Person He made a mourning I call 't an Action which may as well be term'd a Passion as a mourning so a Passion as he made it so an Action a passionate action or an active passion The internal grief of his minde and sorrow of his heart as an inward passion of his soul was voluntarily rais'd within him by resolved and continued thoughts of his Fathers death and at the same time the expression of that grief was willingly powred forth as what he understood did well become him We are not only to bewail our sins but all those miseries which proceed from them and therefore tears were not only lent us to declare Compunction but also to express Commiseration We reade our blessed Saviour twice did weep once for the sins of Ierusalem once for the death of Lazarus whom he loved Two eyes Nature bestow'd upon us though perfectly and distinctly we can see but with one at once and both are equally made the fountains of tears as we are sinners for Contrition as we are Brethren for Compassion When the first Martyrs bloud was shed for the Christian faith devout men carryed Steven to his burial and made great lamentation over him such were the tears of the Infant Church When Peter found Dorcas a woman full of good works and Almesdeeds dead all the Widows stood by him weeping Thus the first which died in Christianity were followed with solemn tears and it was a wise observation made by the Apostate Iulian That one of the the means to convert so many Heathens to our Religion was the care of the bodies and the solemnities alwayes used at the Funerals of the dead Thus far of the Action He made a mourning The occasion of this sadness is expressed in a word but must be considered in many more as being the principal concernment both of the Text and Time The mover of his passion the object of his grief the cause of his tears was his Father And he made a mourning for his Father This was so truly the occasion that it was the only cause that there can be no reason imaginable assigned why Ioseph should mourn but only because he had lost a Father Though he was aged to extremity though he was holy unto eminency though he was happy to eternity though no way disadvantagious by his death to any yet because dead and that a Father dead he made a mourning for him We usually say of ancient persons that they have already one foot in the grave and the rest of their life is nothing else but the bringing of these feet together Why then should we weep for the death of aged persons when it can be but the second part of their Funeral That sorrow seems to be but useless which is spent upon necessities and that grief irrational which would create impossibilities The daies of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow What reason then can we produce that the life of a man whom we esteem should be sorrow to himself and his death be grief to us Now Iacob gave this account of his age to Pharaoh when he came down to Egypt The daies of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years and he lived in the land seventeen years so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years This extremity of age had fastned him to his bed the perfect embleme and short forerunner of his grave The eyes of Israel were dim so that he could not see he was already in the shades of darkness Nay the time drew nigh saith Moses that Israel must die there was a natural necessity of his death an apparent impossibility of longer life and yet this consideration is no excuse to Ioseph but he made a mourning for his aged Father Secondly the death of the righteous is to be desired rather then lamented and it were a dishonour put upon Religion to think a pious man less happy dead then when he liv'd Weep not for me was the language of the immaculate Lamb when he went to a shameful and a painful death and why should he which yeelds up his soul with comfort leave his body to be covered with so much sorrow Those which live in impiety and depart in their iniquity they which have here provoked the wrath of God and goe hence with that wrath abiding on them as they could create nothing to their relations but sorrow in their life so must they necessarily increase it at their death But Iacob was a Patriarch of eminent and constant piety particularly and remarkably belov'd of God highly blessed by him and powerfully blessing in his name and yet when Iacob dieth Ioseph weepeth And he made a mourning for his pious Father Thirdly Death is nothing else but a change of a short and temporary for an unalterable and eternal condition From whence it followeth that those which dye in their sins from thence begin to feel those torments which shall never cease and therefore they leave behinde them a sad occasion of grief and sorrow to such as are apprehensive of the pains they feel If the Rich man in the Gospel were so careful of his surviving brethren and so concerned in their welfare if they had as well understood his sad and irreversible condition what floods of tears would they have shed for him who call'd so earnestly for a drop of water to cool his tongue But as for such as pass from hence into a place of rest and joy who change the miseries of this sinful world for the blessed presence of a good and gracious God weeping at their departure may seem improper and unkinde officiousness as 't were a sorrow for their happiness and envy at their felicity Now the soul of Iacob was certainly at rest and Ioseph sufficiently assured of his happiness He knew that his Father was heir of the same promise with Abraham for he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God he died in faith and imbraced the promises he confessed that he was a stranger on the earth and that he sought a better countrey that is an heavenly and therefore God had prepared for him a City and he was in the bosome of Abraham the place of felicity But the happiness of his soul is no excuse to Ioseph for the Funeral tears due at the interment of his body And he made a mourning for his happy Father Fourthly many persons expiring give too sad occasions of sorrow to their relations left behinde they which depend upon them whose subsistence liveth and dyeth and whose hopes are buried with them may goe to their graves with unfeigned tears lamenting not so much the departure of their friend as their own loss something they may weep for them and more for themselves But the death of Iacob was not of any such condition there could
no disadvantage arise from that to Ioseph no interest of his could suffer by it He had already blessed all his Sons and Ioseph principally there could be no more of heavenly favours expected from his prayers or prophesies Had he died before he laid his hands upon Ephraim and Menasseh had Ioseph and his Sons been absent when he blessed the rest he might have sadly mourned for the loss of his Father and of the Benediction If Esau lift up his voyce and wept because he was defeated of the blessing while Isaac lived Ioseph might well have made a mourning had he been prevented of the Benediction by an unexpected or a distant death But Iacob blessed them and with his blessing gave order for his burial and with that blessing and that order died And as his death was no way prejudicial to the spiritual so was it not at all disadvantageous to the temporal condition of his Son He suffered loss of no enjoyments by his Fathers death Iacob had lived long by the favour and the care of Ioseph his filial gratitude alone preserv'd his life but no such narrow thoughts abated the freeness of Ioseph's sorrow And he made a mourning for his Father If none of these considerations which work so powerfully on other persons did move this Mourner to express such sorrow what were the Motives then which caus'd so deep a sense what meditations wrought so powerfully on the heart of Ioseph I answer they were but two Mortality and Paternity the one supposed the other expressed in the text Iacob was the Father of Ioseph and that Father dead and therefore Ioseph mourned for him Mortality is a proper object to invite our pity and privation of life alone sufficient to move compassion in the living Weep for the dead saith the Son of Sirach for he hath lost the light If for no other reason yet because a man is dead and by death deprived of those comforts which those that live enjoy they which survive may providently bewail their future privation in his present loss Thus every Grave-stone bespeaks or expects a tear as if all those eyes which had not yet lost their light were to pay the tribute of their waters to the dead Sea This Fountain Nature never made in vain nor to be always sealed up that heart is rock which suffers it never to break forth and be it so yet if the rod of Moses strike an affliction sent from God shall force it Let us therefore be ready with our sorrowful expressions when we are invited by sad occasions especially when a Father who may command them calls for them as that Wise man did My Son let tears fall down over the dead And if paternal authority demands them at the death of others it is no filial duty which denyes them to attend upon a Fathers Funeral Ioseph a man of a gracious and a tender heart moved with common objects of compassion had a vulgar sorrow arising from the consideration of mortality Ioseph a Son full of high affection and of filial duty and respect was touched with a far more lively sense by the accession of paternity And he made a mourning for his Father he made a mourning for his Father which begat him for his Father which loved him for his Father which blessed him for his Father which had mourned for him for his Father which came down to dye with him First he made a mourning for his Father who begat him had there been no other but that naked relation it had carryed with it a sufficient obligation There is so great an union between the Parent and the Childe that it cannot break without a deep sensation He which hath any grateful apprehension of his own life received cannot chuse but sadly resent the loss of that life which gave it If the fear of the death of Croesus by a natural miracle could untie the tongue of his Son who never spake before that man must be miraculously unnatural the flood-gates of whose eyes are not open'd at his Fathers Funerals though he never wept before The gifts of grace doe not obliterate but improve nature and it is a false perswasion of Adoption which teacheth us so far to become the sons of God as to forget that we are the sons of men Ioseph a person high in the esteem of Pharaoh higher in the favour of God great in the power of Egypt greater in the power of the Spirit yet he forgets not his filial relation yet he cannot deny his natural obligation but as a pious Son he payes the last tribute of his duty to Iacob And he made a mourning for his Father who begat him Secondly he made a mourning for his Father who loved him Love when in an equal commandeth love and this is so just that fire doth not more naturally create a flame In this the similitude is so great that there is no difference in the nature of the love produced and that which did produce it But when it first beginneth in a superior person the proper effect which it createth in an inferior is not of a single nature but such a love as is mingled with duty and respect The love of God to man challengeth love from us but that of such a nature as cannot be demonstrated but by obedience and that of a Father to his Son is of the same condition though not in the same proportion The Father loveth first with care and tenderness with a proper and a single love the Son returns it with another colour mingled with duty blended with respect Now Iacob had many children and as an eminent example he lov'd them all but among the rest there was one clearer and warmer flame for he loved Joseph more then all his children the off-spring of Rachel the Son of his old age the Heir of his Vertues the Corrector of his Brethren the Beloved of God had a greater share in Iacobs affection then the rest of his issue He did not so much prefer his wives before his hand-maids he did not so highly value Rachel before Leah as he did esteem Ioseph before the off-spring of them all This was the paternal love of Iacob and this was answered with as high a filial respect in Ioseph which after death could not otherwise be expressed then in tears And therefore he made a mourning for his Father who loved him Thirdly he made a mourning for his Father who had blessed him Blessing is the soveraign act of God and the power of benediction like the power of God He delegateth this power unto his Priests who stand between God and Man and bless the Sons of men in the Name of God He derives the same upon our natural Parents that children honouring them may expect his blessing upon their desires and prayers And what greater favour could we ask of God then that those persons who have the most natural affection toward us should also have the greatest power to bless us
Fathers pilgrimage were evil so they ended in rest and happiness that as sure as his body was past all weariness and pain so his soul was placed above all possibility of grief or sorrow A Dove brought Noah word into the Ark that the waters were on the face of the Earth and he stay'd seven days and then the Dove sent forth returned and loe in her mouth was an Olive leaf pluckt off so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth If we mourn for the death of any person departed and the waters appear upon the face of man yet after the seventh day when the Olive leaf is pluckt when we have considered the peace and rest and joyes of the souls departed in the fear of God 't is time for the waters to abate for mourning to cease Thirdly the number of Seven is the number of holiness as God rested the seventh day so he blessed and hallowea it Seven days Aaron and his Sons the Priests were consecrated seven days an Atonement was made and the Altar was sanctified Seven days hath Ioseph set apart for his Fathers Funeral to shew that mourning for the dead is something sacred the tenth of the Egyptian mourning an act of Piety a part of Religion The Iews observed that the Circumcision was deferred till the eighth day that a Sabbath might pass upon the childe and so sanctifie it before it was circumcised and Ioseph appointeth seven days for mourning one of which must necessarily be that day which God blessed and sanctified in the beginning to procure a blessing upon that duty and to sanctifie his sorrow Upon which seasonable Consideration I shall take leave to conclude my meditations on the Text and apply my self to the present Solemnity which gave the occasion to consider it that I may make such use of the work of this holy day as may sanctifie the sorrow of it And now most Honorable Sir the Ioseph of this time the chief Mourner of this day be pleased to endeavour the Sanctification of your mourning by these reflexive Meditations First learn from hence to meditate upon your own Mortality and be now assured by this neer and home example that your self shall die This may seem but a cold monition but a dull reflexion every Grave preacheth that Doctrine and every Skeleton readeth as good a Lecture when we come into the House of God our feet will learn thus much and the ground we tread upon will thus far instruct us 'T is true the examples of our mortality are numerous but they are not equally efficacious the nearer our relations are to those which die the more we are concerned in their death and there is none so neer in his concernment as that of the Father and the Son There is a difference between the language of the Scriptures and such a Prophet as Nathan was one tells us that all men are sinners the other says Thou art the man So common Funerals tell us all men are mortal but that of a Father speaketh not only plainly but particularly Thou art so From his vivacity the Son receiveth life and in his death must read his own departure 'T is possible to imagine an immortal family and then the deaths of others concern'd that not but where the Father 's dead there can be no pretence or thought of immortality Beside there 's something more then propinquity of nature in a Father Religion teacheth us that our daies are otherwise bound up in our Parents lives Remember the first Commandement with Promise Honor thy Father and thy Mother that thy daies may be long in the land consider that you have lost in his death all further opportunity of improving the hopes of that promise and that you stand now only as to him upon what comfort you have in your former duty and in your past obedience Thus learn to fix a more immediate and more concerning meditation of your own mortality upon the death of him in whose life yours was involved both by a natural and spiritual dependence Secondly reflect upon that love and entire affection which you have lost and could no otherwise be lost but by losing him in whom it lived Love is of that excellent nature that it is esteemed by the best of men and accepted from the meanest persons what then is the affection of a Father what is the purity of that fire which God and Nature kindles in the breast of man what were the flames which ever burnt upon the Altar of your Fathers heart who never hated any man See but the nature of Paternal love in David who when Absalom his Son but a most rebellious Son openly sought his life and Crown and dyed in that unnatural attempt went up into his chamber and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son Measure by this example the affection you have so lately lost who never gave any offence as Absalom did and yet had in your Fathers eye all the reasons of love which Absalom could have Know then you make a mourning as Ioseph did for a Father that loved you remember that the love of Iacob was divided between twelve Sons and therefore though it was high it could not be whole and entire to Ioseph as for many years your Fathers hath been unto you Thirdly I speak not this out of design to renew or advance your grief to tell you what you have lost alone but I propound this privation that I may contrive it for your imitation endeavouring to stir up the same fire and to kindle the same affection in your self who now are wholly to be considered in the same relation What you were to him others are now to you and what he was to you you are now wholly unto them Before your natural affection was partly taken up with duty respect honor and obedience due to a Father from a Son it is now taken off from those expressions as to him that it may descend the more entire upon those which come from you as you from him Thus far you have been the Ioseph of the Text be now the Iacob that those two great names may be concealed not only in the Text but in your breast Thus far you have been the better part of Absalom learn now to be the David that we may truly say that tender affection that Paternal love dyed not with your Father but survives in you to your and his posterity Fourthly I desire you to look not only upon that which you have lost but also upon that which he hath left behinde him Vulgar and common persons as they carry nothing out of this world so they leave nothing in it they receive no eminency in their birth they acquire none in their life they have none when they die they leave none at their death But honorable persons as they die like common men so that only dieth with them which was common unto all degrees of men their singular respects the priviledges of their greatness their honors survive them and descend unto their Heirs with their Inheritance Give me leave then yet to speak unto you as to the Heir of your Fathers honors consider what the nature and design of honors are remember they were first graciously conferred as a reward of the virtues of your Ancestors and were as wisely continued upon a presumption and as an encouragement of the same virtues in their Successors Your Honor knows how long the greatness of your Family hath been preserved acknowledge first the vigilant providence and infinite goodness of God in the preservation of it while so many glorious Titles have been lost so many Noble Families cut off Next study to preserve and advance it further by the exercise of those virtues upon which it was first built and hath been since continued endevour to uphold not only your own but the very name of Honor in this Age in which partly the want of such virtues as are necessary to support it partly the weakness of that power which first gave life unto it partly the unreasonableness of foolish men who endeavour to cast a disesteem upon it have too much eclipsed the glory of it Lastly as I have advised you with the Son of Sirach to let tears fall upon the dead and to use lamentation as he is worthy so I shall conclude with his following advice when that is done then comfort thy self for thy heaviness that is not only be comfored after sorrow that consolation may succeed your griefs this is the common revolution of the world not only be comforted in lieu of your sorrow that consolation may recompense your griefs that were but a vulgar compensation but take comfort in your sorrow and rejoyce in your self that you have been so happy as to be truly sad There is so much deceitfulness in the heart of man so much hypocrisie in Funeral mourning that you may bless God for your own assurance of the sincerity of your natural affection and religious respect to your Parents and take delight in a just expectation that it will be rewarded by the future respect of your children So having performed the duty of Ioseph who made a mourning for his Father you may expect the blessing of Ioseph given by the mouth of Iacob for whom he mourned Ioseph is a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a Well whose branches run over the wall That this Benediction may be your Honors portion shall be my constant prayer By the God of thy Father who shall help thee and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lieth under blessings of the breasts and of the womb Amen Amen The End Psal. 77. 15. Gen. 49. 33. 50. 2 3. Gen. 50. 1. Gen. 49. 31. Act. 8. 2. Act. 9. 39. Psa. 90. 10. Gen. 47. 9. 28. Gen. 48. 10. Gen. 47. 29. Luk. 23. 28 Heb. 11. 10 13 16. Eccl. 22. 11. Eccl. 38. 16. Gen. 37. 3. Gen. 49. 1 48. Gen. 49. 26. Gen. 37. 34. Gen. 37. 35. Gen. 37. 35. Gen. 45. 27 28. Gen. 46. 30. Deut. 34. 2. Eccl. 22. 12. Numb. 19. 11. Exod. 20. 11. Gen. 2. 2. Gen. 8. 9 11. Gen. 2. 3. 2 Sam. 12. 7. Ephes. 6. 2. 2 Sam. 18. 33. Eccl. 38. 16 17. Gen. 49. 22. 25.