dying will be cautious and circumspect in his doing And not like those careless souls who spend their daies their months their years nay their whole time in sin and wickedness not considering what will befall them in the end Now let me fasten two Reasons upon you why you should consider that you must die and to confirm you in the truth delivered First if men seriously did consider that they are mortal and must die and shortly appear before the Tribunal of the just and great Judge it would prove an absolute and soveraign antidote to expel the greatest evil sin and the dreadful consequences of it and a means to avoid the greatest loss the loss of our immaterial Spirits those excellent beings and the way to procure the greatest good Heaven and eternal blessedness What is the reason and cause of that inundation of prophaness and wickedness and those prodigious sins as Treasons Murders Uncleaness Rebellion that are now in the world and in this Kingdom and in all places in most families and persons of all qualities and degrees but this their not duly and effectually considering that they are mortal and must die and come to Judgment This is the reason if not one main ground of sin and of the neglect and omission of all sacred duties For did they believe and remember they must die and come to Judgment and that their naked Souls and their naked crimes and sins must shortly be manifested and stand before the dreadful Bar of the most tremendous Judge of all mankind who will render unto every man according as his work shall be no doubt it would impede and hinder their constant and desperate course of sinning But alas it is the foolishness and unhappiness of most that they defer and put of the consideration of death till they feel and find they can no longer live Secondly Did ye believe that ye must die and answer for all ye have done in the body whether good or evil this if any thing would make you serious diligent zealous and constant in the worship of God and to work while it is day before the night cometh wherein no man can work For this world is for duty the other for glory this for repentance the other for recompence Hic locus luctae ille coronae This is the place of combating that of crowning this of working that of rewarding this for thy mourning that for thy consolating The Apostle exhorts us to consider one another to provoke to love and good works Heb. 10.24 25. And so much the more as we see the day approaching Our work is great and weighty Diversions are various and many Adversaries potent and subtle thy strength is weak and small thy time is short and uncertain thy account is large and great death and judgment are at the door therefore be sluggish and loiter no longer but be active and vigilant now or never Surely did you in the depth of your serious thoughts cogitate of your apparent and inevitable danger that would incite and stir you up to duty To seek the Lord while he may be found Esa 55.6 to call upon him while he is near While God gives you life opportunity peace strength and liberty to seek him before the gate of life be shut God with-drawn and mercy quite gone for ever Were prophane sinners truly sensible of their peril they would pray more ardently more deeply more affectionately more effectually than ever they have done This Consideration of Mortaliry put holy Job upon Prayer Job 7.21 Why do'st thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity for now shall I sleep in the dust Chap. 14.13 O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave until thy wrath and indignation be past that thou would'st appoint me a set time and remember me David when the sorrows of Death compassed him and the pains of Hell gat hold upon him Then said he Psal 116. I called upon the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul I might also give you the example of Hezekiah Jonah Paul and Silas with many others but I hasten to the Uses and Application yet let me tell you a through affecting Meditation of your Dissolution and Change would make you speedy in prosecuting your known necessary and religious duties which God requires at your hands Therefore let me beg of you before the Decree bring forth Eccles 9.10 before the day pass as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you prepare for Death for how shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation Now let me improve and apply it in a threefold Use the first is for Exhortation the second for Reprehension the third for Consolation Is it so that Life is short and Death certain both which have been sufficiently cleared and proved This then calls and cries aloud unto all those that have made no provision for Death and Judgment to admire at the unwearied patience the matchless and amazing mercies of the infinitely good and gracious God Be exhorted therefore to stand upon your guard and watch and be in a prepared readiness Luke 12.40 For the Son of Man will come at an hour when ye think not All Estates are exhorted to prepare and be furnished Old and Young Male and Female Rich and Poor Noble and Ignoble for the danger is great if men be found unprovided As Death leaveth them so Judgment will find them If it leave them in a state of Damnation it will find them in a state of Damnation So if it leaves them in a state of Salvation it finds them in a state of Salvation As Ishbosheth being found asleep 2 Sam. 4.7 was killed by Rechab and Baanah so if we be sound asleep in Sin and unprepared for the Lord we shall be killed by Sathan that roaring Lion that goeth about seeking whom he may devour Because the Man that was not prepared came to the Wedding Matth. 22.13 he was cast into outer darkness As he is left behind that is unprovided when the wind serveth and the Ship under sail even so he is left in Damnation that is not prepa ed for Christ when Death cometh Many Men make all the provision they can for this Life which is uncertain and forget Death which is certain The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 2 Pet. 3.10 in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night A Thief as well for stealing on us as stealing from us he comes in the dark when no body seeth watcheth an hour which no body knoweth It may be he will come when thou art revelling or banqueting as on the Old World Luke 17.27 or when thou art drunk as on Belshazzar Dan. 5.25 or when thou art lying as on Ananias or when thou art committing
great in quantity pure in nature full of light and exceeding large able to receive Ten thousand times more Persons than there are drops of Water in the Sea or Sands lying on the Sea-shore 5. It is called Sancta Civitas The Holy City built with most precious Pearls because the company that dwell therein are holy and pure shining in Holiness and glistering in Purity and Righteousness 6. It is called Summa Beatitudo Inestimable Blessedness because the Saints enjoy the full and glorious presence of the Blessed Trinity wherein true Blessedness consists 7. And lastly It is called Vita Eterna Life Eternal because there shall be no more Death nor Lamentation no more Weeping nor Sorrow but the prepared for Death shall enjoy these blessed Joys so long as God shall be God which is everlasting This is the reward promised to all that die in the Lord a large reward and no man knoweth it but he that enjoyeth it Adeo magna est quod nequit numerari adeo pretiosa quod nequit comparari adeo diutina quod nequit terminari So great as it cannot be numbred so precious that it cannot be valued so lasting as it is everlasting so great so precious so lasting is the Reward promised and prepared for them that die in him Secondly In respect of the Society for here we live amongst prophane wicked and sinful men but there we shall have the happy fruition of innumerable Angels Heb. 12.22 and have the Society of Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and the rest and we shall enjoy their Fellowship after an undefiled manner with all purity amity and everlasting concord Where also we shall enjoy God our Creator a God of so wonderful Might Majesty Excellency Beauty Glory Love as cannot be imagined and Christ his only and dear Son and our dear and precious Saviour If a man had the enjoyment of all other things yet without this all would be but misery and accursedness This will be the Society of those that are called from Earth to Heaven Thirdly In respect of their Condition They are Blessed for they rest from all their Labours For they which are prepared for Death die in the Lord and they that die in the Lord are with the Lord saith St. Paul Phil. 1.23 My Soul desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ Death considered in Christ and joyned with a holy Conversation to Believers is an advantage saith the Apostle Phil. 1.21 Christ is to me both in life and death an advantage Death is nothing else but a Bridge over this Tempestuous Sea the World to Heaven Gods Grace and Mcrcy made it so not by making Death in it self good but an instrument of good to the Godly Death cannot separate them from God that live a pious life but maketh them draw near to God for then do we approach near to God and your heavenly Place that excellent Society and shall enjoy that Blessed Condition to rest from our Labours and to have our good Works follow us in glorious Recompences when we die in the Lord. And now the great and glorious God direct and enable us all so to live and so die that when the Trumpet shall sound and the Dead shall be raised and we shall be changed we may with joy and rejoycing and to our unspeakable consolation hear that soul-ravishing Saying Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom c. And now Beloved give me leave before I dismiss you to speak something by way of an Encomium upon our Worthy Patroness deceased the Relict of Mr. Robert Fenn formerly Alderman of London Should I be altogether silent I should undoubtedly be prodigiously unjust to her who merited more than I am able to express Now what came you forth to see or Hear Of a Reed shaken with the wind of one clothed in rich and glorious Apparel Behold a Pillar in the Temple of our God to whom it is given to shine in white and glorious linnen which is the rightousness of the Saints Altogether superfluous it were to strew Rhetorical Flowers upon that Herse which covereth an inclosed Garden In regard of her Candour Innocency Goodness and Integrity She was a Lilly among the valleys Though amongst Thorns yet was a Cedar in Libanus That House of Darkness the Grave is to receive the Earthen Vessel of an Heavenly Treasure till time shall be no longer Her blessed Soul possesseth the Inheritance of the Saints but this House of God must be filled with the Savour of her good Name which is a precious Oyntment now to be powred forth and most deservedly in this place For here she was built up to be an Holy Temple to the Lord. Her heart and her joy was here fixed She Loved Lord the habitation of thine House and the Place where thine Honour dwelleth She was desended of a very good Family and her Education was every way answerable to one of such a Quality But I shall omit this being as I humbly conceive more proper for a Herauld than a Minister to give an account of For my Discourse must take notice of her from her Second Birth by which she became a Child of the Most High and rejoyced thather Name was Written in Heaven not by way of Ostentation but as a ground of her Consolation She was holy just and good holy in her life just in her ways good and courteous to all Her Life was a Looking-glass wherein all Ladies and Gentlewomen might see to dress themselves and attire their Conversation This Pious and Religious Matron was exceeding charitable and made it her business in imitation of her blessed Saviour in the time of her life so long as strength would permit to go about doing good Her House was an Eleemosinary or if you will an Apothecaries Shop where the Wounded and Diseased Poor might have Therapeuticks Sanatives Healing and Curing Medicines without Price or Money She was a second Dorcas who delighted in Clothing the Naked feeding the Hungry relieving the Oppressed visiting the Sick and in administring to the necessities of the Saints Her Ambition was terminated in the bounds of Moderation that being good to the Poor she might be rich in good Works Discretion the Vertue of Vertues waited on her and that Grace by which she so much undervalued her self in that she most shined The Vassal of all other Graces Humility for you might behold in her when living the most beautiful condescention in the bosome of magnitude and make of her Manners a Censure of Vices and of her Life Examples of Piety But these are external signs of inward holiness Her Heart panted after God the Seal of Wisdom was upon her Lips and she washed her Feet in Innocency She turned away her Eyes from beholding Vanity she considered her own ways and turned her feet to Gods Testimonies That so now they who will prepare Statues or Monuments for Vertue may boldly plant the Basis in her Foot-steps which you shall imprint or erect Many lament her many desire her but all do miss her She trampled the World under her Feet where Inconstancy is everlasting and Glory but momentary where Men live by Opinion sin by Precepts and amend not through impotency of offending and as it were never die but by sudden surprizal She was a Directory in her Family directing them in the fear of God and in the ways of his Commandments Vertue is a rare thing and so is a Vertuous Woman a rare Jewel hard to be found yet not so rare but may be found for lo here is one and therefore She may challenge the Character of the Wise-man Her price is far above Rubies The World was not worthy of her Let not any envy at Gods Grace upon her Many Daughters have done well but thou exceedest them all She was zealous for the Lord the Zeal of Gods House did even eat her up She was fervent in Prayer fervent in Reading She followed the exhortation of St. Paul not in putting on of Hair and Broidered Apparel and the insolent impiety of these times but in putting off of Apparel The Ornament she had was in the hidden man of the heart a meek and quiet Spirit She was no scornful and curious Dame but of a gentle humble and affable Disposition and one that powered out her heart unto the Lord. She lived a Saint she died a Saint and precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of Saints Her works shall praise her in the Gates and shall follow her with happy rewards In a word She hath fought the good Fight She hath run her Christian Race with a good Conscience She hath wrought out her Salvation with a filial fear and trembling Therefore no doubt but her Soul is translated or metamorphosed into the glorious Liberty of the Children of God and her Heavenly Creator and her Body at the Great and General Resurrection shall be re-united to her Soul and shine like the Sun in the Firmament nay it shall be made like unto the Glorious Body of Christ which in glory exceedeth and excelleth all And if her Body shall be so glorious how glorious shall her Soul be it is altogether impossible to imagine But I must be silent and put a period to my Discourse for I want words to express her Worth FINIS
and all the beauty and glory thereof as the Flower in the field Can you feel the Air move and the Wind beat in your faces and not consider the breath of man is in his nostrils The strongest tenure of his life is but a puff of wind Can you shoot in the fields and not consider as the arrow flyeth in the air so swiftly doth your life pass away As Jonah's Gourd was soon come and soon vanished Jon. 4.6 so man is soon born and soon dead This World is as a Stage Man as an Actor when he hath plaied his part he is gone Our lives shorten as if the Book of our Dayes was by the pen-knife of Gods Judgments cut less Our sins call for new plagues We may observe that neither the planets above nor the plants below yield us expected comfort God for our impieties doth cause the Heaven to be Brass and the Earth Iron and the Air with the Winds to be tempestuous Deut. 28. So almost every thing which was erected for mans use is become his enemy and all because we unthankfully turn all things to Vices corruption which out of mercy were given for Natures protection And therefore what we have diverted to wickedness God hath reverted to our revenge We are sick of sin and the world is sick of us how soon doth the Sand run down the Hour-glass how quickly doth the Sun set So speedily doth our time pass away Future things are always beginning present things always ending and things past are dead and gone While we live we die and then we leave dying when we leave living better is it therefore to die to life than to live to death because our mortal life is nothing but a living death and life continually flieth from us and cannot be with-held and death hourly comes upon us and cannot be withstood No wisdom shall appease it no policy prevent it no riches bribe it If all perils spare our life yet time and age in the end will consume and annihilate it S. August speaking upon those words of St. Paul Rom. 8.2 Christ hath made me free from the Law of sin and death saith thus Lex peccati est ut quicunque peccarit morietur Lex mortis terra est in terram reverteris The Law of sin is whosoever offends shall die the Law of death is dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return We are all going to our long and last home to the house of eternity Eccles 12.5 Man goeth to his long home How doth he go He goeth swiftly always in motion night and day sleeping or waking labouring or loytering this Post hastens time and tide stays not Again He goeth insensibly he doth not discern or perceive how his precious time doth flie from him the shadow on the Dial passeth from one hour or figure to another from the Suns rising to its setting though its speedy transcendent motion is not observed or considered So man passeth from one year to another till he come to old Age and the Grave and we take little or no notice of it so insensibly doth our time pass away There was never Orator so lerned or eloquent that could perswade Death to spare him or prolong his days never Hector so valiant or Monarch so mighty that could resist him We must all submit and fall down at Deaths feet if he commands we must obey if he calls we must away no tears no intreaties no threatnings will serve the turn or release us at that time so strong so stubborn so implacable and inexorable is Death No man nor ways no means can oppose it no not length of years nor wisdom nor riches nor honours nor beauty nor strength no nor that excellent grace and gift of Holiness and Piety Nay if age if vertue if pity if innocency charity or godliness could work any relent or compassion in Death from embrewing his cruel hands in mortal blood See where age where vertue where pity where charity where innocence and godliness lies entomb'd wholly defaced clouded eclipsed and over-shadowed with death Oh Death how ir-relentful is thy heart how bloody are thy hands how impartial thy stroak how general is thy arrest The Ancient Fathers and Patriarchs before the Deluge lived to vast years to a great and miraculous age some 700 some 800 some 900 years and more yet at length of all and every one it is said he died Sampson was endowed with extraordinary and wonderful strength at one time he slew 1000 with the Jaw-bone of an Ass and yet he died Judg. 16.3 Solomon was a wise King the wisest that ever was he knew the nature and the vertue of all Simples from the meanest Herb to the biggest Cedar therefore if any surely he above others might have preserv'd and kept himself from Death and yet of him in the end it is said he also died 1 Kings 11.43 Abraham the Father of the Faithful Noah a Preacher of Righteousness David a man after Gods own heart and many more dear and precious in the sight of God of whom the Scripture saith They died The Prophets were endowed with a greater measure of sanctification than their brethren yet the Prophet Zechary joyneth them altogether in one condition Zech. 1.5 Your Fathers Where are they and do the Prophets live for ever But what speak I of the Prophets Patriarchs or Ancient Fathers Christ Jesus our Holy and Blessed Saviour the Son of God his only Son in whom he was well pleased more Wise than Solomon more Mighty than Sampson and more Righteous than Noah and all the Prophets who did no wrong who knew no sin in himself yet assuming and taking the burthen of our sins upon him became subject to the same doom of mortality with us and he died also Nay Sarah in my Text though she lived 127 years and was Wise Chast Beautiful and Innocent yet neither he Wisdom Chastity Beauty or Innocency could defend her in this case for saith the Text Then Sarah died There have been and there are ways and means discovered and found out to subdue and make gentle the most cruel and savage Creature to break and mollifie the hard Flint yea the hardest thing in the world but not any thing to asswage and mitigate Deaths fury Resistitur ignibus resistitur nudis resistitur ferno resistitur regibus resistitur reguis imperiis venit una mors quis ci resistat Fire Water and the Sword may be resisted Kings Kingdoms and the greatest Empires may be resisted but when Death comes that is invincible and who can resist it Non miseretur inopum Death pittieth not the Poor respects not the Rich feareth not the Mighty spareth not any Man goeth irresistably neither Men nor Angels Physick or Physicians can keep him here for here he hath no abiding place it stands him in hand therefore to look for one to come It is as easie to obstruct the Course of Nature or to hinder Gods Covenant of day and night Man
may as well restrain the Sun from rising the Sea from flowing and ebbing and the Wind from blowing as keep Man from dying and going to the place appointed for all living for this condition as the wise man saith is the condition of all times and continueth still thou shalt die the Death for this is an universal truth of all men to be received and believed and duly and truly pondered It is appointed unto men that they shall once die Now having cleared and proved the Doctrinal part That Death is the general condition of all men let us consider how nearly it doth concern us to bethink our selves of this and to fit our selves for Death to take care for another Life a more glorious and eternal Life and seeing we must die therefore let me perswade you to take three or four considerations with you which may serve as incentives to encourage and stir you up to the execution and performance of this Duty 1. Be moved to consider That when you come to die all earthly and worldly things will fail you and forsake you for ever All your terrestrial and natural Endowments external and outward Enjoyments your excellent Parts great Parentage noble Birth and Breeding your ingenious Wit wonderful Wealth stately Crowns vast Kingdoms invaluable Pearls costly Diamonds magnificent Houses fruitful Lands dear Wives loving Parents sweet Children and precious Friends when Death comes all these are gone Prov. 27.24 Riches are not for ever neither doth a Crown endure to all Generations The glittering Sun of all earthly glory and pomp will certainly set which your own experience and Scripture evidence doth sufficiently evince Prov. 23.5 Riches have wings and they flie away 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. The fashion of this world passeth away 1 Tim. 6.7 We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we shall carry nothing out What was there that the World was able to afford to delight the heart of man which Solomon wanted Surely nothing He had stately and glorious Buildings fruitful and pleasant Vineyards Orchards Gardens and what not all manner of excellent Trees rare Fruits variety of Servants a vast Exchequer ravishing Musick Men and Women Singers and whatsoever his Eyes desired yet when he had taken a serious view of all things his conclusion is All is vanity Eccl. 2.11 It is strange to see how men here toil themselves beat their Brains tire their Spirits break their Sleep perplex their Thoughts rack their Consciences ingulf and drown themselves in Cares and Troubles hazard their Souls thinking to eternize their Names and Mansions and when they have done all like the poor silly Silk-worm die in their Work Therefore let not Riches and Honours lift up your hearts and prompt you to Pride which is too too common and if Riches increase set not your hearts upon them for they are mutable and uncertain and cannot satisfie the capacious soul of man nor profit him in the day of trial but will perish and that for ever O then think of your precious souls and dying bodies and provide in time for death for die you must and what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul 2. Seeing if to die is the general condition of all men consider with your selves whether you are going to Heaven or to Hell O beloved I do heartily wish that all that hear me at this time would truly ponder this and effectually apply it to their own souls That there is one place for the Just another for the Unjust one place for Believers another for Unbelievers one place for Saints another for impenitent Sinners one place for the Sheep another for the Goats A dreadful Night or a glorious Day endless Torments or endless Pleasures a perpetual Happiness or a perpetual Infelicity an eternal Life or an eternal Death a glorious Heaven or a dreadful Hell Now my dear friends stop here and consider unto which you do belong Have you any certainty of a blessed and glorious Estate that Heaven and not Hell will be your place and inheritance A man that knows he must resign his habitation in a short time is very unwise and unprovident if he takes no care or order for another So will it be with us that inhabit these Houses of Clay Job 4. We are sure we shall leave them how soon we know not perhaps to morrow peradventure to day it may be presently we are therefore silly and imprudent if we take no care for the future What said Saint Bernard de Eccles to his Soul Adhuc domum quidem habes O anima sed certum est quoniam in brevi casura est domus tua nisi tu provideris aliam eris pluviae vento frigori exponenda O my Soul thou hast yet a House to dwell in but be assured thy House will shortly fall and moulder away to dust and unless thou provide thee before-hand of some other place of abode captive forlorn and naked shalt thou be exposed unto the wind the rain and the cold Alas Who can stand in this stormy tempest Happy therefore thrice happy and for ever happy shalt thou be my soul if then thy conscience tell thee thou canst say unto thy self in faith and full assurance Egredere anima mea Egredere Go forth my soul go forth I know that if my earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God 2 Cor. 5.1 That is an house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens Let us therefore look about us and make it our business to search and try our selves prove our own hearts examine our selves whether we are in the Faith for whatsoever we sow we shall undoubtedly reap and in the place where the tree falleth there it shall lie Eccles 11.13 If it falleth to the West it lieth to the West if it falleth to the East It lieth to the East if you live and die towards Heaven Heaven will be your place and habitation but if you live and die towards Hell Hell will be your place and home for according to your works and actions in this world will be your sentence and portion in the world to come 2 Cor. 5.10 And is it not sad and dreadful to believe that you have precious and immortal souls and do not know nor consider whether they shall be saved or damned stand or fall live or die everlastingly yet this is the case of millions of men and women in this terrestrial Globe that are making post-haste to Hell and think and hope they are in the way to Heaven Let us therefore believe and repent and amend our lives that Heaven that glorious place and not Hell the place of terrors may be our Countrey and Inheritance 3. Consider when Death comes to strike the fatal blow your conditions are stated your places of abode are determined without mutation to all eternity then your immaterial souls are for everlasting joy or endless sorrow for an everliving life or