Tombs but this impatient man is among the Living and molests and grieves those that are near him 2. Immoderate sorrow wasteth the Spirits See Prov. 15.13 By sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken It weakens the Body and hastens Death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the world worketh Death saith the Apostle by sorrow of the world we may understand immoderate sorrow about worldly things hastens death and eats out the very comfort of Life You read of Moses Deut. 34.7 He was an hundred and twenty years old when he dyed his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated What should be the reason Why surely under God his own meekness For Numb 12.3 He was very meek above all the men that were upon the face of the earth Hippocrates saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animalia quae felle carent ut Cervi sunt longaeva So meek persons many times live longest but impatient persons through fretting discontent bring their bodies into a Consumption Suppose as Job saith Job 6.12 Your strength was the strength of stones yet continual dropping of tears and drooping under sorrow would bring you down and wear you away for the same Job tells you Job 14.19 The waters wear the stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepè cadendo And the wise man tells you Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it stoop Immoderate grief like a heavy burthen laid upon a man will make him stoop and break him Many a man looks wrinkled with sorrow and care long before he is wrinkled with age Cura facit canos quamvis homo non habet annos Let us then Seneca Consâ—l ad Poâ—â—â— c. 23. as an Heathen said spare such grief as this is Faciliùs illi nos dolor iste ad jiciet quà m illum nobis reducet For soon will it send thee to him whom thou bewailest than bring him back to thee 3dly and lastly It greatly provokes God Indeed A meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 but a froward peevish spirit is abomination to him as you may read Prov. 11.20 17.20 22.5 So Ps 18.26 Discontent is a sin that God takes special notice of Exod. 16.7 8 9 12. So the Apostle tells us God was not well pleased The meaning is for the words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was highly displeased with the murmuring Israelites for they were overthrown in the wilderness 1 Cor. 10.5 10 compared This must needs he hateful to God for it is a decompounded sin made up of many bitter ingredients as pride passion unthankfulness c. Sighings sobbings sorrowfull exclamations do penetrate the heavens and enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts but make no good musick there God is thereby provoked to lengthen our miseries and adjourn our mercies Paula Romana who carried it frowardly and fretfully at death of her Children met with many losses of that nature We say Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit medicum And so it is strugling and stubbornness that makes the Father continue to beat the Child Indeed God is an indulgent tender-hearted Father to his Children Psal 103.13 yet he will not burn the Rod till their stout stomacks be taken down How did he pursue Jonah with winds and tempests nay he casts him over-board into the sea and plunged him over head and ears into the hell of the Whales belly never leaving him till he submitted to his will to go to Niniveh Ferre minora volo nè graviora feram Let us bear lesser troubles patiently lest God lay greater troubles upon us To end this A man in a seaver the more he struggles the more he encreaseth his pain A wild Bull in a net Isa 51.20 instead of breaking forth by strugling he more entangles himself So we gain nothing by our strugling impatience and obstinacy against God but encrease of our miseries Oh! then let us not by any means give passions a loose reign for Phaiton-like with his wild Horses they 'l do a world of mischief Consid 10 Tenthly and lastly consider Death is very advantagious to the godly Phil. 1.21 For me to die is gain There is a privative and positive benefit that death brings to believers To begin with the first Death frees a believer 1. From sin Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin brought in death Rom. 5.12 and 6.23 and death carryes out sin Viper-like it devoures that which brought it forth He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 Here indeed is no perfection 1 John 1.8 Grace is like Gold in the Oar mingled with much dross the most refined soul hath some dregs and is daily contesting with home-bred corruptions Cum avarit â nobis cum impudicitiâ cum irâ cum ambitione congressis est Cyprian Here the best are continually afflicted either for their sins or with their sins But death frees them from all sin Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me saith St. Paul from the body of this death Why by the death of the body we are delivered from sin which is the body of Death 1 Cor. 15.26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death If sin continued after death death were not a believers last enemy Dictum est primo homini morieres si peccaveris nunc dicitur morere nè pecces nisi peccâssent illi non morerentur peccarent autem justi nisi moriantur St. August de Civitate Dei Lib. 13. Cap. 3. Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world latet Anguis in herbâ fiery Serpents sting us sins stick close to us but at death as St. Paul cast the Viper off his hand Acts 28.3 5. so do Believers shake off sin Their dying day is the funeral of all their Vices the least of which maks them grieve here as the least hair makes the eye to water After death they are like God himself in perfect holiness and righteousness not having spot or wrinkle Ephes 5.27 2. From Satans temptations The Devil like to Joab makes our miseries his sport and play 2 Sam. 2.14 He is the great Peripatetick going up and down the World Job 1.7 and 2.2 This roaring lyon is continually ranging for his prey 1 Pet. 5.8 He assaulted Christ the Head Mat. 4.1 c. and so he doth the members Quid aliud in mundo quà m pugna adversus Diabolum quotidiè geritur Cypr. The righteous are the white at which the Devil most shoots the Arrows of temptation Chrysostome somewhere in his Homilies hath this comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. As Pirats upon the Sea set upon the richest Vessels so Satan seeing a Vessel fraught with Grace useth all art and exerciseth all violence to master both the Vessel and the Prize But in Heaven they shall no more be troubled with Satans fiery darts for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast out Rev.
of the rebellion of Corah and how the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed him up and his Company vers 32 33. So rebellious Absalom came to an untimely death and David was much moved with grief in that he died in rebellion 2 Sam. 18.9 33 compared See Prov. 16.14 The wrath of a King is as Messengers of Death but a wise man will pacifie it and it follows vers 15. In the light of the Kings countenance is life Be not disobedient and irreverent in your carriage towards Ministers which are your Spiritual Parens You may read 2 King 2.23 24. Two She Bears destroyed forty two Children for mocking the Prophet Though Children yet God would not bear it in them Possibly as some think because there were so many gathered together they were set on by their Idolatrous Parents to do what they did and therefore God justly punished them with the loss of their Children Lastly Be not disobedient to Natural Parents God may justly deprive them of natural life that are without natural affection Prov. 30.17 Prov. 20.20 Mar. 7.20 The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it Homer though commonly reported to be blind yet saw and observed as much for speaking of one that did not relieve his Parents he tells us he lived but a short time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad Δ. Take heed then of disobedience to Magistrates Ministers or Natural Parents as you love your lives 2. Take heed of lustful uncleanness Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities about them burnt strongly in lust Jude 7. and God sent a strange fire to destroy them from off the face of the Earth Gen. 19.24 25. So God cut off Onan for his filthiness Gen. 38.9 10. So 1 Cor. 10.8 you read how that for uncleanness there fell in one day three and twenty thousand Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. c. 53. Pliny tells us of Cornelius Gallus and T. Aetherius two great persons in Rome that died in the act of unchastity The Dog-dayes of lust are very dangerous Indeed this sin consumes the radical moisture and so in its own nature tends to weakness and sickness and the shortening of a mans dayes The wise Man tells you The Harlots house enclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead Prov. 2.18 so likewise Prov. 5.9 11. Prov. 6.26 33 34 35. Prov. 7.22 23. Prov. 31.3 Solomons Mother there adviseth him not to give his strength unto Women 3. Take heed of intemperance in eating and drinking This is as a Knife to cut our own Throats see Prov. 23.1 2. When thou sittest to eat with a Ruler a Magistrate or some great Man consider diligently what is before thee and put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite Some read it impones cultellum gutturi tuo and then the sence is this thou dost as good as put a Knife to thy Throat if thou be a man given to appetite thou mayest endanger thy life if thou feedest too plentifully So vers 29 30. Who hath wo who hath sorrow who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at the Wine Our own luxuries as one saith fill us full of Diseases which shorten this our short day of life and set our Clock forward that it striketh dead before the time of our natural circle is gone about Deinde cogitemus saith Musculus Musculus in Ps 6.2 quae sit illorum vaesania qui per gulam intemperantiam seipsos donâ— sanitatis privant variis morbis obnoxios reddunt We may say of fasting and feasting as the Womâ—n sang of Saul and David Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands feasting kills more ten to one than fasting Poor people who have the shortest meals have commonly the longest graces and the best health The Glutton digs his Grave with his own teeth the Drunkard drinks healths so long to others that he hath none to himself Non est in potâ vera salute salus And it is but just with God to strike him dead that makes himself dead drunk Take heed then of this sin it is good advice at all times but most seasonable at this time which is a time of much feasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythag. Aurea Carmina We ought saith an Heathen to have a care of our bodily health and to observe a mean in drinking dyet and recreation 4. Take heed of immoderate sorrow This like an heavy burthen breaks a man and makes him stoop Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of man makes it stoop So Prov. 15.13 A merry heart makes a chearful countenance but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken David tells us Psal 31.10 My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World worketh death Immoderate sorrow for loss of worldly things weakens the body and hasteneth death 5. Take heed of impatience passion and discontent The murmurring Israelites were destroyed of the destroyer 1 Cor. 10.10 An impatient man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own scourge We say truly the hasty man never wants wo. Pettish fretful passionate persons like the Demoniack in the Gospel Mar. 5.2 3. wound and cut themselves Wrath is compared to fire in Scripture Gen. 39.19 20. Esth 1.12 Est intus flamma medullas This fire of passion devours and consumes that which should maintain natural life The passionate man like Mount Aetna consumes his own bowels with inward burnings Thus as Eliphas tells Job Job 5.2 Wrath killeth the foolish man Vexing and fretting under providential dispensations spends a mans spirits and puts him upon taking such unlawful courses as are oft-times attended with destruction Prov. 19.19 A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment for if thou deliver him yet thou must do it again q. d. A passionate man is no sooner delivered from one danger but he brings himself into another 6. Take heed of Envy Job 5.2 Envy slayeth the silly one If a man be so silly as to hug this Viper in his bosom he doth it to his destruction Envy like a Moth doth insensibly consume a man depriving him of health and the comforts of this life Hence the wise Man calls envy the rottenness of the bones Prov. 14.30 The envious man melts away at the prosperity of others as you may see Psal 112.10 Invidus alterius rebus macrescit opimis The Dart of Envy is as a worthy Divine observes like that in Homer Dr. Pierce in Sinner impleaded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad γ. v. 348. Reflexa est ei cuspis Scuto in valido It alway recoyls into the breast of him that shot it and mischieves most at rebound 7. Take heed of pride and ambition
spent her youthful dayes amongst Ruffians and debauched Companions If thou thinkest the flower of thine Age too good to give God may justly think the dregs of it too bad to receive How canst thou reasonably think that God should take pleasure in those dayes of which thou thy self wilt say Thou hast no pleasure in them Eccles 12.1 2 Sam. 19.35 'T is task sufficient for old Age to bear up under the infirmities of it Preparation for Death in old Age or sickness is usually weak and sickly like the party and proceeds rather from fear than love How kindly doth God take it when we dedicate the firstling of our years to his service Jer. 2.2 I remember thee saith God the kindness of thy youth Youthful bodies are most active and strong and so most fit for the Service of God who is a Spirit a pure Act and a living God He whose Name is I Am Exod. 3.14 cares not for such as say They will be but are not Now Courteous Reader what I have here spoken is out of a good intent not to drive any to despair but to prevent presumption Well then as Abraham rose early in the morning to sacrifice his Son Gen. 22.3 so let us early in the morning of youth sacrifice our sins or dedicate our selves both Soul and Body to God's Service 2. Ardenter 2. Put the forementioned Directions into practice Earnestly This God calls for Luk. 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait Gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Cornelius a Lap. in locum Quasi in agone contendite extremas summasque vires velut agonizantes exerite Strive as Wrestlers do put to all their strength so the word signiffes We should give diligence to make our Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Yea all diligence v. 5. Thou hast commanded us saith David Psal 119.4 to keep thy Precepts diligently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 valde that is with all diligence and watchfulness and earnest endeavour So Dr. Hammond in Loc. Nay we are not only to give diligence but to put forth holy violence Mat. 11.12 Luke 6.16 The twelve Tribes are said to serve God instantly day and night Acts 26.7 Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a kind of extension or vehemencie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sig Omnibus viribus vehementer prolixe liberaliter toto animo Cornel. a Lap. in 1 Pet. 1.22 St. Paul tells you what he did Phil. 3.13 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like a man running a race he press'd forward stretch'd forth his Neck and Arms and ran swiftly towards the Mark. True Christians are called lively stones 1 Pet. 2.5 They are compared to stones for solidity and stability but called Lively Stones for their Zeal and Activity Lazy wishes and luke-warm desires will not serve our turn Numb 23.10 He lies under the prophetick Curse that doth the Work of the Lord negligently Jer. 48.10 All that we do for God without zeal is but opus operatum meer performance of the Work which can no more ascend to Heaven than Vapours from the Still unless there be fire under it as a worthy * Mr. Ward in Serm. on Rev. 3.19 Divine tells us Dulness Drowsiness Luke-warmness is unsutable to the work of the Lord. We should serve him with most awakened affections and most serious intentions of Spirit Deut. 11 13. Mat. 22.37 God hath threatned to spue the luke-warm out of his mouth Rev. 3.15 16. Some say that Speech is drawn from warm-water which the stomach cannot by any means brook so God cannot away with luke-warm persons Gregory somewhere saith It is better to be cold than luke-warm in Religion not because the luke-warm person sins more hainously but because he is reclaimed more hardly Dum enim se sanum putet medicinae opem non quaerit Marlor A cursed formality or customary performance of duties without fervent love to them undoes many and renders the Times so perillous 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 form of Godliness but denying the Power from such turn away Let us then with Caleb follow God fully Numb 14.24 And as Barnabas exhorted Let us with full purpose of heart cleave unto the Lord Acts 11.23 As Peter and John strove which should come first to our Savious Sepulchre Joh. 20.4 so let us strive which should attain first to true mortification of sin Let us strive to out-strip one another in goodness * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a commendable contention The greatness of the Work calleth for our greatest endeavours We have many Duties to perform many Graces to get many Sins to subdue and conquer The manifold opposition which we meet with in our way to Heaven from the World the Flesh and the Devil should make us active 1 Cor. 16.13 Ephes 6.10 11 12 13. 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Former mispence of time should put us upon a more diligent improvement of it for the future Ephes 5.16 1 Pet. 4.3 4. Vespatian an Heathen lamented the loss of a day wherein he had done no remarkable service Heu diem perdidi was his word Alas I have lost a day We have let slip many days without doing good squandred away many precious opportunities not to be regained Let us improve time whilst we have it with the best diligence we can shortly we would be glad to have it that we might improve it If God would but vouchsafe to the damned creatures a little time of tryal here on earth again how eagerly would they accept it how holily would they spend it like those Creatures mentioned Ezek. 1.14 They would run and return as the apperance of a flash of Lightning They would Angel-like be upon the Wing ready to fly upon the hardest Errand God should send them about But alas their Glass is run and shall never be turned more The Door of Mercy is shut against them their possibilities are ended Let us be wise in time and work whilst we may for when the Night of Death comes no man can work John 9.4 Stella in Luk. 13.24 Nunc ergà poenitentiam age nè praeoccupatus die mortis quaeras locum quando invenire non possis The wise Man makes this consideration a Whetstone to Industry Eccles 9.10 Whatever thy hand finds to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest If thy Work be not done when Death comes thou'lt be undone for ever for there will be no second Edition of thy Life to alter or amend what is done amiss Nicodemus's saying according to the flesh is true John 3.4 No man can enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born O then be not remiss and negligent in matters of such consequence Let us pray in good earnest repent in sober sadness let us put on Christ's Vertues by imitation and his Merits by application with as much diligence as may be Old men especially
Imprimatur Robert Grove R. P. D no. Humfr. Episc Lond. a sac Dom. Decemb. 22. 1670. A Funeral Handkerchief In Two Parts I. Part Containing Arguments to comfort us at death of Friends II. Part Containing several Uses which we ought to make of such losses To which is added Three Sermons Preached at Coventry in December last 1670. By THOMAS ALLESTREE M. A. Rector of Ashow in the County of Warwick While the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.22 23. Parcamus Lachrymis nihil proficientibus facilius illi nos dolor iste adjiciet quà m illum nobis reducet Sen. Consolat ad Polyb. c. 23. LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1671. To the Right Honourable Thomas Lord Leigh Baron of Stoneleigh his singular good Lord and Patron The Author wisheth continuance of Health encrease of Honour and in the World to come Life Eternal Right Honourable SOme * Aret. in Luk. 1.3 Marlorat in Luk. 1. Chemnit Harm Evan. Stella in Luk. 1.3 are of Opinion that St. Luke dedicated his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles those two pieces of Divine Writ to Theophilus a Man of Eminencie in the Church Stella saith he was Praesul Antiochenus septimus And the Epithet given him shews he was some great man for that Evangelist calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most Excellent * As Acts 23.26 Act. 24.3 Act. 26.25 which is a Title of Honour Nomen honoris et dignitatis Yet some †Doctor Hammond his Annot. in Luke 1.3 Salv. in Epist ded before his Books ad Eccles Cathol learned Men are of another Opinion viz. That Theophilus was not the proper name of a particular Man but a feigned Title to signifie every Christian who is or ought to be a lover of God to whom St. Luke addresseth his Discourse Sure I am of this that St. Paul as he prayed for Onesiphorus who so oft refreshed him in his Bonds so he made honourable mention of him in his Writings 2 Tim. 1.16 17 18. My Lord I think I should be guilty of that crying sin of * Ingratum si dixeris omnia Ingratitude a sin which amongst others makes the times so perillous 2 Tim. 3.1 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if I should not as I have often prayed for you so upon occasion make honourable mention of you who have so oft refreshed me in my wants Since I first saw your smiling Countenance I have oft thought of that Speech of Ruth to Boaz Ruth 2.10 Why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou shouldest take knowledge of me seeing I am a Stranger I was a stranger to your Lordship yet you were pleased freely to bestow a small Parsonage upon me I call it a small one for so it is of it self but it hath happily received amongst other Churches for several years an Augmentation of twenty pounds and upwards paid duly without trouble for the Lady Alicia Duddely that sweet Flower whom God gathered early to himself for she was ripe betimes Daughter of that Pattern of Piety and good Works the Lady Dutches * See the Narrative of her life death by Dr. Boreman Duddely lately deceased This Daughter I say to whom I may apply that of the Wise Man Prov. 31.29 Many Daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all left by her last Will an Estate of the yearly value of an 120 pounds to be disposed for ever to such poor Vicaridges and Parsonages as the said Lady Mother should appoint And accordingly it was performed by her Grace the Lady Dutchess Duddeley whose good Works like Maries Oyntment cast a sweet perfume Mine is one of the * Manceter Stoneleigh Ashow Leekwotton Kenelworth Monkskirby six Churches that partaketh of this bountie I know my Lord you will pardon this digression for you love to make honourable mention of your dear Aunt this incomparable Dutchess upon all occasions I now return to your Lordship who have not onely been my Patron but in other respects a constant Benefactor for you were pleased to receive me for your Chaplain and accept my poor pains for which to your Noble Generosity not to my desert be it spoken you gave me besides other Favours a considerable allowance Meet then it is that you should have the first Fruits of my Labours in this kind as a token of my real love and testimony of a grateful heart and I hope your Lordship will so interpret it Another Reason why I presume to prefix your Lordships Name to the following Discourse is this that it being shrouded under your Honourable Protection may pass the more currant We live in a carping Age but if these Papers find acceptance with you I know you to be so judicious and well-devoted I do not much value the exceptions of others This Paper-Present I call A Funeral Handkerchief Containing Arguments to comfort us at death of Friends and the several Uses we ought to make of such losses Noble Sir you have out-lived many Friends you have buried many dear Children and lately parted with a Religious Lady who drew with you in the Yoke of Marriage above 59 years I am not afraid to call her Religious Her daily respect to the Word and Prayer in private Her love to the Publick Ordinances Her strict observation of the Lord's Day and her pious care that others should do so Her fastings and soul-afflictings upon occasion together with her constant circumspect walking are to me undoubted signs of her Religious Disposition These afflictions and many others which God Almighty hath pleased to exercise your Lordship with you have patiently undergone overcome through the Auxiliaries of Reason and Divine Assistance But my Lord have you learnt to make a right use of death of Friends and Relations This is an hard lesson which few take forth let me intreat you to cast your eye especially upon the second Part of this following Treatise where you shall find several Uses set down Copy them out in your daily practice that so when the Sun of your life doth set which declines apace you may go to your Dormitorie in peace Though these Papers do not inform you of what you know not yet they may serve to mind you of what you know King Philip knew that he was a mortal Man yet he would have his Monitor every morning to tell him that he was so uttering these words with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I think it meet my Lord as St. Peter speaks 2 Pet. 1.13 to stir you up by putting you in remembrance And I hope your Lordship will suffer me to be your Remembrancer from the Press as I was for * I had the honour to be Chaplain seven years several years from the Pulpit which was no small encouragement to me in my Ministerial Pains But fearing
19. Herod looked on it so sad to die unlamented that he gave express command that when he died one of every Noble Family in his kingdom should be slain Dr. Abbot 6th Lect. on Jonah p. 124.1 that by that means his death might of necessity be lamented if not for love of him as the Tyrant had no reason to expect yet for the loss of others Joseph Antiquit. The saying of Solon Dr. Willet on Gen. p. 251. Mors mea non careat Lachrymis and let not my death want tears so it be done temperately is to be preferred before that of Ennius Nemo me lachrymis decoret Let no man mourn for me He hath lived Tellius inutile pondus a very unprofitable wretch who being dead is carried forth as servants carry out the sweepings of the House or guts of Birds or entrails of Beasts without any shew of sorrow Tears then at death of Friends are silent expressions of the usefulness of our dead Friend whilest living and of our value and esteem of him And if we seriously consider losses of this nature how can we chuse but weep For a wife to lose her husband the Guide of her Youth Pro. 2.7 who was a shield to defend her or as the Sun to chear her Gen. 37.9 10. must needs be a bitter loss So for a Husband to lose his Wife the Wife of his Youth Prov. 5.18 or the Wife of his Bosom Mic. 7.5 the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24.16 18. must needs be a bitter loss So for Parents to lose Children who have their being from them and from whom they expect comfort in their old age must needs be a bitter loss So how can Children chuse but weep at death of Parents to lose a Father that begot them Prov. 23.22 and took pains to provide for them 1 Tim. 5.8 so to lose a dear Mother that bare them nine months in her belly twelve months in her arms and many years in her mind and care must needs be a bitter loss Yet the Apostle in the catalogue of offenders that should come in the last dayes and surely ours are the last tells us of some that shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affection unnatural to Relations whilst living and when dead as if their hearts were hewen out of a Rock they are unmoved they can with dry eyes and cheeks behold the Funeral Solemnities of Parents Children Husband Wife c. without any shew of sorrow Though God strikes them through their Relations yet they have not grieved Jer. 5.3 let such consider that of the Psalmist Psal 28.5 because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up God there threatens such as are affected with sad passages of his providence the chief of which we conclude are loss of Friends and Relations The Poet had observed an unnatural Son that before the time would be enquiring into his Father's age Filius ante diem Patrios inquiret in annos He would have his Father wrapt up in his winding-sheet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mixtus fletui risus Sphinx Philos p. 316. that he might rip open his Baggs would have him in his Coffin that he might enter into his Coffers And when the time of his Fathers interment is at hand which to him comes never sooner than expected or desired this unnatural Son it may be goes clothed in black having a light and merry heart under a sad and mournful habit So many Wives that have lived it may be too loosly and wantonly at their husbands death like that woman that Joab sent for 2 Sam. 14.2 feigh themselves to be Mourners and put on monring Apparel Thus Bathsheba's mourning for her husband Uriah 2 Sam. 11.26 is thought by some to be hypocritical for by his death she was freed from her husbands rage from shame and punishment which she justly deserved and withal she had hopes to become a Queen as indeed she did But let such hypocritical Mourners consider without repentance their portion will be with Hypocrites where Mat. 24.51 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth In Hell there is weeping in good earnest And every tear shed is so far from quenching Hell-fire that like Oyl it will encrease the flame thereof and here I leave such unnatural wretches On the other side some there are that at death of Friends weep immoderately they weep till they can weep no more as the expression is 1 Sam. 30.4 they are so impatient that for ever after they lead disconsolate lives sitting daily inter suspiria lachrymas sighing sobbing and sorrowing they are so discomposed that they cannot as the Apostle commands attend upon the Lord without distraction 1 Cor. 7.35 They cannot pray nor meditate nor give thanks to God with that fixedness and composure as they ought to do Psal 57.7 And it may be they forbear going to Church because they cannot endure the sight of their friends grave Nay further they are not only inwardly pensive but outwardly passionate they fill Heaven and Earth with Exclamations Horrendis gravitèr Coelum pulsâsse querelis And many times passionate unsavory Speeches the scum of a discontented spirit proceed from them as from Jonah when his Gourd withered Jonah 4.8 9. He wish'd himself dead and tells God He did well to be angry even unto death St. Austin speaking of his Mothers Death said Aug. Confess lib 9 cap. 12. Oculi mei resorbebant fontem suum usque ad siccitatem His eyes had drained his very Fountains dry so excessive he was in weeping Indeed this hath been an infirmity in the best of men and women See Jacob at the supposed death of Joseph Gen. 37.33 34 35. He rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many dayes and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him His mourning like the swelling of Jordan Jer. 12.5 impetuously passed the banks of Reason So if mischief saith he befal Benjamin by the way in which ye go then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Gen. 42.38 So David hearing news of the untimely death of Absalom the text tells you ◠Sam. 18.33 The king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and as he went thus he said O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son David is too excessive in his grief and speaks things that were not fitting as passionate men use to do Would God I had died for thee Why David what would have become of the Kingdom what miseries would it have been involved in if Absalom had survived The violence of Passion here makes David forget himself Gods
Church and People So Naomi Ruth 1.3 5. had lost her Husband and two Sons and vers 19 20. because God had dealt thus bitterly with her she refuseth her Name will be called Marah that signifies bitterness and not Naomi that signifies pleasant she refuseth this Name being so unsutable to her condition So the women of Bethlehem at the untimely death of their Infants Mat. 2.16 18 mourn will not be comforted And indeed the female kind naturally is more disposed to tenderness than the male Isa 49.15 and so more apt to weep immoderately and as one saith of the two the more to be pittied and the more capable of excuse and pardon But yet immoderate Sorrow in none is to be allowed As we approve not then of a Stoical Apathy for the best of Gods Servants have passions in them See Dr. Renolds on the Passions Acts 14.15 James 5.17 and passions are the feet of the soul placed in the sensitive appetite by the finger of God and Nature so neither do we approve of passions when irregular for then they are diseases of the mind depravers of reason disturbers of the understanding and cause the wisest men to speak and act not like themselves We find our Saviour Luke 7.12 13. saying to the Widow who wept for her only son Weep not he doth not there forbid natural affection but inordinate passion not tears simply but their excess not tears of sympathy and parental tenderness but despairing repining tears To shut up this See Dr. VValkers Sermon on that Text. the Apostle would have us to mortify inordinate affection Col. 3.4 that of sorrow as well as that of anger c. now it is inordinate when set on wrong objects or when it is in extreams either defective or excessive This corruption or disorder in our affections must be purged out Now I shall lay down several Arguments to prevent inordinate mourning at death of Friends Take ten which are as so many Corks to the Net to keep the soul under such losses from sinking too deep in sorrow CHAP. II. Ten Considerations to prevent immoderate Mourning at the Death of Friends IN the first place Consider the Necessity of Dying For We must needs dye 2 Sam. 14.14 So Eccles 12.5 Man goeth to his long home Man indefinitely i. e. every man high and low rich and poor beautiful and deformed male and female young and old good and bad all go to their long home the Grave So Ps 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death See Mr. Dugards Sermon on that Text. Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the Grave Selah No though he now liveth yet he shall not alway live but sooner or later shall see Death Joshua and David call Death The Way of all the Earth Josh 23.14 1 King 2.2 This way all Creatures of the Earth walk and therefore Job calls the Grave The House appointed for all Living Job 30.23 No man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit Eccles 8.8 But when his time is come The Spirit shall return to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 Death that black Prince or King of Terrors So called Job 18.14 is an invincible Champion who riding on his pale Horse for above these five thousand years hath with an impartial stroke layd all flat before him The long-liv'd Patriarchs Adam Seth Enoch c. like stout Oaks held out long but were forced at last to submit to Death's fatal stroak as you my read Gen. Chap. 5. Statutum est omnibus semel mori Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to dye It is Statute Law enacted in the Court of Heaven the decree is establisted the writing signed and like the Laws of the Medes and Persians Dan. chap. 6. vers 8. never to be reversed whilest this world lasteth we onely read of two exempted since the Creation of the World Enoch and Elijah who though they dyed not yet underwent a change and the like is not now to be expected So then that all must dye is an universal rule admitting of no exception And how soon all we may be brought in as Examples to this general Rule we know not Even Kings on Earth are but Earthen Kings and like Nebuchadnezzars Image Dan. 2. stand on feet of clay and moulder away as well as others Aequo pede pulsat pauperum tabernas regumque turres Hor. I have said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Psal 82.6 7. Augustus mortuus est Nay Christ himself dyed the Lord of Life is put to Death though he did not sin actually yet because he had our sins by imputation Isa 53.6 1 Pet. 2.24 He stood guilty of our sins for he became our Surety and therefore underwent a dissolution though indeed he saw no corruption Acts 2.27 so Acts 13.37 Now as Phocion said to one that was condemned to the same death with him Art thou not glad to fare as Phocion doth So shall we be too much cast down at death of our Friends seeing the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles nay Christ himself hath tasted death's bitter Cup. Well then at death of your Friend consider that Job 21.33 Every man shall draw after him as there are innumerable before him Me-thinks this should somewhat alleviate our sorrow Seneca de consol ad Polib .24 Quis tam superbae impotentisque arrogantiae est ut in hâc naturae necessitate omnia in eundem finem revocantis se unum ac suos seponi velit An Heathen looked upon it as a great piece of weakness and pride for any man to expect that either he or any of his should be exempted from the general rule of mortality Consid 2 Secondly consider The friends you lose are not so much yours as God's 1 Chron. 29.14 All things come of thee saith David And St. James saith Jam. 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights c. Children among other things are the gift of God This Lesson our great Grandmother Eve taught us calling her first-born Cain saying I have gotten a man from the Lord Gen. 4.1 Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musculus in locum By the favour help and blessing of God as his gift So saith Jacob Gen. 33.5 These are the Children which God hath graciously given me And God tells us he gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau Josh 24.4 Psal 127.3 Lo Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Clavis coeli sepulchri cordis matricis in manu Dei It is God that opens and shuts the Womb at his pleasure See Gen. 30.2 22. God may say truly what Benhadad said falsly 1 King 20.3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine We use to bestow upon relations a term of propriety
being in the blood of the mother then the flesh was consolidated Now under the Gospel God hath left Baptism to discretion of Parents and not tyed them strictly to the observance of a day but let not Parents create needless delays to baptize the Child Mr. Fuller in his Infants Advocat Ne quod differatur auferatur lest God in the interim take the Child from them In which case faith Mr. Fuller as I will not be Judg to condemn the Child so should I be one of the Jury I would not aquit the Father St. Austin was called durus Pater Infantum and sure he was an hard-hearted Father to Infants for his opinion was as I have read that children that dyed unbaptized were damned Indeed we read Gen. 17.14 The uncircumcised Man-Child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people he hath broken my Covenant Certainly this place is not to be interpreted of the infant breaking the Covenant who can do nothing to the keeping of it vid. Musculum in loc pag. 407 408. They therefore are here threatned by whose default Curcumcision was omitted or it may be understood of those not circumcised in childhood if they should after come to years of discretion and refuse Circumcision they were to be cut off and looked upon as breakers of the Covenant But to come home to you 1. Consider It is in the want of Baptism as in the want of Circumcision The want of Circumcision except in case of contempt or wilful neglect was not so dangerous Jos 5.7 Circumcision as may be gathered from that text was omitted for forty years in the wilderness and as some observe not reproved in Scripture Indeed we say Contemptus damnat the contempt of the Ordinance is dangerous without repentance and deep humiliation for it for God was displeased with Moses because he neglected to circumcise his son Exod. 4.24 but not the want of it when it was against your will 2. Consider Davids child he lived not to recieve the seal of Circumcision set upon him for he dyed the seventh day 2 Sam. 12.18 And it came to pass on the seventh day the Child dyed Some understand the 7th day from the Child's sickness others in my conceit more rightly understand it the seventh day from the birth of it so that the Child dyed before it was circumcised yet v. 23. he had hopes of the Child 's eternal welfare and therefore wipes his eyes and rests contented Indeed Baptism under the Gospel requires not adjournment to the eighth day as Circumcision did under the Law But if your Child dyed suddenly unexpectedly before the Minister could be procured and your desire was that your Child should be Baptised surely you are herein excusable for God hears the very desire of the humble Psal 10.17 3. And lastly consider Though we be bound to observe Gods Ordinance yet God himself is not tyed to the Sacrament As a most learned and pious Bishop said That Spirit which worketh by means will not be tyed to means Bp. Hall 5th Decad Epistle 4th Cast your eyes upon that good thief good in his death though in his life abominable he was never washed in Jordan yet is received into Paradise his soul was foul with rapines and injustice yea bloudy with murders And yet being scoured only with the blood of his Saviour not with water of Baptism it is presented glorious to God Thus as St. Austin saith Non minus sine Sacramentis salvatus est latro quam cum Sacramentis condemnatus est Judas Thus God who usually works by the Ordinances can also work without them 2d Apology answered Another cryes out This Child that God hath taken away was my Darling the Child I most affected as Jacob did Joseph Gen. 37.3 I could have wished God had taken some other of my children so he had but spared this Answ Thou sayest that thou hast lost a Child that thou most affectedst above all the rest of thy children Yea and it is to be feared more then God too It is I concieve lawful to love one child above another though it be not prudence to express it too fondly for fear of exasperating the rest Gen. 37.3 4. Col. 3.21 thou mayest and oughtest to love that child most which is most like thy Maker Christ loved all his Disciples Joh. 13.1 but John eminently transcendently above the rest John 13.23 and 20.2 and 21.20 because according to his name he was most gracious We may then love our children dearly Salv. ad Eccles Cathol l. 1. p. 347 more then any other outward possessions Non Solum amandos dicimus filios sed precipue ac super omnia amandos nec quicquam his omnino anteponendum nisi Deum solum But we must love no Child more then God If we do God will if he bear special love to us take away that little idol we too much dote upon that he may be loved and admired the more and the creature the less God cannot away with Corrivals he calls for the Heart Prov. 23.26 and will have intensiveness of Affection Matth. 22.37 and therefore removes from you that Child which was as a skreen to keep off the heat of your love from him Hadst thou then loved thy Child less thou mightest have enjoyed him longer Parents may kill their Children by over-loving them aswel as by over-laying them Blame then thy self who too fondly lovedst thy Child but blame not God who took away thy Child for thy good lest thy soul should eternally miscarry And whereas thou sayest thou couldest have wished he had taken some other of thy children so he had but spared this Answ 1. Consider Such kind of speeches are very offensive to God It is not for silly man to prescribe but to submit to God Who art thou that replyest against God in his providential dispensations Rom. 9.20 As God makes all in wisdom Psa 104.24 So he orders all things in wisdom Eph. 1.11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will He knows when he means to shoot what Arrow in his Quiver to chuse he sits at the Helm of this World guiding all things in Wisdom so that when things fall not out as we would have them yet as God would And as * Salv. lib. 1. De Gub. Dei pag. 23. Salvian speaks Summa justitia est voluntas Dei His Will is the Rule of Rectitude and therefore cannot do any thing unjustly Job 34.10 Therefore we should say under cross providences that befall us as 2 Sam. 15.26 Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him We read 2 Sam. 3.36 Whatsoever the King did pleased all the people Surely what the Kings King the great Lord and Master of Heaven and Earth is pleased to do should please us For can poor mortals as we are be better disposed of then by Wisdom and Goodness it self Liberame Domine a meipso
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel that is power and providence determined before to be done Wicked men that kill our friends they are God's Sword or his Hand God works by them Psal 17.13 14. Old Eli saw Gods hand in the violent and untimely death of his two sons Hophni and Phineas and he took it patiently 1 Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seems him good Say then with Job whose Children were violently cut off Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Septuag inserts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it pleaseth the Lord so come things to pass blessed be the Name of the Lord. Another cries out 11. Apologie answered My Friend died of the Plague that loathsom disease and there was no funeral solemnity but he was carried forth like some sorry carrion and buried I know not where may be in some sorry pit and this troubles me Answ God lately in our dayes Anno Domini 1665. sent a fearfull Plague amongst us There dyed at London as appeared by the weekly Bill above eight thousand some weeks The Metropolis of this Nation hath been as it were plowed up and sown thick with dead Corpses Great pits were digged where the dead lay together as Sampson said of the slaughtered Philistines by heaps upon heaps Judg. 15.16 A sad time God knows they had Bells sadly toling People sadly sighing crying dying I believe many to this very day have sad thoughts of heart for the loss of dear friends and think they were not buried like Christians because there were no Funeral solemnities I shall therefore to chear up such answer the particulars Did your Friend dye of the noysom Pestilence for so it is called Psal 91.3 1. Consid Gods dear servants have lain under such distempers Hezekiah was sick unto death 2 Kings 20.1 Some think he had the Plague vers 7. there is mention made of his Boyl which some conceive did arise from the Plague Job laboured under a Plague sore Job 2.7 He was smitten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an angry burning Boyl insomuch that his skin was broken and became loathsom Job 7.5 So David cryes out Ps 39.10 Remove thy stroak away from me some render Plagam tuam thy Plague which is a fearful stroak from God Indeed God promiseth Psal 91.3 c. To deliver his people from the noysome Pestilence But this as other promises of outward blessings is a conditional promise God will deliver his People if he sees it makes most for his glory and his Peoples good But God sees it good for them to dye of the Plague which though a sad affliction in it self is a means to hasten their glory God sent a fearful sickness amongst the Corinthians some think it might be the Plague because they did not receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with due preparation 1 Cor. 11.30 and yet they were chastened of the Lord saith the Apostle that they should not be condemned with the World v. 32. Godly Junius and his Wife died of the Plague as some report The Plague that hot burning distemper if God send it to his Children so that they dye of it like Elijah's fiery Chariot is a means to convey them more speedily to Heaven 2. Consid The Plague as all other sickness cometh by Divine Appointment See Exod. 15.26 Numb 14.12 16.46 Deut. 28.21 2 Sam. 24.14 15. Ps 39.10 The Plague is an Arrow of God's shooting a Messenger of God's sending And as the Centurion in the Gospel said to his under-Souldiers Go and he goeth Come and he cometh Do this and he doth it Mat 8.9 so God gives this Messenger charge whither it shall go how far it shall advance what execution it shall do and it faithfully obeys him Therefore say with David Ps 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth he means murmuringly impatiently c. because O Lord thou didst it 3. Consid God prizeth his People let them die of what distemper soever Psal 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints He likes them not the worse for dying of the Plague 4. Lastly Consider They are happy let them dye of what distemper soever if they dye in God's favour Rev. 14.13 Their souls for the present are happy and at Christ's second coming their bodies shall be glorious 1 Cor. 15.43 The body though sown in dishonour is raised in glory Bodies spotted through sickness shall then be made beautiful bodies and all their deformities be done away Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 For Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall these also appear with him in glory Was there no Funeral Solemnity Answ It hath been an ancient custom to attend at the Funeral of Friends De Civit. Dei lib. 11. c. 13. St. Austin saith Non contemnenda sunt abjicienda Corpora Defunctorum Bodies of deceased Friends are not slightly and contemptibly to be cast away And again he saith Antiquorum Justorum Funera curata sunt De Cura pro Mortuis Exequiae celebratae Sepultura provisa The Funerals of good men were formerly celebrated with great solemnity Abraham takes care for the Funeral of his Wife Sarah Gen. 23.3 4. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah where his Wife lay Gen. 25.9 10. Jacob made Joseph swear to perform his Funeral Rites Gen. 47 29 30 31. and accordingly it was done with great solemnity Gen. 50 7 8 c. So all Israel lamented Samuel and buried him 1 Sam. 25.1 And David spake it to the commendation of the men of Jabesh-Gilead those loyal and grateful Subjects that they shewed kindness to their Lord Saul and buried him honourably 2 Sam. 2.4 5 6. so Jehoida was buried honourably 2 Chron. 24.15 16. so much people accompanied the Widows son of Naim to his Burial Luke 7.12 And devout men carried Stephen to his Burial and made great Lamentation over him Act. 8.2 Our Saviour Christ who was alwayes moderate in his expences and would have the fragments gathered up that nothing might be lost John 6.12 yet admitted Mary's costly Oyntment because against his Burial Mat. 26.7 c. Indeed it is promised as a mercy to have decent Burial Job 5.26 Thus God promised Abraham that he should be buried in peace and in a good old age Gen. 15.15 And it was promised Abijah 1 King 14.12 13. that all Israel should mourn for him and bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the Grave because in him there was found some good thing c. and it was accordingly performed ver 18. so the like was promised to Josiah 2 King 22.20 and he was peaceably buried though kill'd in War 2 King 23.29 30. It is a part of humane misery to be without decent Burial and it is threatned as a judgment on the Wicked
mind him of his mortality and keep him temperate in the use of Gods good Creatures Oh consider thou wretched Epicure that thy pamper'd body will shortly be a most noysome Corps Job 24.20 The Worm shall feed sweetly on it Consider the pleasures of sin are but for a season Heb. 11.25 Thou mayest hear that voice this present hour in the midst of Drinking Dancing Feasting Gaming Whoring c. which Pope Innocentius the 4th heard in his Court and was found dead the next day Veni miser ad judicium Come thou wretch to judgment Use 10 10. Let death of Friends give a check to pride and ambition * Dr. Stuarts Cathol Divin pag. 150. Some say The hand of a dead man stroaking the part cures the Tympany Methinks the spectacles of mortality presented so frequently before us should asswage the swelling of pride that is within us Who would be proud of popular applause which is indeed but a fancy for so Agrippa's pomp is called Acts 25.23 Orig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did he consider his own mortality Herod would not have erected the plumes of pride as he did when the people flattered him had he looked on himself as a mortal man and that he should be so soon eaten up of Worms the vilest of Creatures Acts 12.21 22 23. Who would be proud of beauty considering if Deaths Hand do but touch the best complection'd Persons like the * Contacto◠cinerescunt Apples of Sodom they drop speedily into dust and ashes Who would be proud of Gifts and Parts seeing the Wise Man dies as well as the Fool Psal 49.10 Who would be proud of stately and pleasant Houses considering shortly he must be housed in dark and dankish rooms under ground Job 17.13 Who would be proud of his Pedigree considering he must say ere long to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister Job 17.14 Who would be proud of Apparel which must shortly be laid aside Or who would be proud of Riches which must be left at death and we know not to whom Psal 39.6 Who would be ambitious of great swelling titles as your Worship your Honour your Grace your Excellency your Greatness your Highness c. considering that the Greatest die and their Titles with them and their Glory will not descend after them Psal 49.17 Ambition like a blazing Comet portends no good and in a while vanisheth and comes to nothing How unbefitting a thing is it for man to be daily aspiring who is daily expiring to soar so high who must lie so low even under the feet of those whom he desires to tread upon Ahasuerus that could reckon 127 Provinces under his command Esth 1.1 had but about seven foot Sepulchre at most being dead And Alexander that sweated within the compass of the world as too narrow for him Aestuat infoelix angusto limite mundi Juvenal Sat. 10. Yet being dead had but a little patch of ground to contain his Body and that was with much difficulty obtained There is indeed some odds betwixt men whilst living in respect of birth education wealth wit alliance honour beauty c. yet to pull down the top-sail of pride man should consider that the same God made us all Job 31.15 Mal. 2.10 and of the same matter and we all at last return alike to the same earth Gen. 3.19 Eccl. 12.7 There is no odds amongst dead men Respice sepulchra vide quis servus quis dominus quis dives quis pauper discerne si potes vinctum a Rege fortem a debili pulchrum a deformi * Aug. lib. de nat et grat Aust Take a view of the Graves of men and you shall find all there have a like hollow eyes flat noses ghastly looks noysom scents c. there Dives cannot be distinguished from Lazarus nor beautiful Rachel from blear-ey'd Leah At a game of Chess as a learned * Doctor observes we see Kings and Queens and Bishops †Dr. Stuart's Catholic Divinity pag. 151 152. and Knights upon the board and they have their several walks and contest one with another in points of state and honour but when the game is done all together with the pawns are shuffled in one bag In like manner in this life men appear in different garbes and take diverse courses some are Kings some are Officers some Bishops some Knights some of other ranks and orders But when this life like a game is done which is sometimes sooner sometimes later all are shuffled together with the many or vulgar sort of people and lie in darkness and obscurity All their pomp is brought down to the grave and the worms shall cover them Isa 14.11 To shut up this point A proud man is a vain supercilious bubble that swells for a while and danceth about with a splendid gaiety upon the surface of the waters but presently disappears and is seen no more Who would then boast himself with Theudas to be some body Act. 5.36 or with Simon-Magus look upon himself as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 8.9 some grand Magnifico whereas in his best state he is but altogether vanity Psal 39.5 Use 11 11. Let death of Friends be a Cordial to keep you from fainting under any affliction You see Friends die daily assure your self ere long your turn will come and by death you shall be delivered from all your sorrows A Christian may say with Jacob Gen. 47.9 Few and evil have the dayes of the years of my life been This is Jacobs Arithmetick he casting the account of his days tells you they were by substraction and diminution Few by addition and multiplication full of evil Indeed Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the Righteous The Latin word Quies which signifies rest wanteth the plural number for there is little rest in this world A good man meets with contempt from the world temptations from the Devil assaults from the flesh sometimes with rebukes from God checks from Conscience with spiritual desertions with poverty sickness reproach c. like a Ship sayling on the Sea of this world no sooner is he freed from one waye but he is immediatly lifted up by another but when he dyes he is safely landed on the shoar in the haven of Heaven above a state of misery and mortality too Old Chaucer's Epitaph is a good one * Manch Al. Mond p. 61. Mors aerumnarum requies Death puts an end to all sorrow We may write upon the Grave-stone of a Spiritual Pilgrim Hic mortuus requiescit semel Qui vivus requievit nunquam Death is a Sleep and the Coffin a Couch In quo illé mollius dormit quisquis durius in hâc vità se gèsserit Ambros The Sepulcher is a place of rest for the Antients called it Requietorium or Dormitorium And the Prophet Isaiah calleth it a Bed Isa 57.2 They shall rest in their Beds Men being hard-work't all day sleep sweetly at night So
more for their God who now doth so much for them that they did not glorifie him more on Earth who glorifies them so much in Heaven Use 13 13. Let death of Friends put us on to get what good we can by living Friends we see they die soon We hold our Friends but durante beneplacito Dei how soon he may call for them we know not And therefore as one saith let us do with them as with some Books which we borrow let us reade them presently and take out thence profitable lessons as soon as we can for we know not how soon the owner may take them from us Books of our own lye by us and we may reade them at leisure Thus if Friends were so our own that we might have them by us at our own command we might be the more careless but in regard they are but lent us and may speedily be call'd for again It is good to improve their company whilest we have them and gather from them what may make for our profit both temporal and spiritual especially let us improve their society to our eternal advantage The old World was to blame in not being better'd by the good example of Enoch Methuselah Noah and some other few good persons that were amongst them And the wicked Sodomites to blame for not improving the society of Godly Lot to their spiritual advantage Gen. 19.7 8 9. 2 Pet. 2.5 6 7. Let the patience of good men check thy impatience their zeal thy luke-warmness their charity thy cruelty their temperance thy luxury their strictness thy loosness Yet a little while saith Christ is the Light with you walk while ye have the Light Joh. 12.35 The Light of God's Word is principally to be followed Psal 119.105 Gal. 6.16 yet the light of good Example is not to be neglected Mat. 5.16 Heb. 12.1 Walk and work by the Light of both and that with all possible speed that may be To shut up this Death silenceth the best Preachers breaks up the best Company and therefore deal with gracious Companions and faithful Guides as Elisha did by Elijah who would not leave him till he had gotten his Spirit doubled upon him 2 Kings 2. from ver 1 to 16. Or as Jacob dealt with the Angel who would not let him go until he blessed him Gen. 32.26 27 28. So let us be careful so to improve their company that before they leave us we may get a blessing from them Use 14 14. Let death of Friends mind us of our own death Eccles 7.2 It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to heart The house of Feasting is apt to put out of our minds the thoughts of goodness Deut. 8.12 Job 1.5 but the house of Mourning may seriously affect the heart with good thoughts as of the greatness of God's Power who taketh away our breath Psal 104.29 and with thoughts of our own frailty and mortality for as it is said of Abel he being dead yet speaketh Heb. 11.4 So the dead corps in the house of Mourning seems to speak our inevitable mortality We may call the death of a Friend or Neighbour saith a worthy * Mr. Harrison in his Serm. on Isa 57.1 p. 42. Divine as some do the Sacrament Visibile Verbum a visible Word a Sermon teaching us our Mortality for what we are they were and what they are we may be and we know not how soon Quod tueris tu eris dost thou behold a dead corps carried forth thou shalt shortly be such an one thy self Alas Alas what is this life that we make such account of that we so much talk of It is rapidissimus cursus a tumulo ad tumulum a very swift motion from the womb of our Mother to the womb of the Earth Natures dim eye saw the shortness of it Will you hear what it is One compares it to an Herb green now See Mr. Ambroses Serm. on Gen. 47.9 and presently withering Ut Herba Solstitialis Plaut Another calls Life the Image of Death Mortis Imago Cato Another calls Man a Dream of a Shadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar Another a shadow of Smoak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeschyl Another compares it to Leaves on Trees soon falling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tale genus hominum quale foliorum Homer Iliad 3. Another saith Our whole life is but a point of time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch which Seneca well interprets saying Punctum est quod vivimus adhuc puncto minus The time we live is but a point yea less than a point It is but an instant for what is past we enjoy not and what is to come is uncertain so that the present instant is the time we live and that gone as soon as spoken You have heard some of the Heathens speak of the Life of Man I pray you hearken to what the holy Ghost speaks of it in Scripture Job compares it to a Weavers Shuttle Job 7.6 which being thrown by the hand of the Weaver speedily passeth from one end of the Web to the other and v. 7. compares it to the Wind that passes speedily away what more swift or uncertain than the Wind he compares it to a Shadow that passeth away Job 8.9 so doth David Psal 102.11 so doth Solomon Eccles 6.12 Job likewise compares his Life to a Post that runs or rides swiftly on the Earth to a Ship that moves swiftly on the Waters and to an Eagle hastning after her prey that moves swiftly in the Air Job 9.25 26. David compares the Life of Man to Grass * Muscul in Gen. 1. p. 13. Manè quidem floridum vesperi vero aridum and to the Flower of the Field which soon withereth and fadeth away Ps 103.15 16. So doth Moses Psal 90.5 6. So doth the Prophet Isaiah Isa 40.6 7. David likewise compares it to Smoak which is quickly dispersed Psal 102.3 He likewise compares it to an †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 palmus est mensura 4 digitorum junctorum by th Hand-breadth Psal 39.5 which is one of the shortest of measures the breadth onely of four fingers put close together Our Saviour would have us look upon our Life but as a Day Mat. 6.11 and Moses reckons by Dayes Psal 90.12 so did Jacob before him Gen. 47.9 And indeed vita nostra non est diuturna Propera vivere et singulos dies singulas vitas puta nihil interest inter diem seculum Sen. sed diurna every day is a little Map of our Life for as the poor Hireling when the day is spent goes home with his wages with him so when the day of man's life is spent with his wages about him he returns to his long-home the Grave St. Paul calls our Bodies Earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 and 2 Cor. 5.1 The earthly house of this tabernacle Here the Apostle who was a
on Luk. 7.12 13. p. 13. Dr. saith Their less confirmed constitution is sooner discomposed and out of temper Their fresher blood is more susceptive of infection their warmer and agil spirits more easily blown up into a feaverish heat and flame Infectious Distempers as Plague Measels Small-Pox c. soonest seize on the purest Complexions and speedily overturn the best-built structures of Nature The purest Fruit soonest perisheth When Jonah's Gourd was fullest of Sap and Verdure then the Worm smites it and it is gone Strong Cedars sturdy Oaks are hewen down when Death layes the Ax to the Root of the Tree Great Zerxes wept to think that the strength of his Army could not keep Death out of his Quarters If thou beest as strong as Sampson or David's three Worthies whom you read of in 2 Sam. 23.8 yet sickness may soon weaken thee and Death lay thee flat on thy back 2. Some measure their life by the lives of others as their Neighbours and their own Kindred They see many Neighbours older than they by many years and besides their Father is alive and Grandfather lived long Their Generation used to be long-liv'd and therefore they reckon on many years But this is deceitful reckoning for young men die as well as those that are striken in years see Job 21.23 24 25 26. So Job 36.14 They die in youth So Jer. 9.21 Death is come up into our Windows and is entered in at our Palaces to cut off the Children from without and the young Men from the streets Old Age is a Distemper that very few in comparison die of And though your Father be alive and your Grandfather lived long yet many times Children die before their Parents Gen. 11.28 Haran died before his Father Terah Absalom out-lived all his Children Naomi lived to see her Children buried as well as her Husband Ruth 1.5 So did Job Job 1.18 19. To end this The Sons of Jacob as * Mr. Fuller in his Comment on some of Ruth one observes when they came to the Table of Joseph sat down the eldest according to his Age and the youngest according to his Youth Gen. 43.33 But Death observes not this method he takes not Men in seniority but sometimes sends them first to their Burial that came last from the Birth and those that came last from the Womb first to their Winding-sheet 3. Some think they shall live long because they are temperate and chast Intemperance doubtless destroys many Plures gulâ quà m gladio More perish by gluttony than by the Sword Multos morbos multa fecerunt fercula Seneca Epist 95. And drunkenness is destructive to the bodies of those that delight in it Prov. 23.29 30. Whence come Dropsies Gouts Feavers Rheums and such like Distempers but usually from excess in eating and drinking Lasciviousness and excessive wantonness is likewise an impairer of strength Prov. 5.11 so Prov. 31.5 But yet the most temperate and chast men may die soon For these are very subject to infectious Maladies neither are they priviledged from manifold chances and unexpected surprisals which may suddenly put an end to life 4. and lastly Others because they have been sick and are recovered they hope to see many dayes But alas how ordinary are relapses into the same distemper that men think they are recovered of And those relapses as Physitians say and Experience doth witness most dangerous But if a man be perfectly recovered of one distemper how ordinary is it for that man to fall irrecoverably into another Ambros. de Obitu fratris 3 Tom. p. 16. Satyrus St. Ambrose's Brother returned from Africk by a perilous Voyage for he suffered shipwrack and escaped drowning very narrowly by swimming yet having escaped so great a danger within a short t me after his arrival and return to his Friends fell sick and died amongst them If you escape one danger you know not how soon you may fall into another If you recover of one distemper you are but reprieved for how short a time God only knows O courteous Reader deceive thy self no longer Death like a Mole is secretly undermining thee Thou art far nearer Death and the Grave than thou art aware of Consider 1. How many Diseases thou art subject to which like so many Worms lie gnawing at the Tree of Life The very eye as some Oculists observe hath above sixty Diseases attending it Innumerable then must the diseases be which the whole body is subject unto This Body of ours which is fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 like a curious Watch is soon out of order and oft-times Physicians with all their skill cannot mend it again Non est in medico semper relevetur ut aeger Ovid de Pont. Lib. 1. Eleg. 4. Interdum doctá plus valet arte malum Some mens Bodies are ground to pieces with the Stone some destroyed with the Epilepsie See Mr. Ley's Sermon on Jam. 4.14 or an Imposthume which insensibly gathers to an head breaks in a moment and stops the breath of mans Bosom or stifles the spirits of his Brain Some Bodies are blown up with the Cholick or Illiaca Passio Some eaten up insensibly by a Consumption some drowned with the Dropsie some burnt with a Feaver And indeed many new Diseases break forth amongst us which puzzle Physitians not only how to cure them but how to call them These bodily Distempers are as so many warning-pieces which God many times shoots off before he send his murdering-piece 2. De civit Dei lib. 22 cap. 22. Consider the manifold chances which may befal thee Quid de innumeris casibus qui forinsecùs corpori formidantur Aug. There are casual mishaps as well as Diseases innumerable which may prove destructive to life We all receive life but one way viz. by Generation but we may lose it many * Mille modis morimur Sen. l. 7. 1. Controvers wayes As we see in a Garden-Pot the Water is poured in but at one place viz. the narrow mouth but it runs out at an hundred holes If we ride on Horseback the Horse may start or stumble and cast us that we may rise no more Absaloms Mule running from under him hastned his destruction 2 Sam. 18.9 c. If we walk on foot we may take immoderate heats and colds which may bring with them incurable Distempers Thieves and Robbers may surprize us wound us and leave us for dead Luke 10.30 Some Beast or other may kill us as the disobedient Prophet was slain with a Lyon 1 Kings 13.24 Or a Drunkard worse then a Beast enraged by strong drink Prov. 20.1 may speedily dispatch us Walking in the streets a piece of Timber a Stone or Tile from an House may suddenly fall upon thee and strike thee dead As a piece of a Mill-stone thrown from a Tower broke the Skull of Abimelech Judg. 9.53 D. Stuarts Catholick Divinity p. 163. Martial makes mention of one that was kill'd with the fall of an Ice-sicle which caused
the Poet to melt into tears saying O ubi Mors non est si jugulatis aquae What cannot make an end of us if a little congealed Water can do it Aeschylus the Tragedian was killed by a Crab-fish which fell from an Eagles talons who mistook as it was thought his bald Head for a Stone If thou stayest within doors thou art not there safe neither The House may fall upon thee as upon Job's Children Fire may burn thee a Spider may poyson thee Or thou mayest have a deadly fall from some upper Room As Ahaziah falling through a Lattess in his upper Chamber fell sick and died 2 Kings 1.2 17 compared And Eutychus falling into a deep-sleep fell down from the third lost and was taken up dead Acts 20.9 Pliny Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 7. cap. 53. reports of Emilius Lepidus that he did but hit his Toe upon the Door-sil yet though the hurt was so far from his heart he died upon it And the same Author tells us That Anacreon the Poet was choaked with the Kernel of a Grape And an Hair in a mess of Milk choaked Fabius See Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.3 4. Lect. 26. p. 543. And we read elsewhere how a Fly in the Cup choaked Pope Adrian the 4th And Pope Victor was poysoned with Wine and one of the Emperors with the Bread he received in the Sacrament When we lie down to rest we are not sure we shall arise again in safety Sisera slept but never awaked more in this World Judg. 4.21 Benhadad being sick was confined to his Bed yet his sickness was not so destructive to take away his life therefore Hazael that treacherous Servant under pretence of doing him a kindness cunningly stifies him as you may read 2 Kings 8. chap. Furthermore we read in Scripture how Joab was slain at the Altar Zachariah in the Temple Amnon at his Table And prophane stories tell us That Carus the Emperor was slain by a Thunder-bolt so was the Emperor Anastatius Antiochus was murdered in his Coach Domitian in his Chamber Caligula in the Theatre Caesar in the Senate-house and Caracalla was put to death whilst he was about to case Nature Thus we are not safe by Land much less by Sea for there men are within a few inches of Death Qui nescit orare discat navigare The Poet said Illi robur as triplex circa pectus qui fragilem commisit pelago ratem Hor. He was a very bold man who first exposed himself to the Seas in so frail a Vessel as a Ship is How soon may it be split upon a Rock and cast forth its burden So uncertain a thing is Life that it is like a Candle carried in the open Air which every blast is ready to extinguish Thus as Seneca saith Mors ubique nos expectat tu si sapiens eris ubique eam expectabis Death waits upon us every where both at Sea and Land at home and abroad let us in every place and at all times wait for it sure I am it will be our wisdom so to do Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they would consider their latter end The Servants of the Lord expect it and look upon themselves as dying Creatures Abraham counts himself but Dust and Ashes Gen. 18.27 Jacob lookt upon himself as an Individuum Vagum as a Stranger or Pilgrim here to day and gone to morrow Gen. 47.9 So did the rest of the Patriarchs 1 Chron. 29.15 St. Paul durst not presume on much time but said He would do this and that if the Lord permit or if the Lord will as you may read Acts 18.21 Rom. 1.10 1 Cor. 4.19 1 Cor. 16.7 he thought himself Tenant at Will in the Clay-farm of his body So did St. James James 4.13 14 15. St. Peter lookt not to dwell long in his earthly Tenement 2 Pet. 1.14 Joseph of Arimathea erected his Tomb in his life-time in the midst of his Garden as some gather from Mat. 27.60 compared with John 19.41 that in the midst of his delights and pleasant walks he might think of Death The Heathens some of them have been very careful to preserve in their minds the thoughts of Death Plato one of the chief defined Life to be Meditatio Mortis a Meditation of Death And truly Death as the Philosopher writes of the Heart * Cor est primum vivens ultimum moâ—iens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot should be the first thing that lives and last that dies in our meditation Some †Manchest Al. Mond p. 51. Philosophers had their Graves alway open before their Gates that going out and coming in they might alway think of Death And we read of one * Ibid. p. 139 140. Philostrates that lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his Bones came to lie in it And though Lewis the XI King of France of that Name gave a strict charge that none should dare to name Death within his Court Yet Philip the Father of Alexander and King of Macedon every morning had a Monitor of Mortality for a Trumpet every morning was sounded at his Chamber and these words uttered with a loud Voice by one whom he had appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember thou art a mortal Man He was willing every day to hear of Death which might any day rush in upon him Shall we by putting the thoughts of Death from us prove our selves to be worse than Heathens God forbid God as you have heard hath compared our Life in Scripture to things of short continuance And to such things as are oft in our eye that so we might not forget Death The two first Books of Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nativitas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exitus called Genesis and Exodus should mind us of that of the Poet Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet At Birth begin we life to end This end doth on that Birth depend Every Dish of Meat that comes to our Table stands as a dead Corps So true is that of Seneca Mortibus vivimus We live by the death of other Creatures The four Seasons of the Year the Garments we wear scarce any thing that we behold but may mind us of our change for all things here below ring Changes The Sun setting may mind us that ere long the Sun of our Life must set Our very houses may mind us of our long homes When we are in Bed and darkness round about us we should consider that ere long we must lie in the Grave that House of Darkness for so it is called Job 17.13 Furthermore for I would fain convince the Reader of the shortness and uncertainty of his life every degree of Life is a step to Death one day added to our lives brings us nearer unto death Your life is shorter to day than it was yesterday God threatned Adam Gen. 2.17 That in the day that he did eat the
to perform God sent us not into the World as he did the * Psalm 104.26 Leviathan into the Sea to take our sport and pastime therein but he sent us hither as into a School to learn this one Lesson to die well Yet alas how negligent are most as if unconcerned herein This great concern is the least of their care Tell them of preparing for Death and they are ready to put us off as Felix did Paul Acts 24.25 Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee but we never read that he call'd for him after I shall therefore Courteous Reader lay before thee some Considerations to move thee to prepare thy self for Death according to the forementioned Directions And here I have a large field before me but as the Disciples passing through the Field of Corn pluckt onely an ear or two and rubbed them in their hands so shall I content my self with three Considerations amongst many and handle them as briefly as I can with conveniency First then Consider 1 1. By this means thou shalt live comfortably 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World Rejoycing and working Righteousness is put together Isa 64.5 What joy and peace is there in believing Rom. 15.13 If the Angels in Heaven rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner as the Scripture affirms Luk. 15.7 10. surely the joy of a sinner converted must needs be very great in his heart How can it otherwise be For such an one is reconciled to God his sins are pardoned whereupon follows peace with God and rejoycing in hope of the Glory of God as you may see Rom. 5.1 2. And this peace of Conscience passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 A continual Banquet together with the joy of the Harvest and of such as divide the spoyl are but dark representations of it Prov. 15.15 Isa 9.3 This is Manna in the Wilderness a foretaste and earnest of future Jubilees such an one is even in the Suburbs of Heaven so that the Term of a godly mans life who is continually fitting himself for Death may be truly called Hilary Term for a pure Christal Torrent of Divine Joy comes streaming into his Soul from the God of all comfort What should such an one fear Of whom should he be afraid At what should he be dismaid If he lives he lives to the Lord if he dies he dies in the Lord Living or dying he is the Lords Rom. 14.8 Object But do not we see those who take most pains in fitting themselves for Death most sad and sorrowful mourning for their own and other mens sins do they not meet with most trouble and afflictions so that their lives of all men are most uncomfortable Answ A carnal man can no more judge of a good mans condition than a pur-blind man can of Colours He is not acquainted with a good mans joy Prov. 14.10 The righteous have meat to eat which the World knows not of They have hidden Manna secret joy 2 Cor. 6.10 As sorrowful yet alwayes rejoycing Their weeping for their own and other mens sins Est quedam flere voluptas makes way for spiritual comfort As April-showers refresh the face of the Earth When the Righteous have been shedding tears at the Throne of Grace they oft arise from their knees with their hearts brim full of comfort If they meet with outward trouble as the Waves encrease so doth the Ark of Comfort arise above these Waves See 2 Cor. 1.3 4 5. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ We read Acts 5.41 how the Apostles rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer When Saint Paul was in that great storm at Sea Acts 27. When neither Sun nor Stars in many dayes appeared vers 20. In the midst of that danger his Soul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in a quiet Haven Dr. Boreman in Serm. on Phil. 3.20 p. 33. even in the bosom of God In that great darkness he had a light within the light of joy and comfort because God was with and in him I end this with that of Solomon Prov. 29.6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare that strangleth his joy but the Righteous doth sing and rejoyce Consider 2 2. By this means you may die comfortably A man who in his life-time hath been fitting himself for death is not afraid of it when God shall please to send it He can say Come Death come Lord Jesus come and well-come He can say to Death as Adonijah did to Jonathan the Son of Abiathar the Priest 1 King 1.42 Come in for thou art a valiant man and bringest good tydings He knows Death sets his Soul at liberty out of the Prison of the Body as the Angel did Peter out of Prison Acts 12.7 Upon the sight of Death his Spirit revives as Jacob's did when he saw the Wagons that were sent to carry him from a place of penury and misery to a place of plenty and happiness Gen 45.27 When Moses the Servant of the Lord had finisht his course God bids him Go up and die in the Mount Deut. 32.49 50. Deut. 34.5 It is there said He died according to the Word of the Lord secundum os Domini The Jews say that his Soul was suckt out of his mouth with a kiss God dealt by him as a fond Nurse by her Babe kissed him and laid him down to sleep Elijah requests God to take away his life 1 King 19.4 Aged Simeon like a Swan welcomed his approaching death with this melodious Song Sapientis animus totus in mortem prominet hoc vult hoc meditatur hac semper cupidine fertur Sen. ad Marcium c. 23. Nunc dimittis c. Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word c. St. Paul cries out Cupio dissolvi Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better St. Ambrose ready to depart said to his Friends Non sic vixi ut me pudent inter vos vivere sed nec mori timeo quia bonum Dominum habemus He was neither ashamed to live nor afraid to die Old Hilarion being somewhat backward at first to entertain Death he checkt himself for his vain fears Egredore anima quid times Septuaginta annos servivisti Deo jam mori times Egredere Anima Go out my Soul said he what fearest thou Thou hast served God these threescore years and ten