—ay Gather your selues together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last daies He saies That which I am now you must bee then I heare thy Moses telling mee and all within the compasse of this sound This is the blessing wherewith I blesse you before my death This that before your death you would consider your owne in mine I heare thy Prophet saying to Ezechias Set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not liue Hee makes vs of his familie and calls this a setting of his house in order to compose vs to the meditation of death I heare thy Apostle saying I thinke it meet to put â—ou in remembrance knowing that shortly I must goe out of this Tabernacle This is the publishing of his will this bell is our legacie the applying of his present condition to our vse I heare that which makes al sounds musique and all musique perfit I heare thy Sonne himselfe â—aying Let not your hearts be troubled â— Only I heare this change that whereas thy Sonne saies there I goe to prepare a place for you this man in thiâ— sound saies I send to prepare you for a place for a graue But O my God my God since heauen is glory and ioy why doe not glorious and ioyfull things leade vs induce vs to heauen Thy legacies in thy first will in thy old Testament were plentie and victorie Wine and Oile Milke and Honie alliances of friends ruine of enemies peacefull hearts cheerefull countenances and by these galleries thou broughtest them
comfort which wee might haue in our first sicknesse from that meditation Alas how generally miserable is Man and how subiect to diseases for in that it is some degree of comfort that wee are but in the staâ—e common to all we fall I say to this discomfort and selfe accusing selfe condemning Alas how vnprouident and in that how vnthankfull to God and his instruments am I in making so ill vse of so great benefits in destroying so soone so long a worke in relapsing by my disorder to that from which they had deliuered mee and so my meditation is fearefully transferred from the body to the minde and from the consideration of the sicknesse to that sinne that sinfull carelesnesse by which I haue occasioned my relapse And amongst the many weights that aggrauate a relapse this also is one that a relapse proceeds with a more violent dispatch and more irremediably because it finds the Countrie weakned and depopulated before Vpon a sicknesse which as yet appeares not wee can scarce fix a feare because wee know not what to feare but as feare is the busiest and irksomest affection so is a relapse which is still ready to come into that which is but newly gone the nearest obiect the most immediate exercise of that affection of fearâ— 23. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God my God thou mightie Father who hast beene my Physitian Thou glorious Sonne who hast beene my physicke Thou blessed Spirit who hast prepared and applied all to mee shall I alone bee able to ouerthrow the worke of all you and relapse into those spirituall sicknesses from which your infinite mercies haue withdrawne me Though thou O my God hâ—ue filled my measure with mercie yet my measure was not so large as that of thy whole people the Nation the numerous and glorious nation of Israel and yet how often how often did they fall into relapses And then where is my assurance how easily thou passedst ouer many other sinnes in them and how vehemently thou insistedst in those into which they so often relapsed Those were their murmurings against thee in thine Instruments and Ministers and their turnings vpon other gods and embracing the Idolatries of their neighbours O my God how slipperie a way to how irrecouerable a bottome is murmuring and how neere thy selfe hee comes that murmures at him who comes from thee The Magistrate is the garment in which thou apparellest thy selfe and hee that shoots at the cloathes cannot say hee meant no ill to the man Thy people were feareful examples of that for how often did their murmuring against thy Ministers end in a departing from thee when they would haue other officers they would haue other gods and still to daies murmuring was to morrowes Idolatrie As their murmuring induced Idolatrie and they relapsed often into both I haue found in my selfe O my God O my God thou hast found it in me and thy finding it hath shewed it to me such a transmigration of sinne as makes mee afraid of relapsing too The soule of sinne for wee haue made sinne immortall and it must haue a soule The soule of sinne is disobedience to thee and when one sinne hath beene dead in mee that soule hath passed into another sinne Our youth dies and the sinnes of our youth with it some sinnes die a violent death and some a naturall pouertie penurie imprisonment banishment kill some sinnes in vs and some die of age many waies wee become vnable to doe that sinne but still the soule liues and passes into another sinne and that that was licentiousnesse growes ambition and that comes to indeuotion and spirituall coldnesse wee haue three liues in our state of sinne and where the sinnes oâ— youth expire those of our middle yeeres enter and those of our age after them This transmigration of sinne found in my selfe makes me afraid O my God of a Relapse but the occasion of my feare is more pregnant â—han so for I haue had I haue multiplied Relapses already Why O my God is a relapse so odious to thee Not so much their murmuring and their Idolatry as their relapsing into those sinnes seemes to affect thee in thy disobedient people They limited the holy one of Israel as â—hou complainest of them That was a murmuring but before thou chargest them with the fault it selfe in the same place thou chargest them with the iterating the redoubling of â—hat fault before the fault was named How oft did they prouoke mee in the Wildernesse and grieue me in the Desart That which brings thee to that exasperation against them as to say that thou wouldest breake thine owne oath rather than leaue them vnpunished They shall not see the land which I sware vnto their fathers was because they had tempted thee ten times infinitely vpon that thou threatnest with that vehemencie if ye do in any wise goe backe know for a certainty God will no more driue out any of these Nations from before you but they shall be snares and traps vnto you and scourges in your sides and thornes in your eies till ye perish No tongue but thine owne O my GOD can expresse thine indignation against a Nation relapsing to Idolatry Idolatry in any Nation is deadly but when the disease is complicated with a relapse a knowledge and a profession of a former recouerie it is desperate And thine anger workes not onely where the euidence is pregnant and without exception so thou saiest when it is said That certaine men in a Citie haue withdrawne others to Idolatrie and that inquirie is made and it is found true the Citie and the inhabitants and the Cattell are to bee destroied but where there is but a suspicion a rumor of such a relapse to Idolatrie thine anger is awakened and thine indignation stirred In the gouernment of thy seruant Iosua there was a voice that Reuben and Gad with those of Manasseh had built a new altar Israel doth not send one to enquire but the whole congregation gathered to goe vp to warre against them and there went a Prince of euery Tribe And they obiect to them not so much their present declination to Idolatry as their Relapse is the iniquity of Peor too little for vs An idolatry formerly committed and punished with the slaughter of twenty foure thousand delinquents At last Reuben and Gad satisfie them that that Altar was not built for Idolatry but built as a patterne of theirs that they might thereby professe themselues to bee of the same profession that they were and so the Army returned without bloud Euen where it comes not so farre as to an actuall Relapse into Idolatry Thou O my GOD becommest sensible of it though thou who seest the heart all the way preuentest all dangerous effects where there was no ill meaning how euer there were occasion of suspicious rumours giuen to thine Israel of relapsing So odious to thee so aggrauating a weight vpon sinne is a relapse But O my
DEVOTIONS VPON Emergent Occasions and seuerall steps in my Sicknes Digested into 1. MEDITATIONS vpon our Humane Condition 2. EXPOSTVLATIONS and Debatements with God 3. PRAYERS vpon the seuerall Occasions to him By IOHN DONNE Deane of S. Pauls London LONDON Printed for THOMAS IONES 1624. TO THE MOST EXCELlent Prince Prince CHARLES Most Excellent Prince I Haue had three Births One Naturall when I came into the World One Supernatural when I entred into the Ministery and now a preter-naturall Birth in returning to Life from this Sicknes In my second Birth your Highnesse Royall Father vouchsafed mee his Hand noâ— onely to sustaine meâ— in it but to lead mee to it In this last Birth I my selfe am borne a Father This Child of mine this Booke comes into the world from mee and with mee And therefore I presume as I did the Father to the Father to present the Sonne to the Sonne This Image of my Humiliation to the liuely Image of his Maiesty your Highnesse It might bee enough that God hath seene my Deuotions But Examples of Good Kings are Commandements And Ezechiah writt the Meditations of his Sicknesse after his Sicknesse Besides as I haue liu'd to see not as a Witnesse onely but as a Partaker the happinesses of a part of your Royal Fathers time so shall I liue in my way to see the happpinesses of the times of youâ— Highnesse too if this Child of mine inanimated by your gracious Acceptation may so long preserue aliue the Memory of Your Highnesse Humblest and Deuoâ—edst IOHN DONNE Stationes siue Periodi in Morbo ad quas referuntur Meditationes sequentes 1 INsultus Morbi primus 2 Post Actio loesa 3 Decubitus sequitur tandeÌ„ 4 Medicusque vocatur 5 Solus adest 6 Metuit 7 Socios sibi iungier instat 8 Et Rex ipse suum mittit 9 Medicamina scribunt 10 Lentè Serpenti sataâ—unt occurrere Morbo 11 Nobilibusque trahunt a cincto corde venenum Succis Gemmis quae Generosa ministrant Ars Natura instillant 12 Spirante Columbâ Suppositâ pedibus reuocantur ad ima vapores 13 Atque Malum Genium numeroso stigmate fassusâ— Pellitur ad pectus Morbique Suburbia Morbus 14 Idque notant Criticis Medici euenisse diebus 15 Interâ—a insomnes Nocteâ— ego duco Diesque 16 Et properare meum clamant e turre propinqua Obstreperae Campanae aliorum in funere funus 17 Nunc lento sonitu dicuntâ— Morieris 18 At indeâ— Mortuus es sonitu celeri pulsuque agitato 19 Oceano tandem emenso aspicienda resurgit Terra vident iustis Medici iam cocta mederi Se posse indicijs 20 Id agunt 21 Atque anâ—uit Ille Qui per eos clamat linquas iam Lazare lectum 22 Sit Morbi Fomes tibi Cura 23 Metusque Relabi Erraâ—a Pag. 40. pro 2.3 Meditat. Pag. 43. vlt. pasture posture Pag. 96. lin penult flesh God Pag. 158. in Marg. Buxdor Pag. 173. li. 13. add hast Pag. 184. in marg Augustin Pag. 185. lin 17. blow flow DEVOTIONS 1. Insultus Morbi primus The first alteration The first grudging of the sicknesse 1. MEDITATION VAriable and therfore miserable condition of Man this minute I was well and am ill this minute I am surpriz'd with a sodaine change alteration to worse and can impute it to no cause nor call it by any name We study Health and we deliberate vpon our meats and drink and Ayre and exercises and we hew and wee polish euery stone that goes to that building and so our Health is a long a regular work But in a minute a Canon batters all ouerthrowes all demolishes all a Sicknes vnpreuented for all our diligence vnsuspected for all our curiosiâ—ie nay vndeserued if we consider only disorder summons vs seizes vs possesses vs destroyes vs in an instant O miserable condition of Man which was not imprinted by God who as hee is immortall himselfe had put a coale a beame of Immortalitie into vs which we might haue blowen into a flame but blew it ouâ— by our first sinne wee beggard our selues by hearkning after false riches and infatuated our selues by hearkning after false knowledge So that now we doe not onely die but die vpon the Rack die by the torment of sicknesse nor that onely but are pre-afflicted super-afflicted with these ielousies and suspitions and apprehensions of Sicknes before we can cal it a sicknes we are not sure we are ill one hand askes the other by the pulse and our eye askes our own vrine how we do O multiplied misery we die and cannot enioy death because wee die in this torment of sicknes we are tormented with sicknes cannot stay till the torment come but pre-appreheÌ„sions and presages prophecy those torments which induce that death before either comeâ— and our dissolution is conceiued in these first changes quickned in the sicknes it selfe and borne in death which beâ—res date from these first changes Is this the honour which Man hath by being a litle world That he hath these earthquakes in him selfe sodaine shakings these lightnings sodaine flashes these thunders sodaine noises these Eâ—clypses sodain offuscations darknings of his senses these blazing stars sodaine fiery exhalations these riuers of blood sodaine red waters Is he a world to himselfe onely therefore that he haâ—h inough in himself not only to destroy and execute himselfe but to presage that execution vpon himselfe to asâ—ist the sicknes to antidate the sicknes to make the sicknes the more irremediable by sad apprehensions and as if hee would make a fire the more vehement by sprinkling water vpon the coales so to wrap a hote feuer in cold Melancholy least the feuer alone shold not destroy fast enough without this contribution nor perfit the work which is destruction except we ioynd an artificiall sicknes of our owne melancholy to our natural our vnnaturall feuer O perplex'd discomposition O ridling distemper O miserable condition of Man 1. EXPOSTVLATION IF I were but meere dust ashes I might speak vnto the Lord for the Lordes hand made me of this dust and the Lords hand shall recollect these ashes the Lords hand was the wheele vpon which this vessell of â—lay was framed and the Lordes hand is the Vrne in which these ashes shall be preseru'd I am the dust the ashes of the Temple of the H. Ghost and what Marble is so precious But I am more then dust ashes I am my best part I am my soule And being so the breath of God I may breath back these pious expostulations to my God My God my God why is not my soule as fensible as my body Why hath not my soule these apprehensions these presages these changes those antidates those iealousies those suspitions of a sinne â— as well as my body of a sicknes why is there not alwayes a pulse in my Soule to beat at the approch of a tentation to sinne why are there not alwayes waters in mine
the wildernes thy Manâ—a bread so conditiond qualified so as that to euery man Manna tasted like that which that man liked best I humbly beseech thee to make this correction which I acknowledg to be part of my daily bread to tast so to me not as I would but as thou wouldest haue it taste and to conform my tast and make it agreeable to thy willâ— Thou wouldst haue thâ— corrections tast of humâ—â—liation but thou wouldest haue them tast â— consolation too taste oâ— danger but tast of assâ—â—rance too As therefore thou hast imprinted in all thine Elements of which our bodies consist two manifest qualities so that as thy fire dries so it heats too and as thy water moysts so it cooles too so O Lord in these corrections which are the elements of our regeneration by which our soules are made thine imprint thy two qualities those two operations that as they scourge vs they may scourge vs into the way to thee that when they haue shewed vs that we are nothing in our selues they may also shew vs that thou art all things vnto vs. When therfore in this particular circuÌ„stance O Lord but none of thy iudgements are circumstances they are all of the substance of thy good purpose vpon vsâ— wheÌ„ in this particular that he whoÌ„ thou hasâ— sent to assist me desires assistants to him thou hast let mee see in how few houres thou cansâ— throw me beyond the helpe of man let me by the same light see that no vehimence of sicknes no tentation of Satan no guiltines of sin no prison of death not this first this sicke bed not the other prison the close and dark graue can remooue me from the determined and good purpose which thoâ— sealed concerning mee Let me think no degree of this thy correction casuall or without signification but yet when I haue read it in that language as it is a correction let me translate it into another and read it as a mercy and which of these is the Originall and which is the Translation whether thy Mercy or thy Correction werâ— thy primary and original inteÌ„tion in this sicknes I cannot conclude though death concludâ— me for as it must necessarily appeare to bee â— correction so I can hauâ— no greater argument oâ— thy mercy then to die iâ— thee and by that death to bee vnited to him who died for me 8. Et Rex ipse suum mittit The King sends his owne Phisician 8. MEDITATION STil when we return to that Meditation that Man is a World we find new discoueries Let him be a world and him self will be the land and misery the sea His misery for misery is his his own of the happinesses euen of this world hâ—e is but tenant but of misery the free-holder of happines hee is but the farmer but the vsufructuary but of misery the Lord the proprietary his misery as the sea swells aboue all the hilles and reaches to the remotest parts of this earth Man who of himselfe is buâ— dust and coagulaâ—ed and kneaded into earth by teares his maâ—teâ— is â—arth his forme misery In this world that is Mankinde the highest ground the emineÌ„test hils are kings and haue they line and lead enough to fadome this sea and say My misery is but this deepe Scarce any misery equal to sicknesse and they are subiect to that equally with their lowest subiect A glasse is not the lesse brittle because a Kings face is represented in it nor a King the lesse brittle because God is represented in him They haue Phisicians continually about them therfore sicknesses or the worst of sicknesses continuall feare of it Are they gods He that calld them so cannot flatter They are Gods but sickâ— gods and God is presented to vs vnder many human affections as faâ— as infirmities God is called angry and sorry and weary and heauy buâ— neuer a sicke God for then hee might die like men as our gods do The worst that they could say in reproch scornâ— of the gods of the HeatheÌ„ was that perchance they were asleepe but Gods that are so sicke as that they cannot sleepe are in an infirmer condition A God and need a Phisician A Iupiter need an Aesulapius that must haue Rhâ—ubarbe to purge his Choller lest he be too angry and Agarick to purge his sâ—â—gme lest he be too drowsie that as Tertullian saies of the Aegyptian gods plants and herbes That God was beholden to Man for growing in his garden so wee must say of these godsâ— Their eternity an eternity of threescore ten yeares is in the Apothecaryes shop and not in the Metaphoricall Deity But their Deitye is betten expressed in their humility then in their â—eighth when abounding and ouerflowing as God in means of doing good they descend as God to a communication of their abundaÌ„ces with men according to their necessities then they are Gods No man is well that vnderstands not that values not his being well that hath not a cheerefulnesse and a ioy in it and whosoeuer hath this Ioy hath a desire to communicate to propagate that which occasions his happinesse and his Ioy to others for euery man loues witnesses of his happinesse and the best witnesses are experimentall witnesses they who haue tasted of that in themselues which makes vs happie It consummateâ— therefore it perfits the happinesse of Kings to confer to transfer honor and riches and as they can health vpon those that need them .8 EXPOSTVLATION MY God may God I haue a warning from the Wise man thaâ— when a rich man speaketh euery man holdeth his tongâ— and looke what hee saith they extoll it to the clouds but if a poore man speake they say what fellowe is this And if hee stumble they will help to ouerthrow him Therefore may my words be vnderualued and my errors aggrauated if I offer to speak of Kings but not by thee O my God because I speak of them as they are in thee of thee as thou art in them Certainly those men prepare a way of speaking negligently or irreuerently of thee that giue themselues that liberty in speaking of thy Vice-gerents Kings for thou who gauest Augustus the Empire gauest it to Nero to and as Vespasian had it from thee so had Iulian Though Kings deface in themselues thy first image in their owne soule thou giuest no man leaue to deface thy second Image imprinted indelibly in their power But thou knowest O God that if I should be slacke in celebrating thy mercies to mee exhibited by that royall Instrumentâ— my Souâ—raigne to many other faults that touch vpon Allegiance I should add the worst of all Ingratitude which constiâ—utes an il man faults which are defects in any particular sunction are not so great as those that destroy our humanitie â— It is not so ill to bee an ill subiect as to be an ill man â— for he hath an vniuersall illnesse ready to blowâ— and powre out it selfe into any
mention the Flea as the Viper because the Flea though hee kill none hee does all the harme hee can so euen these libellous and licentious Iesters vtter the venim they haue though sometimes vertue and alwaies power be a good Pigeon to draw this vapor from the Head and from doing any deadly harme there 12. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God as thy seruant Iames when he asks that questioÌ„ what is your life prouides me my answere It is euen a vapor that appeareth for a little time then vanisheth away so if he did aske me what is your death I am prouided of my answere It is a vapor too And why should it not be all one to mee whether I liue or die if life and death be all one both a vapor Thou haâ—t made vapor so indifferent a thing as that thy Blessings and thy Iudgements are equally expressed by it and is made by thee the Hierogliphique of both Why should not that bee alwaies good by which thou hast declared thy plentifull goodnes to vs A vapor went vp from the Earth and watred the whole face of the ground And that by which thou hast imputed a goodnes to vs and wherein thou hast accepted our seruice to thee sacrifices for Sacrifices were vapors And in thâ—m it is said that a thicke cloude of incâ—nce went vp to thee So it is of that wherein thou comst to vs the dew of Heauen And of that wherein we come to theeâ— both are vapors And hee in whom we haue and are all that we are or haue teÌ„porally or spiritually thy blessed Son in the persoÌ„ of wisedome is called so to she is that is he is the vapor of the power of God and the pure influence froÌ„ the glory of the Almighty Hast thou Thou O my God perfumed vapor with thine own breath with so many sweet acceptations in thine own word and shall this vapor receiue an ill and infectious sense It must for since we haue displeased thee with that which is but vapor for what is sinne but a vapor but a smoke though such a smoke as takes away our sight and disables vs from seeing our danger it is iust that thou punish vs with vapoâ—s to For so thou dost as the Wiseman tels vs Thou canst punish vs by those things wherein wee offend thee as he hath expressed it there Bâ— beasts newly created breathing vapors Therefore that Commination of â—hine by thy Prophet I will shew wonders in the heauen and in the Earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoke â— thine Apostle who knewe thy meaning best calls vapors of smoke One Propheâ— presents thee in thy terriblenesse so There went out a smoke at his Nostrils and another the effect of thine anger so The house was filled with smoake And hee that continues his Prophesie as long as the world can continue describes the miseries of the latter times so Out of the bottomlesse pit arose a smoke that darkened the Sunne and out of that smoke came Locusts who had the power of Scorpions Now all smokes begin in fire all these will end so too The smoke of sin and of thy wrath will end in the fire of hell But hast thou afforded vs no means to euaporate these smokes to withdraw these vapors When thine Angels fell from heauen thou tookst into thy care the reparatioÌ„ of that place didst it by assuming by drawing vs thitherâ— when we fel from thee here in this world thou tookst into thy care the reparation of this place too and didst it by assuming vs another way by descending down to assume our nature in thy Son So that though our last act be an ascending to glory we shall ascend to the place of Angels yet our first act is to goe the way of thy Sonn descending and the way of thy blessed spirit too who descended in the Doue Therefore hast thou bin pleased to afford vs this remedy in Nature by this application of a Doue to our lower parts to make these vapors in our bodies to descend and to make that a type to vs that by the visitation of thy Spirit the vapors oâ— sin shall descend we tread them vnder our feet At the baptisme of thy Son the Doue descended at the exalting of thine Apostles to preach the same spirit desceÌ„ded Let vs draw down the vapors of our own pride our own wits our own wils our own inueÌ„tions to the simplicitie of thy Sacraments the obedience of thy word and these Doues thus applied shall make vs liue 12. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who though thou haue suffred vs to destroy our selues hast not giuen vs the power of reparation in our sâ—lues hast yet afforded vs such meanes of reparation as may easily and familiarly be compassed by vs prosper I humbly beseech thee this means of bodily assistance in this thy ordinary creature and prosper thy meanes of spirituall assistance in thy holy ordinances And as thou hast caried this thy creature the Doue through all thy wayes through Nature and made it naturally proper to conduce medicinally to our bodily health Through the law and made it a sacrifice for sinne there and through the Gospel and made it thy spirit in it a witnes of thy sonnes baptisme there so carry it and the qualities of it home to my soule and imprint there that simpliciâ—y that mildnesse that harmelesnesse which thou hast imprinted by Nature in this Creature That so all vapours of all disobedience to thee being subdued vnder my feete I may in the power and triumphe of thy sonne treade victoriously vpon my graue and trample vpon the Lyon and Dragon that lye vnder it to deuoure me Thou O Lord by the Prophet callest the Doue the Doue of the Valleys but promisest that the Doue of the Valleyes shall bee vpon the Mountaine As thou hast layed mee low in this Valley of sickenesse so low as that I am made fit for that question asked in the field of bones Sonne of Man can these bones liue so in thy good time carry me vp to these Mountaynes of which euen in this Valley thou affordest mee a prospect the Mountain where thou dwellest the holy Hill vnto which none can ascend but hee that hath cleane hands which none can haue but by that one and that strong way of making them cleane in the blood of thy Sonne Christ Iesus Amen 13. Ingeniumque malum numeroso stigmate fassus Pellitur ad pectus Morbique Suburbia Morbus The Sicknes declares the infectionâ—â—nd malignity thereof 〈…〉 13. MEDITATION WEe say that the world is made of sea land as though they were equal but we know that ther is more sea in the Western theÌ„ in the Eastern Hemisphere â— We say that the Firmament is full of starres as though it were equally full but we know that there are more stars vnder the Northerne then
bodies whole Churches what becomes of the soules of the righteous at the departing thereof from the body I shall bee told by some That they attend an expiation a purification in a place of torment By some that they attend the fruition of the sight of God in a place of rest but yet but of expectation By some that they passe to an immediate possession of the presence of God S. Augustine studied the Nature of the soule as much as any thing but the saluation of the soule and he sent an expresse Messenger to Saint Hierome to consult of some things concerning the soule But he satisfies himselfe with this Let the departure of my soule to saluation be euident to my faith and I care the lesse how darke the entrance of my soule into my body bee to my reason It is the going out more than the comming in that concernes vs. This soule this Bell tells me is gone out Whither Who shall tell mee that I know not who it is much lesse what he was The condition of the Man and the course of his life which should tell mee whither hee is gone I know not I was not there in his sicknesse nor at his death I saw not his way nor his end nor can aâ—ke themâ— who did thereby to conclude or argue whither he is gone But yet I haue one neerer mee than all these mine owne Charity I aske that that tels me He is gone to euerlasting rest and ioy and glory I owe him a good opinion it is but thankfull charity in mee because I receiued benefit and instruction from him when his Bell told and I being made the fitter to pray by that disposition wherein I was assisted by his occasion did pray for him and I pray not without faith so I doe charitably so I do faithfully beleeue that that soule is gone to euerlasting rest and ioy and glory But for the body How poore a wretched thing is that wee cannot expresse it so fast as it growes worse and worse That body which scarce three minutes since was such a house as that that soule which made but one step from thence to Heauen was scarse thorowly content to leaue that for Heauen that body hath lost the name of a dwelling house because none dwels in it and is making haste to lose the name of a body and dissolue to putrefaction Who would not bee affected to see a cleere sweet Riuer in the Morning grow a kennell of muddy land water by noone and condemned to the saltnesse of the Sea by night And how lame a Picture how faint a representation is that of the precipitatioÌ„ of mans body to dissolution Now all the parts built vp and knit by a louely soule now but a statue of clay and now these limbs melted off as if that clay were but snow â— and now the whole house is but a handfull of sand so much dust and but a pecke of Rubbidge so much bone If he who as this Bell tells mee is gone now were some excellent Artiâ—icer who comes to him for a clocke or for a garment now or for counsaile if hee were a Lawyer If a Magistrate for iustice Man before hee hath his immortall soule hath a soule of sense and a soule of vegitation before that This immortall soule did not forbid other soules to be in vs before but when this soule departs it carries all with it no more vegetation no more sense such a Mother in law is the Earth â— in respect of our naturall Mother in her wombe we grew and when she was deliuered of vs wee were planted in some place in some calling in the world In the wombe of the Earth wee diminish and when shee is deliuered of vs our graue opened for another wee are not transplanted but transported our dust blowne away with prophane dust with euery wind 18. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God if Expostulation bee too bold a word doe thou mollifie it with another leâ— it be wonder in my selfe let it bee but probleme to others but let me aske why wouldest thou not suffer those that serue thee in holy seruices to doe any office about the dead nor assist at their funerall Thou hadst no Counsellor thou needest none thou hast no Controller thou admittest none Why doe I aske in Ceremoniall things as that was any conuenient reason is enough who can bee sure to propose that reason that moued thee in the institution thereof I satisfie my selfe with this that in those times the Gentiles were ouerfull of an ouer-reuerent respect to the memory of the dead a great part of the Idolatry of the Nations flowed from that an ouer-amorous deuotion an ouer-zealous celebrating and ouer-studious preseruing of the memories and the Pictures of some dead persons And by the vaine glory of men they entred into the world and their statues and pictures contracted an opinion of diuinity by age that which was at first but a picture of a friend grew a God in time as the wise man notes They called them Gods which were the worke of an ancient hand And some haue assigned a certaine time when a picture should come out of Minority and bee at age to bee a God in 60. yeeres after it is made Those Images of Men that had life and some Idols of other things which neuer had any being are by one common name called promiscuously dead and for that the wise man reprehends the Idolatrer for health he praies to that which is weake and for life he praies to that which is dead Should we doe so saies thy Prophet should we goe from the liuing to the dead So much ill then being occasioned by so much religious coÌ„plement exhibited to the dead thou ô God I think wouldest therefore inhibit thy principall holy seruants from contributing any thing at all to this dangerous intimation of Idolatry and that the people might say surely those dead men are not so much to bee magnified as men mistake since God will not suffer his holy officers so much as to touch them not to see them But those dangers being remoued thou O my God dost certainly allow that we should doe offices of piety to the dead and that we should draw instructions to piety from the dead Is not this O my God a holy kinde of raising vp â—eed to my dead brother if I by the meditation of his death produce a better life in my selfe It is the blessing vpon Reuben Let Reuben liue not die and let not his men be few let him propagate many And it is a Malediction That that dieth let it die let it doe no good in dying for Trees without fruit thou by thy Apostle callst twice dead It is a second death if none liue the better by me after my death by the manner of my death Therefore may I iustly thinke that thou madest that a way to conuay to the Aegyptians a feare of thee and a
We scarce heare of any man preferred but wee thinke of our selues that wee might very well haue beene that Man Why might not I haue beene that Man that is carried to his graue now Could I â—it my selfe to stand or sit in any Mans place not to lie in any mans graue I may lacke much of the good parts of the meanest but I lâ—cke nothing of the mortality of the weakest Thâ—y may haue acquired better abilities than I but I was borne to as many infirmities as they To be an incumbent by lying down in a graue to be a Doctor by teaching Mortiâ—ication by Example by dying though I may haue seniors others may be elder than I yet I haue proceeded apace in a good Vniuersity and gone a great way in a little time by the furtherance of a vehement feuer and whomsoeuer these Bells bring to the ground to day if hee and I had beene compared yesterday perchance I should haue been thought likelier to come to this preferment then than he God hath kept the power of death in his owne hands lest any Man should bribe death If man knew the gaine of death the ease of death he would solicite he would prouoke death to assist him by any â—and which he might vse But as when men see many of their owne professions preferd it ministers a hope that that may light vpon them so when these hourely Bells tell me of so many funerals of men like me it presents if not a desire that it may yet a comfort whensoeuer mine shall come 16. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God I doe not expostulate with thee but with them who dare doe that Who dare expostulate with thee when in the voice of thy Church thou giuest allowance to this Ceremony of Bells at funeralls Is it enough to refuse it because it was in vse amongst the Gentiles so were funeralls too Is it because some abuses may haue crept in amongst Christians Is that enough that their ringing hath been said to driue away euill spirits Truly that is so farre true as that the euill spirit is vehemently vexed in their ringing therefore because that action brings the Congregation together and vnites God and his people to the destruction of that Kingdome which the euill spirit vsurps In the first institution of thy Church in this world in the foundation of thy Militant Church amongst the Iewes thou didst appoint the calling of the assembly in to bee by Trumpet and when they were in then thou gauest them the sound of Bells in the garment of thy Priest â— In the Triumphant Church thou imploiest both too but in an inuerted Order we enter into the Triumphant Church by the sound of Bells for we enter when we die And then we receiue our further edification or consummation by the sound of Trumpets at the Resurrection The sound of thy Trumpets thou didst impart to secular aâ—d ciuill vses too but the sound of Bells onely to sacred Lord let not vs breake the Communion of Saints in that which was intended for the aduancement of it let not that pull vs asunder froÌ„ one another which was intended for the assembling of vs in the Militant and associating of vs to the Triumphant Church But he for whose funerall these Bells ring now was at home at his iournies end yesterday why ring they now A Man that is a world is all the things in the world Hee is an Army and when an Army marches the Vaunt may lodge to night where the Reare comes not till to morrow A man extends to his Act and to his example to that which he does and that which he teaches so doe those things that concerne him so doe these bells That which rung yesterday was to conuay him out of the world in his vaunt in his souleâ— that which rung to day was to bring him in his Reare in his body to the Church And this continuing of ringing after his entring is to bring him to mee in the application Where I lie I could heare the Psalme and did ioine with the Congregation in it but I could not heare the Sermon and these latter bells are a repetition Sermon to mee But O my God my God doe I that haue this feauer need other remembrances of my Mortalitie Is not mine owne hollow voice voice enough to pronounce that to me Need I looke vpon a Deaths-head in a Ring that haue one in my face or goe for death to my Neighbours house that haue him in my bosome We cannot wee cannot O my God take in too many helps for religious duties I know I cannot haue any better Image of thee than thy Sonne nor any better Image of him than his Gospell yet must not I with thanks confesse to thee that some historicall pictures of his haue sometimes put mee vpon better Meditations than otherwise I should haue fallen vpon I know thy Church needed not to haue taken in from Iew or Gentile any supplies for the exaltation of thy glory or our deuotion of absolute necessitie I know â—hee needed not But yet wee owe thee our thanks that thou hast giuen her leaue to doe so and that as in making vs Christians thou diddest not destroy that which wee were before naturall men so in the exalting of our religious deuotions noâ— we are Christians thou hast beene pleased to continue to vs those assistances which did worke vpon the affections of naturall men before for thou louest a good man as thou louest a good Christian and though Grace bee meerely from thee yet thou doest not plant Grace but in good natures 16. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who hauing consecrated our liuing bodies to thine owne Spirit and made vs Temples of the holy Ghost doest also requirâ— a respect to bee giuen to these Temples euen when the Priest is gone out of them To these bodies when the soule is departed from them I blesse and glorifie thy Name that as thou takest care in our life of euery haire of our head so doest thou also of euery graine of ashes after our death Neither doest thou only doe good to vs all in life and death but also wouldest haue vs doe good to one another as in a holy life so in those things which accompanie our death In that Contemplation I make account that I heare this dead brother of ours who is now carried out to his buriall to speake to mee and to preach my funerall Sermon in the voice of these Bells In him O God thou hast accomplished to mee euen the request of Diues to Abraham Thou hast sent one from the dead to speake vnto mee He speakes to mee aloud from that steeple hee whispers to mee at these Curtaines and hee speaks thy words Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Let this praier therfore O my God be as my last gaspe my expiring my dying in thee That if this bee the houre of my transmigration I may die the