manifested in the Creatures Weakness From Vers 6. We may take notice it was ever in Christ's intention to manifest his Love and Goodness to Lazarus and yet he comes not near him for the present but rather goes away and leaves him upon his sick Bed and suffers him at last to give up the Ghost From Vers 14. We may observe that Christ his absence or the suspension of divine Grace and Love they are in infinite Wisdom ordered for the further advancing of Soul Comfort Had not Lazarus been sick had he not been dead and buryed the Wisdom Power and Goodness of Christ had never been so eminently discovered as it was towards him Martha and Mary cry out v. 21 32. Lord if thou hadst been here our Brother had not died It is true Christ might have recovered Lazarus upon his sick-bed but to fetch him out of the Grave after he had lain stinking four days was a higher demonstration of his Love Wisdom and Power There is not the like ground that Christ should shew forth his miraculous Power in raising up our dead Friends from the Grave as was then yet this special and useful conclusion may by way of Analogy be deduced from this instance namely That such Comforts and Mercies as are fetched out of the Grave as have had a sentence of Death pass'd upon them they are ever sweetest and tend most to Gods Glory Isaac had never been so precious to his Father Abraham had he not been so miraculously restored from dying as he was once But we shall hasten to see what is the cause of Christ his weeping and what the cause was you may see ver 32 33 34 35 36 when Christ saw Mary come weeping towards him having her heart running over with Grief for the departure of her Brother Christ groaned in Spirit and was troubled when they told him where dead Lazarus lay he wept as my Text expresseth Jesus Wept Oh Men and Angels stand and wonder to all Eternity When you read these two words Jesus wept What doth Mary's weeping set Jesus Christ a weeping Doth Mary and Martha shed Tears for the Death of Lazarus and doth Christ his Heart even bleed within him to see them troubled and mourning upon the same account so the word in the Greek seems to import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he troubled himself his own heart stirred up his Affections to be troubled Doth Christ weep upon the consideration of Lazarus Death Then hence we may learn that a moderate sorrowing for Friends departed is lawful tho excessive Sorrow is very unsuitable to a Gospel Frame of Spirit Solomon tells us There is a time for Weeping and Paul tells us We should weep as though we wept not But to come to the thing I chiefly intend and that is the occasion of Christs weeping which was the death of Lazarus a good man whence I shall observe and prosecute this Doctrine That it is a Christ-like temper of mind to be deeply affected with and to weep over the death of such as are truly pious Here 's Lazarus a good man in his grave and Christ he weeps over him you have a weeping Christ over a dead Lazarus When old Jacob an eminent person was buried it 's said Gen. 50. 10. That they mourned with a great and sore lamentation and that for 7 days together And so when Moses died and was buried by a secret hand it 's said the Children of Israel mourned for him 30 days Deut. 34. 8. My dearly beloved you have lost a Moses one that was valiant for God in former times when the people of God in England were coming out of Egypt and he hath been an eminent leader to the saints in their wilderness state and God did often take him to the top of Pisgah and gave him there glorious visions and that not onely of heavenly Canaan but also of that glorious land of rest and righteousness that the Saints shall injoy in this world Now that such a Moses should be taken off in the Wilderness while the people of God are yet short of this good Land is matter of great humiliation Likewise you find the same spirit in those Christians Acts 20. that Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles did there take his farewel of saying ver 25. And now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more It 's said 37 38 verses And they all wept sore and fell on Pauls neck and kissed him Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more Now by all this it appears that it is both the duty and property of a Christian such an one as hath been baptized into the spirit of Jesus to be deeply affected with and weep over the death of such as are truly pious especially when they are eminent for use and service to Christ and his people We shall now give you the reasons why it is so and cannot be otherwise but that gracious persons must needs weep over the death of good men First Because every stroke in this kind puts a serious heart in mind of its own mortality tells us that we are dying creatures and that 's a very serious consideration to every awakened soul The living the living will lay it to heart saith Solomon Eccl. 7. 2. Alas my Brethren 't is a serious thing to dye And the stroke of death upon others tells us that die we must and how soon we know not This Evening sun may see us dead it went out Early this morning to score us out this lodging of a Tomb. And oh happy thrice happy is that person that can die well Now such strokes as these put a serious soul in miâ—d of dying There 's none present knows who may go to the grave next That 's the First but then 2. It Springs from that Sympathy that is both in nature and grace first in nature when God takes away a husband a Father a Child c. this cuts deep and affects much Abraham he mourns over beloved Sarah David over Absolon though a rebellions son To be stupid and not to mind the hand of God when he smites our near and dear relations doth declare that we do not onely want grace but natural affection And then in Grace there is also a great sympathy if God smites one member of the Church the rest are affected with it If a Paul a Minister of Christ â—â—pâ—stor a spiritual Father comes to take his farewell of his people and tell them that they shall never see his face more Oh What weeping and mourning and lamenting is there at his departure 3. The perishing of good men is a just cause of weeping and that because they are a great blessing to the nations cities families c. where they are cast It fares either the better or the worse with such places for their sake When God destroyed the old world the family of Noah
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
and but â—peck of Rubbidge so much Bone If he who â— this Bell tells me is gone now were some â—xcellent Artificer who comes to him for a â—â—ak or for a Garment now or for Counsel â— he were a Lawyer if a Magistrate â—or Juâ—ce O my God thou dost certainly allow that â— should do Offices of Piety to the dead and that â— should draw instructions to Piety from the dead â— not this O my God a holy kind of raiâ—g up seed to my dead brother If I by the meâ—ation of his death produce a better life in â— self It is the blessing upon Reuben Let Reuâ— live and not dye and let not his men be few â—ut 33. 6. Let him propagate many And it is â— malediction That that dyeth let it dye Zechar. â—9 Let it do no good in dying for Trees â—out fruit thou by thy Apostle callest Twice â— Jud. 12. It is a second death if none live the better by me after my death by the manner of my death Therefore may I justly think that thou madest that a way to convey to the Egyptians a fear of thee and a fear of death that there was not a house where there was not one dead Ex. 12. 30. For thereupon the Egyptians said We are all dead men The death of others should catechise us to death Thy Son Christ Jesus is the first begotten of the dead Apoc. 1. 5. He rises first the eldest Brother and he is my Master in this science of death But yet for me I am a younger brother too to this man who dyed now and to every man whom I see or hear to die before me and all they are ushers to me in this School of death I take therefore that which thy servant Davids Wife said to him to be said to me If thou save not thy life to night to morrow thou shalt be slain â— Sam. 16. 11. If the death of this man work not upon me now I shall die worse than if thou hadst not afforded me this help For thou hast sent him in this Bell to me as thou didst send to the Angel of Sardis with Commission to strengthen the things that remain and that are ready to die Apoc. 3. 2. That in this weakness of body I might receive spiritual strength by these occasions If I mistake thy Voice herein if I over-run thy pace and prevent thy Hand and imagin Death more instant upon me than thou hast bid him be ye the Voice belongs to me I am dead I was bâ—â— dead and from the first laying of these mud-wâ—â—â— in my conception they have moldred away and thâ— whole Course of Life is but an active death Whether this voice instruct me that I am a deâ— Man now or remember me that I have been dead Man all this while I humbly thank thâ— O Lord for speaking in this Voice to my Soâ— When Invited to the House of Weeping Reflect and say DUty obliging me to perform the last Office of Love to my Friend I will surely â—â—llow his Corps to the Grave that in such a Spectacle as in a Glass I may behold my own Mortality or tho I always carry about me the Symptoms â—f Mortality and the marks of Death yet have hitherto lived as if I should never die In â—mall Villages where Instances of Mortality are â—ery rare there the inward thoughts of their â—earts seem to be that they and their Houses â—â—all continue for ever and their dwelling plaâ—s to all Generations In Populous Towns and â—â—ies there the commonness takes away the â—â—se of Mortality And oh how sad is it to beâ—old the unsuitable Carriage of the generality of â—hristians at Funerals those opportunities are sually spent in unprofitable Chat in Mirth in â—ating and Drinking and that sometimes to â—xcess and thus the House of Mourning is turned to the House of Mirth and Feasting But Lord â—ant that this may not be my practice when I â—me to the House of Mourning where my Friend â—w lyes dead Let my Eyes affect my Heart â—at I may seriously mind the present instance of Mortality and be affected with such Meditatiâ—s as these Lord this Tragedy that is now acting on my deâ—sed friend must ere long God knows how soon â— acted on me my Breath is ready to perish â—e Earth is gaping for me yet a little while â—d I shall be carried down into the Chambers Death Lord teach me so to number my days that I 〈…〉 Heart unto true Wisdom As thou art walking along to the House of Weeping seriously meditate on Ruth 1. Ver. 17. WHere thou dyest will I dye and there I will be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but Death part thee and me Where thou dyest will I dye Here Ruth supposeth two things 1. That she and her Mother in Law should both dye It is appointed once to dye 2dly That Naomi as the eldest should die first For according to the Ordinary custom of Nature it is the most probable and likely that those that are most stricken in years should first depart this life Yet I know not whether the Rule or Exceptions be more general and therefore let both Young and Old prepare for Death the first may die soon but the second cannot live long And there will I be buried Where she supposed two things more first That those that survived her would do her that favour to bury her which is a common courtesie not to be denyed to any It was an Epitaph written upon the Grave of a Begger Nâ—dâ—s eram vivus mortuus ecce tegor 2dly She supposeth they would bury her according to her instructions near to her Mother Naomi Observation As it is good to enjoy the company of the Godly while they are living so it is not amiss if it will stand with convenience to be buried with them after death The old prophets bones escaped a burning by being buried with the other Prophets and the Man who was tumbled into the grave of Elishâ— was revived by the virtue of his Bones And we â—ead in the Acts and Monuments That the body of Peter Martyr's wife was was buried in a dunghil but afterwards being taken up in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth it was honourably buried in Oxford in the grave of one Frideswick a Popish-she-Saint to this end that if Popery which God forbid should over-spread our Kingdom again and if the Papists should go about to untomb Peter Martyrs Wifes Bones they should be puzzled to distinguish betwixt the Womans body and the Reliques of that their Saint so good it is sometimes to be buried with those whom some do account pious though perchance in very deed they be not so The Lord do so to me and more also To ascertain Naomi of the seriousness of her intentions herein Ruth backs what formerly she had said with an Oath lined with an execration If ought but Death See here the large extent of a Saints love it lasts till Death
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
should remain unknown unto my self for the old word is a true one Neither things read or understood profit him at all who does not both read and know himself I there applyed my self Ad meum novissimum to my last thing what man liveth and shall not see death And if after death The Righteous shall scarcely be saved we may well be fearful and had need be careful that we be not taken unprepared When I was a young Man saith Seneca my care was to live well I then practised the art of well living When age came upon me I then studied the Artem bene vivendi art of dying well how to Artem bene moriendi die well It is true The journey of Life appears not to busie men until the end Yet when I was most busie of all I delighted my self with this comfort that a time would come wherein I might live to my self hoping to have sweet leisure to enjoy my self at last And this I am now come to by disposing not by changing my self Lord let me be found in this posture when I come to die In the courses of my Life I have had interchanges The World it self stands upon vicissitudes God hath interwoven my life with adversity and prosperity When I first took me to a Gown I put on this thought I desire a Fortune like my Gown not long but fit fit for my condition finding by others that a contented kind of obscurity keeps a Man free from Envy Although any kind of Superiority be a mark of envy yet Not to be so high as to provoke an ill eye nor so low as to be trodden on was the height of my Ambition But I must confess I have since had a greater portion of the World's favour than I looked for Nevertheless I never gave trust to fortune although she seemed to be at peace with me To check repining at those above me I always looked at those below me nor did any preferments so delight me or abuse me as to make me neglect preparing for my dying day And now I thank God I can say O Lord my heart is ready This I have considered that Life flows away by Hours and days as it were by drops Careful Martha was full busie about many things but was well advised by Christ There was only one thing necessary One thing have I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in his House for ever This was David's unum his one thing and God willing shall be mine Amidst these thoughts I had these things in contemplation 1. What Death was and the kinds of Death 2. Secondly What fears or joys death brings 3. Thirdly When Death is to be prepared for and How 4. Fourthly Death approaching what our last thoughts should be Of these things I thus believed That Death was but a fall which came by a Fall Our first-framed Father Adam falling in him we all fell It was not the Man but mankind Body and Soul parting BVt Oh how bitter at that time will be the parting of Soul and Body We see old acquaintance cannot part without tears What shall such intimate familiar friends do as the Soul and Body are which have lived together from the Womb with so much delight In that hour every man will make Balaam's suit O that I might die the death of the Righteous We all desire to shut up our last scene of Life with In manus tuas Domine Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit At this Hour What would a man give to secure his Soul Quid dabis pro animâ tuâ tunc qui nunc pro nihilo das illam What wilt thou give then for thy Soul to save it who dost so prodigally throw it away now for nothing This thou canst not leave behind thee that will tell thee whether thou goest and what thou shalt look for Tunc quasi loquentia tua Opera dicent Tu nos egisti Tua opera sumus Te non deseremus sed tecum ibimus ad Judicium Then shall thy doings even speaking aloud say unto thee Thou hast done us we are thy works we will not leave thee but will go with thee to judgment In that day shall come into mens minds by the Divine Power in the twinkling of an Eye all their past good or evil Works Memory the Magazine of the Soul will then recount all that thou hast done said or thought all thy life long For there needs no other Art of memory for sin but misery Man is a great flatterer of himself but Conscience is always just and will never chide thee wrongfully it always takes part with God against a man's self It is a domestick Magistrate that will tell what you do at home It is well termed the pulse of the Soul therefore if you would know the true state of your Body or Soul feel how this beats that will tell you Yet take heed you make not an Idol of your Conscience neither think as some do that it is a crime to make a Conscience of our Actions At point of death if a man will take his aim by the best men that ever lived or died that of David Ezekias yea and of Christ himself as he was man is able to amaze any man when as our Saviour Christ not many hours before he suffered said My soul is troubled and what shall I say and at the very point of Death said Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me When David said Save Lord for thy mercies sake For in Death there is no remembrance of thee And Ezekias wept sore when he was bid Put thy house in order for thou must die If the Patriarâ—â—s if the Prophets if the Apostles if the Martyrs if Christ himself was thus troubled at the hour of Death Wretched man that I am what shall I do We were all to seek but that Christ bids us Be of good chear for I have overcome Death Caesar Borgiâ—s being sick to death said When I lived I provided for every thing but death now I must die and am unprovided to die Previous preparation becomes a wise man But we are all deceived with this Error that we think none but old men approach to death neither experience nor age can work upon us so death that it may more easily surprise us shrowds it self under the very name of life He that sees the Basilisk before he be seen of it avoids the poyson See Death before it comes you shall not feel it when it comes We pray daily Lord Give us this day our daily Bread whilst it is called to day We should remember Life is but a day 't is but a day not an age Wherefore saith Solomon Talk not of to morrow for thou knowest not what to morrow will bring forth A man saith Luther lives forty years before he knows himself to be a fool and by that time he sees his folly his Life is finished So men die before they begin
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
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
or as others will have it 64. The manner of his Death is uncertain though Dorotheus reports he was Martyr'd at Sebestople near the Temple of the Sun past doubt for reproving their Idolatrous Worship in Adoring the Creature instead of the Creator and was buried there Another account we have that he was seized by the Jews as a Blasphemer and after being stoned was beheaded When as the Greek Offices seconded by several Breviaries relate that he was hanged upon a Cross And farther 't is said that his Body was for a long time kept at Jerusalem and conveyed thence to Rome by Aelen Mother to Constantine the Great where some Bones said to be his are shewed with great Veneration to this day The Death of St. MARK WHilst St. Mark was intent at Divine Worship the barbarous Multitude broke in upon him and fastning Cords about his Feet dragged him through the Streets in a most inhumane manner so that his Flesh was torn off by the Cragginess of the way not being satisfied with this they cast him into a Prison near the Sea where he was comforted in his Agony by a Divine Apparition The next Morning they drew him forth till by the extream effusion of Blood his Spirits failed and he gave up the Ghost after which as Metaprastus adds they kindled a large Fire and burnt his Body the remains of which being preserved by such as he had Converted to the Christian Faith were deposited in the place where he was wont to Preach and such part of him as remained was afterward carried to Venice and there kept in a Church built to the Honour of that Evangelist being one of the stateliest Piles now extant in Europe The Death of St. LUKE SOme there are that say he died a Natural Death but Nasianzen and Polinus Bishop of Nola with some others affirm that he received the Crown of Martyrdom Nicephorus gives us this following account viz That Saint Luke coming into Greece successfully Preached the Gospel Baptizing many Converts into the Christian Faith and working many Miracles till at last a party of Infidels encouraged by their Priests whose Idolatrous Worship the Evangelist sharply reproved fell at unawares upon him and sorcibly dragged him to the place of Execution where not having a Cross in readiness they hanged him upon an Olive-Tree in the 80th Year of his Age. But certain it is that he was put to Death some affirm that his Body was at the Command of Constanâ—ine the Great or his Son Constantius brought to Constantinople and there solemnly Interred in the great Church Founded there to the Honour of the Apostles THE DEATHS OF THE Primitive Fathers The Death of IGNATIUS IGnatius was born Twelve Years before the Crucifixion of our Saviour having with his Eyes beheld him in the Flesh he being as many think one of those little Ones that our Saviour commanded his Disciples to suffer to come unto him Nay some affirm that it was he whom our Blessed Lord set in the midst of his Disciples when they contended about Superiority However he was indued with a more than ordinary Portion of the Divine Spirit and succeeded St. Peter in the Pastorship of the Church of Antioch where he laboured diligently in the Ministry of the Gospel Converting and Confirming many to the Christian Faith being a great opposer of the Heresies or Erroneous Opinions that had sprung up in the Church When the day of his Martyrdom came he chearfully said I am Gods Corn when the wild Beasts have ground me to powder with their Teeth I shall be his white Bread He suffered Martyrdom the 11th year of Trajan being as many of the Ancients affirm Torn to pieces by wild Beasts in the Theatre to make the Tyrant sport And thus ended the Life of this good Man who upon many occasions was wont to say My Love is Crucified meaning either Christ the Object of his Love or that his darling Sins and Affections to the World were Crucified and in another place he declares that he beheld the Lord after his Resurrection before he Ascended He used to say That there is nothing better than the peace of a good Conscience Of Patience Other Graces are but parts of a Christians Armour as the Shield of Faith the Sword of the Spirit c. But Patience is the Panoply or whole Armour of the Man of God The Death of POLYCARP HIS Enemies thirsted after his Blood and there upon desired the Proconsul that he might be thrown to the Beasts but he alledging the time for the Game of Beasts was past they prayed that he might be exposed to the Flames to which last he consented and thereupon the multitude led him away crying This is the Doctor of Asia the Father of the Christians the Overthrower of our Gods who hath taught many that our Gods are not to be Adored Every one of them fetching Wood from their Shops and Houses When the Pile was reared the Holy Man put off his Apparel being assisted therein by the Faithful Christians that came to take their last Farewel of him striving to touch his Body as accounting it no small Honour VVhen he was naked the Infidels offered to nail him to the Stake but he desired them to forbear saying Suffer me even as I am for he that has given me strength to come to this Fire will give me patience likewise to persevere therein without your fastening me with Nails He died Anno Christi 170. In the midst of the Fire he said this Prayer O God the Father of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ through whom we have received the Knowledge of thee O God the Creator of all things upon thee I call thee I confess to be the true God Thee I glorifie O Lord receive me and make me a Companion of the Resurrection of thy Saints through the Merits of our great High-Priest thy beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and God the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen The Death of DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA HE was Condemned to be Beheaded the which to put him to greater Torment was done with a blunted Sword on the top of the Mount without the City where kneeling he said with an Audible Voice O Lord God almighty thou only begotten Son and Holy Spirit O Sacred Trinity which art without beginning and in whom there is no division receive the Soul of thy Servant in peace who is put to death for thy Cause and Gospel After which he submitted his Head to the stroaks of the Executioner Suffering Anno Christi 96 and of his Age 110. The Death of JUSTIN Martyr AFter his having painfully preached the Gospel in many Countreys he came to Rome where he had many Contests with the Philosophers and Sages and was at last by the procurement of one Crescens Condemned and accordingly Beheaded Anno Christi 139. and as Epipharius has it under the Reign of Adrian some time before he Prognosticated his death So sell this Faithful
they could to persuade him to a Recantation but he absolutely resolved for a considerable time but at last through humane Frailty and desire of Life he did subscribe to a Recantation The good Bishop being soon greatly afflicted and troubled in his Conscience for what he had done burst out into a flood of Tears and after his Speech came to him he lifted up his Hands towards Heaven saying O Lord forgive me this great Sin against thy Holy Name which through the weakness of the Flesh I have unadvisedly committed And then addressing himself to the People he desired them for Jesus Christ sake to pray for him that God would pardon his Sins and especially that of his Recantation But said he This right hand that signed so wicked an Instrument shall first perish in the Flames Then they pulled him down and hurried him away to the Fire which was made in the same place where Ridley and Latimer had suffered stopping his Mouth lest he should any more speak to the People who were not a little grieved to see the Primate of England cast down from all his Honours and in the end so barbarously mis-used When he came to the Stake he fell on his Knees and Prayed but was interrupted by the Papists who followed him with his Recantation saying Have you not signed it Have you not signed it Then he was tied to the Stake his Cloaths being first put off and the Fire being kindled to him some time before it came at his Body he stretehed forth his right Hand and held it in the Flames till it fell off without any more than once drawing it back And after having recommended his Spirit into the hands of our merciful Redeemer the Lord Jesus he died like a Lamb ending his Life with the same Meekness as he had lived suffering Martyrdom for the sake of the everlasting Gospel Anno Christi 1556 and of his Age 72. The Death of Conrade Pellican HE was born in Suevia and educated at Zurick He was a candid sincere and upright Man free from Falshood and Ostentation He departed this Life upon Easter-day Anno 1556. aged 78. The Death of John Bugenhagius HE was born at Julin near Stetin in Pomeâ—ania being well educated in Grammar Musick and other liberal Sciences He used great diligence and industry in converting many to the Truth drawing near to his end he often repeated this Portion of Scripture This is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent He died Anno Christi 1558. aged 73. The Death of Philip Melancthone HE was sent for by the Elector of Saxony to Lipsich to examine those that were maintained by the Elector to study Divinity In which he used great Diligence and after he returned to VVitterberg and fell sick of a Fever of which he died Sickness daily increased yet he so far strove against the power of his Disease that he would often rise to his Study The last Words he spake were to his Son-in-Law Doctor Pucer who when he asked him what he would have he replied Nothing but Heaven therefore trouble me no more with speaking to me After this he lying silent whilst the Ministers prayed by him he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1560. and in the sixty third year of his Age having been a constant Preacher of the Gospel for the space of 42 years The Death of John Laseus HE was a man of an excellent Wit and Judgment and took great pains to have composed that difference in the Churches about Christ's presence in the Sacrament though it did not succeed The King of Poland had such an esteem for him that he used his Adâ—ice in Affairs of great importance He died Anno 1560. The Death of Augustine Marlorat MArlorat was taken and carried before the Constable of France who after several Examinations condemned him of High Treason which was to be drawn upon a Sledge and to be hanged upon a Gibbet before our Ladies Church in Roan his Head to be stricken from his Body and set upon a Pole on the Bridge of the said City which Sentence was accordingly executed Anno 1562. aged 56. The Death of Peter Martyr BEing worn out with Travel and daily Study he after a while fell sick when calling together the principal Pastors of the Chtrch he made to them an excellent Confession of his Faith concluding This is my Faith and they that teach otherwise to the withdrawing Men from God God will destroy them And so taking his Leave of all his Friends after having made his Will he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1562. and of his Age Sixty-two The Death of Amsdorfius HE was born in Misnia of noble Parents and educated at Wittemberg He was recommended by Luther to instruct several Churches at Maegdeburg Gosâ—aria and Naumberg where he carried on the great Work of Reformation He having attained to 80 years of Age died Anno 1563. The Death of Wolfangus Musculus MVsculus being destitute at Strasburg some Fortifications were mending where he hired himself a Labourer to work by the Day comforting himself with this Dystich A God there is whose Providence doth take Care for his Saints whom he will not forsake Much Popish Malice he met with but God delivered him from their Revenge At length being seized with a violent Fever he died Anno 1563. and of his Age 66. The Death of Hyperius HE was born at Ipres in Flanders of noble Parents and was well educated His Care was great in reforming the Church and abolishing the Popish Fooleries out of the Service of God and and to establish a holy Scriptural and Ecclesiastical Discipline And in these Employments having worn out himself a Catarrh and Cough seized him complaining also of pains of the head breast and sides which often were so great as made him sweat as if he had been seized wish a Fever He died Anno 1564. aged 53. The Death of John Calvin CAlvin being settled in pastoral Charge of Geneva he continued to Confute Hereticks Papists and stirrers up of Sedition to heal Breaches and Division being Couragious even in the worst of times and as an Undaunted Champion of Christ not to follow his Standard till Death who Conquers all Conquered him for having made his Will he received the Sacrament and earnestly prayed for the Churches He on the Seventh of May Anno Christi 1562. yielded up his Spirit into the hands of his Maker dying in the 55 Year of his Age. His Funeral Solemnities were personned at the Charge of the Senate almost all the City being present He being Buried as himself desired in the Church-Yard where a stately Tomb was erected to his Memory The Death of William Farellus WHere ever he came Romish Malice attended him being so powerful in Prayer and Preaching that he gained thereby no small Congregations When he heard of Calvin's Sickness he could not satisfie himself though he was seventy years old but he must go to Geneva to