last than to turn a Beggar out of his House of Hurdles WHAT Ground there is for that Observation The Life of Man is short of Kings shorter of Popes shortest whether it be because they are subject to Envy and a Rival-ambition or because they that stand high are prone to be giddy headed and consequently are aptest to catch a Fall I list not now to enquire certain it is since they are part of Adam's sinful Progeny that die they must their strength is not the strength of Stones which yet the very drops of Water wear out nor their Sinews of Brass or Iron which yet the Rust and Canker consumes DEATH like Caesar Taxes the Whole World and his Mortal Sythe Mows down the Lilies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field The Mighty of the Earth have no more Dominion over it then the British King Canutus of Kent had against the Seas incroaching upon his Throne Those who have a just Power of Life and Death as to their Subjests have none over their own to prolong their Lives or protract their Deaths one moment Nay couldst thou by thy Power and Policy exalt thy Throne above all the Thrones of all the Kings upon the Face of the Whole Earth and proclaim thy self Vniversal Lord and Monarch and send Yokes by thine Embassadours to all the Princes and States of the Universe Yet the Time will come and will not tarry when the Grandees and Potentates of the World who have gone down into the Dominions of Death and Darkness before thee may take up this Proverb against thee and say Art Thou also become weak as we Art thou also become vanity like unto us The Globe at One end of the Library and the Skeleton at the Other was a pretty Emblem of what we are now Discoursing and may signifie thus much that supposing a Man Master of the Whole Ball yet his Spirit shall be taken from Him that He may be dissolved and become Earth ‖ Tobit 3.6 Diogenes is brought in by Witty Lucian as Jearing the Ghost of Alexander after Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is Alexander Dead as well as Diogenes Alexander had then learnt that he was not Immortal and co'd say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's no wonder I am Dead since at best I was but a Man WHATEVER course God gives to our Fortune Nature will certainly maintain and keep hers and make the Pulse beat alike in Men of High degree and those that are obscure and will inflame both alike with Fevers and chill both alike with Rheums and finally close the Eyes of both alike by Death which draws the Curtain of the Stage and then the Comedy of Fartune is at an End Nature which brought them forth Naked takes them in more naked then she brought them forth Stripping the Soul off the Body and the very Flesh off the Bones Death divesteth all the Actors of this Play of Life of the False Properties of Fortune and then Who can say This is the Noble and that the Ignoble Dust for in Death there is neither Small nor Great neither Male nor Female neither Bond nor Free the Greatest shall lye as low as the Meanest every One there shall be but as his Neighbour and as his Brother in the Flesh BUT for the further Illustration of this Great Truth That no Period of Life no State or Quality is secure a Moment from the Arrest of Death that all our Destinies are hurstled in the same Urn and sooner or later we shall be all carried into Eternal Exile let us turn to and ruminate a little upon these following Texts for thus it is Written * Heb. 9.27 It 's appointed for ALL Men Once to Die No Priviledge no Immunity from the Grave It 's a Statue-Law that hath been in Force in all Ages and will be so to the End of Time The Decree is irresistable and you may pretend as soon to obstruct the Course of Nature or hinder God's Covenant of Day and Night as to preserve Men of what Names or Titles soever Dignify'd or Distinguish'd from going to the Place appointed for all Living This is called in another place †Josh 23.14 the Way of all the Earth Some walk indeed on the Golden Sands others in Dirt and Mire but the same Vncontroulable Necessity involues all and whatsoever the Way be Plea ant or Troublesome yet every One passeth in it with equal steps measur'd by the same invariable Spaces of Hours and Days and arrive at the same common End of Life Again * Rom. 5.12 DEATH passeth upon ALL Men for that ALL have Sinned Whatever it is that makes Men Great makes them not more then Men nor less then Sinners and the Work and Wages are inseperable for the Wages of Sin is Death Nay Death found a Passage where Sin had made none even the most Holy Jesus was Dead and Buried Again †Isa 40.6 7 8. ALL Flesh is Grass and the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withers the Flower fadeth But is this a Truth so Universal that it admitts of no Exception Are not the Princes and Herves of the World exempted Have not They something in them that may be a Preservative from the insults at least of this Tyrant Death Something that They may upon Occasion plead against the Common Fate The Prophet seems to agree to this and therefore makes some difference betwixt the Great and the Person of Low Estate But what is it No other then what is between Green Grass and a Flower which tho' more Beautiful and taking to the Eye and pleasing to the Sense is every whit as subject to be trod under foot as the Grass and as they grow together in the same Field are equally liable to be cut down by the Edge of the same Sythe Nay say they escape the Browsing Mouth of the Beast the Pruning Knife the Plucking Hand and the Nipping Air yet are they still perishing still fading and will wither away of themselves Again * Psal 39.5 VERILY Every Man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity Every Word strangely Emphatical In the Original it runs Every Man is every Vanity Imagine what Vanity you will Man is that This is the true perfect Mapp of the Little World Man drawn and Colour'd by the Pen of the Royal Prophet as his Hand was guided by the Holy Ghost Behold I shew you a Mystery The Lesser World Man is more comprehensive of Vanity than the greater Again †Psal 89.48 WHAT Man is He that Liveth and shall not see Death Shall He deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave Selah The meaning is No Man can escape it Which is the reason that the Assertion is not left bare and naked but fixed with a Selah to assure the Truth of it or so to engage our Attention as not to pass it by till we have given it a Serious and a feeling Thought Upon which account
Mr. GARDINER's SERMON ON THE DEATH OF THE DUKE of GLOUCESTER A SERMON PREACH'D At St. Michael CROOKED-LANE September the 8 th 1700 Upon OCCASION of the DEATH OF HIS Illustrious Highness The DUKE of GLOUCESTER By James Gardiner M. A. Rector of the said Parish LONDON Printed by Hugh Newman at the Grashopper in the Pâ—â—try MDCC Zechariah Cap. XI Vers 2. Howl Fir-tree for the Cedar is fallen HAVING observed in Print that * V. Causes of a Solemn National Fast and Humiliation at Edinburgh July 31. 1700. the Commissioners of the Late General Assembly in SCOTLAND have thought it highly necessary to oblige all the Lords People in that Church and Kingdom to a Solemn Fast as on Thursday the 29th Day of August last to Humble themselves greatly before God in consideration of the sad Disappointments of Endeavours and Vndertakings for Advancing the Trade and Wealth of that Nation and particularly the Lamentable Dispersion of the African and Indian Companies Colony in America and more especially in consideration of their Slighting and Misimproving the Purity and Plenty of Gospel-Ordinances and other their Sins which they know 〈◊〉 themselves to be Guilty of HAVING Observed this I say How much more ought we of this Establish'd Church and Nation tho' we have not the Formality of a Proclamation in the Case to Mourn †Zech. 12.12 13 14. every Family apart the Family of the House of David apart the Family of the House of Nathan apart the Family of the House of Levi apart the Family of Shimei apart Every Family apart and their Wives apart for those Iniquities and Abominations which have caused the Lord to whom Vengeance belongeth to shew himself * V. Arch-Bishop Tenison's Sermon at Her Majesties Death p. 20. IT was the Immorality the Sin of the Nation which hasten'd the Death of the Late * V. Arch-Bishop Tenison's Sermon at Her Majesties Death p. 20. QUEEN the Blessed QUEEN as a Judgment saith our Excellent Arch-Bishop and with Shame and Confusion of Face we may speak the Words the sad Truth over again That it is the Immorality the Sin of the Nation which hasten'd the Death of the Duke too And thus much indeed was told us if we had had an Understanding Heart almost in the same Melancholy Breath as if it was Immediately Reveal'd to Our Most Reverend Father when He Subjoyns The Light shone and we followed not it's Direction and God hath removed one Branch of it let us sin no more lest those which remain be Extinguish'd also NOT unlike these are the Words of another Worthy Prelate †V. Bishop of Bangor's Sermon on 30 of January 1695 6 p. 29. God saith He hath shewed us a Token of his Heavy Displeasure against us in taking away that Excellent QVEEN the Great Blessing and Glory of our Church and Nation I tremble to think what we have reason to fear he shou'd do more * Jer. 44.22 SINCE therefore the Lord could no longer forbear because of the Evil of our Doings the Blow of the Axe at the Fall of the Cedar should Ring thro' the Forrest and a Dreadful Shriek be heard thro' the Whole Wood Howl Fir-tree for the Cedar is fallen THESE Words have a vast Spirit in them and in our own Language for Trees have been made Vocal not only amongst Profane but Sacred Authors Speak thus much viz. I. THAT it is very requisite and commendable that there should be the several Claffes Ranks and Orders of Men in the World II. THAT Great Men must fall by the Stroak of Death and retire into their Graves as well as others III. THAT the Death of Great and Public Persons should be signally Remark'd and deeply Lamented Of these in their Order I. THAT it is very Requisite and Commendable that there should be the several Classes Ranks and Orders of Men in the World The Forrest of a Nation hath not all Trees of the same growth Are all Apostles Are all Cedars No The Whole Body is not One Member * 1 Cor. 12.14 There are the Nobler and ignobler Parts IT has been said indeed and stickled for and Those there are still I 'm afraid in Reserve who wo'd make special Vse of this Doctrine were it in their Power that Princes Men Noble by Birth Discent or Blood ought to be canton'd into the Commen Level that there is not any such thing as a distinction amongst Men in respect or of Dignity or Fortune but a perfect Equality and that therefore they ought to be brought down to a common Talley Such a wretched Principle this like Procrustes's Bed which would wrac or cramp all Men into One Size or Stature that there is not a Creature under Heaven whether Beast of the Field or Fowl of the Air or Fish of the Sea or Plant of the Ground but at Once sufficiently confutes the Folly and testifies against the Impiety of it and by consequence its Extravagant Abetters which one would think could be none but an High-way Man or Banditi are sunk not onely below Christians and Men but Brutes and Inanimate Beings Not a Creature under Heaven did I say Nay in the Heavens above us What Observable Distinctions are there THERE is an Hierarchy amongst the Angels both those who are so by Nature and those who are such by Office and Denomination †Rev. 1. There are Principalities in the Heavenly Places Arch-Angels Cherubims and Thrones as well as Angels Michael is expresly called a Prince BESIDES the Sun and Moon the King and Queen of Heaven there is a kind of Peerage Stars of the first Magnitude 'twixt them and the Common People of the Skyes And as there is One Glory of the Sun another Glory of the Moon and another Glory of the Stars for one Star differs from another Star in Glory God having not level'd them either in Height or Magnitude * 1 Cor. 15.41 So there is one Terrestrial Glory of Kings and another Glory of Nobles and another Glory of the Common People and these have not the same Glory in Common even amongst them one Man differs from another Man in this Worldly Glory GOD hath disposed and ordered Men as he hath the Supersicies of the Earth making some parts of it plain others Mountainous some Valleys and some Hills Some stand as upon even Ground Men of Ordinary Fashion others are as High Mountains over topping and over looking the rest PARDON me but this one Similitude more Have you not observed in the Alphabet of Letters some to be of a larger and a deeper Cut then others Thus it is in that of Mankind Kings and Princes are it 's confest but Men yet they are Men in a Great Character as Aleph suppose among the Letters which as it is first in Order so it signifies a Chief a Prince and a Leader BUT further yet to clear up the Point let us search the Scriptures and hear what they say Truly they in so many words tell
it were Mortify those Irregular and Deformed Excrescencies And the same shame would happen to Vs upon the Reflection that doth to the Bird upon the sight of the black Foot after it hath been spreading and perusing its gaudy Train of Feathers If indeed the Body which was from the Earth was to return to it no more it would be another matter and Pride would admit of a very fair Apology But the Law of Death runs thus c. All Honours Titles c. to the contrary in Any-wise notwithstanding Nor co'd all the Vain-gloriousness of an Haughty Herod exempt him from the stroak of the Destroyer or make him other than a louzy God * Acts 12. HEAR this all ye Guilded Potsheards of the Earth ye Great Ones that wo'd fain nestle in the Clouds and in your soaring Thoughts with that proud Persian Sapor write Brother to the Sun and Moon that have deify'd your selves in your own Imaginations of your Heaven upon Earth hear this and rouze your selves from your bewitching Dreams submit to what Sense and Reason and Experience and Scriptures speak so loud and disdain not to make it a Peice of Religion seeing the Grave expects you and bids its other Corps make Room to provide against that Hour when your Names shall be written in the Shell and you taken away by a kind of Ostracisme 2. IT is to Vs It speaks that we repose not our Confidence in any Son of Man let him appear never so big and lofty Because this will be to make Falshood our Refuge and to hide our selves under Vanity The Duty that we owe to those in Eminency is Faithfulness and Obedience not Considence and Trust Alas What can Dust do for Dust If the weak trust in the weak how shall it be made strong Affiance is an Act due from the Creature onely unto God whose is the Power and whose is the Dominion and an high Affront we offer his Majesty if when He lends us any of these Precious Jewels we deal as the Israelites did in the Wilderness and turn our Golden Ear-rings into an Idol And most certainly true it will be found in the Conclusion That never any Persons smarted more under the Disappointment of their towering Expectations than those very Men that made Flesh their Arm. The Troops of Tema looked the Companies of Sheba waited for them they were confounded because they had hoped they came thither and were ashamed †Job 6.19 20. CEASE we therefore from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of * Isa 2.22 And let us follow that Advice which is given us by a great Prince from God †Psal 146.3 4. Put not your Trust in Princes nor in the Son of Man in whom there is no Help it is not tanti not worth the while His Breath goeth forth he returneth to his Earth in that day all his Thoughts perish * There is nothing in these words of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pope John 22d would gather out of them as tho' after Death his Soul should Sleep and think of Nothing What they express is that all his great glistering thoughts when alive at Death come to Nothing Happy is the Man that hath the God of Jacob for his Help whose hope is in the Lord his God which made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that therein is which keepeth Truth for ever whose Name is from Everlasting †Isa 63.16 But altho' we are not to rely or stay upon them yet know this too that it is a Sin against all Conscience and Equity not to make doleful Resentments upon not to eye the hand of God in the Death of the Princes of the People which calls to mind the Third and last Proposition viz. 3. THAT the Death of Great and Public Persons sho'd be signally remarked and deeply lamented especially where it is precipitated and has not in it the Unavoidable reason of Old Age and the fulness of days It 's fit when such are taken away that their Death should be solemniz'd by a Tribute of Tears levied upon the Whole Kingdom Our Souls ought then to be Elemented as it were of nothing but Sadness and Sorrow and the Misfortune should command a Brinish Shower Can any Man forbid or fault this Holy Water Who would not be Baptiz'd in such a Fountain If that Tyrant John Basiliwic of Muscovy exacted Phialas sudore plenas the Sweat wiped off his Subjects Brows to be preserv'd in Glasses purely for Him to look upon Certainly it may be justly expected when a Vertuous Prince is taken away not onely that the Eye-lids should gush out and that the Publick Face of the Nation sho'd be bedew'd with Tears but that a Subsidy also sho'd be bottled up and kept in store in Remembrance of the Loss and the Severe Infliction THE Hearses of such Magnificent Persons have in all Ages been thus Mournfully Attended not onely of such who have dropt away with Age but theirs who have been blasted in the Tenderness of Youth * 2 Chron. 35.24 All Judah and Jerusalem Mourned for Josiah HOWL then Fir-Tree for the Cedar is fallen Doth it not grieve you all ye that pass by to see such a Goodly Plant lye on the Ground which but now stood with Admiration Can you go unconcernedly on the other side of the Way as the Priest and the Levite did by the Wounded Man and have no Sense or Impression of the Blow What! no more than That which Dies e'en let it Dye and that which falleth let it fall Nay which is worse can you be pleased at the stroak and express your Odious Joys at the Breach Like the Inhabitants of the Earth who rejoyced when the Two Witnesses were Kill'd and sent Gifts one to another †Rev. 11.10 O Cursed Insensibility O bitter Spirit O Ominous Presage of further Calamity When we were in the Dregs of Misery and Church and Nation lay as it were gasping under the Bitterness of Death Heaven took pity upon us and recover'd us by the Hand of our now Dread Sovereign and we all saw the Great things were done for Vs whereof we were Scandalously unthankful For which Iniquity we received of the Lord a just Punishment in the Death of the Late QVEEN But yet in the midst of that Judgment he remembred Mercy and as if we were a Land that the Lord our God careth for He extended Peace to it like a River and like a flowing Stream * Isa 66.12 But instead of a Religious Improvement of it the Land abounds in Transgressions and the City is full of Perverseness Insomuch that Death is come up again into our Windows and enter'd into our Palaces †Isa 4.11 and God hath taken away a Prince in his Anger So that our Condition too much resembles that of Jerusalem which the Mournful Prophet bewails in the 55th Chapter v. 18. There is none to guide her of all the Sons she hath brought forth neither is there any to take her by the hand of all the Sons she hath brought up And loth I am to say that this was the very Method God took when he Threatn'd to Stretch out the Line of Confusion and the Stones of Emptiness upon it The Nobles shall be called to the Kingdom and there sho'd be none there and all her Princes sho'd be nothing i. e. there sho'd be no Princes or Nobles left that shou'd be fit to take the Rule and Government upon them and then he tells them not Sarim but Sirin not Princes but Thorns sâ—o'd come up in her Palaces not Chorim but Chochim not Nobles but Brambles in the Fortresses thereof and it sho'd be an Habitation for Dragons and a Court for Owles God forbid that ever our Island shoâ—â—d be made a Spectacle to Men and Angels in this respect Well! the Power is lodg'd in our own Hands by a Repentance in common happily to Prevent it O Repentance it is thou alone canst save us Help us Thou Joy of Angels and Crown of Nations Turn in unto us and let England take Shelter under thy Wings I will plant the Cedar and the Shittah-tree and the Myrtle and the Oyl-tree the Fir the Pine and the Box-tree together that ye may know and consider and understand that the Hand of the Lord hath done it * Isa 41.19 What tho' we be ranged under Contrary Perswasions and a Diversity of Judgments and Opinions is amongst us yet were our Hearts Vnited in the Fear of God could we Walk by the same Rule in turning to the Lord even this heavy Loss of the DVKE woâ—â—d soon be made up and God wo'd Continue to be Gracious to the Land thro' the Blood of Jesus which is Sprinkled upon Nations as well as Particular Persons And then let the Priests of Rome build Seven Altars and add Seven more to them and let them Offer upon Every One Seventy Times seven Bullocks and as many Rams Masses Reliques Candles Hosts and what they please let them Continue to Shake our Foundations with the Engine of their Brain and their Subtilty and call in all the Devils in Hell to their Consultation and Gather together the Kings of the Earth against us Tush it 's in vain and the Evil they Devise they shall not be able to perform for the Lord s with us and the God of Jacob is our Refuge To which God and Lord be Ascrib'd all Honour Power and Praise by both Worlds now and over Amen FINIS