Funerall are presented to us 1. The Herse a dead man carried out 2. The Mourners his Mother the chief and much People with her 3. The process of the whole they carry him forth In the second the Cordiall 1. The Cordiall it self Weep not 2. The Holy Lymbeck from whence t is distilled the tender bowells of Jesus Christ He was moved with Compassion 3. The fire that gives it operation the seeing of this pittifull object a Desolate Disconsolate Mother When he saw her Then he was moved with Compassi n and when he was so moved then he said Weep not I begin with the First the Funeral and in that 1. The Herse 2. Then the Mourners and this order Custome approves Nature Compells Ceremony appoints and Necessity constrains the Herse leads the Mourners follow Our Noble Lord is gone before we must go after 1. The Herse And that as harsh and dark as if the Pall were of the Coursest Hair-Cloath and made more black and Heavy with these six sable Escutcheons which are its load and burden rather then its Ornament 1. A Man dead 2. He a Young Man 3. That young man a Great man 4 That Great man an Only Son 5. That only Son as Childless at his death as his decease did leave his Mother 6. That Mother a Widow like to continue Childless Heirless concluded and shut up under dispaire of having more to comfort and relieve her Solitude Each circumstance calls for an heavy accent and needs a mournful circumflex let 's drop them with our tears in Order that every Escutcheon may be Guttee only suppose those drops of Pearle and Argent to charge the dispairing Sable Field of Death with brighter hopes of an approaching Resurrection 1 Tim. 2.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preco Caduceator predicator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 predicare publice laudare Excuse this phrase a Preacher is properly an Herauld but chiefly so at such a time Each word like a slip of Ciprus sprouts up into a mournful Stem the Blazon of each Escutcheon is a dolefull Sentence in Order thus 1. Man is Mortall 2. Even Young men may dye and often do 3. Great Men must fall as well as others 4. Onely-Children cannot escape 5. Whole Families may fayle in Childless Heirs 6. Former Sorrows do not excuse us from Succeeding Ones She that was made a Widow by her Husbands death may yet be rendred more desolate by the loss of Children One comfort gone secures not the rest By the glimmering light which these six dim and lowring Tapers cast about the Herse you may distinctly read the Impress of each Shield 1. Man's Mortal This truth 's so obvious we cannot suppose the Ecce prefixt to it The wonder is greater that any man out-lives his Mothers travel then that he dyes so soon The many witty Emblems of our frailty devis'd and used by gravest Sages Ethnick and Christian are abundantly excused from all suspicion of Hyperbole's by what the holy spirit speaks so frequently in the same Argument Isa 40.6 7. Psal 103.15 Job 13.25 1 Pet. 1.24 Jam. 4.14 Job 7.7 Psal 144.4 Isa 40.17 comparing man to Grass to Flowers to dryed Leaves and Stubble to Dust to Vapours to Wind to Vanity to less then vanity and nothing And no truth is written in Gods Book with more Indelible and larger Characters then that It is appointed unto all men once to dye A time to be born a time to dye Mark how close they stand together nothing parts them Jos 23.14 1 Kings 2.2 'T is the way of all the Earth an universall Rule that doth admit of no Exception Gen. 5.5 8 11 14 17 20 the constant conclusion of all mens History And he dyed So that the challenge was very safe What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 and shall he deliver himself from the hand of the Grave And the determination as warily made No man can give to God a Ransome for himself or Brother Psal 49.9 that he should still live for ever and not see Corruption 2. And 't is as obvious to common notice we need not Revelation to perswade our Credence they give assent who never saw the Bible and t is become a Proverb nothing so sure as death where seeing is believing there need no other Topicks to make a demonstration 3. And Natural Reason gives its perfect suffrage that must decay whose foundation is i' th dust as ours is who are but the sub-divisions of Adams red Clod crumbled into multiplied Atomes the stream cannot ascend beyond the Altitude of the Fountains Scituation From Corruptible Principles no Product can proceed Incorruptible Man that is born of a Woman is of few dayes it carries its own Evidence because he is so born A Tabernacle patcht together of sappy sticks Job 14.1 and rotten straw and mouldring dirt cannot stand long especially exposed to Storms without and Fire from within and such is mans body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss Orat. de Mortuis tost and consumed with dayly strife of hot and cold moyst and dry and which soever Conquers leads life it self a Captive to its Victory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss ubi supra And Dust returns to dust 4. And there is a Moral cause i th' Soul as mortall as any Natural one i th' Body Eze. 18.20 Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.23.5.12 the Soul that sinneth it shall dye In the day thou eatest thou shalt dye the death death is the wages of sin which shall be surely paid By one man Sin entred into the World 1 Kin. 8.46 and death by sin And in as much as no man liveth and sinneth not you may conclude that no man liveth Mors interficit omnes quos natura presentem perducit ad vitam ducit Reges trahit Populos gentes impellit non divitiis redimi non flecti precibus non lachrimis molliri non viribus potuit illa unquam superari Chrysologus Serm. 118. and dyeth not With what words then shall we bewaile or upbraid rather the Atheistical security and stupid madness of those men who will not be perswaded of this truth or which is ten times worse under convictions and confessions of it live here as if they should live here for ever and tempt us to believe they judge their Souls are Mortal they take so little care to save them and their Bodies Immortal they heap up so long provisions for them 2. Even young men may dye and often do Ours in the Text is expresly called so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ver next following your common saying is Old men must dye and Young men may Senibus mors in januis Juvenibus in obsidiis sayth St. Bernard T is very remarkable how the Scripture Records the Death of Haran And Haran dyed before his Father Tera Gen. 11.21 in the Land of his Nativity Most Children dye before their Parents not one of an hundred
of distress cry out My coal that was left is quenched and to my Husband is not left Name or Remainder upon the Earth This is so deep a Key no Base can touch it but the hoarsest sobbs and groans A Note so superlatively above Ela no female trebble's shrill enough to Reach it and keep Tune 'T will crack our sorrows into Schreeks and Squeling but to venture at it and would be some Apology if Rachell like his dearest Mother should be obstinate in sorrow and refuse to be comforted Fugientis naturae in successore pignus remanet extinquentis jam luminis lucerna ex parte accensa 5. Childless too himself more sorrow still had he but left an Heir and lived a vicarious life liv'd in another though he had dyed himself left but an Hostage in his steed rack't up one spark to kindle more we could have spared him better had he Knit on an end Nodosa aeternitas successio liberorum Aetatis incrementum to lengthen out his Line and fixt one Linck to keep the Chain intire the Wound had been Curable and the breach more Reparable Jer. 15.18 But now the pain is perpetual therefore will we Wayle Mich. 1.8 and Howle and go strip't and naked and make a Wayling like the Dragons and Mourning as the Owls But Lastly because no Sorrows are Superlative which want the Emphesis of Widow that ours may be more then such that's here with full Advantage Though his Right Honourable Mother be not so yet is his Sweet and Dearest Lady such with so much forer agravation as her tender years are less accustom'd to endure it and be distressed with the dolefull Epithite of Dowager so immaturely So soon so suddainly is she bereaved of him as if she had onely had him to be made miserable by loosing of him and in him such an Honour and Happiness as his High Ranck and Higher Sweetness Kindness Nobleness of mind possest her of in Him The smart and sorrows of our losses have no true Standard but the content and joy we had in their fruition But I forget my Self and You 't is Cruelty to gall your bleeding hearts afresh To Rake in your wounds and longer vex those eyes are half wept out already and draw more sluces when all the Banks run over Claudite jam rivos what I have drawn already was not to hurt but help you to give your sorrows vent least they should fester inward Tears help to swage our griefe Sedatur lacrymis egeriturque dolor Ovid. And yield us some reliefe Now let me hasten to refresh you and reassume the â—…ht side of my Text Weep not at least No more when we have wept enough already Not that he can soon or easily be sufficiently bewayled but we must not shed so many tears as he deserves least we shed abundance more then he needs or we can spare or God allowes Nihil difficilius quam magno dolori paria verba reperire Senec. And though the task be hard to counterpoize your sorrowes yet Accept these Anodines which may dissolve and mollifie the tumour asswage the smart and ease the throbbing they are Collyria fitted for such eyes And let me speak as if more of the most-concern'd were present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if any thing be spoken worth the carriage you that are present may transmit it to the absent As Gregory Nyssen spoke in his Funeral Oration for Young Pulcheria But because they must digg deep who will build sure and begin below who would ascend I will lay the First Stone under ground within the Earth of his Mortality and lead you gradually to higher Comforts Utrum stultius mortalitatis legem ignorare an recusare Weep not for he was Mortall he must have died ere long What wise man sheds his tears because his Roses shed their leaves He came into the World under this Law Seneca Nulli contigit impune nasci No man is born on cheaper terms then a necessity of dying He answered as became a Gallant man who entertain'd the Message of his Sons discease with Ego cum genui tum moriturum scivi I knew when I begat him he must dye huic rei sustuli 〈◊〉 't is but a little Maximum solatium est cogitare id sibi accidisse qu d ante se passi sunt omnes omnesquâ— passâ—…i ideo mihi videtur rerum natura quod gravissimum fecit commune fecisse ut crudelitatem fati consolaretur aequalitas Sen. ad Polys little sooner that he 's gone A few more changes of the Night and Day and fewer of the Summer and Winter would have brought him and will bring us where we shall change no more We all must follow in the Order set us had you a View larger then that which Xerxes took of all Man-kind at once You might conclude with him not one of them should be alive within an hundred years Fate 's impartiality makes some amends for it's Severity Yea the end of all things seems to hasten and not to be at such a distance as secure Atheists would fain perswade themselves Weep not he dyed not in a Forreign Land Ubi non licuerit matri ultima filii oscula gratumque entremi sermonem oris haurire Sen. ad Martiam at a neglected distance the Seas return'd him safe But in a Mothers Bosome where she both might and did assist his Soul and Body with the most pious tenderness and was her own witness with what faithfullness and Care Chaplain Physitians Nurses all Attendants performed towards him Weep not He dyed not suddenly by a surprize or ambushment of Death which grants no liberty to trim a Lamp He dyed not in a Broyle or Duell Mat. 25.7 he dyed not Flagrante Crimine in any Notorious Sin or with symptomes of unusuall Vengeance but in the way of all the Earth the common death of all Men Numb 16.29 Num. 27.3 Et suâ siccâ morte In his own sin as Zelophehad's Daughters spake of their Father in opposition to dying for any signall provocation Weep not He 's gone unsoyled Redditur illi aequale testimonium omaiam hominum desideratur in tuum honorem laudatur in suum Sene. ad Mort. free from reproachfull blots of Scandalous Enormities and needs no tears to rinsh him He did not out-live a good Report but hath left a Memory behind him Clean and Vnstained a Lovely Shaddow of his Lovely Person and his Fairer Mind His Part was Acted well and He 's gone off the Stage as Great Augustus Caesar thought he did and may with him require your Plaudite 2 Kings 22.20 In hoc tam procelloso in omnes tempestates ex posito mari navigantibus nullus portu nisi mortis est Seneca He 's come into his Grave in Peace which was the Great Promise to Gods Friends of Old He hath escap't the storms and is Arrived in the Port with safty He
that are born lives to be old and consequently far the greatest part of men dye young Death passeth upon them who have not sinned after the similitude of Adams Transgression Rom. 5. that is actually and therefore dye whilst young Rachells Children are not while she remains to bewaile them because they are not Death keeps no turns observes no order that they should go first who came so but in this t is often The last shall be first and the first last Not only man but man in his best Estate is altogether vanity T is an Arabian Proverb Psal 39.5 the old Camell often carries the young Camells Skin to Market And the Jewish Scholler told his Master as an Argument to urge him to teach him betimes the Art of dying well that there were little graves in Golgotha When Jonahs gourd was fresh and green Jon. 4. fullest of sap and verdure then the worm smites it and t is gone And no wonder for their less confirmed constitution is sooner discomposed and out of temper Their fresher blood is more susceptive of Infection their warmer and agile spirits more easily blown up into a Feaverish heat and flame and in a word are so much less safe from death by how much they are the fairer marks for him to Levell at Awake then presumptuous Youths Sleep not so soundly in the Lap of Dalilah without the thoughts and care of rest in Abrahams bosome Put not the evil day far from you upon such slight and slender grounds Make no agreements with the Grave nor covenants with death and Hell Isa 28.18 least he forbid the banes and disanull it in whose hands your breath is but Remember your Creatour in the dayes of your youth Eccl. 12.1 and learn to live betimes yea and dye too for you may dye betimes and seek God early while he may be found knowing they are most welcome who come soonest and remembring the young Disciple was the best beloved Disciple Put not off no not a day Nescis quid serus vesper trabat Adag a work of such concernment because thou knowest not what a day may bring forth least thou be put to worse complaints then his who bitterly bewail'd his stay Too late O Lord did I begin to Love thee Nimis sero te amare caepi and least if thou think the Morn and Flower of thy age too good to give God judge the dreggs and twigh-light of it too bad to be accepted and take no pleasure in those dayes Of which thy self shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccl 12.1 O know in this thy day the things that concern thy peace Vide Gr. Nyss Contra Bap. delat Sed dices tu qui es Juvenis nondum consenui Noli ergo decipi non definitur mors certo tempore aetatis neque timet eos qui sunt in ipso flore aetatis in solos autem senes obtinet dominium Hujus enim accipe magistrum quotidianam experientiam Vides enim quo mortui efferuntur feretrum quam in aequaliter ut contingit omnem effertae tatem hodie senem cras florentem elegantem adolescentem paulo post cui caeperat lanugo apparere russus virum robustum valentem viribus russus vetulam simul virginem Si non nunc quando 3. Great Men must fall as well as others this in our Text was such an one his Mother is termed Primaria Civitatis Matrona one of the Chief Ladies in the City where she dwelt We dye as Men as Sinners and what makes them greatest makes them not more then men nor less then sinners Therefore he who calls them Gods yet saith that they must dye like men Psal 82.6 7. The lofty Cedars of Lebanon and goodliest Oakes in Bashan must down as sure as the Sycamors in the Vally or Willowes by the Water-Brookes Job told us long agoe Job 34.19 20 that God accepteth not the Persons of Princes nor regardeth the Rich more then the Poor for they are all the work of his hands In a moment they shall dye and the Mighty shall be taken away without hand Man though in Honour abideth not Psal 49.12 when God takes away the breath of Princes even they returne unto their dust and their thoughts perish Though the Rich Mans Wealth be his Tower Pro. 10.15 and a strong hold in his conceite yet Death can scale his Walls and storm his Fort or pick his Locks and creep in at his Windows or slide in at a Loop-hole and Riches cannot bribe him nor a Golden Shield bear off his darts That Rich Fool in the Gospel who blest himself with Barnes-full as if nothing would destroy but starving was confuted with a vengeance when the summons came Stulte hac nocte Thou Fool Luke 12.21 this night thy Soul shall be required of thee Solomon and Craesus Alexander and Caesar Constantine and Charles and all the Magni Maximi are such loud Instances of this it were superfluous to weary you with more Be wise now therefore O Ye Kings Psal 2.20 be Instructed Ye Judges of the Earth Serve the Lord with Fear Kiss the Sun least he be angry and when you dye as dye you must you dye again and perish Everlastingly Know ere it be too late Prov. 11.4 that Riches will not profit in the day of wrath or be accepted as your Ransome and therefore trust not in them Psal 62.10 and when they encrease set not your hearts upon them I shall shutt up this with those Golden Words of St. Augustin which conclude the third Tome of his Works Thou pridest thy self in thy Riches and the Nobility of thy Ancestors thou boastest of thy Country and the Beauty of thy Body and the Honours conferr'd upon thee But consider thy self that thou art Mortal that thou art Dust and must return to dust Look upon them who before thee glistered with like gayeties Where now are those who were incircled with a traine of Citizens Where the Inconquerable Emperours Where those who called and could appoint Publick Assemblies and Solemn Meetings Now all is Dust all 's Ashes Now a few Verses comprehend their story Look now into their Graves and see which was the Servant which the Lord which the Poor Man which the Rich distinguish if thou canst the Captive from the King Divitiis floribus majorum Nobilitate te jactas exultas de Patria pucritudine corporis Honoribus qui tibi ab hominibus deferuntur respice te quia mortalis es Terra es in terram ibis Circumspice eos qui ante te similibus spendoribus fulsere Ubi sunt quos ambiebant Civium Potentatus Ubi in Superabiles Imperatores Ubi qui conventus dishonebant Festa Ubi equorum spendidi invectores Ubi exercicituum duces Ubi Satrapae Tyrannici Nunc omnia pulvis nunc omnia favillae nunc in paucis versibus eorum vitae
memoria Respice Sepulchra vide quis Servus quis Dominus quis Pauper quis Dives Discerne si potes Vinctuma Rege Fortem a Debili Pulchrum a Deformi Memor sis itaque ne extollaris aliquando Memor autem eris si te ipsum respexeris the Strong from the Weak the Comly from the Deformed think of this and it will keep thee humble and thou canst not but remember it unless thou forget thy self 4. Onely Children cannot escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnigenitus Quod plus est quam unicus quem solum genuerat The onely begotten on her that bare him these are our Darlings as we translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnicam meam Psal 22.20 No Argument moves pitty more then when those are taken from us yet Death knows none to spare them to us the Widow of Sarepta's Onely Son dyes 1 King 17.17 and so doth Jarus's Onely Daughter St. Luke 7.42 and Abraham must Offer up his Onely Son Isaack whom he Loved Gen. 22. and Jephtha his Onely Daughter Jud. 11.39 Death aymes so right hee 'l hit a single mark and needs not shoot at Herds and God often guides his Darts this way 1. Because they are Over-loved and stand so full betwixt their Parents heart and Him He cannot be Lov'd Himself till they are Removed out of'th way 2. To Try their Obedience Faith and Patience Gen. 22.1 as He Tempted Abraham 3. To Honour them before the World and make it known how quietly they 'l part with any thing He pleases to call for though never so dear Lastly to fit them by so deep a sorrow for some more Excellent and lasting Good and Joy He hath in readiness to give them in Exchange It being Gods usuall Method as Luther Observes when He hath some Eminent Comforts to bestow or some Signal Service to imploy us in to Vsher them in with some great Tryal and Temptation Oh therefore let not those whose Store is so Compendious too fondly hug those dearest Pledges least God grow jealous and be forc't to deal with them as he is used to do with his Rivalls and those who stand in Competition with Himself 5. Whole Families may fail in Childless Heirs Death takes root and branch and doth not onely deal by Retale Tota cum Regibus regna populique cum gentious tulere satum futum Sen. but slayes by Whole-Sale and with compendious and stupendous stroaks mowes down a Family at one blow and sweeps away the hopes of all Posterity as if he gap't for the Inheritance and all and had resolved with those bloody Rebells St. Mat. 21.38 Come this is the Heir let us slay him that the Inheritance may be ours Thus fayled the two Young Sons of Greatest Alexander Heirs of their Fathers Conquests all the World Thus half the Provinces Escheated into the hands of the People of Rome when they were Lords-Paramount of the Earth Vespasian Antoninus Philosophus Severus Valerian Domitian Commodus Bassianus Gallienus and of Forty Emperours from Julius Caesar to Constantine the Great but four left Heirs of Lineal Descent and all of them the Worst which ever wore the Roman Purple Their Fathers Vomicae Carcinomita Soars and Ulcers as Augustus called his Daughters Faelix Infortunio qui caret liberis Sen. three of whom had been happy unto Envy had they dyed Childless as Augustus wisht he had Lived Oh! therefore let not your Inward thoughts be that your Families shall continue for ever and your Dwelling-Places bear your Names to all Generations Their way is their folly who do so Psal 49.13 But know that Riches are not for ever neither doth the Crown Endure to all Generations Prov. 27.24 And let not such blows too much deject those on whom they Light because nothing is befallen them but what is common to Man 1 Cor. 10.13 6. Former sorrows do not excuse us from succeeding griefs The poor Mother in the Text whom the last Funeral made a Widow is made Childless too by this All thy Waves and Billowes are gone over me Psal 42.7 one in the neck or on the back of another troubles are often born out of the Womb of Providence as Esau and Jacob came from Rebecca linckt together and holding each other by the heel Take we heed then we flatter not our selves nor say with Agag The bitterness is past nor listen to a Desperate and Blasphemous suggestion now let him do his Worst Not wickedly as the Poet wittily Nil quod istic agat tertia tussis habet Mar. Mich. 6.9 I have no more Marks left for his angry Arrows nor other Blots to hit but with Submisse and Humble Reverence le ts hear the Rod at present and fear it for the Future and by the first lash be warned to prepare for or to prevent the second and so to stand in awe that we sin not Psal 4.4 John 5.14 least a worse thing come upon us and what we judge the worst prove but the beginning of our sorrows I might have added and the rather because the case is Paralel 7. That this Great Young Man dyed not i' th Country in some Remote Obscure Ville the Relatives of them who dye so 2 Chron. 16.12 being ready with Asa's Spirit to say to some Great Physitian as Martha did to Christ Sir John 11 21. If thou hadst been here my Brother had not dyed But in the City Inter Turbam Medicorum where probably no Ayd was wanting which Able Skilfull Physitians could afford And 8. In his Mothers House and Bosome who now was his Nurse the second time her self and therefore he wanted not most Carefull looking too t is not for want of Physick or good Nurses that Men are cast away or lost as some too often speak but where ever they be and whatever help they do enjoy whom Death comes for he will not go without them but will force them out of the most Skilfull Faithfull Painfull Carefull Loving and Tender hands and all the Strongest Guards which those can set about them Thus have you seen the Herse passe by and heard its Scutcheons Blazoned wee 'l view the train of mourners with a quicker glance And that deep mourner following next-the Beir is his Distressed Mother close-hooded with a Cloud of thick and blackest sorrow and over that a vayle of Love of Womans Love of Mothers Love of Mothers Love unto an Onely Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyss in func Palch the truest Mourning dress and over all a dark Vmbrella made of the Shaddow of Death supported by the fatal Sisters She 's the Chief Mourner not in Pomp and Cerimony but in deep Anguish and bitterness of Soul She brings him forth And this is the second time she Travells of him and no Travells so difficult as of dead Children he came from her Womb before but now and never untill now he comes from her Inmost Bowells St Luke 2.35 A Sword
's lay'd to rest with Honour and his Vnstain'd Ashes are shrined in immortall Vrns whose Gold no rust can cancker and which will Try and Vex the teeth of Time it self to injure and the most spitefull Malice dares nor attempt once to besmear his Marble Weep not He 's taken from an Evil World which is very full of sin and therefore cannot be void of sorrow Evasit omnia vitae incommoda Though he hath left some good Quis divinat an mors inviderit an consulucrit he hath escap't more evills and Death did consult his Ease and Safety more then Envy his Felicity With the wings of a Dove he is flown away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyff. and is out of the reach both of Temptation and Trouble and shall no more offend a Good God nor be offended by bad men He is taken from the Evil to come and shall not hear or see what may make our hearts to ake and our Eares to Tingle to hear the Relation of Si bene computes plus illi remissum quam ereptum Non miser quod amisit sed Beatus quod non desiderat If you reckon right you 'l find him gainer by his loss 'T is better not to need then to injoy whatever he hath left to be above them then to have them Weep not for he is not Extinguisht but Removed Non amissus sed praemissus He ceaseth not to be Ciprian but to be here The House indeed 's pull'd down in order to repairing and raysing up more glorious and splendid But the Inhabitant was neither crushed with its Ruines nor soyled with its dust The Bird the Angell flew away at the disturbance of the Nest And the Immortall Man made his escape when Death unlock't the Prison Doors The Spirit is return'd to God 'T is a good Observation one of the Ancients makes upon that passage of God's rewarding Job Chap. 42.10 The Lord gave Job twice as mâ—ch as he had before or as 't is in the Hebrew Adâ—ed all that had been unto Job unto the double for hâ— had Fourteen Thousand Sheep for his Seven Thousand and Six Thousand Camells for his Three Thousand Job 1.3 with 42.12 and a Thousand Yoake of Oxen and a Thousand Shee-Asses for Five Hundred of Each But He gave him but Seven Sons and Three Daughters the even Number which he had before Greg. Nyss Oratione fuâ—eb pro pulcheria in fine Compare Chap. 1 2. with Chap. 42.13 And he gives the reason of it because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He gave him twice as many Cattle as he had before but only the Even Number of his Children because they perish't not as did the Cattle though they dyed and so the Equal Number prov'd Double in Effect and Job had twice Ten Children half in another World and half in this at the same time though in so distant place I need not heap Arguments to prove the Souls Existence after Death St. Luke 12.4 St. Mat. 10.28.22.32 when Christ hath so plainly told you It cannot be killed And that He who is the God of the Living not of the Dead is still the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob who therefore do still live 1 King 17.21 The Prophet pray'd that the Childs Soul might return again into him not a new one be made for him And St. Paul speaks most expresly that when we are absent from the body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 and therefore desires to be dissolved that he may be with Christ Phil. 1.23 Which were a most absur'd Argument if the Soul should bear the Body company in dying And the Souls under the Altar call for vengeance against them who shed their blood De consolatione ad Marti Cap. 24. Seneca could tell disconsolate Mercia Imago duntaxat Filii tui periit Effigies non similima ipse quidem aeternus meliorisque nunc Status est despoliatus oneribus alienis sibi relictus The Image only of thy Son is perished and the Picture which was not very like him neither is defac'd But he himself is Eternall in a better state eas'd of his uneasie burden and now at freedom to injoy himself Arguments for the Souls imortality and Existence after death And if I may suggest an Argument or Two It would be a Chasma and Hiatus in Nature if some Creatures being wholly Immortall others wholly mortall there were not one made up of both Fibula utriusque mundi the Button and the Buckle of both Worlds which knits and clasps them into one Connubium visibilis invisibilis The Beast and Angell mixt into one which makes a medium betwixt both and containeth both Doth the Image of the King Perpetuate his Coyne and render it Treasonable to Melt it down And shall not Gods Image much more preserve what that is stamp't upon from perishing It acts without the body and above it here that is an Earnest it can be without it afterwards It is a Spirit consists not of Contrarie's of Corruptible of Self-destoying Principles therefore abides for Ever Hath Vast and Everlasting Expectations which Nature would never have imprest if they had been in vaine Lastly consent of Nations Seals to this Truth These if neither most nor best are such as lay uppermost amongst my sudden thoughts and may suffice Weep not for He shall Rise again Non solum representata sed expectata resurrectio luctum nobis minuere debet ob mortuos Grotius He shall not continue Death's Everlasting Captive or the Graves Eternall Prisoner Thy Husband Son and Friend is but asleep he shall do well and wake The Grave hath been forc't and broken up and our True Sampson hath carried away the Gates the Bars and Posts of this Philistian Gaza O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory And when that glorious Morn draws back the Curtains and dispells the Night then shall he wake Refresh't and Rise and Dress himself and be re-married to his Flesh Each Mornings Sun each Summers Verdure is a loud instance and presage of this both Testaments the Old and New confirm it as well in Examples as Predictions Christ is risen as a Man to shew 't is possible as an head to assure 't is certain And God is Just therefore the dead must Rise that what hath been so much a amiss in this Life may be amended and better ordered in the Next where it shall be Bonis Benè Malis Malè They that need more to satisfie their reason or confirm their Faith let them consult the 1 Cor. 15. Chap. at their leisure where they shall find good measure Prest and Heapt and Running over Illud te non minimum adjurerit si cogitaveris nihil profiturum dolorem tuum nec illi nec tibi percamus lachrimis nihil proficientibus Sen. Weep not Your sorrows now are fruitless wherefore should I fast Now he is dead can I bring him back again Was
the wise Argument of Holy David 2 Sam. 12.23 Could you weep Aquafortis your tears would not dissolve the chains of Death Si fletibus fata vincuntur eat omnis inter luctus dies sed si nullis planctibus defuncta revocantur desinat dolor qui perit Was the grave Council of the Sage Moralistâ— let Reason master Passion and spare those Tears you know are Fruitless and but spent in vain Weep not Tears may hurt you though they bring him no help 2 Cor. 7.10 and kill your selves though they 'l not quicken him The sorrow of the World worketh Death Facilius nos illi dolor adjiciet quam illum nobis reducet Too many tears reproach you both Him as if he needed them and dyed like Absolom whose Body onely he resembled not his Manners Mind or End Your selves for their Excess no less upbraids your Manhood then their defect would have reproached your Humanity Non sentire dolorem non est hominis non ferre non est viri Yea your Patience Faith and Christianity as if you sorrowed like those who have no hope Weep not Aâ— hac te infamia vindica ne videatur plus apud te valere unus dolor quam tam multa Solatia Least you provoke the Lord to Multiply his stripes as Children often suffer more for sullingness and sobbing then for the first occasion of Correction take heed you forfeit not the mercies which are left Weep not For 't is the Work of God Lev. 10.3 Psal 39.9 Aaron held his peace in a case more difficult and David was dumb with silence because God did it 1 Sam. 3.13 and Good Eli thus submitted 'T is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good He that hath Ruled the World now near Six Thousand Years and never yet committed over sight or errour guided this blow He call'd him back Iniquus est qui muneris sui arbitrium danti non relinquit avidus qui non lucri loco habet quod accepit sed damni quod reddidit Ingratus qui injuriam vocat finem voluptatis Senec. who gave him and had more Right and Title to him then a Wife or Mother and they too ungratefully forget God and themselves who reckon it an Injury for him to take his Own Gods absolute and Indisputable Sovereignty his Infallible and un-erring Wisdome and his constant and faithfull Goodness should at least make us lay our hand upon our heart and mouth that we may neither speak nor think amiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyss of what he doth Knowing that he doth all things well But rather say with Holy Job The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away as it pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass blessed be the Name of the Lord. But because sorrow is very querulous witty to afflict it self and pregnant â—f Arguments to aggravate its burdens And he saith little to the purpose talk he never so much who takes not the Mourners Tears and Sighs from their own Eyes and Lips and measures out returns proportionable Let us suppose we heard them as we have heard them thus complaining Objection First that he Dyed Young in the very Spring and Flower of his Age when all their Comforts were expected from him and these budding pregnant hopes are nip't and blasted and suffer a sad Abortion Nimis cito periit immaturus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answer I know the wound is tender and will not bear such handling therefore I shall not Answer so roughly as to say Optimum non nisci proximum quam citissime mori the sooner he dyed the better because the First best is not to be born the next best after that is to dye as soon as may be But I will refer you to what the Authour df the Book of Wisdome speaks concerning Enoch Honorable Age is not that which stands in length of time Chap. 4.8 nor that is measured by number of years Quicquid ad summum pervenit ad exitum properat Eripit se ausertque ex oculis perfecta virtus Nec ultimum tempus expâ—ctant quae in privio maturaerunt Indicium imminentis exitis Maturitas but Wisdome is the gray hair unto men and an unspotted life is Old Age. Speedily was he taken away least wickedness should alter his understanding or deceit beguile his soul He being made perfect in a short time fulfill'd a long time for his soul pleas'd the Lord therefore hasted he to take him away from amongst the Wicked and admit this be not the true Solomon yet He hath told us Eccl. 7.1.4.1 The day of Death is better then the day of ones Birth and again I praised the Dead which are already dead more then the Living which are yet alive He dyes not too soon who dyes in the time that God hath set and so dyed he and this should stay your hearts Job 7.1.14.5 Is there not an appointed time to man upon the Earth his days are determin'd the Number of his Months is with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass and the Phylosopher could see this Nemo nimis cito moritur qui victurus Soluitur quod culque promissum est Habebit quisque quaetum diis Primus ascripsit Ser diutius quam vixit non fuit sixus est cuique terminus manebit semper ubi positus est No man dyes too soon because no man hath less of life then was design'd and promist from the first And because Examples of the like sufferings soften those stroaks which are most pungent when they are conceiv'd least common and Esteemed Singular Take these few Instances in a Case where multitude hath made our choyce more difficult Thus dyed Blest Abell the First that ever dyed and Consecrated Early Death Thus the Good Son of that Bad Father Jeroboam Thus dyed the Holy Josiah Octavia Livia altera soror Augusti altera uxor amiserunt filios juvenes utraque spe futuri principis certa Octavia Marcellum Livia Drusum like whom was none in Zeal for God Thus dyed Marcellus and Drusus successively both Heirs Apparent to Augustus Caesar and the Worlds Empire Thus dyed sweet Titus Deliciae generis humani the Darling and Delights of Man-kind Thus dyed that Glory of the Roman Caesar Alexander Severus Paganus Christianizans and Happy had it been for Nero had he dyed so and his Quinquennium and his Life had had the same Period and the kinder hand of Death had drawn a preventing Vayle after the Glory of those rare beginnings Quam multis diutius vixisse nocuerit to cover the Reproach of what succeeded in the Obscurities of Everlasting Night But to come nearer home So dyed that Miracle of Grace and Greatness Edward the sixt So dyed Prince Henry le boon le grand So dyed of Later Date the much Admired Young Lord Hastings and that Early Confessour Son of the Royal Martyr the thrice Illustrious Duke of