shall be a generall Resurrection and this is Spes in Urnâ Hope in the Grave Thirdly we ought daily to Prepare for Death and to live in continuall Expectation thereof and this is Viaticum in via Provision in the way First the Term of our life is appointed and die we must no avoyding hereof And that for these Reasons First it is GODS Will and Decree ver 5. His daies are determined the number of his moneths are with thee thou hast set his bounds that he cannot passe As he set bounds to the Sea hither shalt thou come and no further so thus long shalt thou live and no longer 39 Psal 5. Thou hast made my daies saith David as an hands breadth If GOD hath made them but an hands breadth who can make them longer Pilate would not alter his Writing 19 Joh. 22. Nor GOD his Decree that is gone out It was the first Doctrine preached to man after his Fall 3 Gen. 19. Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Not by any necessity of his created Nature but because he finned GOD threatneth to make his End as base as his Beginning Die then we must Dance all in Deaths Ring sooner or later we shall be cut downe by the Axe of Death to be Fuell for Burning or Timber for Building to become a cursed Brand in Satans Furnace or a blessed Beam in CHRISTS Palace GOD hath passed upon Adams Posterite this sentence of Temporall Condemnation Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne All of us without some extraordinary Dispensation as that of Enoch and Elias was are liable to the same 5 Gen. 24. 2 Kings 2.11 Secondly through the contagion of originall Sinne Sinne is the wicket that let Death into the World 5 Rom. 12. As by one man Sinne entred into the World and Death by Sinne and so Death passed upon all men for all have sinned Sinne hath given Death much advantage and victory over humane nature that the kernell of a Raison yea a haire in Milk hath choaked and killed a man as it did Anacreon * Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 12. and Fabius the Romane and layd him lower then the beasts of the earth for they lie upon the ground while he is layd under it Thirdly from the Matter whereof the body of man consists The originall of mans body is Dust 2 Gen. 7. Homo ab humo Not any durable matter as Marble and Rocks against which the Winds blowing and the Waves beating cannot prevaile 7 Mat. 25. but like Dust before the Wind 18 Psal 42. 4 Iob. 19. Wee dwell in houses of clay whose foundations are in the dust i. e. in mortall bodies subject to corruption which are crushed before the Moth sooner and with lesse labour then the Moth is crushed which is killed onely with a little touch 2 Corinth 5.1 The Apostle calls it an Earthly house or Tabernacle For wee know that if our Earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved c. St. Paul who was a * 18 Acts 3. St. Paul exercised a handy-craft wrought with Aquila whose Trade was to make Tents of skins then much in use in those hot countries view Anot. on the Acts Tent-maker elegantly compareth our body to a Tent and that in many regards First a Tent or Tabernacle is easily raised up and as easily taken down and spoyled so is our body by sicknesse or outward violence come but one ill night one little touch of a Feaver some paine in the Side or imperfection in the Lungs come the stone in the Bladder Abijt illa universa Scaena all the Stage vanisheth Secondly a Tent is a moveable House or Habitation so are our Bodies which are now like Tents pitched upon the Earth but shall be hereafter transported into Heaven Thirdly a Tent is foule without and soild with Wind and Weather so the Body and Outside of man is but vile and contemptible subject to blasts and stormes exposed to all the violence of Nature Now that I may the better rivet the Truth into your Minds and Memories consider with me that the walke of Death is Vniversall not some men die but all all that have breath must lose it and all that have life must leave it as the Woman of Tekoah told K. David 2 Sam. 14. cap. We must all dye you a Soveraigne and I a Subject you a Man and I a Woman We must needs die and be as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up againe Wee shall all be desperately lost I have seen an end of all perfection said Holy David 119 Psal 96. There is nothing so perfect on Earth but it hath an end David had a sight of this Happy are they which have Davids Eyes It concernes us to looke into this matter And GOD requires us to listen to the Proclamation of mans Mortality that he makes by his Prophet 40 Isaiah 6. * Quia per nativitatem viret in carne per juventutem candescit in flore per mortem aret in pulvere Greg. in Ps 5. Paenitent A Voice said cry And he said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodnesse the gracefulnesse the glory thereof is as the flawer of the field GOD would have the Prophet discover the Vanitie of all humane Excellency to cry it in the Eares of the People to make such a noyse that might rouze a man that were slumbring awake a man that were sleeping move a man that were musing so carefull is GOD that you should learne this Lesson For First no Eminency of Office or Dignity can priviledge thee though thou sittest in the Chaire of Earthly Dignity Death will pull thee thence 82 Psal 6. I sayd yee are * Nuncupativè non Substantivè Gods by Name not by Nature but yee shall dye like men No Title of Honour shall excuse you die you must and render an account as well as other men Wee have seen this Truth verified in our daies Hee that made the Earth of nothing can marre the greatest in a moment Hee bringeth Potentates to nothing and maketh the Iudges of the Earth as Vanity 40 Isa 23. Hee poureth contempt upon Princes sayes Job 12.21 And looseth the Girdle of the Strong i. e. For their VVickednesse and Tyrannie He causeth their People and Subjects to contemne them Secondly no Strength or Statelinesse of any Place or Palace can protect thee Xenoph. in Apolog. pro Socrat. Socrates would live no longer unlesse his Freinds could tell him of a place without the Territories of Athens where men never die And it was a pretty Answer of Hormisda the Persian Ambassadour to Constantius the Emperour demanding of him how he liked the Citie of Rome with the Amphitheatrum the Capitolium and other such rich Monuments as were shewed unto him In truth I thinke it the most glorious Citie in the World * Id tantum sibi placuisse quod didicis set ibi quoque homines mori Ammian Marcell
lib. 16. Sigon de Occid Imp. lib. 6. But this onely pleaseth me well that I see men die at Rome as elswhere So it may be said of all other Eminent Places and Renowned Cities from which Death cannot be excluded Enter it will upon thee either at thy Gates with full force or in at thy Windowes with great feare There is no possibility avoid it as the Prophet * 9 Jer. 20,21 Ieremiah from the LORD tells the Mourning VVoemen who were usually hired at great * 2 Chron. 35.25 Funeralls to Mourne and to make exquisite Lamentation Heare the Word of the Lord O yee Woemen and let your eare receive the word ef His mouth and teach your Daughters Wailing and every one her Neighbour Lamentation 21 ver For Death is come up into our Windowes and entred into our Palaces Our strongest places cannot keep it out Thirdly nor the height of Honour or Estimation can priviledge thee from the fatall Dart of Death The Rich mans Gold it cannot guard him the VVise mans VVit cannot ward him the Knowledge of Learned men cannot keep it out their Skill cannot save them nor the Arms and Trophies of Noblemen exempt them nor the * Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres Horat lib. 1. Od. 4. Guard of Kings deliver them Visuntur magni parva sepulchra Iovis * Paulus Jovius de vita Illustr Tamberlaine the Terrour of the VVorld dyed with three fits of an Ague And Saladine that that Mighty Pagan which wanne the Holy Land from the Christians in the height of his Pride and Ruffe in the midst of all his Pompe and Glory in the top of his Honours was surprised by Death and the Solemnitie he had at his Interment was onely this one carrying his Shirt or Shrowd one a Speare or Spade crying * G. Parad. in Heroicis Hae sunt reliquiae Victoris Orientis This is all that Great and Mighty Saladine the Conquerour of the East carrieth to his Grave You see then die we must thou canst not withdraw thy selfe from it no place can priviledge thee no power protect thee no strength defend thee GOD alone hath an eternall Being according to that expression of the Apostle 13 Heb. 8 IESUS CHRIST the same yesterday and to day and for ever an Incomprehensible Being an Independent Being GOD alone can say * 3. Ex. 14. I am that I am and will be what I have been Men may say nothing else but I am and shall not be I am to day a fresh and lusty creature perhaps to morrow smitten like Ionahs withered Gourd or Palmarist Ionah 3.7 To this agreeth the * Plutarch Lacedaemonian Song consisting of three parts The * Quondam alij nunc nos subitò crescentque minores QuoruÌ„ nos stirpem sata videre negant Elder sang We have been strong and are not now The Youth replied We shall be strong but are not yet The Middle-age sang We are now strong but shall not be All men must needs sing this note Now I shall further demonstrate this unto you And first from things above us secondly from things about us First look above you there you see the Sunne that glorious creature over you daily rising and setting the Moon monethly waxing and wayning the Stars shining and anon shutting What doth this but tell us hold out unto us that we who now rise must set who now wax must wayne who now shine and glitter must shortly shut and fall Secondly look about you * Vtque notus frondes ad terram dejicit imam post alias viridi prodâ—cunt verâ—ice sylvae sic gâ—…s humanum rursùs crescitque caditque Glauc apud hom In your feilds and gardens you see the Trees and Flowers now flourishing anon withered Doth it not teach us that we who now flourish must perish Looke to the Sea now flowing and filling high banks anon ebbing Doth it not teach us that our life which is now at full tide must be at a low ebb we must be emptied by Death 1. Consider the Apparell on your backs the Gloves on your hands the Shooes on your feet the Meat on your tables All teach and instruct us that these bodies of ours which are kept alive by the death of other creatures must at last yeeld to Death Consider the severall parts of your bodies 1. Your Eies every night dying in sleep doe shew that we at last must sleep in Death 2. The Haire and Nailes calling for poling and shaving tell us that the whole body must shortly be shav'd by Death 3. The Stomach still digesting our meat and craving for more sheweth the unsatiablenesse of the Grave which having eaten and digested our Freinds gapes for us and when it hath devoured us will hunger for them that must come after us 4. This very place sheweth we must die the action that we are about this last function of Charity to our deceased Brother that it will not be long ere our Freinds must meet here or elswhere to requite our kindnes by doing the like for us My Text tels us we shall die All things in this life make way for Death that she may triumphantly passe through the feild of this world over the carcasses of her slain Thus Death rules on Earth as Eternity in Heaven there all live here all die The Dominion of Death is Vniversall 'T is a Clock that alwaies strikes a Sword that alwaies executeth a Snare which alwaies entrapeth a Sea whereinto all Rivers run wherein all Ships suffer wrack a Paine which every one must endure a Tribute which every one must pay sooner or later thou must taste of Deaths cup even in the furthest and fairest path of Nature thou art not far from it and the day will shortly come when thou shalt live in the morning and at night be dead But I must looke into my second Doctrine namely there shall be a Resurrection a Restitution of the body from the Grave 'T is neither totall nor perpetuall It strikes upon the baser part the body is dead because of Sin Rom. 8.10 We shall live again none may deny it All the people of GOD have a holy perswasion of this Truth there is an impression in them of their Immortality this hath been a naile of the Sanctuary to keep them from desperate distractions to set them forward to Perfection to make them undaunted in the terrours of Death Iob was hereof perswaded * Job 19.24,25 I shall llve againe He was undauntedly assured hereof so assured that he would have it written and how Not in loose Papers but in a Book O that my words were written And not onely written but engraven and that with an Iron-pen in lead or in stone to endure not for a time onely but for ever for the solace and comfort of all the distressed Saints of God David in his distresse anchored in this Hold * 27 Ps 13. Verily I believe