to live To die well is too busie a work to be done well on a sudden Deferring as well as presuming makes many men implicite Atheists It was a sweet Speech and might well have become an Elder Body which a young innocent Child of my own used in extremity of sickness Mother what shall I do I shall die before I know what death is I beseech you tell me what is Death and how I should die Now of the way to die well HE that would end his days well must spend them well 'T is no great matter to live all do as much but few die well But Death falls sad and heavy upon such Are little known at home abroad too much Man is ready to die before he lives but therefore he liveth a time in the world that he may die betime to the world His Years come to an end as a Tale that is told His days deceive him for they pass as a shadow by moon-shine then appearing longest when they draw nearest to an end Job saith My days are swifter than a Post they flee away and see no good The art of dying well is better learnt by Practice than by Precept Unto dying well three Things are most requisite First To be often meditating upon Death Secondly To be dying daily Thirdly To die by little and little The first step of dying well OFten meditation of Death brings a man to die in ease for it alleviates pains expels fear eases cares cures sins corrects death it self The very Thought of Eternity will make easie and pleasant all things we suffer in a miserable Life How can we be said not to die when we live among the dead We live with so many deaths about us as we cannot but often think of dying Every Humour in us engenders Diseases enough to kill us so that our Bodies are but living Graves and we die not because we are sick but because we live And when we recover from sickness we escape not sickness but the disease All this life is but a death of an hour Familiarity with Death a soveraign Cordial against Death THerefore be acquainted with Death betimes for through acquaintance death will lose his horror like unto an ill Face though it be as formidable as a monster yet often viewing will make it familiar and free it from distaste walk every day with Joseph a turn or two in thy Garden with death and thou shalt be well acquainted with the face of death but shalt never feel the sting of death Death is black but comely Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his bones came to lye in it Some Philosophers have been so wrapt in this contemplation of Death and Immortality that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it as if a fair death were to be preferred before a pleasant life This is well for Nature's part and Moralists think this enough for their part to conceive so But Christians must go farther and search deeper They must try where the power of death lyes They shall find that the power of every man's death lyes in his own sin That death never hurts a man but with his own weapons It always turns upon us some sin it finds in us The sting of Death is sin Pluck out the sting death cannot hurt us The way to die well is to die often Let a man often and seriously think of dying then let him sin if he can said Picus Mirandula In Sardis there grew an Herb called Appium Sardis that would make a Man lie laughing when he was deadly sick Such is the operation of sin Beware therefore of this Risus Sardonicus laughter of Sardis We count it a fearful thing for a man to be author of his own death but a sinful life slays the soul and so while we live we kill or lose our better life The Commandment that says Thou shalt not kill especially forbids the murthering of our own Souls And herein is our happiness though we live in sin yet we die without sin Therefore to me Death is welcome not as an end of troubles but of sin Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth The Second Step To be dying daily THE second step to dying-well is to die daily Methinks O my Soul it is but yesterday since we met and now we are upon parting neither shall we I hope be unwilling to take our leaves for what advantage can it be to us to hold out longer together Are we not assured that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Why therefore O my Soul shouldst thou be loth to part upon fair terms Thou O my Soul to the possession of that happy Mansion which thy dear Saviour hath from all Eternity prepared for thee in his Father's house and thou O my body to that quiet repository of the grave till ye both shall happily meet in the blessed Resurrection of the Just I die that I may not die I die daily saith Saint Paul So many days as thou livest reckon so many lives for he that disposeth all his days as one life can neither wish nor fear to morrow The old saying is a good saying Do that every day which thou wouldst do the same day that thou diest 'T is an excellent thing to make all we can of life before Death To die by little and little the third step THE third step to dying well is to die by little and little Naturally we are every day dying by degrees the faculties of our minds the strength of our bodies our common senses are every day decaying by little and little every sin is more than a disease and a wicked life makes a continual death Impiè vivere est diu mori To live wickedly is to be long a dying Therefore saith the good Man We are killed all the day long He that useth this course every day To die by little and little to him let Death come when it will it can neither be terrible nor sudden If we keep a Courser to run a Race we lead him daily over the place to acquaint him by degrees with all things in the way that when he comes upon his speed he do not start or turn aside for any thing he sees So let us inure our souls and then we shall run with boldness the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our salvation To die by little and little is first to mortifie our lesser sins and not to say with Lot Is it not a little one There be also a sort of little deaths sickness of body loss of Friends and the like Use these in their kind and you may make them kindly helps to dying well Every change is a certain imitation of Death Let a man go out as he came into the World
of the Years but Man is meerly a Tenant at will is put out of Possession at less than an Hours warning Wherefore now while it is said to day set your Houses in order seeing that you must die and not lâ—vâ— It is not sufficient at the last Hour of Death to say Lord have mercy on me or Lord into thy hands I commend my Soul But even in all our Life-time yea and especially in our youth we must strive ever to set our Houses in order for we shall die and not live Samson was very strong Solomon very wise and Methusalem lived many years yet at last they with many more were brought to Mother Earth If it seem pleasant unto you at the present to let your rotten and ruinous Houses stand out of order yet with all remember what the Prophet saith The day of Destruction is at hand and the times of perdition make haste to come on Art thou a young Man in the April of thine Age and hast thou thy Breasts full of Millâ— and doth thy Bones run full of Marrow as Job speaks and thereupon dost promise to thy self length of days yet thou must know also that a man even at the highest pitch of health when he hath that same Fencer-like kind of strength is nearest danger in the Judgment of the best Physicians remember with all that observation of Seneca Young Men saith he have Death behind them Old Men have Death before them and all men have Death not far from them we may in a manner complain already that the great God of Battle threatens an utter ruin to all the World the Earth hath trembled the Lights of Heaven have been often darkned Rebellions have been raised Treasons have not long since been practised Plagues of late have been dispersed Winds have blustered Waters have raged and what wants there now but those two Arrows of God even Sword and Fire from Heaven for us to be consumed Is it now think you a time to buy to sell to eat to drink and to live securely in sin as they did in the days of Noah and think of nothing else is it now a time to say unto Almighty God as the Nigard doth unto his Neighbour come again to me to morrow as that drousie Sluggard doth Prov. 6. 10. Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little foulding of the hands to sleep The foolish Virgins supposed that the Bridegroom would not have come like an Owl or a Batt in the night there is time enough said they what needs all this haste but poor Fools they were excluded Oh! I cannot forbear my very Heart even bleeds within me to think of it yea all the faculties of my Soul and Body are strucken with horrour and amazement while I declare unto you how that many Thousands now are doubtless in Hell who purposed in time to have set their Houses in order but being prevented by Death are for ever condemned O here I could heartily wish with Jeremy that I had in the Wilderness a Cottage Yeâ— I could wish with Job that I were a Brother to the Dragons and a Companion to the Ostriches whilst I think of that wish I am now uttering nay I could willingly desire with the Princely Prophet David that my Heart were full of Water and that mine Eyes were a Fountain of tears that I might weep Day and Night for the too too common Sins of this our Age in every kind Now you are in your preparations for Eternity and therefore had need to be very watchful over your selves to see that you set your Houses in order for you shall die and not live And this brings me now unto the very last thing observable in my Text and that is of the reason Negative and shalt not live set thy House c. Chrysostom prying into the base Nature of Man and finding him ever out of order teacheth him a seven-fold consideration of himself First What he is by nature what he is in himself Dust and Ashes Gen. 18. 2. Secondly What is within him much sin Thirdly What is before him a burning Lakâ— which is spoken of Isai 30. 33. Fourthly What is above him an offended Justice Deut. 32. 16. Fifthly What is against him Satan and Sin two notorious and deadly Eâ—… Sixthly What is before him 〈…〉 and worldly vanities And then seventhly and lastly He desires man seriously to consider what is behind him inâ—â—llable Death for semel aut bis morimur omnes Some once some twice we must all die and not live You cannot like Enocâ— Hâ—b 11. â—5 be translated but must suffer Death as well as other Men being common to all Whatsoever thou dost affect whatsoever thou dost project so do and so project all at once who for any thing thou knowest may at this very present depart out of this Life Hypocrates although he could not cure till Death came upon him Heraclitus who writ many natural Tracts concerning the last and general consolation of the World could not find out a Remedy or a Medicine for his Distemper but died out of hand Thus you may see how that God spares none but sends one thing or other to bring us to our long home And thus far concerning the Death of the Body shall suffice which was the Death good King Hezekiah was forewarned of Wherefore now I shall but only speak a word or two of the Soul and likewise of the Death of the Soul and Body and so conclude First as there is a Natural Death viz. the Death of the Body so likewise there is a Spiritual Death viz. of the Soul when it is deprived of those Graces which formerly God did bestow upon it for as the Soul is the light and life of the Body even so Almighty God is the light and life of the Soul When he takes his holy Spirit from us then we walk in the shadow of Death this Death is an ill Fruit of Sin therefore let us set our Houses in order But secondly As there is a natural Death and a spiritual Death so likewise there is an eternal Death called in the Ornament of Grace the second Death This Death as well as the Death of the poor Soul is lamented by God Esay 59. 2. As I live saith the Lord I desire not the Death of a Sinner but rather that he may turn from his Wickedness and live I might now likewise add a fourth Death and that is a civil Death an undoing of our Credit and honest Reputation which many Men die but this I shall leave to your consideration and so conclude O my dearly beloved Friends consider what you are all by nature What is within you What is above you What is below you What is against you What is before you What is behind you and that is infallible Death For here is not one here amongst you be he never so strong never so healthly but that within the Revolution of a few years shall be brought in spight of his
Death yet is there nothing more uncertain than the hour of Death and therefore a certain Philosopher compared the Lives of Men to Bubbles that are made in Water pits when it raineth of the which some do vanish away suddenly even at their very rising others do endure a little longer and out of hand are decayed others do continue somewhat more and others less So that although they do all endure but some little time yet in that little there is great variety This being then the shortness and uncertainty of our Lives it should teach us so much the rather to embrace our Saviours Counsel in the Thirteenth of St. Mark 's Gospel Watch because ye know not the day nor the hour The which is as much as if he had more plainly said Because ye know not that Hour watch every hour and because ye know not that day watch every day and because ye know not the Month and the Year watch therefore every Month and Year And to make this matter more plain by a Similitude If thou shouldest be invited to a Feast and being set at the Table seest before thee many and sundry sorts of Meats a Friend of thine secretly admonisheth thee that among so many dainty Dishes there is one Poysoned what in this Case wouldst thou do which of them darest thou touch or raste of wouldst thou not suspect them all I think though thou wert extremely hungry thou wouldst refrain from all for fear of that one where the Poyson is It is made manifest unto thee already that in one of thy seventy Years thy Death lieth hidden from thee and thou art utterly Ignorant which year that shall be how then can it be but that thou must suspect them all and fear them all O that we understood the shortness of our Life how great Profit and Commodity should we then receive by the Meditation thereof Thirdly and lastly the vanity and nullity of our Life after Death intimated in these words and afterward vanisheth away The whole Course of Mans Life is but a flying Shadow a little spot of time between two Eternities which will quickly disappear the same Earth which we now so negligently tread upon may suddainly receive us into her cold Imbraces Well may Life then be said to be vanishing away Though now we are in perfect Health yet before to morrow some dear Friend or other may passionately follow our Hearse to the Grave Our time past is like a Bird fled from the Hand of the owner out of sight and our present time is vanishing away and on Earth we have no abiding But here consider if Life be so vanishing and uncertain a thing then 1. This reproveth those that Squander away their precious time as if their abode on Earth would be too long to prepare for Eternity if they did not mispend it half but it is time for us to cry out The time past is more than enough to have wrought the Will of the Flesh 1. Pet. 4. 3. or as it is Rom. 13 14. 'T is high time to awake out of Sleep 2. If Life be thus vanishing then be not over solicitous as to future Events but willingly submit to a Divine Providence be not so much concerned for to Morrow do not cumber your selves with too much Provision for a short Voyage 3. If Life be thus short and vanishing then do much work in a little time shall we loose any of that time which is so fleeting and so uncertain And thus I have briefly shown you the frailty of the Life of Man and the profitable use we might make of this Consideration That our Life is â—â—â— a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and afterward Vanisheth away 4. If Life be so short and uncertain then look upon every day as your last so did the Apostle Paul who said I die dâ—â—l as there is nothing more certain than Death so there is nothing more uncertain than the time of Death We are all Tenants at Will and therefore the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth may turn us out of our Clay Houses when he pleaseth It was a worthy Custom of a Roman Emperor that would have his Man come every morning to his Bed side and pronounce these Words Remember thou art a dying Man certainly such are justly to be reproved who look upon Death as at a great distance from them It is a common saying of some that they thought no more of such a thing than of their dying day surely it argues a very wicked frame of Heart to be so forgetful of Death when 't is that we are to expect every minute and know not but each day that comes may be our last THE EJACULATION GOOD Lord what is the Life of Man is it not like unto a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Is it not like unto a Bubble which quickly swelleth to a considerable bigness and as quickly sinketh again Is it not like unto the Grass which groweth up and flourisheth in the Morning but is cut down before the Evening come Oh Lord though Life be sweet yet common experience shews that it is short and as our Life is short in it self though we should live to the very outside of the strength of Naeture so will it seem much shorter if it be compared with Eternity it self And yet as short and as uncertain as our Life is we have a long work to dispatch before we go away from hence and be seen no more we have a great way to go by a setting Sun a great Race to run by a short Breath and if Life be but as a Vapour how little reason have we then to squander away precious time Yea how great reason have we to redeem the time that is past and to improve every Inch of the present time Let us remember that we have no continuing City here and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come Good Lord therefore do thou make us to know our end and the measure of our days what it is that so we may be throughly convinced how frail we are Dying Christian SERMON X. Being the last Sermon this Author Preacht at Grafham in Huntingdonshire Beloved Brethren THE Lord hath set it home upon my Heart ever since I came amongst you earnestly to desire and to pray for the Salvation of your Souls it hath been no small Encouragement to me to lay forth my weak endeavours in the Ministry when I consider that he which converteth a Sinner from the Errour of his way shall save a Soul from Death and hide a multitude of Sin James 5. 20. To save a Soul from Death is so glorious an Imployment that herein I cannot chuse but rejoice with the Apostle when I see the word of the Kingdom working effectually in any Soul I bless God every day without ceasing that he hath given me a full proof of my Ministry in the Hearts and Consciences of some
the Comfort to his soul that one day he should rise again in which he should enjoy the glorious presence of his Redeemer See Job 19. 26. Secondly it may Comfort the Saints of God against the persecutions of the body yea and death it self We read of the Saints of God in the days of Antiochus that they were racked and would not be delivered and why so because they looked for a better Resurrection Heb. 11. 35. No doubt but they counted the Redemption from the rack a thing much to be desired yet they knew that the Redemption from Hell and the Resurrection to eternal life was much more to be sought for without which condition they would not be delivered and no marvel for what though the rack might rend their flesh and disjoint their Lims yet they knew well enough and were fully assured that at the Resurrection all should be conjoined and perfected again The EJACULATION GOod Lord let us when we die sleep in Jesus that we may obtain a Glorious Resurrection when this World shall have an end for though we are as we have heard but enlivened Dust gilded peices of Clay sinking Bubbles and dying shadows yet these dying Bodies of outs shall at the last day when the Trumpet shall sound arise ye Dead enter into Eternal Glory or Everlasting Peace Oh let us consider how glorious a Creature man was when he first came cut of his Creators hand for thou didst make him but a little lower than the Angels thou didst crown him with Glory and Honour thou didst make him the very Summons and Epitomy of the whole World he was made the very Master-peice of all thy works the very Flower and Miracle of Nature he was even then a small draught of the divine Nature and a bright Beam of the increated light But how Glorious indeed will he be when he shall be raised at the Resurrection and shall shine as a resplendent Sun in the Firmament of Glory Good Lord therefore let us not be strangers to the relish of Heavenly things but let us live as those who hope to be Heirs of Eternal Joys when this World shall have an end Let us look up to God and let us look out to Eternity let us consider that our hastening Time will soon have an end and we shall never more be trusted with another space of Time to prepare us for Heavens Glory Oh let us not therefore set our affections upon any things which we can carry no further with us then the Grave but let us live in a daily serious beleif and in a joyfull expectation of that endlest Glory and that Glorious Resurrection which will be the Portion of all those who live in the Love and die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus for thou hast promised a Glorious Resurrection to them that sleep in Jesus AN ELEGY Upon the Reverend Mr. John Dunton Author of the House of Weeping LIKE a bright Lamp whose mounting Flame aspires To its Original those Heavenly Fires Till the fomenting Oyl consume it turns Twinckling to Ashes and no longer burns So his Divineâ— Soul though clos'd within An interwoven case of flesh and sin Mounts to its pure Original and strives By lighting others to amend their lives 'Till nature quite extinct with fixt desires Of Heavens Enjoyments his blest Soul expires Farewel dear Sir had powerful art a Charm To snatch your Life from Deaths surprising Arm We would not fail to re-imbarque your Spirit Gon to possess what Glorious Souls Inherit In highest bliss that sweet Christaline Iste Where God and Saints for ever ever Smile T is lovely to be Humble Faithful Kind This was the Emblem of the Authors mind Who 's soar'd aloft leaving Earths dusty Round Where sweetest Joys in one ill hap are drown'd To those Harmonious Orbs where now he sings Melodious Anthems to the King of Kings Where in the glit'ring Rank of Angels bright He took his place with radiant Sons of light His race was long and nimbly he did run To reach Heavens Glory by that Setting Sun Which guilds the Spheres which garnisheth and braves The lower World which scores us out our Graves And being gon to th'place his heart design'd He here hath left a Weeping House behind Which dolefully like a loud Passing-bell Rings out to th' World the Authors last Farewel O. O. An EPITAPH upon the Author of this Book Mr. John Dunton who was Interred in the Chancel at Aston-Clinton Novemb. 9th 1676. IN spight o' th' Grave bright Saint thou shalt survive Our grateful Age will keep thy name alive Heav'ns great Ambassador on Earth thou 'st lain The League being struck Heav'n call'd thee home again Yet Death hath left of thee Great Soul behind So much that we our loss shan't quickly find Nor can thy Name a dull Oblivion know Thy Works will an Eternity bestow O're Time and Fate thou l't an Ovation have And now dost Triumph over Death and Grave S. A. FINIS Death-Bed THOUGHTS The PROEMIUM BVT Oh my Soul What ails thee to be thus suddenly backward and fearful no Friend hath more freely discours'd of Death in speculation no Tongue hath more extolled it in absence And now that it is come to thy Bed-side and hath drawn thy Curtains and takes thee by the hand and offers thee service thou shrinkest inward and by the paleness of thy Face and wildness of thine Eye bewrayest an amazement at the presence of such a Guest That Face which was so familiar to thy Thoughts is now unwelcome to thine Eye I am ashamed of this weak irresalution Whitherto have tended all thy serious Meditations What hath Christianity done to thee if thy fears be still Heathenish Is this thy Imitation of so many worthy Saints of God whom thou hast seen entertain the violentest Death with Smiles and Songs Is this the fruit of thy long and frequent Instruction Didâ—â— thou think Death would have been content with words Didst thou hope it would suffer thee to talk while all others suffer Where is thy Fath Shall Hereticks and Pagans give Death a better welcome than thee Hath God with this Serjeant of his sent his Angels to fetch thee and art thou loath to go Rouse up thy self for shame O my Soul and if ever thou hast truly believed shoke off this Vnchristian diffidence and address thy self joyfully for thy glory All motions tend to rest Return then to thy rest O my Soul for God hath dealt bountifully with thee But Lord spare me a little before I go hence and be seen no more that my DEATH-BED THOUGHTS may be all imployed in the Contemplating of that Eternity into which I am now a launching Sect. 1. The Daily Remembrance of Death HAppy is he who always and in every place so lives as to spend his every last moment of Light as if day were never to return Epictetur most wisely teaching this Death saith he and Banishment and all that we look upon as Evils let them be daily set before
may know how long I have to life Psal 39. v. 4 5. Shew some good token upon me for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psal 86. v. 17. Thou hast broken my Bands in sunder I will offer to thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upâ—n the Name of the Lord Psâ—l 116. v. 14 15. I had no place to fly to and no Man car'd for my Soul I cry'd unto thee O Lord and said Thou art my Hope and my Portion in the Land of the Living Psal 142. v. 5 6. Omnipotent Sempiternal God who didst prolong the Life of Hezekiah miserably imploring thee grant me thy unworthy Servant before the day of my Death so much time to live that I may be able to deplore all my Sins and may obtain from thy Compassion Pardon and Favour Omnipotent Gracious and Merciful God I most humbly beseech thee by the Death of thy Son grant me a happy and a blessed Hour when my Soul shall depart out of my Body Lord Jesu Crucified Christ by the Bitterness of the Death which thou didst suffer for me upon the Cross chiefly when thy Soul departed from thy Body have Mercy on my Soul at the last Hour who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and for ever Amen The Second Prayer For a Happy Departure MOST Merciful Lord Jesu if this be the Condition of a Dying Man if in such Dangers and Extremities my Spirit must depart out of this Life whither shall I fly but unto thee Oh my God Do thou take care of my Soul that it may not perish in that dreadful Hour Grant me I beseech thee according to the multitude of thy Mercies and by that servent Love and Grief wherewith thou who art Life it self didst die for me that I may have the Combat of Corporal Death always before my Eyes and that living I may so do as dying I would desire to have done and that I may expend my time and study in nothing more than that I may Spiritually die to my self and may mortifie all the Passions of my Sences that so after this Life I may live with thee Happy and Blessed to all Eternity The Conclusion of the first Chapter To the Reader DO this meditate upon this O Man and while thou art well learn to be sick learn to die To do both is a rare piece of Art which whether thou knowest or no it is not lawful for thee to try but when thou canst not err without the loss of Eternal Felicity We err but once in dying but that Error is never to be amended to all Eternity Therefore to abide as being still to depart But for the most part abide within thy self and search every cranny of thy Conscience Whatever thou enjoyest look upon it as the Lumber of a place where there is no Habitation Thou art not suffered to carry out any more than thou broughtest in with thee Therefore act and bestir thy self Approve thy self right in the sight of God Thou art to go hence Believe that thou standest always at the Gate of Eternity Eternity is that we must look after Pleasure is short Punishment Eternal The labour is Easie the reward Everlasting Therefore we have given wholesom Instruction we have taught that Death is to be contemn'd but the thoughts of it never to be laid aside Now we will give the same Admonitions to the Sick CHAP. II. The Remembrance of Death is Recommended to the Sick Sect. 1. The Introduction and whether Sickness be an Evil CAnnus is a Town in Caria in a Pestilent Air and unwholesom for the Inhabitant These People when Stratonious the Musician and wiâ—ty Man beheld he recited the Verse in Homer to them Like as the Leaves just so the People are Thereby he taunted their Icterical Yellowish and Wan Complexions But when the Caunians had given him a very rugged Entertainment for defaming their City as sickly and unwholesom Stratonicus return'd upon them again Must I not dare said he to call that a sickly place where the dead walk More wittily and more smartly than before But why do we deny and lift up our Noses We are most like to Leaves Very plainly Job Wilt thou break a Leaf saith he driven to and fro As if he had said When I am but a Leaf liable to all the Inconveniences of Life afraid of every Gust wilt thou hasten me with the wind of thy indignation I shall fall of my self without any constraint of thine Are not Men Leaves whom Sickness like dry Leaves and juiceless Flowers tosles to and fro and variously sports with Clement of Alexandria being of the same Opinion Go to said he Men of an obscure Life like the Generation of Leaves infirm Creatures Images of Waâ— things like shadows frail unfledg'd living but the Life of one day Certainly we are Leaves shaken by every puff of wind Sometimes a little Fever what do I say Nay a little Cough a little drop falling upon the little wicket of the Throat mortifies this Leaf and throws it into the Grave But whether or no is Sickness a Benefit and Death an Evil No Mortal no it is not saith Epictetus Health well us'd is a good thing ill us'd a mischief And therefore we may reap Benefit by Sickness What dost thou say of Sickness I wil shew thee its Nature then I shall be quiet I shall think my self well dealt with I shall not flatter the Physician I shall not wish for Death What wouldst thou more Whatever thou shalt give me that will I make happy prosperous honourable to be desir'd But there are some that deny this and say Take heed of being sick 't is an ill thing To them Epictetus again That is as much as to say saith he Take heed that thou dost not feign three to be four 't is an ill thing How evil If we so think of it as we ought What harm will it do me Rather will it not do me good If therefore I so think of Poverty Sick or Troubles of Church or State as I ought is not that enough to me will it not be profitable Truth Love thee O Epictetus How agreeable are all these things to Christian Doctrine This Foundation being laid we shall here teâ—ch ye to be mindful of Death in Sickness and not to be afraid of his coming Sect. 2. The sick Person to his Friends To Sickness To the beginning of a Mortal Disease To Death To Christ our Lord. To his Friends Hence with your unseasonable mourning This is not a place for Wailing but for Prayer But I depart early from you Early take heed ye mistake not I was ripe for death as soon as I was born yea before I was born What I was when born I know a weak frail body liable to all Reproach the Food of Sickness the Victim of Death Behold who e're thou art take Hope or Substance to
serious thoughts while I live How I must die these do so make me run that I may obtain a Crown of glory The sound of the Passing Bell assures me there is some to day likely to die it is so â—igh Night it is high time then to work out my Salvation lest the Night of death put in and none can work I have a task set will take up all my time viz. to die well while I live then I will learn to die lest being found unprepared it be said Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of â—hee Maximilian the Emperor made his Coffin always to be carried along with him to this â—nd that his high Dignity might not make â—im forget his Mortality What was long since decreed in Heaven God hath sent Warrants to execute on Earth â—â—mel mori for us once to die Kings Xerxes standing on a Mountain and â—aving many hundred thousand of his Souldiers standing in the plain fell a weeping to think â—pon it how in a few years and all those galâ—ant valiant men must die Adam he lived 930 years and he died Enoch he lived 96â— years and he died Methusalem lived 967 years and he died O the longest 〈…〉 hath its night and in the â—nd â—man must die The Princes of the Nations pass sentence of death upon others Well it is not long but â—heir turn will come Semel mori once to die Many of us live where our parents lived and live of the same lands which they lived of It is not long and our Children shall do as much for us For we must go hence and be seen no more Some ride Post some Hackney pace at serius citius sooner later all arrive at the Common Inn the grave and die Some have the Palsie some the Apoplexy some a Feaver some an Ague some a Consumption some none of them yet the sick the sound they all meet in the end at the same Rendezvouz at the House of Death The Scholar thinks to delude Death with hiâ—s Fallacies The Lawyer puts in his Demur the Prince his plea is State affairs at aquo pulsat pede Death knocks at all doors alike and when he comes they all go hence from their houses to their graves Joseph the Jew in his best health made his Stone-Coffin be cut out in his Garden to put him in mind of his Ego abeo I go hence The Persians they buried their dead in their houses to put the whole houshold in mind of the same lot Semel mori once to die Simonides when commanded to give the most wholsom rule to live well willed the Laâ—edemonian Prince ever to bear in mind Se tempore brevi moriturum ere long and he must die I have read of a sort of people that used dead mens bones for money and the more they have they are counted the more rich Herein consists my richest treasure to bear that about me will make me all my lifâ—â—ember my end Great Sultan Saladan Loâ—â— of many Nations and Languages commanded upon his death-bed that one shall carry upon a Spears point through all his Camp the Flag of Death and to proclaim for all his wealth Saladan hath nought left but this winding-sheet An ensured Ensign of Death triumphing over all the Sons of Adam I uncloath my self every night I put off all but what may put me in mind of my winding-sheet Anaxagoras having word brought him his onely son was dead his answer was Scio me genuisse mortalem I know he was born to die Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a pension every morning to say to him Philippe memento â—e hominem esse Philip remember thou art a man and therefore must die We read of Philostrates how he lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against the time he came to be put into it Oh an Apprentiship of years is time little enough to make us perfect in the Mystery of Mortality Divine Meditations arising from the Contemplation of these sad and serious Sentences 1. Med. IS it not high time to make fit to die considering thy Winding Sheet lies ready for thee and the Bell tolls thee away Say with thy self My want is great my time is almost run If I make not market to day I am not sure to do it to morrow O the uncertainty of Life shall be the Alarum-Bell to give me now notice to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling O I am never so nigh my God as when I think of my end FRIEND let Death be in thy thoughts and God will be in thy heart 2. Med. Meditate since man must die Lord what danger in dying unprepared this is Maxima miseria A misery of miseries and St. Augustine gives the reason For that look how a man goeth to that prison the Grave so he goeth to the Judgment-hall to be tryed But oh Death thou Common Butcherer of human Nature after thy great stroak be struck I am not dead but asleep Blessed be thou my God who hast made my grave my bed in which after I have taken some silent rest the noise of the Archangel with his Trumpet shall awake and raise me from a Death for sin to a life of glory Death is the way we must all walk to Life Some ancient Fathers and some late Writers says the Lord Manchester have fixed upon the Love of God Some upon the Passion of Christ Some upon the Joys of Heaven Some upon Contempt of the World several others upon divers other subjects All opening that some one is to be chosen For whoso will live to himself must be at leisure for God And a wise man saith Wisdom is to be written in time of leisure Whoever is lessen'd by work he cannot tend it I being in my accustomed retiredness disengaged from publick affairs which was but seldom found it useful fruitful and delightful To bestow my thoughts upon my latter end There be four last things say the Fathers Heaven Hell Death and Judgment All Subjects large enough But considering I had passed so much Employment so many Offices so long Practice in several professions I now thought it time to seize on Death before it seiz`d on me Lord teach me to number my days that I may apply my Heart to Wisdom After long meditation this I found that when Meditation had begotten Devotion then it applyed it self to Contemplation which required a settlement upon some Divine Object And what more heavenly than the thought of Immortality What so necessary as the thought of Death Herein therefore I complyed with my own desires and did so as it were weave my own windingsheet by making choice of Death for the Subject of my Contemplation We should not diffuse our thoughts into variety of Considerations but recollect them into one by Contemplation Herewith a man's soul being once affected hardly shall he obtain leave of his thoughts to return again to employments And lest I busied about many things
fault ought not to have lessened my Love to which both Nature and Religion did strongly oblige me Had he loved me but coldly and faintly as divers do yet I ought to have warmed his affection with the fervency of mine But oh he dearly loved he cordially affected me and yet his love and his affection could not prolong his life Had my Brother and I been Idolaters together I might have believed that that sin had slain my Brother But as our Love was constant so our Religion was undefiled yea the strength of our Love was founded on the purity of our Religion and yet he hath payed his debt to Nature The Lord did threaten to set the Egyptians against the Egyptians and that they should fight every one against his Brother Is 19. 2. Those Egyptians were heathens and Enemies to the Church but my Brother and I were united both in the Profession and the Love of Christianity and yet through our sins I fear that even we destroy each other My sins are partly punished in his death and his death hath given me so deep a wound that peradventure I shall not long survive him Our love was so entire that methink's I could willingly sleep with him in his Grave for while I live my breast is but his walking monument Such love as ours did not always possess the hearts of some as nearly allyed which maketh me sigh to think that ever there were any which had layen successively in the self same womb and yet did not joyn in the unity of affection Methinks the complaint of the Church may be part of an Elegy upon my deceased brother for with her I may cry out and that justly too The good man is perished out of the earth But neither can I say that he was a Jew in supplanting or an enemy to the Church lying in wait for blood What secret Devil did guide both the tongue and the hand of Joab when under the colour of friendship he asked Amasa Art thou in health my brother And took him by the beard with the right hand to kiss him 2. Sam. 20. 9. and yet even at that time smote him with his sword in the fifth ribb and shed out his bowels to the ground that he died v. 10. What cursed fiend did guide the tongue of that wicked miscreant whom the Psalmist chargeth thus and saith Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mothers son Psal 50. 20. Had my brother either supplanted me or hunted me with a net or sought to slay me or slandered me with his tongue then I might peradventure have saved this great expence of my Tears But he was always so good a Brother that I could never justly charge him with the least discourtesie O no we took sweet Counsel together and walked unto the House of God in company Psal 55. 14. I may say of him as Nehemiah spake of Hanani the Ruler of the Pallace He was a faithful man and feared God above many Neh. 7. 2. His blood was near to me but his Soul was nearer His person I loved as I was prompted to it by Nature But his inner man I more zealously affected to which I was allured by his gracious endowments yet neither his Counsel nor his society nor his fidelity nor his Religion could preserve him from the sentence of a temporal death O what would I not do to call him back again What would I not give to have him restored to life again But all that I can either do or give cannot perswade his Soul to return back to its Prison Well then seeing that I cannot fetch him from the Grave I will yet send up my sighs towards the place where he is blessed This I may do without any check either of reason or religion It was a curse which God did inflict upon Jehojakim for his sins That they should not lament for him saying Aâ— my Brother Jer. 22. 17 18. But on the contrary when Deborah though she was but Rebekah's Nurse was buried beneath Bethel under an Oak the name of it was called Allon-Bachuth the Oak of weeping Gen. 35. 8. When the enemies of David were visited by sickness he behaved himself as though they had been his Friends or his Brethren Yea he bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother Ps 35. 14. But he who now is dead was not my enemy but my friend yea and no common friend but a Brother yea and not a Brother in the flesh so much as in affection even as dear as a Mother Why then should I not sorrow for the loss of such a Brother I will grieve I will lament when I remember the Love and the courtesies which he shewed unto me and I will speak in the language of the Church to Christ and say O thou that wert my Brother that sucked the breasts of my Mother when I should find thee without I would kiss thee yet I should not be despised Cant. 8. 1. I will lament him as David did Saul and Jonathan and say the Beauty of Israel is dead 2 Sam. 1 19. he was lovely and pleasant in his life ver 23. I am distressed for thee my Brother very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of Women v. 26. But what advantage to the dead are the tears of the living Can my sighs inspire life into his bosom Can a draught of my tears fetch him back again to life O no 't is this 't is this therefore that doth heighten and increase my sorrows even that my tears cannot recover him whom I lament But cease fond woman cease thy sobbs and cryes of discontent By the extremity of thy passion thou mayest hasten to his Grave yet if thou murderest thy self with excessive sorrow thy soul may be deprived of the society of his 'T is true indeed 't is most true Little can I expect to come to heaven if I violently force my self from the earth Why then do I take on as if I either suspected his happiness or doubted of following him What comfort can it bring to his body of earth to have it cabined in the Grave with his dispersing ashes The dust of both of us may mix in the vault and yet no joy arise to our sensless ashes If his earth was that which drew mine affection I see my fondness in the corruption of that Earth but if his gracious soul was the object of my love I must strive to come where that surviveth To heaven he 's gone and to heaven I 'll hasten and because I will go the surest way I will walk in those paths which faith and patience shall direct me in I will no more disturb the peace of my mind since that cannot help me to the company of him Weep indeed I do I am enforced unto it 't is the law of nature 't is an act of necessity I cannot avoid it Yet though I weep I will labour for content
that was for his Son an innocent Babe who was no sooner born into this miserable World but visited with a mortal Disease and so cut off for the Life of Vrias in his Infancy The Life of his Son Ammon was not satisfaction sufficient nor of his dearly beloved Son Absalom nor yet the Life of his Son Adonijah but also this poor harmless Creature must suffer together with them now he is dead It is enacted by Almighty God in the high Court of Parliament in the Kingdom of Heaven unto all men that they shall once Die and therefore says David Psalm 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave There are two sorts of Deaths Corporal which is either natural or violent or Eternal Death which is called a Spiritual Death or the second Death The first being only a Separation of the Soul from the Body with all the evils that attend thereon this sweet Child suffered Death is like an Archer making man his Butt who when he shooteth pierceth in this manner following In shooting over us he wounds our Ancestors behind us our Servants on our right hand our Wives and Children on our left hand our Friends and in the midst our selves so that as St. Paul says Heb. 9. 27. No one can escape him So that you may see as Job saith man's time is appointed his months determined and his days which are but few upon Earth numbered yea and as our Saviour Christ says his very last hour is limited He was made of the mould of the Earth and therefore thither shall he return and as all have one entrance into Life the like going out shall they have to death Naked came we into this most miserable World and naked shall we return again If Adam had not eaten of the forbidden Fruit we had never known what Sin had been and so by consequence Death which is a thing that now cannot by any means be avoided before that we knew what sin was we had strong Houses But ever since God let 's us dwell in thatch'd Cottages and clay Walls every Disease like a storm is ready to totter us down In old time men us'd to live long but now many are thrust out of house and harbour at less than an hours warning yea and even in their infancy at their first coming into the world as this poor innocent Child was and not only for their own faults for their own transgressions but for their Parents In the Third of Gen. you may find mans Exodus and that is thou shalt die Ever since Old Adam our great great great Grandfather neglected his Duty towards God Death the lodge of all mens lives comes with insensible degrees upon the sons of men it 's impartial hand is always destroying no Wisdom can appease no Policy can prevent nor any earthly Riches redeem us from the Grave semel aâ—t bis morimur omnes some once some twice we must all die we have an old Statute for it that this earthly Tabernacle must suffer corruption and therefore the Poet sings sweetly Post hominem vermis post vermem foetor horror Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis hoâ—o As man came from the Earth so thither shall he return and become a habitation and food for Worms If any had been exempted from the fatal and general sentence of Death then without all question our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ had been who for our Sins and for our insufferable Iniquities suffer'd the sharpest death imaginable even to die upon the Cross who was equal to the Father touching his God-head Now seeing that this ever blessed Virgins Son Lion of the Tribe of Judah and harmless Lamb of God did suffer an ignominious Death to redeem us from Eternal Death let not us be unwilling for our own good to lay down our lives and to part without sorrow and grief with our dearest Friend or Relation but rather let us take up a full resolution when any of our Friends although never so near and dear unto us be departed and say with David now he is dead now he ceaseth to breath and now he hath taken a farewell of the Elements wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again Good Christians can with patience embrace this Life yet in their best meditations they do commonly wish for Death they honour all that contemns it but cannot endure or heartily love any that is afraid of it this makes many naturally love a Souldier and honour those tattered and contemptible Regiments that will die at the command of a Sergeant For a Pagan there may be some motives to be in love with Life for a Christian to be amazed at Death I see not how he can escape this dilemma that is too sensible of this Life or careless of the Life to come If a Wife put forth her Child to Nurse and the Nurse having kept it long enough she taketh it home again can the Nurse or any other have any cause to complain so the cause stands between God and our Souls If God having inspired into these mortal Bodies of ours that which is immortal come and take it to himself lest it should come to harm can any one have any reason to Complain As seed unless sown in the Ground cannot bring forth so we until that Death come and we be laid in the Ground cannot expect our consummation and bliss with Gods Saints in his Kingdom of Glory Death freeth the godly from the Tyranny of Satan from Sin from the World from the Flesh and from eternal Damnation placing them with Christ for evermore in Heaven the Center of all good wishes where instead of Earthly Bodies they shall be cloathed with unspeakable Glory and all this holy David was not Ignorant of which made him as soon as his dearly beloved Son had taken his Farewell of this inferior Orb say Wherefore should I fast seeing my Child yea my precious Jewel has changed his Life out of a miserable world into a Kingdom where pleasures ineffable are to be had for evermore but now c. And this brings me now unto the Third thing considered in my Text which is the manner of his mourning and that was how he spun away his time in weeping fasting and praying for his dear child so long as he was alive he did not as Priamus did for his Son Hector Fast Weep and Pray after his Death or as many do now adays only in outward shew altering their Garments No his was far otherwise it was real true and hearty sorrow not countenanced in the least with a heavy look or with a solemn sigh blown from deceitful lungs No his was a Weeping Watching Mourning and Fasting Grief he was sequestered from all Worldly contentment imprisoning his Body from all the pleasures of this mortal Life ever making his bed to swim and watering his touch with tears He mourned as one
or because they fetch their compass that they might make a more solemn Procession to the Church or Sepulchre Among the Romans the Friends of the deceased hired certain Women whom they called Prefiâ—â—â— to lament over their dead for the most part among the Jews this sad task was put upon Widows for they took it upon themselves as the words of the Prophet imply and there were no VVidows to make lamentation and of the Evangelist also Acts 9. 39. and the Widows stood by weeping for Dorcas and indeed Widows are very proper for this imployment When a Pot of water is full to the Brim a little motion makes it run over Widows that are Widows indeed and have lost in their Husbands all the Joy and Comfort of their Life have their Eyes brim full of Tears and therefore most easily they over flow There are but Three things appertaining to Man here 1. Life 2. Death 3. Burial And see they are all Three in the Text. 1. Man goeth there is his Life 2. To his long home there is his Death 3. And the Mourners go about the Streets there is his Burial described by Pariphrasis And so I am upon the first Stage The Doctrine Man's Life is a Voyage his Death the term or period of this Voyage his Grave his home and Mourners his Attendance The Hour-Glass is running whether the Preacher proceeds or makes a pawse and the Ship is sayling whither it is bound when we sleep in our Cabbine so whether we wake or sleep move or rest be busie or idle mind it or mind it not we walk on toward our long home We are expiring and dying from the running of the first Sand in the Hour-glass of our life to the last from the moment we receive Breath to the moment that we breath out our last gasp Thus the Man in my Text goeth or rather runneth still in his natural Course that is every Man I need not direct any Man in his Natural Course from Life to Death every Man knows it and whether he knowes it or no he shall accomplish it the Spiritual Course is more considerable which is itinerarium ad Deum a Journal to Eternity a Progress from Earth to Heaven this Progress a Man begins at his Regeneration and in part endeth in his Dissolution by Death but wholly and fully after his Resurrection the way here is Christ the viaticum the blessed Sacraments the light the Scriptures the guides the Ministers of the Word the Thieves that lie in wait to rob us of our Spiritual Treasure the Divels our convoy the Angels our stages several vertues and degrees of Perfection the City to which we bend our course Jerusalem that is above wherein are many Mansions or eternal houses I am now come though long first to Man's long home which cannot be described in a short time and therefore I leap into my last stage which as you may remember was The Application of the Text to this sad Occasion I must now use in the Application of my Text a method direct contrary to that which I followed in my Explication for therein first I shewed you how the natural Man goeth to his long and the Spiritual to his eternal home and after how and why and what sort of Mourners went about the Screets lamenting the deceased but now I am to speak of the Mourners who have already finished their circular motion and then of the direct motion of the Man the man of quality the man of worth the Man of estate and credit who is already arrived at his long Lete and now entring into his long home Touching the Mourners I cannot but take notice of their number and quality the number is great we see yet we see not all who yet are the truest Mourners pouring out their Souls to God with tears in their private Closets Illa dolâ—t vere quae sine teste dolet Her portion of sorrow like Benyamins is five times more than any others whose loss of a Husband and such a Husband is invaluable Secondly the quality of the Mourners is not â—lightly to be passed by debeter iis religiosa mora for not only great store of the Gentry and Commons but some alâ—o of the Nobility the chief Officers of the Crown and Peers of the Realm not Religion only and Learning but Honour and Justice also hath put on Blacks for him thereby testifying to all men their joint-respect to him and miss of him Let them who have lived in credit die in honour let them who in their life time did many good Offices to the dead after they are dead receive the like Offices from the living Out of which number envy it self cannot exempt our deceased Brother Of whose natural parts perfected by Art and Learning and his moral much improved by Grace I shall say nothing by way of Amplification but this that nothing can be said of them by way of Amplification All Rhetorical Exaggeration will prove a diminution of them In sum he was a most provident Housholder loving Husband indulgent Father kind Landlord and liberal Patron The Night before he changed this Life for a better after an humble Confession of his Sins ingeneral and a particular Profession of the Articles of his Belief in which he had lived and now was resolved to die he added I renounce all Popish Superstition all Mans Merits trusting only upon the Merits of the Death and Passion of my Saviour and whosoever trusteth on any other shall find when he is dying if not before that he leaneth upon broken Reeds Here after the Benediction of his Wife and Children being required by me to ease his mind and declare if any thing â—ay heavy upon his Conscience he answered nothing he thanked God He besought all to pray for him and himself prayed most servently that God would enable him patiently to abide his good will and pleasure and to go through this last and greatest work of saith and Patience and the Pangs of Death soon after coming upon him he fixed his Eyes on Heaven from whence came his help and to the last gasp lifted up his hand as it were to lay hold on that Crown of Righteousness which Christ reacheth out to all his Children who hold out the good â—ight of Faith to the end Earth to Earth and Dust to Dust SERMON VII GEN. iii. 19. Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return THE Remembrance of Death among other Remembrances is as Bread amongst other Meaâ—s howbeit it is more necessary for the poor thirsty Soul than Bread for the hungry Body for a Man may live many Days without Bread but the Soul cannot do so without the remembrance of Death which like that Serpent Regulus by no Charms can be charmed And it is the general Opinion of the best and most Holy Writers That the most perfect Life is a codtinual Meditation of Death When our blessed Saviour said If any man will follow me let him deny himself and take up
Men are the greatest griefs of the Malicious and Envious Misers this Sin is a repining grief for other Men Happiness it is an evil Eye which wisheth good to no Man but to it self although the Squint-Eye Male content and Envious Wretch doth thus ever Travel with Mischief and bring forth ungodliness still 〈…〉 of himself like the raging Sea and stiring up strife all the day long yet let him remember that this course of Life must be alter'd that he must get his Body throughly drench'd from all Envy Hatred and Malice the greatest Antagonist against Love which ought to be embraced for all and Get his House set in order for he shall die and not live Fifthly The Body must first be purged from the Corruptions of Blood-guiltiness Secondly from the cruel Maladies occasioned by Adultery Thirdly of all putrifactions brought in by Pride and Arrogancy and fourthly the infections procured by Envy Hatred and Malice so likewise it must be ever kept free from all Covetous and greedy desires the root of all ill and the very Metropolis of all Villany Judas was not sooner made Buyer but that he shut himself into his Purse and became a Slave to a few pieces of Silver his own Prisoners so that indeed at last it was more easie for a Camel to enter into the Eye of a Needle than for him being conjured into the Circle of his Purse to get out again This Sin is so sweet that it leadeth almost all Men unto Destruction whom it once possesseth What was it but only Covetousness that brought Dives to the Pit of Hell where being ever tormented with its Scorching Flames is still dying yet never dead always crying out O Immortal Death O deadly Life what shall I term thee for if that thou be Life wherefore dost thou kill and if Death how dost thou still endure for in Life there is some ease and comfort and in Death an end but in thee there is neither ease nor end O my dear and well beloved Friends consider this and get your selves Cured of this Malady which of it self is able to bring a Man unto the Pit of Hell fly it as a secret Enemy in your â—own Bos myea and both in Body and Mind to As our outward form so much more our inward form should make us loath and detest this abominable Sin of Covetousness which turns topsy turvy all Humane Society and sets more at odds than naked truth brings to Unity Peace and Concord Pronaque cum spectant animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit caelumque tueri Jussit erectos ad Sydera tollere vultus In the first Creation of things when God made all Creatures Irrational looking down to the Ground then made he Man a Rational Creature after his own Likeness with a Countenance tending to Heaven and all to put him in mind although he was made de terra ex terra of the Earth and out of the Earth never like the Worldling to mind the things of the Earth but to keep his Body still clean swept not suffering the least Dust or filthy Rust to be in his Mortal Corps But further as the Body must be made clean and purged of all those stinking Dregs which those forementioned crying Sins have left in it even so it must be ever kept clean from those Distempers which Drunkenness and Gluttony procure This most beastly Sin of Drunkenness began presently after the Flood and hath almost drowned the whole World with another Deluge The Tuscans were so much addicted to this that they were never well but in drinking and quaffing of Soul-sick healths and so were the people of Germany whereupon was said Germani possunt cunctos tolerare labores O utinam possunt tam bene ferre sitim O I wish saith the Poet seeing that the People of Germany can endure any thing that they could but refrain themselves from Drinking too much Likewise it was said of one Borosus that he was Born bibere non vivere to guzzle their time away and not live and thus it may be said by too many now-a-days who unless instead of it apply their Hearts and Minds to Sobriety and Temperance shall not only procure to themselves loss of Estate sickness of Body but also to the poor harmless Soul Everlasting woe and misery O consider this you that rise early in the Morning and continue till Night in drinking of strong Healths yea you that cannot afford your self natural Rest but like the Hog betake your self to any sad Lodging for a while and so return to your drunken trade again still drinking other Mens Healths till that you drink your own away never calling to Mind Vna Salus sanis nullam potare Salutem Non est in poto vera Salute Salus That the Health of the sound is to drink no Health but to his own He that is a common Drunkard can but of necessity break all the Commandments of God For first instead of giving that honour due unto Almighty God his Creator he makes a God of the Creatures loving it with all his Heart and Mind ever having more Gods than one Secondly he is ever ready to Blaspheme and to back all his words with execrable Oaths Thirdly â—e is ever ready to commit Murder as Alexander the Greatest did who when he was Drunk slew his Friend Clitus Fourthly the Drunkard is ever ready to break the Seventh Commandment by reason of his large Commons and lewd Companions Fifthly the Drunkard breaketh the Eighth Commandment as well as the rest for although like a cunning Fox he may refrain to take up at home yet if it be to be had abroad he is sure to have it but indeed that which is the worst of all is that he robs God of his due which is of his poor Soul which he hath purchased with his most precious Blood and so brings both his Body and Soul to utter ruin and destruction O thou that spins away thy time like a Swine in drinking and eating ever have this in remembrance and set thy House in order for thou shalt die and not live There are many more rusty and filthy dregs of Sin which as well as those must be scoured out of the Body before that it can be set in order as of Lying Swearing Cursing and such like but those I shall leave to your consideration hoping that you will not suffer the least of them to have any place in your Mortal Bodies And so proceed a little further concerning the very matter of our discourse the thing that we are all warned unto which is to set our Houses in order for we must die and not live Set thy House c. As it is the Custom among the Nobles and Peers of this Realm when that they know of the Kings coming to give them a visit to have all about them in order and decency so indeed ought every one of us to set our Houses in order to keep our Bodies which are the
Body and the Arms of the Tree they are joyned to the Root where the Sap lies all the Winter and by means of this conjunction the Root it conveys life unto all the parts of the Tree And the Bodies of Believers they have the Winter to when as they are turned into the Dust but their Life it is hid with Christ at last they are revived and raised up into Glory Now here you may observe the great difference of Tempters according to the various Complexions of Mens Spirits the Atheist he dares not die for fear of being put out of his being and the prosane Person he dares not die for fear of exchanging his present bad being for a worse â—ut the Believer he earnestly desires to die that besides this present temporal being he might enjoy a future eternal well-being Indeed to a wicked Man the best had been not â—o have been and this next best were to live long â— was ill with him that ever he was born and worse A Carnal Mans continual cry is this Dum Spiro Spero I love to live for my present hope is my only help for indeed such an one hath only help in this Life but a Christians common Expression is this Dum Exspiro Spero Expiration is my Expectation for such an one hath hope in the Life to come when a wicked Man dies he thinks he shall live worse but a Christian when he dies he knows he shall live better he cries with the holy Apostle for one to live is Christ and to die is gain Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth and he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God Thirdly Death was never intended to be as a privation of good but as a priviledge for good to the Believer and it is attended with these several Priviledges First Corporal and Temporal Death it serves to set out the Beauty and Excellency of eternal Life It is Gods usual method to set out one contrary by another Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescurt In War God commends Peace to us In Adversity Prosperity in Sickness Health and in Death he commends eternal Life to us As the Limner lays the Foundation of a curioâ— Picture in a Dark Ground-work so God doth ofte times lay the foundation of our sweetest Mercies iâ— the greatest miseries and this he doth that â—â— Mercies may appear more lovely in our eyes aâ— thus he sets off the joys of Heaven by the troublâ— we meet with on the Earth It is said of Zeno thâ— he was wont to eat bitter things that he might tâ—â— better taste sweet and he would say sweet thinâ— were nothing worth if they were not so commenâ—ed to us And so bitter Death it is but an Eâ—gine devised by infinite Wisdom and for â—â— set out the Unspeakable sweetness of Everlasting Joys God could as easily have received all his redeemed ones into the immediate imbraces of Divine Love and Glory without letting them know what it was to be tempted to be afflicted or to die but only for the better sweetning and endearing fulness of Glory to them Secondly Deaths mortal Wound it is but preparatory to an immortal weight of Glory Death it is the midnight of all troubles and sorrows which is in Travel with a morning of everlasting Joy and Comfort Death it is the Saturday or last day of our Weekly labours which ushers in a Sabbath of eternal rest Rev. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their VVorks follow after them Here the Believer hath labour without rest but in Heaven he shall have rest without Labour Death tends indeed to a Believers perfect everlasting reign and rest The Believer Afflictions upon Earth they are fore-runners of Deliverances they are as throws to the Birth of future Comforts The Whale which swallowed up Jonah God appointed as the means of bringing himself to the Shore And so the trouble which we often times think may swallow us up it brings us to our harbour Death it lands us safely upon Glory One excellency sets out the state of a dying Christian in these Words Per Augusta ad Augusta per Spinas ad rosas per Procellas ad Portum per Mortem ad Vitam migramus Lastly Death it is as a Bridge that all Saints must walk over to the everlasting Hill of endless Peace to the perfection of Grace to the participation oâ— Glory to the full possession of Christ 1. Death it leads us to the perfection of Grace the believer would live that he might be more perfect but when he dies he is perfect indeed a dying life that is a dying to sin it frees us from a living Death well doing fits us for dying Holiness frames us for Happiness 2. Death it leads us to a participation of Glory the consummation of Grace is the incoation of Glory Grace that puts the Soul into a capacity of enjoying glimps of God as in a Glass darkly but glory brings the Soul ad visionem beaâ—ificam into an immediate converse with God face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a Glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known 3. Death it leads us into a full possession of Christ Luke 23 43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise so saith Paul Then shall we be ever with the Lord comfort comfort ye one another with these words to be always with Christ will be very comfortable indeed Death that deprives us of commerce with men yet it delivers us up into an immediate communion with God and Christ and the blessed Angels Saints in Heaven shall be as the Angels nay saith John now are we the Soâ—s of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be we know that when he shall appear we shall â—e like him for we shall see him as he is Death speaks the sad disjunction of the Soul from the Body and the sure and sweet Conjunction of the Soul with Christ and therefore saith Paul and every Christian when he is in a right temper I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all And thus I have endeavoured to lay open before you those Soul supporting and Soul encouraging Arguments the consideration of which makes the believing Soul so willingly and so boldly to look Death in the Face to invade Death in its own Quarters which is indeed but as a Passage or Bridg whereby the Soul is carried over unto the Mountains of Mirrh and unto the Hill of Frankincense where it shall lie down with Christ on his Green Bed of Love which is perfumed all over with the fulness of increated Glory And thus having shewed you many Arguments the Consideration of
when thy Lots are going When I consider who is gone and who are going I dread What became of Prague when Jerom was dead What became of Germany when Luther was dead And what will become of England when such as these are dead Let me call upon this Congregation this Evening that we would be in the Ephesians Practice they Mourned when Paul was going and they should see his Face no more Your Preacher is gone And you shall see his Face no moâ—e I would I could raise you to their height of Mourning He begat you in Christ Jesus though none of his own but Christs and you may get one to succeed him but not to exceed him but I desire that Man to tell me where The Good Mans Epitaph SERMON XII REV. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Methinks there is none more fit nor more ordinarily Preached on than two And they are both of them Voices from Heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to cry The Voice said Cry And he said What shall I cry All Flesh is Grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the Flower of the Field You will say That is a fit Text indeed so is this here A Voice from Heaven too But St. John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me saith St Luke in his Preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus To write to thee of those things in order that thou mightest know the certainty Philosophers who saw no further than the Clouds of Humane Reason could say A wise Mans Life should be a continual Meditation of Death Joseph of Arimathea had his Sepulchre in his Garden and Jesus Christ at the Publicans Feast falls into a serious discourse of his Passion and Ascension to teach us that in times and places of greatest Pleasure we should put our selves upon Theams of Mortality Heathens indeed had their Burying-places without their Cities but Christians in and about their Churches as signifie that in our Devotions we should think upon our dissolutions which was one reason why Alphonsus King of Arragon used to confess that dead Men were his best Friends they gave him sound and seasonable Counsel to remember Mortality here and provide for Eternity hereafter To this end St. John in his Book of the Revelation is sometimes advising us to make Preparation for Death And sometimes encouraging us against the approaches of Death by describing the glorious Reward of the Saints departed as in this Text Blessed are the dead c. From whence we may observe that they that die in a state of Grace live in a state of Glory This Observation I take to be the Scope and Quintessence of the Text and therefore shall make it the proper Subject of my present Discourse First by way of Explication to shew what it is to die in the Lord. That implies two things especially 1. To die in the Lord is to die for the Confession of the Faith 2. To die in the Profession of the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ 3. And lastly To die in the Lord is to die in the peace of a good Conscience A Conscientious Man dies Blessedly howsoever or whensoever or wheresoever he dies therefore when St. Paul had received the Summons of Death he fled to the Castle of his good Conscience there he sat like Noah in his Cabbin in an Ark pitch'd within and without I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand and here is my Comfort I shall go to my Grave with a Conscience as clean as my Winding-sheet it follows I have fought a good Fight finished my Course kept the Faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness This Truth is confirmed by a double Reason They Rest from their Labours and their Works follow them Their Blessedness consists in two things 1. In a cessation from all Sin and Misery They Rest c. 2. In a possession of all Glory and Felicity Their Works follow them First They Rest c. The Kingdom of Heaven is often in Scripture termed a Rest a place of Rest The World indeed is a troubled Sea but Heaven is the Haven of Rest the World is an Egypt a place of Burden and Bondage but Heaven is a Canaan that resembled by the Bosom of Abraham a place of sweet Refreshment and Soul-satisfying Rest The Saints departed Rest from the Labours of their Corruptions Afflictions Temptations And lastly They Rest from the. Labour of their particular Calling and Vocation which is toilsome and troublesome ever since God past this Doom upon Man for his offence in Paradise In the Sweat of thy Brows shalt thou eat Bread Indeed Man in the state of Innocency was not excused from Labour Paradise which was Adams Store-house was his Work-house too God put him into the Garden not to sleep in those sweet Bowers not to spend his time idly in those pleasant Walks but to dress and keep it ut operaretur that he might work and labour in it only here is the difference Labour then was a Recreation to the Mind and now it is an Affliction to the Body The second-Reason is laid down in the last words of the Text Their Works follow them therefore they are Blessed Their Happiness is not only privative consisting in a freedom from Sin and Misery but positive also in a possession of all Peace and Glory in a consummation of Grace in a perfect Fruition of God and a Blessed Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ Their Works follow them not their Works in kind but their Works in Issue and Effect the Fruits and Reward of their Works the Blessings of God which lye in the Promises to Works of Piety and Charity These follow them to Heaven Indeed Faith leads the way that must be our Harbinger to take up our Lodging in the New Jerusalem that like the Star in the East leads us to Bethlehem where Christ is but then good Works follow after they are our Attendants to the Court and Kingdom of Glory The Use If the Saints departed rest from their Labours here is then comfort in the general against all Crosses and Calamities in the World and in particular against the fear of our own Death or the Death of Friends Blessed are the Dead they rest c. Death like Lot's Angels plucks us out of the Sodom of Sin and Misery and placeth us in Zoar a City of Rest and Tranquility Like Peter's Angel it shakes off the Chain of Mortality and opens the Iron-gate the Gate of Pearl into the New Jerusalem like Lazarus his Angel it conducts the Soul from Earth to Abraham's
Bosom from this Vail of Tears to the Kingdom of Glory Moreover as Death helps us to our Rest so it is our Rest Why should we fear it The Scripture terms it but a taking away of the Soul to Peace a sweet Sleep of the Body Our friend Lazarus sleepeth and the Patriarchs are fallen asleep St. Stephen fell asleep Our Burying-places are but Dormitories Sleeping-places The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come and he shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their Beds Such a Blessed Rest have the Righteous in Death as our Saviour wept because his Friend Lazarus was to be deprived of it it is both the Observation of an Ancient Father and the Resolution of an Ancient Council concerning Christs weeping over Lazarus John 11. 35. Doluit Lazarum non dormientem sed resurgentem Christ did not weep because Lazaras was dead and taken out of the World but because he was to return from the Grave into a Troublesome World after he was gone to his Rest It may be for the same Reason the Thracians of old used to lament at the Birth of their Children but rejoice at their Funeral The time will come that we must part with our Isaac's our Benjamin's nearest Friends and dearest Comforts Then remember my Text if they die in the Lord take no care for them they are Blessed they are at their Rest But some will say Shall we meet with our Friends again departed in the Faith Yes without peradventure if we walk in ways of Obedience to the end It was David's Comfort upon the death of his Child While the Child was living he fasted and wept and laâ— upon the Ground but when it was dead he arose and anointed himself aad eat Bread His Reason is very strong and convincing 1. An impossibility of Recovery He shall not come to me 2. An assured Hope of meeting again in Heaven But I shall go to him He shall not come to me that would be for his loss to part with his Rest in Heaven for a restless condition on Earth but I shall go to him I have not lost him for ever we shall meet again as comfortably as Jacob and Joseph met in Egypt meet again in Heaven and never part Now you know it never troubles us to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again in the Morning it never troubles us to part with a Friend when he goes to Bed because we hope to see him again in the Morning Beloved the Death of a Friend is but like the setting of the Sun or the uncloathing of a Man when he goes to Red there will be a glorious appearing in the Morning of the Resurrection and therefore St. Paul condemns immoderate sorrow for the dead I would not have you sorrow as those that have no hope Nature will be sorrowful but let Grace moderate the sorrow and keep it within the bounds of hope and the ground of hope is set down If ye believe that Jesus died and is risen again even so also them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is true the Scripture mention some that shall not die as they that shall be found alive at the Coming of Christ to Judgment St. Paul tells us in plain terms we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed The meaning is they shall not so sleep as to continue in the state of the dead but be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye yet such a change as they shall have a dissolution and in the same moment a redintegration a real Death and a real Resurrection though no sleeping in the Grave of Corruption You see one Generation passing and another Generation coming one Friend and Neighbour drops into the Grave after another and when your turn shall be you know not This you may be assured of Death will come certainly and it may be speedily it may be suddenly What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death Psal 89. 48. Now I beseech you embrace and improve these few directions in order to a Pious Life and a Peaceable Death First if you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord labour for exemplary purity of Life Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom but he that doth the Will of the Father Secondly If you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord give the World a Bill of Divorcement otherwise it will clip your Wings and clog your Souls and hinder your pursuit of Heaven there is nothing in all the World that is worthy of your Affections nothing but what is transitory and unsatisfactory and therefore look on it and pass away Gregory Nazianzen speaks of a Land which had abundance of Curious Flowers in it but no Corn for Bread to satisfie the Peoples Hunger the World is very like that Land here are many Flowers which may please our Sences and our Phantasies but here is no Corn for Bread no substantial satisfying Comforts As Death should be the Subject of your Meditation so Heaven the Center of your Affections Richard the First sometimes King of England gave charge that his Bowels should be Buried at Charron but his Heart at Roan the Faithful City the City of his Love Truely the World deserves but our waste parts we may Bury our Bowels in the Earth but our Hearts should be laid up in Heaven the Royal City the New Jerusalem That so after a troublesome Life we may have a peaceable Death and after Death a glorious Reward of Everlasting Rest in Heaven according to this voice from Heaven in the Text. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labâ—urs and their Works follow them I have now done with the Text and now come to address my self unto that sad occasion which hath given my present Discourse this Mourning Suit The occasion of our present meeting is to Solemnize the Funeral of our deceased Neighbour and Friend to do our last office to her Body by affording it the benefit of a Christian and Comely Burial Concerning whom I might upon very good and warrantable Grounds enlarge my Discourse in the description of the blessedness both of her Life and Death but as the Orator said Quid opus est verbis What need is there of words when her deeds are so manifest She died the death of Moses he died leisurely God gave him notice of his Journey before-hand for his better preparation Go up to the Mount and die So departed she from the World not before she expected Death not before she provided for Death God was pleased in Mercy to give her warning before she flitted to ring her Passing-bell in her Soul many days before she died and whereas many are flattered with hopes of Life till the very Hour of Death yet she was upon a meditation of Death from the first beginning of her sickness Death was not sudden to her either in
hath no Interest in Jesus Christ who hath not him to be his Advocate who shall then be his Judge And this you will certainly find and feel to be true whether you fear it or not for God hath appointed it and if none can disappoint him then all must first dye and after that be judged c. And thus having Explain'd the Words of my Text I shall next shew you what Observation or Doctrine may be drawn from them and it is this Doct. That it is past all dispute that all Men must pass through Death and Judgment As for the certainty of Death you need not look into your Bibles for a Proof of that I shall only desire you to open your Weeping Eyes and let them but a little while be fastened upon the Dead Corps that now is before you and if afterwards you can Question this Truth I shall say no more to you at present but that it will not be long e're others may say of thee as the Apostle Peter did to Saphira Acts 5. vers 5 6 7. compared with the 9. 10. Verses And Ananias fell down and gave up the Ghost and the young Men arose wound him up and carried him out and Buried him And his Wife not knowing what was done came in and Peter said unto her How is it that ye have agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Behold the Feet of them which have buried thy Husband are at the door and shall carry thee out Then fell she down straightway and yielded up the Ghost and the young Men came in and found her dead and carrying her forth buried her by her Husband The same Bier and it may be the same Persons which have carried thy Neighbour thy Husband thy Wife thy Brother or Sister already to the Grave behold they stand ready to do so much for thee and let every one consider with himself that he may be the very next in the Town or Family for whom the Bier may be fetched to carry him unto his long home And then as for the certainty of Judgment though every one hath a sufficient Proof in his own Conscience of the truth of this yet for as much as some have â—eared Consciences and therefore would put off the evil Day and say with those 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. And there will come in the last dayes Scoffers walking after their own lusts saying Where is the Promise of his coming since all things continue as they were from the beginning c. You may therefore Consult these plain Scripture Proofs Eccl. 11. 9. compared with Rom. 14. 11 12. For we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ yet that is not all but as it followeth So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God 2 Cor. 5. 10. For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Now when you are about any badness and doing any evil I dare say you never think of this suddain and strict account that you are to give to God of all your Thoughts Words and Deeds But howsoever we shall next shew you the reasons and grounds why it will and must be thus that all must dye and that all must come to Judgment The reasons of the Doctrine then are First We have Gods Ipse Dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it God hath said it shall be so and if his words be true who is Truth it self and if he can make good the words which have once passed out of his Mouth who is Almighty you must all Dye and after that come to Judgment and tell me when God hath once said it that it shall be so who can say it shall not be so and make good his words when he hath done Secondly All have â—inned and therefore all must Dye and be Judged Rom. 5. 12. Wherefore as by one Man sin entred into the World and Death by sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that or in whom as it is in the Original all have Sinned in whom c. Treason stains the Blood the first Man Adam having sinned and all that were in him as we all were deriving Guilt from him so we must all come under the same Penalty of Death which he by sinning made himself and his Posterity obnoxious unto Thirdly The Justice and Mercy of God requires it should be so for as God will openly manifest his Justice by the Punishing of unbelieving Sinners who in this Life have escaped Punishment by the hands of Divine Justice so he will openly manifest his Mercy in the Pardoning and Saving of all Believers who have seemed in this Life to serve God without Reward You may read to this purpose at your leisure 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9 10. compared with Matth. 25. 31 33 34 41. Though now there seemeth to be little difference between the Godly and the Ungodly between the Righteous and the unrighteous between those that serve the Lord and them that serve him not yet then it will be a plain Case that it was better to be a poor Believer than a rich Unbeliever then it will be put out of all doubt who was the wisest and who shall be the happiest Man whether he that preferred Christ before the Creature or he that valued the Creature more than Christ yea then will appear a great difference between the Sanctified and the Glorified though the Sanctified were happy in enjoying of God on Earth in having Communion with him in Duties and Ordinances yet will the Glorified be more yea most happy when they shall fully and perfectly enjoy immediate Communion with God without the use of all means according to the Philosophical Maxim Finis nobilior est mediis The principal ultimate End is more excellent in it self and more desirable and valuable than the Means conducing unto the End But this you that have feared loved obeyed and served the Lord in this World will most understand in the World to come We shall next come to make some brief USE of the Doctrine and the USE is Fourfold 1. Of Information 2. Of Reprehension 3. Of Consolation 4. Of Exhortation 1. VSE of Information And we may hence be Informed that if it be certain both in Scripture and by common experience that all must dye and after that be Judged then it argues gross Ignorance for any one to think that it is possible for him to make such a Covenant or agreement with Death and Judgment that they shall not come near him Indeed such Atheists and Fools there have been as the Scripture speaks and it is likely some such there may be amongst us But hath God appointed that thou must once dye and afterwards come to Judgment Then what art thou Oh poor Worm that thou shouldest once Dream that thou canst null or make void this Ordinance and Decree of Heaven
thy Eyes but of all most chiefly Death So shalt thou think upon nothing that is too low nor too ardently covet any thing Miserable diminitive Mortals wherefore d' ye teach long Hopes Wherefore d' ye undertake such a vast heap of Business That shall be perhaps to Morrow a meer Spark and Ashes Walk curiously O Man That dismal Goddess continually hovers over our Heads and waits for the last Sands of our Lives Hour-glass with an unwearied and never-sleeping Eye and wilt not thou watch after her What e're beginning has an end doth fear We all must go Old EAcus within those shades below Whips on the Moments that protract us here Nor can any Age struggle with Death As soon as we are Born we are subject to that Tribute and are the Stipendiaries of Death When first our trembling sight Beholds the dazling Beams of unknown light Then we begin to die The same Death menaces the Queen that threatens the Handmaid Therefore believe every day that shines to be thy last Say every Evening this day I stand at the Gate of Eternity Sect. 2. The remembrance of Death is a powerful Remedy against all Sins THE serious remembrance of Death shakes off all sense of pleasure and turns Honey into Wormwood The Expectation of Death saith Chrysostom suffers us not to be sensible of the Delights and Pleasures we injoy And indeed what is it not able to do when consider'd not only in the Extremities of the Fingers and as it were in the Hair but over the whole Body Death spares no Age nor no Degree of Dignity Here dies a young Man there an Infant there an old Man Another by Poyson or a Fall another by a slow Rhume another by a quick descent of Humour here lyes another oppress'd with a mighty Shower or the Waves there lyes another struck with Thunder Among so many doubtful so many various so many sudden Accidents what security or what mind to sin among so many Incertainties Therefore since we daily die think upon the Hour-glass whether the old fashion'd one running Water or the new one running Sand. Do ye not find that by dropping of the Water and the passage of the Sand the upper Glass empties and the lower Glass fills Consider that it is so with Life every moment something slides away the present Life empties and flows into another Nothing is here safe not the Hour of the Hour nor the Moment of the Moment Happy he to whom every day is the last more happy he to whom every Hour most happy he to whom every Moment is the utmost period of his Thoughts He will abstain from the wickedness of his hands who believes every Hour decreed every Moment his last O vain Hope How many dost thou deceive How many to whom thou promisest old Age dost thou cut off in the midst of their Course Believe therefore that may happen to thee which happ'ns to many How many has Death prevented in the midst of their wickedness and cut off half the Crime How many fall with a revengeful Mind though with an Innocent Hand How many snatch'd away in the attempt have receiv'd the reward of their Impiety Many in the very Moment of a wicked Action begun have been forc'd to leave their ill designs unfinish'd What if thou shouldst be in the number of those What Hour or Moment is more certain to thee than to another Now who can expect a Crime from such a Thought as with the Crime expects Death and with Death Punishment No prudent Man plays or sports in the midst of a Storm No Man at the brink of a Precipice meditates mischief No Man is merry unarmed in the midst of his Armed Enemies More stupid is he whom the perpetual fear of Death when every Hour is doubtful every Moment uncertain dares those things that procure an unhappy Death to Eternity O Fools Whither do we run to be punish'd for ever Wherefore do we not follow the Council of the Son of Sâ—ras In all thy work saith he remember thy last and thou shalt not sin Sect. 3. The end of a good Life is all Out of Seneca TELL me my Dear Seneca whom Pliny with an Elogy to be envy'd calls the Prince of Learning tell me what thou thinkst of Death especially immature Heark'n Youth give ear complaining Age like a Comedy so is Life which it matters â—ot how long but how well it is acted It imports not where thou mak'st an end leave oâ— where thou pleasest only put a good period No other is the Opinion of Epictetus Remember saith he that thou art the Actor of the Fable as the Poet directs If short of a shâ—â—t if long of a long Fable No otherwise said Varro They live not best who live longest but they who live most uprightly Most plainly so it is it matters not where when or how we end When God please we must die but let us put a good period to our Lives Sect. 4. All Men no Men. Out of Arbiter Heu heu nos miseros quam totus Homunicio nil est Alas What miserable things are we The frame of Man is only Vanity VErily so it is But alas by much the more miserable by how much the less we acknowledge our selves to be so The whole little Man is nothing as the ancient Satyrist well observes but if I may dare to say so then he begins to be something when he knows himself to be nothing O Man know thy self and be wise For Death equals Lillies with Thorns O miserable and vain Men What are we Learning and Fame are Smoak We Dust that meer Opinion the other Wind And we that are alive vigorous and flourishing shall shortly be reduced to say We have liv'd This single Exit all Men make Our Life decreases by increasing and the very day we breathe in we divide with Death For every day some part of our Life is diminish'd As the last drop does not empty the Glass but what flow'd out before so the last moment does not alone bring Death but only consummates our Being Sect. 5. Mortals are of one little Day THE day Lilly is a Flower whose Beauty perishes in a day There is also a Bird haunts the River Hypanis called Haemerobios or the Bird of one day ending its Life the same day that it begins dying with the dying Sun and travelling through the Ages of Childhood Youth and Old Age in one day In the Morning it is hatch'd at Noon it fluorishes in the Evening it grows old and dies But this is more to be wonder'd at in that winged Creature that it makes no less provision for one little day than if it were to live the Age of a Crow or a Raven To this little Animal the Life of Man is most fitly to be compar'd It inhabits by the River of gliding Time But more fleet than either Bird or Arrow And often only one day determines all its Pomp oft-times an Hour and as often a Moment Wherefore then
what matters it whether we go out first or last out of this Life as Men go out of a Theater We must depart iâ— then at any time why not now To day perhaps Death spares us That 's nothing to Morrow he will be with thee The Sword will seize thee a Stone waits for thee a Fever lyes in Ambush Thou art never nor in no place safe There 's a necessity of going If then to Morrow why not to Day If at any time why not now Sect. 44. Why Death is Terrible DEath is the same to all Men but the Wages by which it happens are various One expires while he is feeding another slumbering falls into an Eternal Sleep another in the act of Impiety extinguishes Here one drops by the Sword another Drowns in Water another Fires consumes Some by the sâ—ing of Serpents die while others are Buried in the sudden fall of Ruins Others by the Contraction of their Nerves are tortured to Death Others are cut off in their Youth others in their Cradles Sometimes an Infant comes into the World to take its farewel of Life The Exit of some is milder of others harsher But how mild and gentle Death may seem to be however it brings something of Horrour with it and that for this reason because it seems to deprive us of many Happinesses and to take us from that plenty to which we are accustomed This love of our selves and desire of self-preservation is the Chain that clogs us There is also a natural fear of darkness to which Death is thought to be our Conductor which has engaged the Wits of many to augment the Terrours of Death But that which most augments the fear of Death is this that present things we know whither we are to go we know not and therefore are afraid Therefore is the Mind to be enured by much Exercise that it may not be afraid of that Eternity into which we are to enter Eternity is that we are to think upon day and night as they that would bring themselves to endure hunger must enure themselves to fasting by little and little So the Soul that is to be translated from this inconstant World to a stable Kingdom must accustom it self to endure Eternity Let it every day salute the Gate of Eternity every Moment believe that it waits there Whatever it acts let it act for Eternities sake and only observe this one form of action I read I write I paint I meditate I watch I speak and all for the sake of Eternity Whoever aspires to Eternal Triumphs let him learn to Combat Eternity Sect. 45. Death is sudden but beautiful CHaeremon as Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis witnesses while he sits while he works while he acts as a healthy person dies So sitting so working he was found but dead Vertue can beautifie any sort of Death Philemon a Comedian contested with Menander perhaps not his Equal yet his Emulator This Person recited upon the Stage a play that he had newly made But when he was moving the more sprightly Affections in his third Act a sudden shower scattered the Auditory Thereupon he promised the rest the next day The next day a vast multitude met together in so much that the Theater was thronged but no Philomon came Some blam'd the slowness of the Poet others excused him But at last tyred with expectation and sending to seek him the Messengers found him dead in his Bed His Book was in his Hand and his Eyes fix'd upon his Book So that the Messengers stood a while astonished at so suddâ—n an Accident and the Miracle of so lovely a Death Returning to the people they related that they expected Philemon had finished his last act at Home leaving the World to give him their last farewel and plaudite to his Friends a sad occasion of Mourning and Lamentation For that now a Noble Poet having put off the Mask of Life his Bones and not his Verses where to be read If we look at this present Life the most wish'd for death is to die not fearing death But much more desireable is it to die in action and to be busie at our work that death it self may not prove idle It was the wish of Cyprian the Martyr to be slain for the sake of God while he was discoursing of God It is a high Encomium for any Man that not only the Devil but neither Death himself should find him idle Sect. 46. VVe must watch and pray BEcause ye know not at what Hour the Son of Man will come The Romans watched in their Arms yet sometimes without their Shields that they might have nothing to lean upon to invite them to slâ—ep It is thy duty to watch O Man and to watch armed Ardent Prayers to God are the true Arms of Christians The shield that encourages sleep is the vain hope of a longer Life The frequent Cries of the Roman Souldiers in their Watches were Wake wake Mars wake Thus they encouraged one another to constancy in watching The Heaven it self day and night waking and incessantly toyling admonishes thee to watch Dost thou grow deaf or art thou falling asleep Hear the voice of Christ watch and pray According to the relation of St. Mark Christ made a Sermon in the Conclusion whereof he thrice repeats these words first Take ye heed watch and pray Secondly Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh at even or at midnight whether at the Cock-crowing or at the dawning lest if he come suddenly he find ye asleep Lastly And that I say unto you I say unto ye all watch With the same Admonitions and by the Mouth of St. Matthew he cries to us Watch ye therefore for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come And again Watch ye therefore because ye know neither the day nor the hour The same he repeats upon Mount Olivet Watch and pray lest ye enter into Temptation Upon the same Text he preaches in St. Luke Watch ye therefore at all times praying The same watch ye how often doth St. Paul reiterate These claps Thunder upon us to shake off all sleepiness and drowsmess from us We are deaf yea dead indeed if these loud Exhortations will not wake us Whoever thou art that sleepest in Vice awake Thou knowest the Fate of the Egyptians The slaying Angel enter'd Egypt and made a vast slaughter Remember the Lot of the Ten Virgins There was a Call in the middle of the Night and they that were prepared were admitted to the Nuptials but the drowsie Sleepers were excluded Dost thou remember the Folly of the Gluttonous Servant His Lord came unlookt for and at an Hour when he least thought of him Hast thou considered the good Father of his Family He wakes at all Hours that at no time the House-breaker may get in Dost thou remember thy Saviour He was Born at Midnight And probable it is that he will come at Midnight to the last Judgment of
Morrow not to be or else to be elsewhere To Sickness Must I then now be sick The time is come for me to try my self The couragious Man does not shew himself either in Battel or at Sea There is a Courage also in the Bed of Sickness Shall I leave a Feaver or that me We cannot always continue together Hitherto I enjoyed Health now my business is with Sickness Sickness I know is the first Messenger of Death I believe St. Gregory for that who truly and piously The Lord knocks saith he when by the anguish of Sickness he declares the approach of Death to whom we presently open if we receive him with Affection The very Fables teach me to receive this first Messenger of Death with a contented Mind They relate how that an old Man lay sick and when Death was ready to snatch him away the sick-man desired that he would defer the fatal blow awhile till he made his Will and prepared such other things as were necessary for so long a Journey To whom Death Fâ—nd Banquet for the Grave said he couldst thou not prepare in so many Years that hast had so many warnings from me already To whom the old Man I take thy Truth to witness I never had any warning from thee To whom Death reply'd Now I find old men will lye A hundred nay a thousand times I have admonished thee when I took away not only thy equal in years but also young Men Children Infants while thou lookst and wepst But I appeal to this Truth forgetful old man did I not forewarn thee when thy Eyes grew dim thy Hair waxed grey thy Ears grew deaf all thy proud Senses defective and thy whole Body wasted These were my Messengers these knockt at thy Doors but thou wouldst not be spoken with thou wert often and daily warn'd I can stay no longer come and go along with me He ill prepares himself for Death who prepares so late To the beginning of a mortal Distemper When I consider my Life the multitude of my Sins the small number of my Deeds good God! I am pinn'd up and in streights on every side But it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are manifold than to live and multiply my years and my sins What I should be thou Lord knowest full well Perhaps I should fall from thy Graee should I live longer Death thou art at hand take me away so that I may preserve the Favour of my God or rather so that the Favour of God may preserve me which is the only thing O Christ Jesu which I beg of thee and through thee To Death Why with a slow Consumption cruel Death Dost thou dâ—prive me slowly of my Breath Such preparation needs not for my end Strike quickly then for I will ne're contend Why shouldst thou spend thy Quiver on my head When one poor single blast will blow me dead For what is man A batter'd and leaking Ship that will split with one dash without the force of a Tempest the Body of man consisting of infirm and fluid parts comely in the outward Lineaments not able to endure Cold Heat or Labour that consumes and wastes of it self fearing its own nourishment the plenty or want whereof is frequently the ruine of it to himself only a profitable and vitious nourishment nicely to be looked after and preserved A life enjoyed at pleasure liable to a thousand Diseases and without Diseases devour'd by it self Do we admire at this once dying wherein thou mayst find private and concealed Deaâ—hs His smell his taste his weariness his watching the humours of his Body his meat and drink to man are deadly To Christ I would not die but live he seeks to live That in thy love O Christ to die doth strive I do not stand in fear of those things which thou O God dost appoint for me I follow thee O merciful Father I follow thee And wherefore should I refuse when thou callest me nearer to thee 'T is much better for me to be dissolved and be with Christ This is that which I desire For Christ is life to me and Death is gain Sect. 3. An Antidote against Grief WHerefore art thou troubled wherefore art thou perplexed Thou art in the hand of God and he takes care of thee But thou art afflicted and sick What evil can that be which proceeds from the Fountain of Goodnsss God would have thee to be his own and therefore shuts thee up and retains thee within the Lattices of Sicknesâ— least thou shouldst go astray from Heaven A little Bird weary of the Cage desires liberty but while it is in the Cage is both lov'd and fed by its Master While she is at liberty who can believe her free from the Fowler or from the Snare Thus believe me it is a great thing to be the Captive of the Lord thy God it is to be lookt upon as a great Favour to be bound a little while to be cut and wounded by â—â—m that will spare thee to Eternity Sect. 4. Not always Draughts of Sweetness GOD sometimes O sick Man gives the Cups of bitterness thou drankst the sweet Liquor while thou wert in health VVhy dost thou make Faces why dost thou refuse the Cup Think upon that of Job Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Ingrateful Mortals we know not the Benefits we receive but by losing them Thou wilt be a good Valuer of lost Health for the future Thou mayst remember also that when thou wert in health thou didst often recreate thy self beyond the bounds of Sobriety Now therefore let me perswade thee chearfully to take this bitter Cup and bear this punishment imposed upon thee for thy former Ryots Formerly at at the Latin Festivals when the Chariot-Drivers strove for Victory they that overcame drank Wormwood Do thou now drink that thou mayst overcome He undeservedly Metheglin sips That to the bitter will not lay his lips Sect. 5. The contempt of Death is a Christian Generosity NO Man ever govern'd his Life well but he that contemned it VVe are not so silly but that we understand we must one day die yet when Death approaches we hang back we tremble we lament But would not he appear to thee a very Fool that should weep because he had not lived a thousand years before These things are well coupled thou neither wert nor will be thou art ordain'd for that point of time wherein thou liv'st with that thou mayst extend how far wouldst thou prolong Why weepest thou what is it thou wouldst have thou losest thy labour Thou shalt go thither whither all things created go What is there that thou canst call a Novelty Thou wert born under this Law This hapned to thy Father to thy Ancestors to all before thee and will happen to all that come after thee It is established and decreed Death seizes upon all we are born to die Consider in thy
Syllogisme is the Conclusion the Conclusion of Life Death But the Conclusion is either true or false according to the Nature of the Antecedents so is Death good or bad as the Life before was good or bad Thus St. Paul severely prononnces saying Whose end shall be according to their VVorks 2 Cor. 11. 15. Memorable is the Death of that Holy Martyr Felix who being led to Execution rejoicing to himself with a loud Voice I have said he preserved my Virginity I have kept the Gospels I have preached the Truth and now I bow my Head a Victim to God There is a Relation of one who died suddenly in his Study and was found with his Finger pointing to that Verse in the Book of VVisdom câ— 4. v. 7. which says Though the Righteous be overtaken with Death yet he shall find rest pretious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints whether slow or suddain The Copious St. Bernard being near his end Because saith he I cannot leave you great Examples of Religion yet I commend Three things to your Observation which I remember observed by my self 1. I less believed my own than the Judgment of another 2. Being injured I never sought Revenge 3. I never would offend any Person Gerard the Brother of St. Bernard upon his Death-Bed broke out into that Davidean Rapture Praise the Lord in Heaven Praise him in the Highest Where is thy Victory O Death Where is thy Sting O Grave Gerard through the midst of thy very Jaws passes not only securely but joyfully and triumphantly to his Country He cannot die ill who has lived well Sect. 16. As we Live so shall we Die The weary Huntsman in his rest all Night Dreams of new Sports and of his past Delight IN the same manner those things that pleased us in our Health we are delighted with at our Deaths Antiochus miserably afflicted the Jews and Maximinâ—s the Emperour had designed the utter Exterpation of the Christians At length they both fell into a most lamentable Disease and when they saw no other way the one besought the Jews the other the Christians to pray to their God for their Recovery Like Esops Crew which being taken desperately sick cautioned his Mother as she sate by him not to weep for him but rather pray ro the Gods for his Recovery To whom she replied O my Son which of the Gods dost thou think will be propitious to thee that has robbed the Altars of every one of them Therefore as we live so we die so are we reprieved and condemed so destined to Heaven or to Hell Sect. 17. A good Death to be desired I Pray God my Soul may die the Death of the Righteous and that my last end may be like his cried the Prophet Balaam How much more rightly had he wished Let my Soul live the Life of the Just that it may also die the Death of the Just 'T is a Ridiculous thing to desire a good Death and flie a good Life 'T is a Labour to live well but a Happiness to die well he that refuses to pass the Red Sea must not think to eat Manna He that loves the Egyptian Servitude shall never reach the Land of Canaan Piously and Elegantly St. Bernard Oh that I may fall saith he frequently by this Death that I may escape the Snares of Death that I may not feel the deadly Allurements of a Luxurious Life that I may not besot my self in sensual Lust in Covetousnes Impatience Care and Trouble for worldly Affairs This is that Death which every one ought to wish for who designs a Life that shall never know Death Before Death to die to Sin and Vice is the best Death of all Sect. 18. Sleep the Brother of Death PAusanias relates that he saw a Statue of Night in the shape of a Woman holding in her right Hand a little white Boy sleeping in her left a little black Boy like one that were a sleep The one was called Somnus Sleep and the other Lethum Death but both the Sons of Night Hence it is that Virgil calls Sleep the Kinsman of Death Gorgias Leontinus being very old was taken ill In his Sickness he was visited by a Friend who finding him fall'n asleep when he waked asked how he did To whom Gorgias made answer Now Sleep is about to deliver me to his Brother Whoever thou art O Christan before thou layst thy self to Sleep examine thy Conscience and wipe away the stains and spots that defile it There are many who have begun to sleep and die both together and ended their Lives before they had stept out of their Sleep The Brother of Death is to be feared and not only cautiously but chastly to be fallen into He that sleeps not chastly shall hardly wake chastly Sect. 19. The fore-runners of Death THE fore-runners of Eternity is Death the fore-runners of Death are Pains and deadly Symptoms One deadly Symptome if we believe Pliny in the height of Madness is Laughter in other Diseases an unequal Pulse But the Eyes and the Ears shew most undoubted Prognosticks of Death Experience teacheth us that when sick People talk of going Journeys and endeavoured to escape ouâ— of their Beds when they pull and pick the Blankets they are near Death Augustus the Emperor a little before he expired suddainly terrified complained that he was carried away by Forty young Men. Which saith Suetonius was rather a Presage than a sign of any Delirium for so many Pretorian Souldiers when he was dead carried him to his Funeral Pile When Alexander went by Water to Babylon a sudden Wind rising blew off the Regal Ornament of his Head and the Diadem fixt to it This was lookt upon as a Presage of Alexander's Death which happened soon after In the Year of Christ 1185. the last and most fatal end of Andronicus Commenus being at hand the Statue of St. Paul which the Emperour had caused to be set up in the great Church of Constantinople abundantly wept Nor were these Tears in vain which the Emperour washt off with his own Blood Barbara Princess of Bavaria having shut her self up in a Nunnery among other things allowed her for her peculiar Recreation she had a Marjoram-Tree of an extraordinary bigness a small Aviary and a Gold Chain which she wore about her Neck but fourteen days before she died the Marjoram-Tree dried up the Bâ—rds the next Night were all found dead and after that the Chain broke in two in the middle Then Barbara calling for the Abbess told her that all those Warnings were for her and in a few days after died in the Seventeenth Year of her Age After her death above twenty other Virgins died out of the same Nunnery Several other Presages there are that foretold the death of Princes and great Men As the uuwonted Howlings of Dogs the unseasonable noise of Bells the Roaring of Lions c. Therefore said Pliny The Signs of Death are innumerable and that there are
not fail Wherefore my heart was glad and my glory rejoiced my flesh also shall rest in hope For why thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption Thou shalt shew me the Path of Life in thy presence is fulness of Joy and in thy right hand is pleasure for evermore Psal 16. v. 8. c. To Charity What shall I return to the Lord for all his Benefits I will receive the Cup of Death from the hand of God and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will call upon God with Praises and I shall be safe from my Enemies Into thy Hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Thou hast created me O God thou hast redeemed me thou hast sanctified me thine am I alive and dead I offer my self up entirely to thy will Jesu Son of David have mercy upon me Sect. 36. What is always to be in the thought and Mouth of a sick and dying Christian IN sickness O Christian if thou art asked how thou do'st or how is it with thee Beware of returning any other Answers but these As God will As God pleases As the Lord's pleasure is So let it be done According to the good pleasure of God As it pleases God so let his will be fulfilled in Earth as it is in Heaven Nor will it be amiss to have these threefold Prefaces continually in thy lips and in thy mind as well in thy Sickness as at the hour of thy Death 1. Blessed be God to all Eternity 2. Have mercy on me O Lord according to thy loving Kindness though I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies O God 3. Oh Lord my God I surrender my self wholly up to thy will let thy will be done Sect 37. Certain Precepts to be particularly observed by a dying Person FIrst Not to depend upon the Merits but with all thy Sins and Omissions to cast thy self into the Fathomeless Ocean of Divine Mercy Next To adhere stedfastly and constantly to the belief of the true Holy Church and to receive the Holy Sacrament Thirdly To forsake all the frail and passing Vanities of this Life and to unite thy self to God with all thy Soul and Affection To breath after the Land of Promise where thou may'st be able to offer up a lasting Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for all his Mercies Fourthly To offer up thy self a Living Sacrifice to the Glory of God for his great good will toward thee and to endure patiently for his sake all the pains and troubles of Sickness and the bitterness of Death Fifthly To set continually before thy Eyes the terrible Death and Passion of thy Lord Christ that so thou mayst unite thy Body and Soul with the wounded Body and afflicted Soul of Christ But the safest way is whatever thou wouldst do in the utmost extremity of thy Sickness to begin to do that in the prime of thy Health Sect. 38. Refreshments for a dying Person COme my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee Hide thy self for a little while till the Indignation be overpast Isa 26. â—0 When I was angry I hid my Face from thee for a little season but through everlasting goodness I have pardoned thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Isa 54. 8. Why art thou so full of heaviness O my Soul And why art thou so unquieted within me Put thy trust in God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his Countenance Psalm 42. 6. For we are the Children of the Holy Man and look for the Life which God shall give unto them that never turn their belief from him Tob. 2. 18. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish Mat. 13. 14. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life John 3 16. But if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Attonement for our Sins not for our Sins only but for the Sins of all the World 1 John 2. 1. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Damnation but is escaped from Death unto Life John 5. 24. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me yea though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not dye eternally Joh. 11. 25 26. In my Fathers House are many Mansions 14. 2. If God be on our side who can be against us Who spared not his own Son but gave him for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen It is he that justifies who is he that coâ—demnesh It is Christ which dyed yea ratheâ— which is raised again which is also on the Righâ— Hand of God and maketh Intercession for us Roâ— 8. 31 c. For no Man livech to himself and no Man dyâ—th to himself for if we live we live unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were destroyed we should have a Building of God even a Habitation not made with Hands but Eternal in Heaven For therefore sigh we desiring to be farther cloathed with our House which is from Heaven for if that we be cloathed we shall not be found naked 2 Cor. 1 2 3. Now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by death For Christ is to me Life and Death is to me Advantage Having a desire to depart and be with Christ Philip. 1. 20 21. But our Conversation is in Heaven whence also we look for the Saviour who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like his glorious Body This is a fâ—ithful saying and by all means worthy to be received that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1. 15 But he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24. 13. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2. 10. These Fountains refresh and cool the hot Baths of death he shall happily swim therein who plunges himself over Head and Ears in these Rivolets Sect. 39. The Sighs and Prayers to God proper for a Dying Person ENlighten my Eyes O most merciful Jesu that I sleep not in death Lest my Enemies say I have prevailed against him Psal 13. 3 c. Lord Jesu Christ Son of the Living God Lay thy Passion Cross and Death between thy Judgment and my Soul O
Labourer in Christ's Vineyard He used to say That which the Soul is in the Body that are Christians in the World For as the Soul is in and not of the Body so Christians are in but no part of the World And also It is best of all not to sin and next to that to amend upon the Punishment Furthermore That it is the greatest slavery in the VVorld to be subject to ones Passions The Death of IRENAEUS THis Holy Man being taken with several of his chief Friends they were led to the top of a Hill on which were placed Crosses on one Hand and Idols on the other and they put to their Choice either to embrace the Idols and Live or be Crucified Upon which they joyfully chose the latter suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 182. and of Irenaeus his Age 60 oâ— as some will have it 90. He compared the Hereticks and Schismaticks to Aesop's Dog that lost tbe Substance of Religion whilst they gaped too earnestly after the Shadow Concerning the Vanity of Earthly things he said VVhat profit is there in that Honour which is so short-lived as that perchance it was not Yesterday neither will be to Morrow And such Men as labour so much for it are but like Froth which though it be uppermost yet it is unprofitablest The death of TERTULLIAN HE died Anno Christi 202. and of his Age 63. He used to say of Repentance If thou beâ—st backward in thoughts of Repentance be forwards in thoughts of Hell the burning flames whereof only the tears of a penitent Eye can extinguish Of Satans Power If the Devils without Christ leave had no power over the Gadarens Swine much less have they power over Gods own Sheep Of Faith We should not try Mens Faith by their Persons but their Persons by their Faith Of forgiving Offences It 's in vain to come to the God of peace without peace or to pray for the remission of our Sins without forgiving others We must not come to make an Atonement with God at his Altar before we have made an Atonement with our Brother in our Hearts The Last Sayings of CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS AFter the death of Pontenus Clemens succeeded him in that Office from whence he received the Name of Alexandrinus He was Famous for all manner of Learning and was ordained Presbyter in Alexandria where he propagated the Christian Faith His Sayings were these Such as adorn themselves with Gold and think themselves bettered thereby are worse than Gold and not Lords oâ— it as all that have it ought to be Out of the depth and bowels of the Earth hath God discovered and shewed Gold unto Men and they have made it the occasion of all Mischief and Wickedness Gold to many Men is much dearer than their Faith and Honesty And the love of it makes Man so Covetous as if they were to live here for ever The Death of ORIGEN HE died in the Reigns of Gallus and Volusianus Anno Christi 220. and of his Age 69. Concerning Gods Providence he used to say That Gods Providence hath ordained all things for some end and purpose He made not Malice and though he can restrain it yet he will not for if Malice were not Vertue would not have â— Contâ—aâ—â— and so could not shine so clear Foâ— the Malice of Joseph's Brethren was the Meanâ— whereby God brought about many admirable works of his Providence The death of St. CYPRIAN CYprian said to his Executioner Do whatever shall be in thy power and thereupon he putting off his Cloaths delivering them to his Deacons bidding them give â—is Executioner five Twentypieces of Gold for the kindness he was to do him to express he freely forgave him Then pulling a Vail over his Eyes he kneeled down and had his Head smitten off with a Sword suffering Martyrdom for the Testimony of his Lord and Master Anno 259. and in the 70 year of his Age as some have it He used to say of Charity Let noâ— that sleep in thy Treasury that may be profitable â—o the Poor Of the Heart and Tongue Two things never wax old in Man The Heart ever imagining new Cogitations the Tongue ever uttering the vain Conceptions of the Heart Of Resignation That which a Man must necessarily part with it 's Wisdom for a Man to distribute it fo that God may Everlastingly reward him Of Pride Women that Pride themselves in putting on Silk and Purple cannot lightly puâ— on the Lord Jesus Christ Again They which Colour their Locks with Yellow and Red begin betimes to Prognosticate of what Colour their Hair shall be in Hell Again They which love to paint themselves in this World otherwise than God Created them may justly fear that at the Resurrection their Creator will know them Of Alms-deeds He that gives an Alms to the Poor offers a sweet-smelling Sacrifice unto God Of Injuries All Injury of Evils present is to be neglected for the hope of good things to come Twelve Attributes he said was in the Life of Man viz. A Wise Man without good works an Old Man without Religion a Young Man without Obedience a Rich Man without Alms a Woman without shamefac'dness a Guide without Vertue a Contentious Christian a Poor Man that is Proud a King that is Unjust a Bishop that is Negligent People without Discipline Subjects without Law The Last Sayings of ARNOBIUS HE was a Famous Professor of Rhetorick in Sicca a City in Africa after his Conversion he applied himself to some Bishops with great earnestness to be Baptized and admitted into the Church When he was Master to Lactantius he used this Expression That Persecution brings Death in one hand and Life in the other for while it Kills the Body it Crowns the Soul He lived under Dioclesian between 300 and 330. The Death of EUSEBIUS HE lived to a good old Age. for the most part in Peace and Tranquility Dying Anno Christi 340. He used to say That Moses wrote the Old Law in dead Tables of Stone But Christ writ the perfect Documents of the New Testament in Living Souls The Death of LACTANTIUS HE was a Man of great Parts both Morally and Divinely Wise he was always Liberal for whatsoever he received he again distributed it to such as were in want insomuch that notwithstanding the many Rich Presents he received at the hands of the Emperor he died very Poor He used to say of Piety That Godliness always enriches the Possessor The Death of ATHANASIUS AFter all the Storms that were raised up against him he died in peace at Alexandria Anno Christi 375 having been Bishop of that See 46 years during which time he had been in many great Perils and Hazards of his Life for not only Bishops but Emperors and Nations sought his Destrustion But God delivered him out of their hands to the Glory of his Name for his only trust was in God alone which caused him often to say Though Armies should Encamp aâ—out me yet I would 〈…〉 fear The
Death of HILARIUS HE Travelled to Italy and France instructing the Bishops in those parts in the Catholick â—aith He was very Eloquent and wrote many Treatises in Latin also Twelve Books of the Triniâ—â— Expounding the Canon containing the Clause 〈…〉 One Substance being of sufficient proof against the Arrians He died under Valentinian and Valence Anno 355. The Death of CYRILLUS IN the midst of all his Affictions he kept his resolution to die in the Faith He used to say concerning the benefit of Hearing Some come to Church to see Fashions others to meet their Friends yet it 's better to come so than not at all In the mean time the Net is cast out and they which intended nothing less are drawn into Christ who catches them not to destroy them but that being dead he may bring them to Life Eternal He died Anno 365. The Death of EPHREM SYRUS HE died Anno 404. He used to say concerning Perseverance The resolute Traveller knows that his Journey is long and the way dirty yet goes on in hopes to come to his House So let a Christian though the way to Heaven be narrow though it be seâ— with Troubles and Persecutions yet let him go on till he has finished his Course with Joy for Heaven is his Home Concerning the Soul he used to say ` He that feasts his Body and starves his Soul is like him that feasts his Slave and starves his Wife He died Anno 404. The Death of BASIL Bâ—sil died at Caesarea when he had sat Bishop there eight years departing this Life Anno Christi 370. At his departure he uttered these words Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit He used to say of Self-knowledge To know thy Self is very difficult For as the Eye can see all things but it self so some can discern all faults but their own Of Love Divine Love is a never-failing Treasure he that hath it is Rich and he that wanteth it is Poor Of the Scriptures It 's a Physicians Shop of Preservatives against Poysonous Heresies A pattern of profitable Laws against Rebellious Spirits A Treasury of most costly Jewels against Beggarly Elements And a Fountain of most pure Water springing up to Eternal Life The Last Sayings of GREGORY NAZIENZEN IN his Minority he joined Studies with Basil and accompanied him to Athens and Antioch where he became an Excellent Orator There is so much Perfection in all his Writings and such a peculiar Grace that he never tires his Reader but he always dismisseth him with a thirst after more Concerning Pâ—eaching he used to say That in a great multitude of people of several Ages and Conditions who are like a Harp with many Strings it is hard to give every one such a touch in Preaching as may please all and offend none He lived under Theodosius Anno 370. The Death of EPIPHANIUS VVHen he found himself Sick he said to his Friends God bless you my Children â—or I shall see you no more in this Life He died Aged 115. He used to say this was his Antidote against Hatred That he never let his Adversary sleep not that he disturbed him in his sleep but because he agreed with him presently and would not let the Sun go down upon his Wrath. The Death of AMBROSE AFter Ambrose had sate Bishop about Sixteen years Death summoned him to lay down this troublesom Life for a Life more lasting Before his Death he resolved to provide a Shepherd for his Flock and for that purpose sent for one Simplicianus and ordained him Bishop in his stead after having given many Godly Exhortations tâ— such as were about him he gave up the Ghosâ— dying in the third Year of Theodorus Anno Christ 397. He used to say of Repentance When Gold 〈…〉 offered to thee thou usest not to say I will come again to morrow and take it but art glad of present possession But Salvation being proffered 〈…〉 our Souls few Men haste to embrace it He used to say of true Charity It is not much to be enquired how much thou givest with what Heart It 's not Liberality when the takest by Oppression from one and givest it to another Of Conscience A clear Conscience should not regard slanderous Speeches nor think that they have more power to Condemn him than his own Conscience hath to clear him The Death of GREGORY NISSEN HE lived under Constantins Julian Jovian Valentinian Valence Gratian and Theodosius the Great He was President in the Council of Constantinople against the Macedonian Hereticks 492. Amongst his Similitudes he compared the Userer to a Man giving Water to one in a Burning Fever which proves prejudicial So the Userer though he seems for the present to relieve his Brother yet afterwards he torments him This Character he also gave the Userer He loves no Labour but a Sedentary Life A Pen is his Plough Parchment his Field Ink his Seed Time is the Rain to Ripen his greedy desires his Sickle is calling in his Forfeitures his House the Barn where he Winnows his Clients he follows his Debtors as Eagles and Vultures do Armies to prey upon dead Corps Again Men come to Userers as Birds to a heap of Corn they covet the Corn but are caâ—cht in the Nets He died under Valentine and Valence The Death of THEODORET HE died in the Reign of Theodosius Junior not with Age but hard Studies He used to say That the Delights of the Soul are to know her Maker to consider his Works and to know her own Estate The Death of HIEROM HE died Anno Christi 422 and of his Age 91. He wrote many large Volumes being a Man of singular Chastity of great Wit slow to Anger aud in Learning exceeding most of his Time His usual Prayer was Lord let me know my self that I may the better know thee the Saviour of the World An Excellent Saying he had of Christian Fortitude If my Father was weeping on his Knees before me my Mother leaning on my Neck behind my Brethren Sisters Children and Kinsfolks howling on every side to retain me in a single Life I would sling my Mother to the ground run over my Father despise all my Kindred and tread them under my Feet that I might run to Christ Of Chastity That Woman is truly Chaste that hath liberty and opportunity to Sin and will not Of Vertue All Vertues are so linked together that he that hath one hath all and he that wants one wants all In all his Actions he ever fansied this sound in his Ears Arise ye Dead and come â—â— Judgment The Death of CHRYSOSTOM THE exact year of his death I find no where set down but that he flourished in the 〈…〉 shoprick of Constantinople Anno Christi 400 is 〈…〉 certain He used to say of Lust As a great shower of Rain extinguisheth the force of Fire so Meditation of Gods Word puts out the Fire of Lust in the Soul Of the danger of Riches ` As a Boat over-laden sinks so
much Wealth drowns Men in perdition Of Love A Bulwark of Adamant is not more Impregnable then the Love of Brethren Of Temptations The Devils first Assault is violent resist that and his second will be weaker and that being resisted he proves a Coward The Death of AUGUSTIN HE died Anno Christi 430 of his Age 75 and of his Ministry 40. He was a Man of a Charitable Disposition very sparing in Diet and a hearty Lover of all good Men. His Table was more for Disputation than for Revelling and had Engraven upon it He that doth love an absent Friend to jeer May hence depart no room is for him here He Collected together several Precepts of a Christian Life which whoever perused it might see their Duty this he called A Looking-glass His usual Wish was That Christ when he came might find him either Praying or Preaching When the Dâ—naâ—ists upbraided him of Levity in his Minority Look said he how much they blame my former faults by so much the more I commend and praise my Physicians He used to say of Marriage Humble Marriage is better than Proud Virginity Of Death There is nothing that more abateth Sin than the frequent Meditation of Death he cannot die ill that lived well and seldom doth he die well who lived ill Of Christian Thoughts A Christian at home in his House must think himself a Stranger and that his Countrey is above Of Riches If Men want Wealth it is not to be unjustly gotten if they have it they ought by good Works to lay it up in Heaven He so admired the Seven Penitential Psalms that he had them hung up in great Letters within his Bed-Curtains that so he might depart in the Contemplation of them The Death of CYKIL of Alexandria HE was Famous for Wit Eloquence and Piety Concerning Charity he used to say 'T is the best way for a Rich Man to make the Bellies of the Poor his Barn and thereby to lay up Treasure in Heaven Of Modesty Where the Scripture wants a Tongue of Expression we need not lend an Ear of Attention we may safely knock at the Council-door of Gods Secrets but if we go further we may be more bold than welcome He lived under Theodosius Junior and died Anno 448. The Death of PETER CHRYSOLOGUS HE was a Man of an Excellent Wit and by his Example and Ministry wrought upon many Souls He used to say of Charity Let not thy Care be to have thy hands full whilst the Poors are empty for the only way to have full Barns is to have Charitable Hands And Vertues separated are annihilated Equity without Goodness is Severity and Justice without Piety Cruelty He lived under Martian the Emperor having been Rishop above 60 Years He died Anno 500. The Death of PROSPER PRosper having under Martian continued 20 years in that Episcopal See he fell sick many of his Friends coming to vâ—â—it him and perceiving them to weep bitterly he comforted them with these words The Life which I have enjoyed said he was but given me upon condition to render it up again not grudgingly but gladly for me to have stayed longer here might seem better for you but for me it is better to be dissolved So falling into fervent Prayer he with great Alacrity resigned up his Spirit into the hands of his Creator dying Anno Christi 466. His usual Sayings was of Conscience That it was his utmost endeavour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man Of Vice Thou shalt neither hate the Man for his Vice nor love the Vice for the Mans sake Of Pride Consider what thou art by Sin and shalt be in the Grave and thy Plumes will fall for every proud Man forgets himself Of Gods Secrets Those things which God would have searched into are not to be neglected but those which God would have hidden are not to be searched into by the latter we become unlawfully Curious and by the neglect of the former damnably Ingrateful The Death of FULGENTIUS WHen Fulgentius fell Sick during which sickness he behaved himself with wonderful Patience and Humility and when his Physicians told him a Bath would do well for the recovery of his Health he answered What tell you me of a Bath can any Bath preserve the life of him who has run his natural course that he shall not die and why perswade you me now I am at the point of death to abate of that rigor which I all my life have used When having taken leave of those that came to visit him and distributed what Money he had to pious uses he yielded up the Ghost dying Anno Christi 529 and of his Age 65 having sat Bishop 25 years He used to say If want of Charity be tormented in Hell what will become of the Covetous In his greatest Suffering he would say We must suffer more than this for Christ The Death of GREGORY the Great HE never could read these words Son remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good things c. without Horror and Amazement lest he by enjoying such Dignities and Honours should lose his Portion in Heaven He dyed Anno 605. The Death of ISIDORE HE so wasted his Body with Labours and enriched his Soul with Divine Contemplations that he seemed to live an Angelical Life upon Earth He used to say of a Guilty Conscience All things may be shunned but a Man 's own Heart a Man cannot run from himself a Guilty Conscience will not forsake him wheresoever he goâ—s Of the danger of Pride He that begins to grow better let him beware lest he grow proud lest Vain-glory give him a greater overthrow than his former Vices He dyed 675. The Death of Venerable BEDE IN his Sickness he was wont to encourage himself with the words of the postle Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth And when he beheld some of his Scholars weeping over him he comforted them with these words The time is come â—â— my Creator pleaseth that being freed from the Flâ—â—â— I shall go to him who made me when I was not ouâ— of nothing I have lived long and the time of mâ— dissolution is approaching and my Soul desireth to see my Saviour Christ in his Glory And so gave up the â—host Anno Christi 735 and of his Age 64. Some affirm that whilst he was Preaching to his Congregation a loud Voice was heard but from whence it came none could tell Well done Venerable Bede Upon his Tomb was found this Epitaph Here lyes Entombed in these Stones Of Venerable BEDE the Bones The Death of JOHN DAMASCENE DAmascene having finished his Course he yielded to Death in certain hope of a Glorious Crown of Life and Immortality dying about the Year 750. He wrote many Books but especially his Three Books of Parallels of the Holy Scriptures and his Four Books of the Orthodox Faith The Death of THEOPHILACT HIS Chief Work was
the Lord Guilford Dudley was conveyed to a Scaffold on Tower-Hill where he penitently ended his Life his Head and Body being laid in a Cart all bloody was brought to the Chappel and exposed to the Sight of this sorrowful Lady a Spectacle more dismal than the kneenest Axe of her Death And now her own part is to be acted upon a Scaffold erected upon the Green within the Tower where being mounted with a chearful Countenance she looked upon the People and with great Constancy directed her self after this manner That she was come thither to die for an Offence which was committed by a Device not of her own seeking then wringing her Hands and protesting her Innocency she desired them to take notice that she died a good Christian and requested their Prayers Then kneeling down she repeated in English the 51 Psalm after which her Gentle woman helped her off with her Gown and the Hangman on his Knees asked her forgiveness which she forgave him freely and prayed him to dispatch her quickly Looking upon the Block and knecling she said Will you take it off before I lay it down No Madam replied the Executioner then she tied a Handkerchief before her Eyes and feeling for the Block said What shall I do Where is it Where is it Being guided she laid her Head upon the Block and giving the Sign she said Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Then receiving the Fatal Blow she ended this Life Anno 1554. Aged 16. Her Death was much lamented but did not gâ— unpunished for the Judge which passed her Sentence shortly after fell distracted crying out continually Take away the Lady Jane from me The Lady Jane Grey had a curious Vein in Pâ—etry In her Troubles she composed these Lines Think nothing strange which Man cannot decline My Lot's to Day to Morrow it may be thine If God protect me Malice cannot end me If not all I can do will not defend me After dark Night I hope for Light This Epitaph was also made on her My Race was Royal sad was my short Raign Now in a better Kingdom I remain The Death of Sir Philip Sidney SIR Philip lay for the space of 25 Days enduring his Pains with admirable Patience and at length resign'd up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer October 16. Anno 1586. Upon him was made this Epitaph Apollo made him wise Mars made him stout Death made him leave the World Before his Youth was out The Death of Galeacius Carracciolus SIckness the Harbinger of Death seizing upon him which proceeded from abundance of â—…heum this was produced by his long and weariâ—ome Journeys which he had formerly taken by â—and and Sea for his Conscience sake His Phyâ—â—cians despairing of his Cure he wholly sequestred â—imself from all Worldly Cogitarions and taking â—is Farewell of his Wife and Friends saying He â—ould lead them the way to Heaven Then he desiâ—…ed God to receive him and acknowledge him â—or his own and so quieâ—ly departed 1592. Aâ—ed 74. The Death of Katherine Bretterg ONce she took the Bible in her hand and joyfully kissing it said O Lord 't is good for me to be afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver Then she desired her Husband to beware of Popery and to let her little Girl be brought up in the Fear of God saying So shall I meet her in Heaven whâ—m I must now leave behind me on Earth Once she was very dull in Prayer and when she came to Lead us not into Temptation she said I may not pray I may not pray for Satan interrupts me yet her Friends left her not till she had gained the Conquest She repeated often We have not received the Spirit of Bondage to fear again but the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father The Verse of Psalm 13. ult she often repeated chearfully Many Pious Meditations she used but the last was this My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever He that preserveth Jacob and defendeth his Israel he is my God and will guide me unto Death Then she departed this life without any motion of Body May ult Anno 1601. Aged 22. The Death of John Lord Harrington Baron of Exton FRom the First Day of his last Sickness he apprehended the approach of Death and so readily prepared himself for it he made Confession of his Sins and oft confessed his Faith and undoubted hope of Salvation in Christ and when Death approached he breathed out O my God when shall I be with thee And in the midst of these longing Desires he departed Anno 1613. Aged 22. The Death of Phillip de Mornay Lord of Plessis Marley BEing displaced from his Government of Samur he betook himself to a Private Life and made his Will for the peace and good of his Family being seiz'd upon by a continual Fever and no hopes of Recovery he would often say I fly I fly to Heaven and the Angels are carrying me into the bosome of my Saviour then would he repeat the words of Job I know that my Redeemer liveth I shall see him with mine eyes and I feel I fell what I now speak He dyed in the 74th Year of his Age. The Death of John Bruen of Bruen Stapleford in the County of Chester Esquire FAlling Sick the morning before his Death divers Friends took their leaves of him and hearing some make motion of Blacks he said I will have no Blacks I love no Proud nor Pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but of rejoicing rather in my particular Immediately before his Death lifting up his hands he said The Lord is `my portion my help and my trust his blessed Son Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen Even so saith the Spirit unto my Spirit therefore come Lord Jesus and kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love into thy hands do I commend my Spirit O come now and take me to thy own self O come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come So his Spirit fainting he yielded up the Ghost in January Anno 1625. Aged 65. The Deaths of the KINGS and QUEENS of England since the Reformation to this present The Death of King Henry the VIII KING Henry being grown Fat fell into a languishing Fever and by Will appointed his Successor and Council did on the 28th of January 1547. in the 56 Year of his Age and 38 of his Reign leaving Issue by Queen Jane Prince Edward by his first Wife Katherine of Spain the Lady Mary and by Ann of Bullen the Lady Elizabeth who all Successively came to the Crown The Death of King Edward VI. ABout three hours before his Death his Eyes being closed thinking that none heard him he made this Godly Prayer Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life