of our deceased friends unto the Grave we do not lay up these precious Reliques in the Wardrobe of the Earth as Carkasses lost and perished but as having in them a seed of Eternity in sure and certain hope of a Resurrection to Eternal Life this is to bury Christianly the hope of the Resurrection being the proper hope of Christians Vid. August de Civit. Dei lib. 1. c. 13. Now this hope is grounded upon Christ's Resurrection who is our Resurrection and Life John 11.25 He is Primogenitus mortuorum Colos 1.18 As he rose in se so he rose Pro aliis As an Angel proclaimed at his Grave Resurrexit non est hic Mat. 28.6 So from his Resurrection we have added on our Tomb-stones to Hic jacet this happy clause Spe Resurgendi What is gone before in the Head shall follow in the Members if the Head be above there is hope for the whole Body if the Root have Life the Branches shall not long be without Christ the first fruits being restored to life all the rest of the dead who die in him are in him entitled to the same hope Rubrick Then shall be said or sung Note This following is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant Hymn to be sung by Priest and People or said by the Priest alone to show our expressions of joy over our deceased friends whereby we do in a holy valour laugh at death I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their labours Note This place of Scripture is primarily applied to the great Trials and Persecutions which were then to fall upon the Church within a short time which should be so great that they should be counted happy who were well dead before and were gone to enjoy their reward of peace and bliss being taken away from the Earth before such combats and storms as these should fall The holy Divine accounts those happiest who should die soonest and be taken out of this life from having their parts in the evil to come Isay 57.1 So upon mention of oppressors and strength on their side and the no comforter the Preacher tells us that he praised the dead which are already dead Eccles 4.1 2. And to this belongs the answer of the Spirit in the words following they shall have rest from their labours that is from those Persecutions which attend them here and which only death can put an end to But our Church very fitly applies it to all the Saints and Servants of God departing this life as finishing their warfare and going out of the World to receive the reward both of their Christian combat and conquest Rubrick Then the Priest shall say Note Here the Priest is Vox Populi the Peoples Mouth to God-ward Luk. 18.13 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Father Mat. 15.22 Christ have mercy upon us To God the Son Mark 10.48 Lord have mercy upon us To God the Holy Ghost Note This is thrice repeated to shew our faith in the Trinity This was called the lesser Litany and was of very early usage in Church Offices Clem. constit lib. 8. cap. 5. 6. Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Our Father Great in our Creation Good in our Redemption Rich in Goodness and good in the riches of thy mercy sweet in love and slow to wrath willing to hear us for our Father able to help us for in Heaven Which art in Heaven The Glass of Eternity the Crown of Felicity the Treasure of all Complacency In Heaven Eminenter chiefly there but not only there in Heaven the Throne of thy Glory the Place of thy Majesty teaching us both whither to direct our Prayers and where to setle our affections when we pray Hallowed be thy Name in us by us upon us thy Kingdom come That it may be as Hony in the Mouth Melody in the Ear Jubily in the heart as Holiness is chief in Thee so let it be chief in our account and esteem of Thee May thy Name of Father be so hallowed in us and by us in our words lives and actions that we may deserve the title of Sons Thy Kingdom come Thy Kingdom of Grace come to us that we may come to thy Kingdom of Glory Thy Kingdom come that the Kingdom of Sin Satan and Death may be destroyed Thy Kingdom of Power to defend us Thy Kingdom of Grace to Sanctifie us Thy Kingdom of Glory to establish us in all bliss and happiness We are in this World but thy Kingdom is not of this World call us out of the one into the other Here thy Kingdom is begun in us by grace hereafter it must be perfected in us by glory Here is truth mixed with error here is joy mixed with grief here is tranquility mixed with trouble Here thy Kingdom thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven hath many enemies who seek the division of it labour the ruine of it malice the glory of it though avert it they may evert it they cannot The gates of Hell cannot prevail against the gates of Sion nor the kingdom of Satan against the Kingdom of Christ But O Lord let it come in its power and full glory that there may be in it Truth not mixed with errour Joy not mixed with sorrow Peace without trouble Glory without shame and a Kingdom so setled it upon us and we in it that there may be no more fear of losing it Thy will be done c. Thy will not ours be done in us and by us Freely without coaction fully without imperfection faithfully without fraud or hypocrisie In us that is in us men as it is done in Heaven that is in and by the holy Angels So that we may love those things which thou lovest hate those things which thou hatest shun those things which thou forbidest and do those things which thou commandest Give us this day and suffer those things with patience which thou art pleased in thy wise providence to inflict upon us Give us this day c. Give for we cannot have it except thou give it Dicimus da nobis ne putetur esse a nobis We are taught to ask it of God to shew that we have it not of our selves Us thou teacheth us that we are not to pray for our selves alone but that we are to seek the good one of another Pro se orat necessitas pro aliis charitas This day Day is here taken for life so long as we live so long shall we stand in need of God's givings and may say this Prayer Give us c. This day should teach us moderation in the pursuit of earthly things They are Utenda not Fruenda things to use not to enjoy Like Israel's Manna we are to feed upon them only till we come to the borders of our Canaan This life is Via the way Daily bread is
Tertullian is very plain and full Vid. Melanct. in Evangel domin in loc commun And Mr. Calvin is very express That Christ alone is enter'd into the Sanctuary of Heaven and that he presents unto God the Prayers of the People who remain in a remoter Court till the end of the World Instit lib. 3. c. 20. Sect. 20. lib. 3. cap. 25. sect 6. in Luc. cap. 16. vers 22. vid. Marlorat vid. Calvin lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 1 Pet. 3.19 2 Pet. 2.4 Luc. 23.43 Mat. 8. Genes 5. de raptu Enochi Job 14. Philip. 1.6 2 Cor. 5.1 2 Cor. 12.13 Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. sect 12. in Catechism In all which places he will not define or determine any thing in terminis only holds as we do that they are in bliss but shall not have their perfect consummation and bliss till the Resurrection and Day of Doom The Collect. O merciful God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believeth shall live though he die and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally Joh. 11.25 26. who also hath taught us by his holy Apostle St. Paul not to be sorry as Men without hope for them that sleep in him 1 Thes 4.13 14. We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness Rom. 6.3 4. 1 Cor. 15.34 That when we shall depart this life we may rest in him as our hope is this our _____ doth and that at the general Resurrection in the last day we may be found acceptable in thy sight and receive that blessing which thy well beloved Son shall then pronounce to all that love and fear Thee saying Come ye blessed Children of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World Mat. 25.34 Grant this we beseech thee O merciful Father through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer Amen Note This Collect sums up all the remarkableness of the Burial Office in a short devout prayer and brings all home in pious application Herein we declare our hope concerning all who depart this life in the bosom of the Church for so long as we are in the bosome of the Church we are in the state of pardon however if we are sometimes mistaken in our hope as to particulars yet it is ever a testimony of our charity It is Error amoris in case it happen at any time to be an errour 2 Cor. 13.14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all ever more Amen Viz. The charity of God the Son the love of God the Father and the bounty or liberal effusion of the graces of God's Holy Spirit be in us with us and upon us now and ever Amen POSTSCRIPT Christian Reader IN the first place I am to desire thee to have so much charity for our reviving Mother the Church of England as not to think her any way addicted to an affected singularity in her prescribed Office for the Burial of her dying Children for as in her other Offices so in this she holds exact conformity with her other Sisters the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas so far as they may be permitted to hold conformity with her Vid. Mr. Durel Touching the conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Church of England pag. 34. sect 38. pag. 48. sect 60. Besides take notice of the words of the most judicious Hooker Take away saith he these prayers praises and holy Lessons which were ordained at Burials to shew the peculiar hope of the Church touching the Resurrection of the dead and in the manner of the dumb Funerals what one thing is there whereby the World may perceive that we are Christians Hook Eccles Pol. lib. 5. sect 75. Some few Rites more I shall add observed at Funerals together with their Reasons annexed only to give satisfaction to those better sort of weak Christians who quarrel at their use more out of tenderness of conscience than out of turbulency or any contentious spirit as for such who are contentiously given who are ill-willers to Sion who are enemies to the peace of the Church who delight in nothing but dreadful confusions and make it a great part of their Religion to quarrel the ancient practises of the Church and just Orders of Superiours I leave them to the severest execution of the Laws of the Land and the power of those who are invested with Jurisdiction to punish them as schismatical and seditious Persons and as the nature of their offence shall deserve and truly I think Superiours may be blamed for their indulgence in such cases as well as for their severity Our Church will never be at peace and our State never at quiet from the working of some Mens spirits and intemperate zeal Si vitiis Principum irasci liceat insidiari bonitati But enough of this I proceed now to speak of the few other Rites rather practised at Funerals than by Law or Canon prescribed and to account for them with what brevity and perspicuity I can 1. The ringing of the Passing-bel or Soul-bell as we call it is not intended to help the passage of the Soul when departed out of the Body but only to stir up devout Christians to pray for its happy passage out of its Body and to move those who are living to make reflexions upon their own mortality and seriously to consider of their later end This Bell is like St. Paul's Trumpet 1 Cor. 14.8 which gives such a certain sound that all within the hearing of it may prepare themselves to the Battel which is to be fought in the Field of Death 2. It was an ancient custom and is still practised to bury the Dead with their Faces turning towards the East to shew that they were as sure of an uprise as the Sun that comes forth of his Eastern Chamber and that they lie waiting for that Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 who shall at the last day return with his healing Wings and quicken and revive all the dead Bodies of his Servants by his healing and life-giving influence when he comes with his Prodi Lazare or Surge qui dormis then the Graves shall set open their Marble Doors and restore their deposita When the Arch-Angel shall sound the Trump of Collection then the scattered bones of Gods Saints shall be gathered together with sinews and those sinews incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered over with skin all mortality being purged away and by a new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Pythagoras never dreamed of the same Soul shall re-enter the same Body These and the like Ceremonies the Church hath practised in her Funerals to be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so many significant emblems to strengthen and confirm her living Children in the hopes of a joyful resurrection 3. It was an
own strength but in a full reliance on thine I will never talk of any security but that which I hold by thy free mercy and fidelity by which thou art obliged to perform thy promise and never to forsake those who depend on Thee Vers 17. Blessed God I have had experience of thy wonderful acts of power and goodness towards me from the first part of mine Age and I have made declaration of them accordingly Vers 18. Do not now with-draw from me in my declining Years wherein I most stand in need of thy support but afford me matter of continual acknowledgements that I may proclaim thy attributes to many more than yet I have done and live to be an instrument of bringing in those to thy service who are not yet born Vers 19. How infinitely great O Lord is thy bounty How glorious are thy works of power and goodness There is none that can in the least be compared with thee Vers 20. Thou hast suffred me to fall into great afflictions and distresses yet I doubt not either of thy powâ—r or will to restore me again and to rescue me out of the lowest and most disconsolate state Vers 21. Thou canst return upon me in mercy and bring more comforts than thou tookest away by turning thy face from me Vers 22. For this and all thy rich mercies will I in most solemn manner exalt and â—â—aise thy Name O thou great and only God of Heaven who thus graciously revealest thy self to thy People Vers 23. And this shall be to me the most joyful imployment in the World joy to my tongue being honoured to be the instrument of thy praises joy to my very life being rescued by thee from such present dangers Vers 24. And as it shall be the most pleasant so the most constant imployment of my life to declare thy mercy and the performance of all thy good promises to me in securing me from so great a danger and sending me so gracious a deliverance For which and for all Glory be to the Father c. Halleluiah Adding this O Saviour of the World who by thy Cross c. John 3.17 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Then shall the Minister say The Almighty Lord c. Psal 18.1 Philip. 3.10 11. Act. 4.12 And after that shall say Unto God's gracious mercy and protection c. Numb 6.24 25 26. Note Here are now added to this Office four admirable Prayers composed in the very Scripture-phrase 1. For a sick Child 2. For a sick Person when there appeareth small hope of recovery 3. For a sick Person at the point of departure 4. For Persons troubled in mind or in conscience All which Prayers may with a very little pains taking be clearly and almost verbatim extracted out of the Scriptures in all which I cannot enough admire as the Churches prudence in their composure so also her care in making so necessary a provision for all Persons who are any ways grieved or afflicted The Communion of the Sick Rubrick For as much as all mortal Men be subject c. Note The Communion is to be received by every Parishioner at the least thrice a Year whereof the Feast of Easter to be one Can. 21. Eccles Anglican The administration of this Sacrament to Christians in extremis was reputed by the Primitive Fathers a very necessary dispensation Nicen. Can. 13. cod Eccl. univers so necessary that they indulged it in that extremity to such as were excommunicated by the censures of the Church Concil 1. Nicen. Can. 13. Bucer saith this Office is framed according to the Rule of Holy Scripture Censur pag. 487. The Argentine or Strasburgh exiles had in their Liturgy an Office intitled De Eucharistia ministranda aegrotis The Communion for the Sick is used in most reformed Churches when any sick Person desireth it and the same provision is made for a number to Communicate as is here made in our Rubrick Vid. Durel Conformity of other reformed Churches with the Reformed Churches of England pag. 49. Mr. Calvin pleads very much for it Epist. 361.363 This is Ultimum Viaticum Vid. Dr. Sparrow Rational pag. 333 334 c. It is to be administred to all dying Persons desiring it in case they are found fit to receive it Vid. Cyprian Epist. 54. The Sacrament is a great defensative in the last Hour when the Devil is doing his last and worst Vid. Concil 4. Carthag Can. 76 78. Concil Auras Can. 3. Concil Vas 2. c. 2. See more in Dr. Sparrow's Rationale The Collect. Almighty ever-living God Maker of Man-kind c. Note This Collect or short Prayer is fitted to this Office and grounded upon Heb. 12.5 6 7 8. Pro. 3.11 12. 1 Thes 5.23 The Epistle Heb. 12.5 6. Paraphrase My Son kick not at God's punishments but make that use of them for which they are sent neither be discouraged and disheartned by them For it is an effect in God of Paternal love that on his beloved Children and Servants he inflicts punishments for their farther amendment and it is an argument of his approving them for his own that he dealeth thus sharply with them The Gospel John 5.24 Paraphrase This is so perfectly the will of God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that I must tell you that if you believe in Christ and entertain his Doctrine as the message of God thereon depends your Eternal well-being by this means you shall escape Eternal Death and attain Eternal Life Rubrick After which the Priest shall procéed c. Note What follows are partly Rules and Directions how and in what order the Minister is to proceed in the Communion Office for the Sick For Ministers who are to bring the People to a Rule should keep themselves to an established Rule and not go some one way some another Partly they are comfortable applications to be made to the sick Person in case by reason of some just impediments the Sacrament cannot be administred in that extremity in such a case the Minister is to tell the sick Person that if he be a sincere Disciple of Christ so believing the Doctrin of Christ as to obey it also embracing all his promises upon the same terms as they are made not only assenting to the truth of them but undertaking the performance of the conditions of them too If he transcribe Christ's Doctrin and Example so as that both may have an influence upon his life if he sincerely and unfeignedly repent of his sins and depend upon Christ and him only for salvation resigning up himself wholly to him This is undoubtedly to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and to drink his blood this is to be a member of Christ and to be interested in that spiritual and endless life which Christ came to bestow upon all true believers and godly livers He who departs the world with these assurances shall receive no prejudice as to his future estate however it may so happen as to die without receiving the
this pompous manner before the Corps saying or singing these places of Scripture to note the Christians Triumph over Death and to shew that Christ by his Death and Resurrection hath taken away the sting from Death and Victory from the Grave an expression 1 Cor. 15.55 borrowed from the Heathen Romans who used to paint Victory whom they termed a Goddess in their Ensigns and Banners The like custom we read observed by the Ancients Hieron Ep. 30. ad Ocean de Fabiola Chrysost Homil. 4. in Hebraeos What mean saith the last of these Authors the bright burning Torches Do we not follow the dead like Champions These Followers are the Friends of the deceased and the People not the Priest and Clerks for it was the general voice among the ancients of those who followed their friends to the Grave Vale nos te ordine sequemur hence came the word exequiae a sequendo from following after and hence proceeded the custom which we stil retain to have the Corps carried before and they who attend it to go behind thereby figuring and putting them in mind that they must all one day follow the same way Una semel calcanda via lethi Hodie mihi cras tibi now is my turn to morrow thine But the Father goes on What mean the Hymns do we not thereby glorify God for that he hath crowned our departed Brother that he hath freed him from labours that he hath with himself freed him from fear All these are expressions of joy whereby we do in a holy valour laugh at death Chrys Now what is this but to shew our selves truly Christian that we fasten not the anchor of our hopes here below that we build not our felicities here upon a sandy foundation in the dirt and dust Inter pulices culices tineas araneas vermes whereas should we go with dejected and down-cast looks as Men without hope Mortem Christi qua mors superata est calumniamur we should cast a blemish of disgrace upon the death of Christ who hath by his death conquered death for us we should manifest our selves to be so doubtful as to fasten a lie upon Christ's Resurrection and so make his Cross Passion and Triumphant Resurrection of none effect in so much that very Heathens would scoff at us and say as once they did which brought the use of the Cross into Baptism where is the crucified God in whom ye trust if he hath conquer'd death Why do not ye Christians contemn it Why glory ye in his Passion who resent the death of your friends with so much impatience Your sadness confutes the Triumph of his Resurrection certainly he is in the Grave stil he is not risen neither hath he taken the sting from the Prince of Terrors as ye say seeing the death of a friend and relation appears thus terrible to you Now to prevent the Objections of these Heathens we bring the Bodies of Christians to the ground in this Triumphant manner the Priest who is Christs Deputy here on Earth going before saying or singing I am the Resurrection and the Life saith the Lord c. The other Clerks and subordinate Ministers where so many are saying after as representing the dead Party I know that my Redeemer liveth c. Rubrick After they are come into the Church shall be read one or both of these Psalms following Psal 39. Psal 90. Note These Psalms are admirably chosen by the prudent care of our Mother the Church of England to fit and prepare all her Children living in the bosom of her for the time of their dissolution and departure out of this life that they may like the wise Virgins in the Gospel have Lamps always in their hands and Oyl in their Lamps and be in a readiness to go forth to meet Him when ever the Bridegroom of Souls shall come The Psalms set before us the certainty of death and the shortness of life as also many more excellent and seasonable Lessons touching our Mortality which I shall explain in this following Paraphrase Paraphrase Note This Psalm was composed by David upon the scandal he took at the prosperity of the wicked whilst himself was in misery it sets before us the vanity of all worldly things to be as a motive to repress all impatience in us upon any adversity whatsoever which may befall us he commended it to Jeduthun a skilful Musitian and Prefect of his Musick Psal 39. Verse 1. I have stedfastly resolved within my self to set a very strict guard over my self especially over my tongue which in time of affliction and calamity is most provoked to utter things which are not fit to be spoken by Persons who have a tender regard to indear the reputation of their Religion So oft as I see my adversaries and consider in what a prosperous state they are it concerns me to keep my tongue well guarded that I do not break out into intemperate and passionate speeches Vers 2. Therefore I have resolved that when ever I see them or hear others discourse of them I will keep perfect silence neither using words to vindicate mine own innocence or to blame their injurious dealings with me Yet after all when I thus bridled my tongue suppressed my sorrow restrained my passion I did by this Method of mine but increase my sorrow and passion so much the more as the Water-course stopt becomes the more raging and fire pent in is the more violent to make an out burst Vers 3. So that while I was in this condition the fire of my passion was heightned into such a degree of heat that it flamed out and at last found a vent towards Heaven so that in all humility I made my mone to God and thus addressed my self unto him Vers 4. Lord if it be thy will and pleasure that I should live no longer in this world to discharge that Office whereunto thou hast called me if my sins have so far provoked Thee as to think me unfit to be any longer imployed honoured and owned by Thee here yet be pleased to grant me this request which is that thou wouldst reveal unto me what I must expect more in this world and that thou wouldst bestow upon me thy grace to fit and prepare my self for it what ever it is Vers 5. I know my life is very short a meer nothing compared to thy Eternity and this is not my state only but the state of all Men living in the World who are all as frail mortal and almost as short-liv'd as the meanest Creature There is not that frailty and fadingness in any Creature which is not to be found in Man Vers 6. The Life of Man is but as a Picture shadow or dream of Life it vanisheth in a moment and when we are gone hence we have no power over those riches which we have anxiously scraped together here and must leave behind us when we have run through all the labours of acquisition and have nothing visible to interpose betwixt
Peter's Sermon did and work compunction upon our Spirits Will it not bring the guilt of our sins to our Remembrance Act. 2.37 2 Cor. 5.19 and make us as the Jews once did passionately sue to those Ministers to whom Christ hath committed the word of reconciliation that they would administer a seasonable word of comfort to us and give us directions what to do in such a case as this I know the Scripture Rule is Is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church Jam. 5.14 That is seek out to some spiritual Person who is over the Congregation that he may contribute his assistance afford the sick man his best directions pray to God with him and for him that God would pardon his sins asswage his pain remove the disease restore him to his former health and the like this being a duty injoyned would not be omitted Better then in time of sickness than not at all but better in time of health I think than in time of sickness In the midst of life we are in death therefore in the midst of life we should prepare for death whether sick or well that message to Hezekiah concerns us all Set thine house in order Isay 38.1 There is a time when all Men will be glad to seek God and that is Cum occiderit when he lays any scourge or sickness upon us when he slew them then they sought him and turned them early and enquired after God Psal 78.34 Even they who kept not the Covenant of God before Vers 10. who forgot his works Vers 11. who siâ—ned provoked him tempted him in their heart and spake against him Vers 17 18 19. who neither believed in him nor trusted in his salvation Vers 22. but spent their Days in vanity and their Years in turmoil in the World Vers 33. never thinking upon God at all in a pinch of danger and extremity when he slew them did all turn seekers to find help from the same hand which hurt and wounded them This is the very Atheists time and the time of the most debauched Person in the World to seek God in this is the time which brought home the Prodigal they who loose him in time of health will be glad to seek and sue to him in time of sickness Therefore let me recommend to you another time when ye will be more certain and sure to find him because it is God's acceptable time and that is in time of health when your Mountain is strong your Hedge and Fence about you safe and untoucht when you have other dependencies yet then to slight them all and to depend upon God that 's the time which pleases him Now now saith Solomon in the days of thy youth in thy prosperity before the evil days come Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creatour However our memory is placed in the hinder part of the Head yet we must not defer our remembring to the hindermost part of our Life I know it is the desire of all Men when they are going out of the World to have a secure Passport and to get as much an assurance of their happiness and future estate as can be Now give me leave to be plain with you I can give you no better assurance then what the Scripture affords God's word is the best security If ye look for an assurance of faith Faith is but the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 If ye look for an assurance of hope Heb. 6.11 Hope carries us to that which is within the Vail Heb. 6.19 which we hope for but cannot see if ye look for an assurance in that which we call Election I know the foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth who are his Yet have a care Let every one who nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 Make your calling and Election sure How is that by giving all diligence to add to your faith vertue to vertue knowledge to knowledg temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness to godliness brotherly kindness to brotherly kindness charity for if ye do these things ye shall never fall 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9 10. We can be no further assur'd of our Salvation by Christ than we can be secur'd of our being in Christ and conforming our lives to the Christian Rules The security we can have in this present state of grace may not be imagined to be the same with that we shal have in the state of glory It is only the Saints departed who have enter'd the Ark of Heaven can sing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Apostle Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15.54 We that are below in this Church militant must be ever upon our Watch saying with holy Job All the days of my appointed time or warfare here on earth will I wait till my change come Job 14.14 And our change will come sooner or later The wheel of nature Jam. 3.6 is ever turning and turning some off into the dust every day like Peter and John we are continually running one after another to the Sepulchre The best Antidote I can prescribe unto you I will not say against Death but against the terror of it that Death may loose its sting and the Prince of Terrors may not be terrible is this to look upon your selves all your life time if of the number of the predestinate to be predestinate to be conformed to the Image of Christ Rom. 8.29 To live as he lived to walk as he walked to make his spirit your guide his word your rule his life your example In all Scripture the holy Spirit of God hath revealed unto us but one way of preparing for death and securing our future estate which is by an holy life Faith may shew us Heaven as Moses saw the Land of Canaan at a distance but it is holy life and an habitual sanctity must land us there The Text I have now pitched upon may settle us upon this bottom if we will but seriously weigh and consider of the two Propositions which are indeed two undeniable Doctrines arising out of it 1. That all men must die 2. That all Men after death must come to Judgment As the Tree falls so it lies and as Death leaves us so Judgment will certainly find us 1. All Men must die This is so unquestionable a verity that I never yet heard or read of any that durst offer at a confutation of this Proposition Jews Heathens Turks and Tartars all confess it and have in one kind or other their Justa or Funeral rites their Officia postremi muneris which they perform at the Funerals of their dead This statute of dying was made in Paradise Gen. 3.19 not yet repeal'd Debemur morti nos nostraque to die is as good a debt as any the world knows for the levying of which there is an extent upon all Man-kind Rom. 5.12 This mortal must