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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87379	Moses his death: opened and applyed, in a sermon at Christ-Church in London, Decemb. 23. MDCLVI. at the funeral of Mr. Edward Bright, M.A. Fellow of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and minister of the Gospel there. / By Samuel Jacombe M.A. Fellow of Queens Colledge in Cambridge, and pastor of Mary Woolnoth, Lumbardstreet, London. With some elegies.	Jacombe, Samuel, d. 1659.	1657 (1657)	Wing J109; Thomason E904_4; ESTC R202649	55,430	77

Moses his Death Opened and applyed IN A SERMON At Christ-Church in London Decemb 23. MDCLVI AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. Edward Bright M. A. Fellow of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge and Minister of the Gospel there By Samuel Jacombe M. A. Fellow of Queens Colledge in Cambridge and Pastor of Mary Woolnoth Lumbardstreet London With some ELEGIES Nec unquam magnis ingeniis cara in corpore mora est Exire atque ●rumpere gestiunt Aegrè has augustias ferunt Vagi per omne sublime et ex alto assueti humana despicere Inde est quod Plate clamat Sapientis animum totum in mortem prominere hoc velle hoc meditari hac simper cupidine ferri in exteriora tendentem Seneca lib. de Consol ad Martiam c. 23. London Printed for Adoniram Byfield at the Bible in Popes-head Alley neer Lumbardstreet 1657. To the Reverend and Learned WILLIAM DILLINGHAM D. D. Mr. of Emmanuel COLLEDGE in CAMBRIDGE And to the Fellows of that Religious Foundation HONOURED SIRS HE whose memory is a faithful Register of former practice and whose judgement doth not much miscarry in his observation of present experience will as easily acknowledge this truth as I can propose it viz. That men of noble and gallant spirits able to scorn injuries bravely to conquer yea to revenge themselves upon the base attempts of malice by not vouchsafing so much as to take notice of them yea men whose magnanimity is heightened by danger and their courage increaseth with it that these generous mindes have been disconsolate at the absence of a friend have been male-contented at the death of a beloved relation Hee who could not bee astonished by Hectors valour nor his attendants rage yet when the news comes that his friend Patroclus is dead it is then said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Iliad 6.6 Sorrow like a thick cloud sate upon his countenance and obscured those sparkling rayes which used to come from it The victorious David that trembled not to see Goliah but with undaunted resolution though a young stripling sets upon him yet Jonathans death makes him say I am distressed 2 Sam. 1.29 when hee was grown elder and had more experience of Gods presence with him The Holy Jesus that great exemplar of piety who alwayes submitted to his Fathers will and therefore could not bee obnoxious to the corroding thoughts of discontent yet by his practice shewed how much our nature was liable to bee afflicted with the loss of Friends for hee who wept but twice that I remember wept once for impenitent Jerusalem Joh. 11.33 35. dead in sins and trespasses and another time when the beloved Lazarus lay in the grave and the chorus of mourners came lamenting him Nature it seems quickly opens the flood-gates the ingenuity of Christianity allows a serious sense of the presence and absence of a reall friend true goodness promotes compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great skill is to moderate the passion that the stream may keep within the channel and not over-flow the banks I hope all you by your piety and prudence secured your selves from discontent when you heard of the sickness and death of our dear and truly honouréd Friend But I for my part must confess that few Providences in my life have hitherto been made such arguments to it by the tempter to mee as this was and because it is possible that some in your Famous University might feel the same disease with my self I shall make bold to tell you I am sure I speak to my Friends the course I took for my Cure The Dictate of the Imperious Stoick soon came into my minde Non sentire mala non est hominis non ferre non est viri Not to feel an evil speaks no humanity not to bear it speaks no man-hood This I thought was soon said but all his arguments though I deny not their usefulness yet were too short to bring mee to that manly I will rather say that Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peace and tranquillity which I desired Two things I found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that had the true vertue of Nepenthe in them partly awing mee and commanding down impetuous tumults partly relieving and refreshing mee in my combate with them The first of them was the command of our Saviour to his Disciples Let not your heart be troubled Joh. 14.1 When I considered the occasion of it the command was strange but the stranger it appeared at first sight the more emphatical and remarkable it was The great evidence of Gods love to man was now withdrawing the Prince of life was to suffer death He whose presence animated the poor Disciples as the Generals doth the unskilful Souldiers Hee whose Miracles kept them from contempt Hee for whom they had forsaken Father and Mother goods and lands Hee who asked them most pathetically when others forsook him Will yee also go away Hee is now leaving them John 6. will go away himself and yet hee saith Let not your heart bee troubled I from hence concluded that if I had been in the Disciples case I should have seen more reason for discontent than now I do And if it was not lawful at the farewel of the blessed Jesus it could never bee lawful Whilst I thus stated my duty I found something refreshing mee and it was nothing else that satisfied mee but that which was the occasion of the grief of the Disciples and of all good men before them and since viz. That Christ dyed Thus the wise God can make use of this sad providence to satisfie under another and all the holy men that lived before him and all that had given up themselves to him as his servants since his coming into the world For I considered there was no reason why God should work Miracles for my sake and since so many were dead that I knew were the love and delight of God I concluded death could not bee to a good mans loss and since I saw God had provided for the world notwithstanding the death of so many useful persons thus long I concluded hee could still and if for the world and the Church sure hee could for my peace and comfort Whilst I concocted these meditations and surveyed the examples recorded in Scripture None sooner came into my thoughts than Moses who by his Country man is truly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Heathen not at all mistaken when hee said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo Judaeus lib. 1. Longinus a man not of the ordinary rank but rarely accomplished of whom God himself gives most full testimony His death in the Wildernss when one would have thought his life might with much confidence have been expected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diadorus Sic. lib. ult made mee thinke a discourse on it was pertinent to the present occasion and would tend both to awaken some and satisfie all others that were perplexed at the death of our Friend so

Families Countries shall all partake of a blessing out of Gods respect to us when wee are laid in the dust and they say of us what the Jews said of Abraham and Israel Isa 63.16 That wee are ignorant of them and acknowledge them not But if I should stay here I should prevent my self in that which is most pertinent both to the Text and the present occasion It is sufficient that I have given you gold in the mass your meditation must beat it into leaf gold and it may be I shall assist you before I put a full period to this Discourse The second thing which the Text presented to us was Moses present condition Moses condition Moses my Servant is dead Faithful service to God is no security from the common Law of Mortality Note Gods best servants are not persons priviledged from the arrest of this surly Serjeant Of the man Moses it is said That hee was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth Numb 12.3 Yet his meekness could not charm this adversary Hee was admirably useful and so is the Sun to the Traveller and yet it sets Deaths sithe makes no distinction betwixt wholesome herbs and stinking weeds Hee was a man of excellent Education brought up in Pharaohs Court Act. 7.21.22 hee was skilled in all the learning of the AEgyptians But China mettal and Venice Glasses are as soon yea sooner broken to peeces than course pots Pure complexions soon catch infectious diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo called the yong King Exod. 11.3 Hee was a man of power and authority The man Moses was great in the land of Egypt Yea hee was mighty in words and in deeds But hee that could work Miracles to save or destroy others can work none to save himself The great Xerxes wept when all the strength of his Army could not keep death out of their Quarters A holy man hee was that chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God Act 7.22 Deut. 34.12 No Prophet like him in all the terror which he shewed in the sight of all Israel Heb. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. lib. 1. de vita Mosis Exod. 32.10 Vers 14. than enjoy the pleasures of sin But yet hee was a man and a natural body will bee natural when the soul is refined from the dregs of wickedness and a sick horse will bee faint and go heavily and at length fall though you should set a better Rider on his back Yea which is further remarkable hee was a man whose prayers were prevalent with God for others that when God was about to destroy the Israelites hee saith to him Let mee alone and upon his intercession the Text saith That the Lord repented of the evil which hee thought to do unto his people Yet when this man comes to beg for his own life yea when hee begs that hee may but live a little longer to enter the promised Land yet God will not hear him If my memory fail mee not it is the onely request recorded in Scripture which God denied to grant him after hee had accepted this service of bringing the people out of Egypt Moses was such a man that God saith of him Deu 34.10 11 There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face a man rarely accomplished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will you know what is become of him Moses Gods servant is dead I shall give three Reasons for it Reason 1. That God may shew the world how little hee stands in need of any creature when God would punish the Aegyptians hee doth not bring Earthquakes not only Thunder and Lightnings but Frogs and swarms of Flyes Exod. 8.16.18 the dust of the Land is turned into Lice and the Magicians that had done some thing greater shall not bee able to do this God makes the meanest things the greatest scourges and then much of himself is visible When God will break Nebuchadnezzars pride Hee will not bring a Puissant Army to conquer him Nor shake the fabrick of the world to amaze him Qui● autem dicit sensum libi redditum oftendit non forman se amisisse sed mentem Hiei on in 4. Dan. v. 34. but when hee speaks loftily Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom ●c he doth but hear a few words The Kingdome is departed from thee and God lets a melancholy fancy pursue him and the great King is below the poorest man in all his Dominions One would have thought if Moses should have delivered the people it should have been done whilst hee was a favourite in Pharaohs Court But hee must go into the Wilderness and live forty years in Midian indure hardship and misery Act. 7.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. lose his favour in Aegypt before hee bee fit for God to make use of as a Deliverer And when God hath sent him and hee hath wrought miracles and carried the people through the Red Sea they are ready to say Exod. 32.1 It was Moses that brought us up out of the Land of Egypt But they shall see God needs him not Joshua one of his young men that used in all his addresses to say My Lord Moses Numb 11.28 hee shall conduct them and it shall bee evident God can bee with him as he was with Moses And sure God is seen most when Daniel looks better with poor pulse than the rest do with the Kings delicious fare The way to shorten the best mens lives is for people to think they cannot live without them The Sun never yet needed a Glow-worm nor God a creature as God sometimes discovers himself in his dealings with wicked men that hee brings the mischief upon them they feared by the means they used to prevent it Pharaoh fears the Israelites should multiply and bee mightier and greater than the Egyptians and therefore hee will oppress them Exod. 1.9 10. Jeroboam fears that the hearts of the people will return to Rehoboam if they should go up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and therefore hee sets up two golden Calves 1 King 12.27 The Jews are afraid if they suffer Christ to proceed in his Doctrine and Miracles all would beleeve on him and the Romans would come and take away their Kingdome These instances makes that truth evident which Solomon hath recorded Prov. 10 24. That which the wicked fears shall come upon him yea his own policy to prevent it shall be the means to bring it the Israelites increase the more for their affliction Exod. 1.12 Jeroboams family is therefore rejected 1 King 14.8 9 10. The Jewes are destroyed by the Romans for crucifying Jesus Christ and have ever since continued the scorn of the world so God in his dealing with his people in waies of mercy chuses not the means which they think most but least on Gideous army is too great

a few shall do that work Moses is too much admired Moses shall die that God may be more acknowledged and man lesse for it is our sin and folly to ascribe to Saul his thousands and to David his ten thousands but to God nothing at all Reas 2. Moses is dead That God may shew what an extreme hatred and antipathy hee hath to sin every where Psal 106.32 even in a Moses If this meek man be provoked and speak unadvisedly with his lips it shall go ill even with Moses Psal 106.32 33. If the good man be passionate and say I am not able to hear all this people alone it is too heavy for mee Numb 11.14 15. and if thou deal thus with mee kill mee I pray thee out of hand Moses shall know that God can take him at his word and another shall have the burden and the honour too yea though hee be afterward earnest for lite and beg importunately that hee may enter into the promised Land yet God will not be intreated Wee little think how much mischeif wee do our selves who may be any way publickly serviceable to be at any time weary of the imployment God hath charged us with especially if the discontent shew it self to others for then the divine providence is ingaged to make it manifest that hee can well enough be without such muttering servants and that it becomes us not to be too bold or presumptuous by the confidence we have in our former fidelity or present usefulnesse Let Jonah run away if he will but a storm shall follow him For God will have all the world take notice that hee hates sin because it is sin and not because such a person commits it If wee would observe wee might easily perceive how irreconcileable Gods hatred is to sin Adam was the prime peece of divine Art the glory and honour of the visible World if hee sin hee shall die and because the dishonour is great an● unavoidable necessity of death shall bee the fad condition of all his posterity Wee read of none excepted from the execution of this fatal sentence but Enoch and Elijah one would think that any considering minde that shall see the tears of them that are in misery hear the groans of them that lye on sick-beds observe the sighs of consuming persons who decay by little and little as a garment that is Moth-eaten or that shall surveigh the tossings of men in feavers who are never at rest God outs them off with pineing sicknesse and as a Lion hee breaks their bones I say one would think a very weak head that will but seriously consider might easily from those premises conclude that sin is a thing odious and abominable and though God bee good yet hee is not fond for the righteous Lord loveth righteousnesse Psal 11.7 If this convince thee not sufficiently come nearer and see how sin like a noisome carkasse infects the air and all that come near it suffer for it let a man bee openly wicked and do high acts of basenesse and his relations his children Exod. 20.5 yea his childrens children shall smart for it for God v●sits the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children to the third and fourth Generation Epiphanius tells us that for three thousand three hundred and thirty two years there is not one example in Scripture of a Son that died before his Father till Terahs time whom he conceives to be a notorious Idolater and of him it is said Gen. 11.28 That Haran died before his Father Terah in the Land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees hee could not forget Abel and therefore no question hee intended only that they of whom it might properly bee said They died not they who were killed should come within the reach of this observation Hee that is not a very carelesse reader of Scripture cannot but grant that if this Leprosie once break forth no man knows whither it will spread When Korah Dathan Numb 18.30 31. and Abiram sin the earth swallows them up and their little children two even all that appertained to them Yet we must remember that a temporal evil brought upon the childe as a punishment of the Father may be a mercy to the childe of which wee have a happy instance 1 King 14.13 that this childe came to the grave was the great grief of Jeroboam and yet the great blessing of the childe Adams sin made death certain and when sin grew greater than death which before crept like a Snail began to come faster till it had brought the life of man from a thousand years long to seventy and if any one was an open affronter of the Lawes of Heaven the poor family and the innocent infants found the thread of life cut asunder for the Parents crime Do you yet beleeve that God hates sin If you will see further behold the holy God is no respecter of persons and it David murder Uriah the sword shall follow him If Moses be angry and speak unadvisedly God is angry presently and Moses shall die in the Wilderness Reas 3. Moses is dead that hee may bee rewarded for the faithfull service he hath done already sin brought in death but God hath made death to bring in glory the dark room is an entry into the presence chamber It was a great riddle to flesh and blood but was perfectly discovered at Christs resurrection and ascension Out of the cater comes meat Had Moses lived hee would have found that in every day there was something of Autumn as well as Spring even in the face the most beautifull part of the body is the sink of the brain It is better to bee in the mount with God than to be troubled with the Idolatrous Israelites hee cannot forget Numb 12.1 that even Aaron and Miriam spake against him Meeknesse of spirit is one of the best Antidotes against such mischiefs from neer relations but no man knows what trouble hee may finde from those hee loves best and whom hee hath served most If Moses be blamelesse himself they will bee angry because of the Aethiopian Woman Thus one relation produceth trouble from another If his face shine when hee comes down from the mount the Israelites cannot bear it hee must put a veil on let the life bee carelesse and then hee scornes himself or others may quickly scorn him let it bee exemplary that a man shines as a light in the world holding forth the word of life it will be alwaies true that sore eyes cannot bear it It is better to be with Angels who alwaies-behold the face of God in Heaven All things are yours Life and Death 1 Cor. 3. ult in life good men do work after death they enter into joy yea into the joy of their Lord they are glorified together Rom. 8.17 Particeps est herilis gaudij Grot. in Mat. 25.23 Here they serve there they are served Luk. 12.37 Blessed are those servants which waited for

prepared for this charge bee the Devils servant and have the Devils curse bee Gods and the gift is eternal life Aaron goes up willingly to Mount Hor and dyes Moses when hee sees it is Gods will is satisfied Nothing like the testimony of a good conscience that a man hath been faithful in Gods service though every one in Gods family bee not a steward a publick officer as Moses was yet every one is a servant hath some work to do oh why do you neglect it Is that a fit time for man to dress himself in a dark night when the dreadful cry astonisheth him that his house is on fire about his ears the poor man stands naked amazed and is either burnt or runs down the stairs with fears not to bee conceived by any body but himself so it is when death fetcheth the sinner and conscience cryes aloud that the fire of hell will scorch him and the great Judge infallibly condemn him Is this a time now for him to put on the ornaments of grace when hee is putting off the body No alas that is too great a work to bee done so soon and hee is too much amazed to go about it The fear of a danger past kills Nabal and makes his heart like a stone within him There are sad instances that make it evident that the time which men allot to make preparation for death is generally useless and ineffectual for that purpose A learned Doctor of our own hath collected three sad examples which give sufficient restimony to our last assertion Great Exampl 3. Part. p. 144. the first of them he met with in S. Gregory who reports of Chrysaurius a Gentleman in the Province of Valeria rich and vitious witty but lascivious covetous proud that being cast upon his death bed he fancied he saw evill spirits coming to arrest him and drag him to hell hee fell into a great agony shreeked out And when his disease grew desperate hee cryed out Give mee respite but till the morrow And with those words he dyed His second example is of a drunken monk whom Bede mentions who upon his death-bed seemed to see hell opened Lib. 5. c. 15. Hist Gent. Angloium and a place assigned him near Caiaphas and those which crucified our Saviour The Religious persons which stood about his bed called on him to repent of his sin to implore the mercies of God but hee answered this is no time to change my life the sentence is passed upon mee it is too late His third example is one Gunizo a factious and ambitious person of whom Damianus reports that the Tempter gave notice to him of his approaching death but when any man preached repentance to him Biblioth F. Pp. Tom. 3. out of a strange incuriousness or the spirit of reprobation hee seemed like a dead and unconcerned man in all other Discourses hee was awake and apt to answer Divers now in Cambridge will quickly perceive that these three instances call to their mindes a fourth of a woman that lived there who on a sick-bed being visited by divers persons of piety and entertained with holy discourses used to say nothing but this Call Time again It is true wee have not every day such remarkable instances no more is every murderer hanged upon the Gibbets yet so many suffer this dreadful punishment as to make acts of baseness formidable and to shew the sore hatred which a good and compassionate Magistrate hath against them so the former examples demonstrate that Gods grace though of absolute necessity to our happiness yet then when wee should need it wee may either forget or else not finde it wee thought wee should at the command of our wishes But what is the design of poor besotted man Let a sickness arrest us a Physitian is sent for an estate a great revenue shall bee parted with for Time get but health and then any man shall have it for a trifle Nay wee are weary of it if it must bee spent in the thoughts of God and eternity then this short very short life is too long for us Men that are full of business in the world talk like Augustus Aliquande se victurum sibi sperabat he hoped he should sometime live to enjoy himself and they long passionately for a great Vacation but when it may bee in their power they act like Turannius who after the ninetieth year of his age having received a discharge from Caesar and got liberty to bee freed from Court attendance Componi se in lecto velur exanimem a circumstante familia plangi jussit Seneca de Brevitvitae cap. ult will needs bee laid in his bed like one that hath breathed his last and all his family must bewail the old mans death The God of heaven will tel us at the day of judgement how little wee knew what to do with our selves and our time when we had fair opportunities to prepare for death and to work out our salvation God will easily convince us that it was our wilful prosecution of our own lusts which ruined us and that wee would not come to him that wee might have life If any one shall ask mee what should bee done to make preparation for death I would beg of him first Nihil minus est hominis oecupati quam vivere idem cap. 6. That hee would bee so much at leasure as to bee a while serious if hee can but prevail so far with himself as not to bee turned out of doors by his own thoughts hee will answer his own question himself and soon resolve that to live is the best preparation to dye Haec quae vides ossa circumvolura nervis obductam cutem vultum que ministias manus caetera quibus involuti sumus vincula animorum tenebraeque sunt Seneca Consol ad Marciam c. 24. For it is one thing to bee in the world another thing to live To bee a man in the due use of all powers and faculties in the just command of all passions to bee a Christian in the exercise of all Divine graces this is to live otherwise men are dead in sins and trespasses and their souls are buried in a lump of flesh I perswade my self in this point men need more to bee awakened than instructed for who knows not that hee ought to repent and who understands not that by repentance God means that which hee himself means when hee charges a son a friend a servant to repent viz. That hee should bee heartily sorrowful for what is past S. Augustinus sibi jussera Psalmos Dividicos de paenitentia scribi ipsosque jacens in lecto contra paretem Posito Jegebat jugiter ubertim flebit Posidonius and do so no more why then is not the Catalogue of sin read over till thy heart bee melted with godly sorrow and a constant antipathy against iniquity make thee watchful That thou sin no more lest a worse thing come Reader tell mee

Wouldest thou not do this this week it thou thoughtest thou shouldest dye the next but remember this day cannot bee too soon because to morrow may bee too late It was a good saying of a wise Rabbi It is every mans duty to repent one day before hee dyes and hee that knows not but that this day may bee his last had need begin to day and so make every day a continued act of repentance Do this to purpose now for since nothing makes enmity betwixt the holy God and us but sin practise this duty daily by surveying all thy life by continuing resolutions of obedience by holy watchfulness that when the hour of death comes thou mayest have this by thee as a never failing cordial And dost thou not know that thou wilt then need a strong beleef of this great truth That God hath mercy for a repenting sinner That the case of man is not desperate That wee have liberty for second thoughts by the New Covenant That there is a great glory hereafter and a certain resurrection to eternal life why is not this point studied by thee till thy soul bee fully confirmed in this great Article Or art thou ignorant that thou shalt be unwilling to dye if thy treasure be not laid up in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Phaed. you may pull off a glove with ease but not the skin you may easily see a soul go hence that hath none on earth that it desires in comparison of God Whereas a soul immersed in body used to nothing but eating and drinking and the pleasures of the belly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sc that is bewitched by the body faln in love with it and imbraceth it Oh how willing it is to catch at and clasp about every thing that might make it stay in its beloved tabernacle Oh be sure to inure thy minde to things heavenly and spiritual for inordinate consent to the pleasures of our outward man do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the noble Philosopher speaks strangely unite our souls to our bodies that they cannot go from that which they count their happiness without infinite torment and vexation That day wherein the vanity of the world the emptinesse and dissatisfaction of all corporal delights are not so far studied as to preserve our love for God that day did nothing for our provision for death Reader all this thou art perswaded of practice it yet for thy comfort and quiet at the hour of death remember to familiarize death to thy thoughts in life a Mariner is not afraid in a storm at Sea when a childe or a timorous woman quakes for fear in a fair day on a shallow river Think thy Saviour the beloved Son of God died and lay in the grave remember if thou art Christs all things are thine life and death seriously read and duly consider Heb. 2.14.15 1 Cor. 3. last Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood hee also himself likewise took part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Did wee thus practice and thus anticipate death by thoughts wee should finde our childish fancies apt to converse with that grim visage which at the first they ran away from By this means wee should bee worthy that character of those valiant people Lucan Animaeque capaces Mortis Men not transported with the love of life nor inslaved with the fear of death Men fit to live fit to die men that could triumph and sing that glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh death w where is thy sting Oh grave where is thy victory Fifthly and lastly I speak here only of good men that make provision for death by a pious life Moses death chargeth you to bee satisfied quiet and contented when you die your selves when your friends when good Magistrates good Ministers die before you for sure wee and they may bee sick and die and yet bee beloved of God so was Moses Yea behold a greater than Moses Jesus Christ hee that heard the voice from Heaven this is my beloved Son hee felt the pains of death and lay three daies in a Sepulchre deaths face looks more lovely ever since and may bee beheld with less astonishment Now wee may chearfully say come let us go and dye also sure though the Bee humme and make a noise though the Serpent hiss yet the sting is gone Blessed bee God for the satisfaction wee have in this great case by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour when our pains are next to intollerable though wee should sweat as hee did drops like blood yea when wee feel the stroak of death and finde the face besmeared with a cold clammy moisture the eyes are dimme the hands stiffe the friends stand by and weep they speak but can receive no answer there is no liberty for a thought of any thing but pain and sadness grief and sorrow yet may a sober Christian now by this Gospel-knowledge of the death of Christ make this happy conclusion this may bee my case and yet I not bee hated but so far beloved of the holy God as that I may hereafter shine as the Sun in the firmament Mat. 13.43 and may for ever bee as the Angels beholding the face of my Father in Heaven Go then yee useful exemplary persons who speak much to the World when you say nothing who by good works Est aliquid quod a magno viro vel tacente proficias Seneca those unanswerable syllogismes those invincible demonstrations convince spectators who by the beauty of holinesse steal away the hearts of gainsayers and win their affections almost against their wills go lay y●●r heads upon a cold stone or a soft turfe wee are satisfied if wee weep it shall bee for our selves not for you Our Saviour when he died charged his disciples they should not let their hearts bee troubled his death hath prevented the cause of trouble wee are no more Scepticks whether the grave bee the way to glory or not no more scrupulous whether it bee best for you to die Fine Apologiae or live It is not now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Socrates speaks a thing known only to God whether the Scales turn for the advantage o● the dead or living and since the Son of God and the best o● Gods servants ever since the creation have walked through this dark vault wee will never expect a better way fo● our selves that is to be proud nor will we be amazed whe● wee come at it for after this Gospel knowledge it is to 〈◊〉 nothing but play the fool or to fear where no fear is And if ever I needed this understanding I do now for if ever I had reason to resent deeply the loss of any man I have reason now to bee affected at the losse