in some grounds they prosper so well that the weede overgrowes the corne and the dayes of sickenesse are more than the dayes of health and the end of them is death Gods sentence cannot bee recall'd a lease for our lives wee may have for a certaine time but not an absolute pardon The difference of the elements within us cannot be compos'd a truce they make with each other not a peace And sinne will not loose the possession of our soules we may curb her power but not take it away wee may sinne lesse but not not at all for the best man sinnes seven times a day Rom. 6.23 and the wages of sinne is death how soone wee shall receive them wee are uncertaine We know not how suddeuly wee are to travell into another countrey let us therefore bee ever readily furnisht for our journey let neither youth delight nor honour so rake up our thoughts that wee forget the maine businesse of our life to dye well We cannot pleade minoritie if we are now unprepar'd wee were of full age long since to sue out the liverie of death and if we live untill we are decrepit our soule is like our bodies if we thinke not every minute may bee our last The Poet will give no man above a day Horace Iob 7.6 Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremū Iob little or no time at all Mans dayes are swifter than a weavers shuttle Iob 14.2 He commeth forth like a flower and is cut downe hee flyeth also like a shadow and continueth not Let us then so live in these houses of clay as if we were tenants at will and might bee thrust out of possession every moment not as if we could not bee remooved untill the expiration of ninety nine yeares or had a lease of three lives in them The edifice of our mortall selves is not erected upon a rocke a foundation of stone but on sand so as when the sea and tide beate and the winde rageth it is in danger continually of an utter overthrow Horace Quid brevi fortes jaculamur aevo Multa Why then in this uncertainty doe wee make a preparation as if wee should live unto the third fourth generation He is wise that can dislodge at an instant and when death knockes at his doore can unaffrightedly let her in and hath then so dispacht all his affaires that hee hath nothing to say but come Lord Iesus come quickly nothing to do but to deliver backe his soule to his Creator Whereas miserable is his condition who is marrying a wife or giving in marriage or banquetting when the inundation of an unresistable floud is ready to over whelme his unfinisht arke of himselfe History tells me of a miserable complaint one made against Death and Destiny that they should cut him off in the midst of his work when 't was halfe finisht worse is their case who are taken away in the midst of their sins nay if it be in the midst of their repentance Si maneant opera imperfecta Virg. minaeque Murorum ingentes If the tabernacle of their hearts be not thorowly finisht and season'd with repentant teares if they are not perfectly and wholely reconciled unto their God May no agency keepe us from negotiating for our soules health against the day of death that with more truth than presumption we may say with David we shall goe to her to that Heaven where shee is to those Saints and blessed soules that are her companions to the Spirit of truth the Sonne of mercy the God of glory who crown'd her with immortality and infinity of happinesse to raigne with them for evermore Thus have you heard of the sickness of Davids Childe Application his behaviour before the death of him his resolution after it and his meditation upon it Of which I must say Rom. 4.23 as the Apostle doth of Abrahams Iustification Now it is not written for him only but for us As Davids Childe was sicke so was this yongue Lady sicke of a long and lingering sicknesse but patient and quiet in her sicknesse as if shee had not been borne to dye but suffer and even at her last gaspe she carryed such cheerfulnesse in her countenance as if she had been sensible of the neerenesse of her glory Death did not appale her but the fresh vermillion of her cheekes had shee been of riper yeares might have seem'd to witnesse a joy for leaving the world so soone She was of no robustious constitution but of a fabrick and making so delicate that as in your neatest watches the Artificer breaks a wheel or two before he can work one out so nature was so curious in the workmanship of this Lady that shee was apt upon the least occasion to bee out of frame She liv'd to spend her flesh as if she had thought it too good for the worms When there was nothing almost left but bones and skin about her shee desir'd to bee in her nurses armes as if she had knowne that neerer heaven than her bed and then to be in the cradle seeming to intimate it best resembled her grave where presently into the hands of her Saviour she deliver'd a spotlesse soule that she was dead they found but when they knew not Her breath unobserved stole away like Noah's Dove out of the Arke it went forth and came in it went forth and never returned againe Now as Davids Childe was dead Optima prim fere manibus rapiuntur avaris Implentur numeris deterior suis Ovid. Hor. so is this sweet Lady and like the minute she died in never to be recal'd againe so have I seene the sweetest flowers cropt in the bud Impube corpus quale possit impia Mollire Thracum pectora Such was her delicacy that the losse of her would even force a teare from a Barbarians eie God thought this jewell of too great a price for mans use he shew'd it to testifie his richnes and presently tooke it againe for our unworthinesse She was the finest thread that ever was spun to make up fraile nature which time and age would but have sullied and made worse I never saw flesh and bloud of a purer complexion Her soule was not blotted nor scribled with blacke and fowle thoughts her hands were not polluted with any action of evill shee was never out yet but like a good Musitian tuning her pipes and organs against shee came to bear her part her tongue she had put almost three yeares to schoole to learne to speake and if I looke into her conditions I can see through lesse then three yeares a most ingenuous and sweete disposition towards so good as if she were too good to live to sin and so God tooke her she had but that one sinne we are made of Originall towards the expiation of which when shee came first into the world shee baptized her selfe with her owne teares and that little remnant of daies shee liu'd shee did perpetuall
not bee joined with fasting because they are to be daily For extraordinary blessings we must use extraordinary devotions and like Iacob wrestle with God Now evill is eyther of sinne or punishment we fast to escape the evill of sinne either by way of prevention as Saint Paul when he said I chastice my body to keepe us from falling into it or by way of remorse and penitence to move the Lord to help us out of it For the escaping the evill of punishment if already inflicted wee fast to move God to stay the procession of his vengeance and this was Davids case heere hee fasted that the Lord might spare the life of his sick childe neither was it hypocritically for my Text saies that hee wept also and teares are powerfull invitations to draw God to mercy They are the soules best oratours and enter the gates of heaven when our prayers are excluded Iejunando Deum oramus flendo exoramus By fasting wee move our request by teares wee obtaine it or if you will have it in the words of a Father Bernard Orando Deum lenimus lachrymis cogimus prayers are petitioners teares are ravishers and force a pardon from God There is no voice lowder in Gods eares than the sighes and grones of a weeping Penitent Let our teares precede and Gods mercy will follow Quò quisque est sanctior Aug. eò in fletu uberior Plenty of teares doe witnesse a full devotion and the more holy we are the more we should expresse it in our lamentations Prayers often times receive a deniall but teares are bold petitioners and will take none Ezekiah and Mary Magdelen had freer accesse to their God by their teares than praiers when Peters tongue had pronounced him a traytor his teares reconciled him to his Saviour They that sowe in teares shall reape in joy a sleight scattering and sprinkling of teares will in the time of gathering yeeld us a fruitfull harvest of consolations Away with the bloud of Rams of Goates if ye wil bring an acceptable sacrifice offer up the teares and sighes of a contrite heart No Epicure findes that pleasure in feasting which repentant David injoi'd in his banquet of teares and therefore he was desirous to make teares his meat and his drinke for they are the best nourishment of the soule vnto eternall life Fulg. Ep. Quae ex compunctione cordis lachrymae manant nob is donum laetitiae triumphantis acquirunt Our Saviour Christ in the sixth of Luke sets forth their happinesse that weepe Beati qui fletis quia ridebitis Blessed are you that weep for you shall laugh When the tongue is ignorant what to say teares doe argue and plead our cause strongly Hiâ—â— Loquuntur lachrymae silente linguâ They quench the flames of hell and make dull and rusty the edge of Gods avenging sword they are the aqua fortis which eates out the hand writing which sin hath made against our soules and give an ease unto us when wee are weighed downe with the burthen of transgressions Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor These like powerfull Embassadors Ovid. never returne with an ungranted suite Psal 6. Therefore the Psalmist every night water'd his couch with teares And Ieremie wisht his head a fountaine Ier. 9.8 and his eyes as overflowing channels They that now sit weeping by the rivers of Babylon shall one day have their eyes dryed by the Lambe that sits upon the Throne But if our teares be only super ficiall Et habent artes Ovid. quaque jubentur eunt and proceed not from a hart that trumournes they are so farre from advantaging our soules that they adde to our condemnation wee must not only weepe but mourne cloath our hearts with sadnesse and affliction They are the wedding garments which shall welcome us on the feast day when the presumptuous guest shall bee bound hand and foot and cast into utter darknesse 'T is not the moysture that distills from the eyes but the drops that fall from the heart that make the grace of God fruitfull in us I would my head were a spring of teares that I might powerfully teach by example what I labour to perswade by my words O may the Father of goodnesse and mercy give us all teares for our sins and grant that wee may fast and sincerely weepe for the prevention of his judgements but if it shall be thy pleasure Lord for our sinnes to let them fall upon us yet give us courage and patience meekely to suffer what thou shalt inflict And so I come to Davids resolution after his childes death But now being dead wherefore should I now fast Preventing griefe is warrantable Pars tertia nay necessary but after a deed past helpe effeminate or which is worse rebellious Let teares precede if punishment be fear'd thankfulnesse follow when 't is past 'T is good for mee saies David that I have suffer'd affliction Psal 90. We are not to repine when God shall please to lay his crosses on us but to welcome them as badges and tokens of his favour and when they most torment us to say with Iob Though thou kill mee yet will I put my trust in thee Iob 13.15 The sacrifice of teares which wee shall offer to this innocent Herse is to bee lessened if it exceede the measure of affection and nature the overplus is redundancie and superfluous and must bee cut off or wee are not wise excesse of griefe for evils remedilesse hath more affinity with stubbornesse than use or profit it may shorten ours not recover her life that is heere the sad spectacle of mortality Facilius nos dolor illiadjiciet quà m illam nobis Vnquietnesse and disturbance do ingeminate and double the weight of griefe not lessen it Shall wee punish our selves because God hath punisht us I may rather say blest us for this blessed childe is not lost but preferr'd her soule hath exchang'd a house of clay for a kingdome of glory and having broken prison hath left an unquiet habitation to enjoy a perpetuity of rest shee is gone thither where the Sun shall not burne her by day nor the Moon by night nor lying slanderer shall blemish her unspotted cleannesse nor base calumny make the truth of her worth questionable She needs not feare such enemies who with damnable plots falsities invade the fortunes if they can the lives of innocents her happinesse hath removed her from their reach No cunning Courtier can make crimes and beg her forfeited patrimony forraine preparations and the danger of invasion comes not neere her thoughts nor earthly villany nor vexation can disquiet her happinesse shee prayes for ours she is now there blessedly arrived whence nothing can force her nothing can feare her Why then doe the honourable parents of this happy soule mourne so excessively Can they think to call her back againe If they could I presume they would not from this state of blisse If she were dead and
penance and now hath undergone the last Death Now mee thinkes wee should stand all like Belshazzar when hee saw the hand-writing upon the wal Dan. 5.5 our countenances should be changed our thoughts troubled so that the joints of our loines should be loose our knees smite against one another to think upon this harmelesse innocent that here hath suffered for one sinne and that sin none of her owne to thinke now that t is we that are dead and yet shee is to be buried The multiplication of our yeares hath been but an increase of the reckoning wee must make for sinne and runs us further stil upon the score Wee have put off our innocencie long since with our infancie the elder wee grow the worse we are as our first parents were in their clothes of figge-leaves It may grieve us to see the happy estate we have outliv'd and put us in minde of the fitnesse of a reparation We may live untill we are old and old men are twice children but this last is a childishnesse of impotencie not of innocencie of such was this Ladie Mrs of whom I cannot speake the full truth but that I make an argument against mine owne purpose which is to settle Davids resolution in you to beare this losse with patience As David then resolv'd when his child was dead to fast no more so let us to weep no more let his reason be ours t is a good one We cannot bring her back againe Me thinks the thought of this should allay the impetuousness of our sorrow that it doth not profit her whose life we desire but hurts ours If griefe could doe her good every night I would wash my bed with weeping and wish my head a fountaine of water nay had I but one teare to spend after those for my sinnes shee should have it But Seneca a meere Heathen hath taught mee to hate unprofitable griefe Quae amentia est poenas à se infoelicitatis suae exigere mala sua augere what madnesse is it to revenge my crosses on my selfe wilfully to augment my griefe Is not my sorrow weightie enough but with a fresh supply of teares I must encrease the burthen of it But why so violent now you could not but perceive long since that thus it would be Could you imagine that such perfection could be of continuance Things sublimated of a superusuall goodnesse take a suddaine flight from us The brightnesse of the fire argues a vicinitie to extinction it is of longer durance when it feeds on dull grosse matter as it is lesse quick and agile so children the more forward spritely they are the lesse hope they give me of a long life But that which wee grieve for in this Lady is her blessing we toyle are full of sorrowes and must dye but shee doth rest from all labour without which with the Saducees you will denie a resurrection Cesset igitur dolor compassionis ubi oritur fides resurrectionis I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we beleeved that Christ Iesus died and rose againe Thes 4.13.14 even so all those which sleepe in Christ will the Lord bring with him Could this yong Lady speak she would bid us not weep for her but for our selves for shee is not dead but Matt. 9.24 like the maid in the Rulers house she sleepeth Therefore comfort your hearts drive sorrow far from them for sorrow hath slaine many there is no profit therin Ecclus. 30.33 saith Iesus the son of Sirach Let us not for the greatest losse grieve too much lest we make our friends grieve for the losse of us for through immoderate sorrow death can finde an easie passage to destroy us And now to end with my Text let us with David from hence take up a meditation of our own mortalitie let us think on death but not occasion it let us assure our selves that wee shall go to her but let us not through immoderate griefe send our selves before God calls us lest we dispossesse our selves of the place where she is Let every occasion be a memorandum of our mortality I like the custome of the Egyptians who at their festivals and times of mirth had ever at the last course a deaths-head seru'd in which was a silent insinuation of the frailty of their nature A frequent iteration of this would make us understād ourselves better than we do O may the God of light unseal our eies make us see and know how subject we are to die good God imprint in our memories the thought of death bestow on our harts a preparatiō to welcom it grant that with Iob we may wait al the daies of our appointed time untill the Son of righteousness appear then be exalted into an everlasting mansion in heaven there to raign with him for evermore To whom with the Father the holy Ghost be ascribed all power c. Amen FINIS