Homo ab Humo The former intends the sublimity of his Soul this the terrestreity or mortality of his body But alas quantum mutatus ab ipso What a sudden yea strange alteration I had almost said altercation do we finde Behold now another kinde of man the Elements begin in his body and the towring thoughts of his Soul to commence a civil uncivil war within themselves He which before with Dives sate as it were in an imperial Throne of Majesty is presently cast down with Lazarus full of sores i. sins into an unexpected dungeon of misery He who was to day Lord Paramount of all to morrow yea even the very same day strangely dejected and cast down Calv. for some Divines hold that he fell in the very same day in which he was created He I say though he were in the morning chief master of all was by the following night for what if his sin which is a work of darkness was then committed fain to crave aid and help of those which were his servants even the very Creatures and not the best but the worst of them a few Fig-leaves to keep him as he thought from the sight of his jealous incensed and al-seeing omniscient Creatour But sure he who like a Courtier was at the top Pinacle of honour was not thus suddenly cast down and out of favour for nothing No sure This would argue a kinde of rashness and imprudence too in him Who was wisedom it self God the Son I mean coessential and coeternal with the Father yea coequal sayes the Apostle yea Athan. Phil. 2.9 certainly there was a cause for the infliction of this punishment Sin it was which made that liberum animal Ames that had liberam voluntatem arbitrium That Majestical creature who onely of all the rest had the benefit of free-will and arbitrement thus to be captivated to and yield obedience to the baser disaffections of his Soul His unbelief his pride his despair his overcuriosity in prying into Gods secret knowledge Inst l. 1. with many other sins which Calvin and other Divines reckon up in the tasting of the Apple or Fig which for all it hung so high on the Tree caused man arborem inversam thus to fall Some imagine about Autumne the fall of the leaf I am sure he had brought forth little or no fruit being arbor not onely nata but sata between the four great waters These were the things Gen. 2. B. of Wells in Ps 1. Luke 10.7 which brought him into bondage and made him that was free become a servant at least if not a slave And sure the labourer is worthy of his hire says the Evangelist from Christ But it must be in the same kinde and agreeing to the nature of the service Now Adam and so consequently his whole posterity for as is the root so are the branches which had this sin not onely by imitation Aust which was the errour of the Pelagians but by propagation to The nature it self is corrupted And for this act of infamy man is too famous for this unworthy act worthy of a recompence of pay for his work In which because he did nothing else but as it were seek his own destruction and dissolution of his body and soul God rewarded him accordingly gave him that he sought for even death it self Which both according to Philosophers and Divines to is dissolutio corporis animae Arist A divorce of the body from the Soul Which was according to Gods own composition with him he agreed with him for so much and no more Gen. 2.17 nor no less In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die dying thou shalt die the Hebrew signifies as the marginal Notes declare And he who was the truth it self would not be worse than his word All which our Apostle here considering and withall setting down Man as he was indeed in the form of a servant the master was so Phil. 2. the servant is not above the master where he mentions the hire it self that was paid him for his service The summe total of which is significantly exprest in the first Metaphorical words of the Text. The wages of sin is death Where S. Paul following this apposite allegory of service and freedom because righteousness is a state of freedom and sin of slavery which state it may be of service by reason of the indiscretion of their depraved nature agrees better to them than power or dominion therefore the Apostle bids them if they will needs be servants to make choice of the best masters they can not tyrannizing and domineering sin but meek and heart-winning righteousness vers 18. of this Chapter Rom. 6.22.18 Being then made free from sin ye become servants of righteousness In which approbation of their present state is a kinde of exhortation for their continuance in the same But yet if they would by no fair means be recalled from the service of sin he would trie whether terrour would divert them from it And therefore lays down the words of the Text as a terrifying reason and dehortation unto them for the wages c. A thing accounted most terrible amongst the Heathen except some of their Heroes or noble spirits their high-minded volunteers but of others much feared and hated As if the Apostle should have thus expostulated with them why you O Romanes who have heretofore lived by the light of nature wanting or at least being without the light of grace and so have been superstitiously ignorant of the deity and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man birds c. changeing the truth of God unto a ly worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creatour 1 Rom. 21. and in this have committed most abominable Idolatry with many other most execrable sins I tell you now even weeping the end of these ways of these sins is none other but sorrow and even death it self The catastrophe and conclusion of sorrow it ought be at least for we must not be sorry as men without hope You therefore that accounted so much of life that as the Orator speaks quaevis sit ratio expediendae salutis Tullie any way to save life and health Arist and that death as the Philosopher speaks is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most terrible of terribles Let it then work the same effect upon you as it is in it self to wit fear For the end of these sinfull wayes of yours is no better the wages of your sins is death In which words you may observe with me these two general parts 1. Here is the slavery bondage and service of man signified and expressed unto us by the first word of the Text wages being a thing properly belonging unto servants which is likewise declared unto us by the matter of the service which was sin The wages of sin 2. Here is the stipend or pay that he
received for his service and that was death Stipendium peccati mors est The wages of sin is death And thus you have the division of the first part of this verse The words which at this time we mean to treat of And first of the first The slavery bondage or service of man signified by that word Wages and further demonstrated unto us by the matter or the manner of the service which was sin the Wages of sin From whence without any further ambages or circumlocutions you may observe this very usefull Doctrine following from the words Doct. The state of every man in sin is a state of slavery bondage or service at the least They were comminatory angry words of God unto Adam the Father of us all Gen. 3.17 Gen. 3.17 Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life With sorrow What 's that 1. With much labour and toyl thou shalt eat it which before might have come up freely signifying the slavish and serviceable estate of Adam after the commission of sin Vers 19. And we sure which are ex eodem luto confecti from dust as well as he can receive no dust from this dust of the earth except we labour It was sin that did bring us into this toyl We whose teeth are set on edge by our forefathers tasting of the sower Grapes must likewise have some sower sauce by reason of our sins mingled with our sweet pleasures serve we must if we will live since by the least sin we have deserved death yea eternal ex consideratione oppositi in the end of the verse and this long ago Non citius nati quam damnati Aust No sooner born to live but if God had not born the longer by his mercy with us we might very justly have been deprived of life and so made subject unto death As we are born servants to it from the wombe to the tombe sometimes that was to pay us our due Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread sayes Jehovah serve thou must if thou wilt have bread to eat sin hath brought thee to it for the condition of every sinner is a state of service Gen. 9.21 When Noah had committed that foul sin of drunkenness the words are He drank of the Wine and was drunken See here the true but sad effect of this sin according to that of the Poet. Ovid. Quid non ebrietas designat operta recludit This sin of his was not so closely done but that it will display and lay open his nakedness And his own son whom natural duty bound to conceal yet layes it open further and reveals it to his other brethren A most abominable sin to vilifie so much and neglect him who under God was the cause cause of his being Sanctum Patris nomen especially of such a one the name is holy and therefore he a most unsanctified Childe to show such strange irreverence to his most reverend Father A most execrable sin And behold therefore now which is the thing I intended to note for our present purpose see I say Vers 25. the event the due punishment inflicted upon it in vers 25. of the forenamed you finde it Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren and not onely in the general together Verses 26.27 but to both them severally in the subsequent 26. and 27. verses Blessed be the Lord God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant and again God shall enlarge Japhet and Canaan shall be his servant a recompence due unto him for so vile an act Vers 26.27 He that would be so high that by reason of his neglect he seems to be above his Father it were high time he were brought lower He that was so free of showing his fathers shame and so liberal in his scoffing must now be brought down that freedom must be taken from him and for this sin he must be made to serve and that which yet further aggravates his misery his brethren Now they 'l put off their brotherlike bonds and affections and lay a yoke upon his neck serve he must because he had sinned and serve his brother because he had offended and sinned against his Father the son being most obliged to exact recompence for the offence done to the parent Places for the proof of this Doctrine are very frequent in holy writ I will name onely one or two more and I hope these one or two witnesses will be sufficient for the confirmation of the truth of this position unto you The Apostle proves this speaking of sin Rom. 6.19 Ye have yielded your selves servants to uncleanness and to iniquitie unto iniquitie A strange seeming tantologie But Galvin renders a very good reason for it The first is opposed to sanctity towards God or holiness of life The latter hath a respect to the injuries offered to our Neighbours as the very words do signifie ut Iniquitas quasi non Equitas quae fit inter aequales to our Neighbours which are of the same nature and equal to us by creation not in regard of God who is above us And by the second repeated iniquity which takes away the seeming tantologie he means universalem naturae corruptionem the whole corruption of mans nature unto corruption i.e. adding more unto the former ut iniquitatis regnum in vobis vigeret that the Kingdom of sin may flourish and you become captivated slaves and vassals unto that old tyrant the Devil and all this by reason of your sin That is it which makes you servants S. Paul insinuates no less Tit. 3.3 For we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures I might indeed have gone further in the proof of this especially to men of this age that take so much delight in this thraldom that they seem rather to think it a mastership then a service But as the proverb saith verbum sapienti sat ' est to you whom I perceive not the unwisest readers I know it may suffice Others if they desire more I must reply to them as he to his good holding stomack't guest especially at this festival time of Christs Nativity for I suppose yea I think I may determine he was born in Winter Luke 1. for the Shephards were in the field praising God for it and why should not we We can mump a Nativity Pie c. and must that stop the mouth so much that we may not praise God for his Sons incarnation fiat voluntas Dei sayes my diurnal prayer Math 6. If some be satisfied it is sufficient unus not sufficit omni Or as that distressed client to the over hearing judge Audi Alteram partem Hear the rest then let him give a quietus est And it may be in that thou mayest pick some thing more that may satisfie thy appetite In the mean time I shall
lurch And make thy self a servant of righteousness binde thy self to it not to the grave like stinking menstruous rags of sin for otherwise thy wages is set here down determinative say the Schools i. e. death which is indeed ultima linea rerum the determination and period of all our natural dayes whereas the reward of others is eternall life the duration if I may so call it and why not of a day without a night Whence S. Rev. 21.22 23. Exp. Ps 84.6 John most Divinely sets forth his heavenly Temple The path-way to it is the street of the Citie of pure Gold not the vally of Baca as it were transparent glass Ecce puritatem claritatem And I saw no Temple therein Hic Ecce Theologum the word of God sine Templo in vitâ aeternâ and the vail of the Temple here rent at his death And I would I might not justly take up the same complaint I have a people or Congregation But my Temple as Jerusalem was the Wall of it burn't down Neh. 1.3 I wish I might not say by a perfidious brother and the Gates thereof were burn't with fire Exp. for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple he that was on earth the sacrifice agnus ille mactatus And the Citie had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glorie of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof In the pacifical Prophet we read of the Lion and the Lamb lying down together but here he who was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah now the Lamb of God fits alone Col. 3.1 Ecce Solstitium perpetuim solis Juscitiaeâ— Christ the Sun of righteousness sits Exp. in praesenti implicat aeternitatem at the right hand of God Mal. 4.3 Never again to descend with healing in his wings till that general day of doom When he shall change our vile body Phil 3.21 Exp. that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body similitudinem non paritatem aut aequalitatem according to the working no more passion Exp. but action onely whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Let not sin then or therefore reign in your mortal body Rom. 6.12 Exp. as the Apostle speaks least it as another Haman exalted swelling with pride even against Mordecai's humility that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof neither yield your Members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin the former against thy Neighbour the latter against thy God but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your Members as instruments of righteousness unto God 2. Use Is none but that of S. Hierom. That men would not aspire too high in this sinfull World but be content with that lot which is cast into the lap It may be it is not so good for them to be high the power they have being abused may make them the more servants unto sin As it did Haman in his cruel design against Gods people the Jews Esth 7.4 Exp. if God had not appointed Esther to prevent it Who boldly delivers her message as to God Ecce virilitatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sexus imo foeminini For we are sold I and my people to be destroyed Exp. I whom thou hast chosen as an instrument to increase and enliven thy own to be slain secundum corpus and to perish as our enemies think secundum animam This I take to be the meaning of the holy Ghost here But if we had been sold for bond-men and bond-women I had held my tongue an admirable Rhetorical insinuation although the enemy could not countervail the Kings dammage If men then will be no more in slavery then they are let them content themselves with those lower places which are freest from the commission of sins I speak not this to bite or back-bite but to caution any authority Occasio facit furem The higher the place the more occasion is offered unto sin and our corrupt nature as Children about this time on sweet and gilded Marchpans is apt enough to lay hold of it I le end this use with the words of the forenamed Father do not repine in thy low or so servile citate for Satis est potens sayes he qui servire non cogitur For thus thou art high and powerfull enough in that thou art not so much in service to or under the dominion of sin Thus much for the uses of the first doctrine I hasten now to the second part of the Text which is the Wages of sin particularly specified in this word death The Wages of sin is death And here before we proceed any further I pray note the earnestness of the Apostle in the following of this argument he was very loath to leave it being so enforceable to them Why was it not enough once to tell them so Vers 21 as he doth in the end of the 21. verse The end of these things is death No non frustra aliis verbis idem iterum repetit sed terrore duplicato magis detestabile reddere peccatum voluit Jo. Calv. It is Mr. Calvins note upon the Text. If the first reason would not serve he repeats it again in other words that by often inculcating he might make the sin the more odious to them He speaks it the more urgently that as Children with their lesson if they will not learn at first by often reciting it he would even beat it into their heads So then the second Doctrine we may gather from the words without any wresting of them are no other but the words themselves Doct. The Wages of sin is death and that three wayes All which before I insist on receive a modern recapitulation of my foregoing discourse D. Fâ—aâ—ly Sin eclipseth the light of the understanding disordereth the desires of the Will weakneth the faculties of the Soul distempereth the Organs of our body disturbeth the peace of our conscience choaketh the motions of the spirit in us killeth the fruits of grace enthralleth the Soul of the body and the body and Soul to Satan Lastly it depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporal and if continued in of the fruition possession of all eternal blessings First The first is a death unto grace which sin causes in regard of the absence of grace altogether or in respect of the suspersion of the acts of grace for some certain time which is plainly proved in that Epistle to the Ephesians in two places where the Apostle especially opposeth living in grace Eph. 2. Zanch. or by it and death in sin i.e. death to grace so it is in the first verse And you hath he quick'ned who were dead in trespasses and sins Exp. loci It was time for S. Paul to praefix a conjunction copulative since sin had made such a separation Quick'ned is raised from death or restores unto life ex
nihilo by grace For there the Apostle compares these two states of us what we are by nature and sin and what we are by grace And in the fifth verse 't is more plain yet Even when we were dead in sins hath he quick'ned us together with Christ Aquinas By grace are you saved gratia gratis datâ These last words very well explain the former to our present purpose And this is the first death which is the Wages of sin and is truely called a spiritual death The second follows upon it and that is a natural death Magnus or Temporal which is dissolutio corporis animae the dissolution of the body and Soul Therefore sayes the Apostle 〈◊〉 5. 〈◊〉 Vers 11. As sin hath reigned unto death And before that you finde this deaths head more plainly presented in an ugly shape as it were upon a stage acting a part â— R. or at least moving above-board Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the World and sin by death and so death did pass upon all men for that all have sinned The words at least in sense and meaning of the forenamed Doctrine This is the second Though S. John in the Revelation calls my third in order the second death And so it is indeed in Divinity He is the Divine But I have made bold as a spiritual Physician in these distempered times to present you with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And to give you a mixt Dosis or taste of the naturall and the spiritual The third is that which is the worst a death unto life eternal Bolton Isai 66.24 and yet a death that never dies Their Worm shall never die their Fire shall never be quenched The former death is but as the prick of a lancet or flea-biting unto this 1 Cor. 15. for that is but for a time we shall rise again after that at the last day but this is to all eternity I what if I did say determined from all eternity Constitutum est omnibus semel moriâ— Hebâ—â— 2â— Exp. i. e. in this death continually alwayes dying and yet never dead quae ab ipso momento dependet aeternitas as the Father elegantly an eternity for ever succeeding our sudden departure By the former the body is but kill'd fear not him that kills the body but by this both body and Soul are utterly destroyed Matth. 10.26 Rather fear him that is able to destroy both body and Soul in Hell Whence S. Austin Lib. de Civit. Dei 21. Prima mors animam nolentem pellit de corpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore The first death driveth the Soul out of the body being unwilling to part with it The second death keepeth the Soul against her will in the body The first death is the separation of the Soul from the body The second is the separation of Soul and body from God and by how much God is more excellent then the Soul by so much the second death is worse then the first Prima mors bonis bona est malis mala Austâ—â— Civit. Dei Lib. 13. secunda ut nullorum bonorum est ita nulli bona The first death is good to good men because it endeth their sorrows and begins their joyes but evil to evil men because it ends their joyes and begins their everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth The second as it belongeth to none that are good so it is good to none Both these are the due Wages of sin and shall be paid at the Audit day of doom The sentence pronounced against Adam mortâ— morieris By the reduplication of the word seems to imply as much as thou shalt die again and again iterum atque iterum the first and second death The first is as the earnest penny the second as the whole hire both make up the Wages of sin The first is like the splitting of a Ship and casting away all the goods and wares the latter as the burning of both with unquenchable fire This is the Wages of every sinner that dies in sin unrepented off Such must go down even quick into Hell Psal 55 15. sayes King David and Christ sayes God shall pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon them at the last day Matth. 25.41 Go you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Every word is able to break yea grind in pieces a heart of Adamant Loco super I cannot let pass S. Austin his observation Nemo hic propriè moriens seu in morte dicitur sed ante mortem aut post mortem i.e. viventes aut mortui ibi è contrario non erunt homines ante mortem aut post mortem sed sine fine morientes nunquam pejus erit homini in morte quam ubi erit mors ipsa sine morte In this life men cannot be said properly to be dying or in death but alive or dead for whil'st the Soul remains in the body we are living after the separation thereof we are dead Whereas they that are in Hell cannot be properly said to be dead because they are most sensible of pain nor to be alive because they suffer the punishment of the second death but continually dying And never shall it be worse with man in death then where death it self is without death where life perpetually liveth according to that of Isaiah A worm continually gnawing Lib. 9. Mor. cap. 45. so a fire continually burning S. Gregory sweetly quavers upon this sad lesson or note of death Mors sine morte finis sine fine defectus sine defectu quia mors vivit finis incipit deficere nescit defectus The death of the damned is a deathless death an endless end and undefiable defect For their death alwayes liveth and their end beginneth and their consumption lasteth is permanent and eternal And this death is especially meant in my Text The correspondency of this Member to that which follows makes it manifest all which shall suffice also for the second Doctrine For I can't now dilate or enlarge my self 1. Use This in the first place confutes that common errour of the Papists concerning venial sin whereas every sin is mortal For the Apostle speaks here very plainly The Wages of sin is death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in that he saith it of all sins it may be said of every sin A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia is an undoubted truth of the Logicians from as to all the consequence is very good And our Apostle saith as sinner so worthy of death Rom. 5. And therefore every sin is mortal in it self and deserves even eternal death For I can give no more credit then Robert Bellarmine doth to the Popish Legend who professedly refutes those of his own side who give credit to the Legend which relates that by the prayers of S. Gregory the Soul of Trajan was delivered out of Hell
preces habent efficaciam as in Jacobs wrestling with God but it made him halt ever after O no death ever living Gen. 32.31 and not dying is their wages in presenti continually Neither is this proceeding of Gods any wayes unjust to punish him with death I even eternal in regard the impenitent sinner if he should alwayes live upon the earth would alwayes hold on his sinfull course had he still the use of his tongue sayes a modern he would still blaspheme curse had he still the use of his eys he would still look after vanity had he still the use of his feet he would still walk in wicked wayes had he still the use of his hands he would work all manner of wickedness had he still the free use of all the faculties of his Soul and Members of his body Lib. de 4. Noviss he would still make them weapons of unrighteousness Inchinus the Romish postiller giveth some light to this truth by an inch of Candle whereby two play at Tables in the night and are very earnest at their game but in the midst of it the Candle goeth out and they perforce give over who no doubt if the light had lasted would have played all night This inch of the Candle is the time allotted to a wicked man who is resolved to spend it all in pleasures and pastimes if it would last perpetually he would never leave his play therefore sith he would sin eternally though by reason the light of his life goes out he cannot he deserves eternal punishment Yea he must needs know his Wages and that is death that eternal without repentance on mans infinite mercie on Gods part 2. Use Is of exhortation to all to leave of their sins and that betimes Agree with thine adversary and that too quickly And if that will not serve it is a use of terrour to you all for here is that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most terrible of terribles whose ugly grim face in the Churches body may affright the beholder much more his violent and unexpected presence in our trembling bodies which are or ought to be the Temples of the holy Ghost Eunuchus That as Terence of Phaedria to Thais paint him never so lively and with old-bald-pated time by him I shall cry out Tremo horreoque cùm primum aspexi hanc Death it is I mean the Wages of sin A death to grace and that is miserable here A natural or temporal death and that I know is loathsome to most And the more you are addicted to this sublunary world the more grief it breeds within you Else what mean those out-cries and roarings with those wilde Irish at graves as men and women without hope Hone Hone c. O my dear Father one cries my sweet and aged Husband another and a third mine onely friend is dead and to whom shall I make my moan with him O me miserum quis dabit in Lachrymas fontem But there is a third death that is more terrible then all that from which there is no recovery no release When you shall without repentance be bound in chains in Hell where I am sure that of the Poets will take no place Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris But here the screeching of your companions shall add but greater grief and horrour to your distressed and distracted minde And do you not yet stand amazed and tremble at the hearing of these things Me thinks every one should cry out with himself now as the affrighted Jaylor to Peter what shall I do to be saved Or else as trembling Foelix to S. Paul Too much learning hath made thee mad go away now I will hear thee of this matter i. e. the judgement to come another time But alas it is too true We may now again cry out as the Prophet once to an obdurate and stifnecked Nation Ho every one that thirsteth Come unto the waters c. Isa 55.1 Your poor and dejected if not ejected Ministers may long enough wish that their heads may become Fountains of tears and withall complain no man hath believed our report and that especially in this matter of death Our subject subjecting all Give me leave as by deaths head presented at the beginning of a Feast to affect the Soul by the terrible presence of the body And now you may imagine the Sermon is drawing to an end if not done O no It is then onely done when it is applied received understood and practised There is no Physick but if it works maketh the patient sick for the present and for the most part the most smarting plaister most speedily cures the wound These observations are true in corporal Physick and much more in spiritual because the smart of sin and trouble of conscience for it are as so many signs of maladies as the beginning of cures Some say the fear of the plague brings it But if we speak of this plague and other judgements of God for sin it is certain that the fear of them not servile but filial is the best preservative against them He onely may be secure of the avoiding of Hell torments and escaping the pangs of eternal death who feareth them as he ought and he that fears them not as another Stoical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a most fearfull case Ecclus 41.1 O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee Admirable upon which is that strict Dr. Lake his meditation that reverend B. of Bath whom I rather quote by reason of the proximity to Bristol which though it hath scorned those old prayers hath need now of a Lord have mercy upon me where I have been verè vir dolorum afflictionum Which made me bring to light first these dark thoughts of death being lately thanks be to God drawn by a Divine power out of the snares of Hell and death We have no abiding place on earth none have But of those that would have there are many here below singing an undeserved requiem to the Soul saying with the fool Soul take thy rest Many there are O Lord that though they must die cannot endure to minde death Nothing more unsavoury to them then that their memorie should be exercised with the memory thereof Eccles 12.1 Whereas sayes Solomon Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth And it was Moses wish O that men would be wise consider their latter end Let me a little raise your thoughts before I leave you from doting upon Lachrymae to much which was the first my Master taught me in Musick We have look'd long enough upon Hell and death Let us now look up to our Saviour it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who Triumphed over both Let the sight of the one as much raise your hope for without it we may not we must not be as the other dejecteth us in fear Now the Sermon being finished let
us eternally sing his praises against those mortal enemies of Funeral Elegies Brownists I mean and Anabaptists who will bury their dead not onely against but without the Apostles rule 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order Who hath saved us Even us that alive yet from everlasting weepings and mournings in the valley of Hinnom Shall any waters of affliction quench in us the love of him who for us quenched unquenchable fire shall not the benefit of our delivery from everlasting death and burial too in the grave of Oblivion live in our memory shall any thing sever us from him Matth. 27.46 Rom. 8.38 who for our sakes after a sort was severed from his Father When he cried my God my God why hast thou forsaken me shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or the sword No I am sure I may ascend higher and descend lower too with the Apostle whose Antiperistasis makes his Rhetorick more admirable and winning Neither life nor death nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus I will shut up all with that prayer of our unparallel'd Lake in whom was the depth of all Divinity as in an Ocean rather than a Lake seeing the whole world is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet sower And this is the evil of worldly weal the ease our corrupt nature takes in it makes us more to distaste the joys of Heaven Mix I beseech thee O Lord my peace with war Being of S. Pauls temper and constitution finding a Law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my minde Rom. 7. Let me never be a secure owner of my worldly goods neither well can I since thou in thy goodness hast taken them wife and all from me Yea Lord let them appear as they are Transitory uncertain that I may not repute them to be my goods Let Theeves strip me let crosses distress me as I thank thee I am Christianus quia Crucianus though I lose yet I shall gain and prosper best when I do not prosper Death that must come shall never be unwelcom yea the remembrance of it shall be my greatest comfort it shall never finde me but willing to leave what I never did injoy or joy in And happy shall I account that hour that shall take me out of the World when it takes as it hath done I thank God for five moneths together the World from me because we never were well at one Yea I had almost said she which once lay in my bosom and therefore shall not fear to be at odds The World is crucified to me and I unto the World Death shall take no pains in parting our association which shall finde us before hand parted in affection Let death be bitter unto others to me it shall be sweet when it pleaseth God to send it And I will God-willing and assisting prepare my self by a timely thinking of it Praemonitus praemunitus so shall I never be uncomfortably surprized by it in regard of my body And with holy Stephen notwithstanding all the stony hearts of these times I shall call upon God saying Acts 7.39 Lord Jesus receive my spirit Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. P. Praedicator ERRATA PAg. 9. line 3. and 12. for tantologie r. tantologie p. 1◠l. 5. for die r. do p. 16. l. 2. for contention r. contentment and l. 8. for graviore r. graviori p. 25. l. 15. for of the body r. to the body l. 29. for restores r. restored p. 28. last l. for undefiable r. undefeisable