Tertullian said Nulli rei natus nisi poenitentiae That he was born for penitential sorrow All that are fitted for death are Benoni's Sons of Sorrow and their tears for sin are so many dissolved Pearls Nay they do not only weep for their own sins but likewise for the sins of others So did Ezra Nehemiah Daniel c. They endeavour to wash away those sins with a flood of tears which they cannot bear down with a stream of power Thus did David Psal 119.136 So did Isaiah Isa 6.5 And Jeremiah wisheth his eyes were a Fountain Jer. 9.1 he would have them not to drop as a Limbeck but like a Fountain send forth streams of tears to bewail the sins and miseries of the People So St. Paul could not speak of the sins of others without tears in his eyes Phil. 3.18 Now as St. Ambrose told Monica weeping for her Son Austine Impossibile est tantarum lachrymarum filium perire So may I say to those that weep for their own sins and the sins of others it is impossible they should eternally miscarry Yea Austin himself said of his Mother and other good Women Mulierculae istae lachrymis suis Coelum nobis praeripiunt when we have done all we can with our learning these Women with their tears will get Heaven before us Indeed the way to Heaven is by Weeping-Cross Jacob as you read Gen. 29. could not obtain Rachel till he had first married Leah Heaven is a beautiful place as Rachel was a beautiful person but there is no obtaining it till we have got our eyes bleared Leah-like with penitential tears To end this Christ oft went as we read in the Gospel from Bethanie to Jerusalem So a true Christian must go from the House of Sorrow to the Vision of Peace 3. Preparation for Death consists In forsaking the sins we mourn for 3. Dir. Deplorata relinquendo After you have disgorged your sin by sorrowful confession take heed you turn not again with the Dog to your former vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 which if you do it will highly aggravate your sin not at all ease you of the burthen So saith St. Austin Qui pectus suum tundit se non corriget aggravat peccata non tollit And St. Bernard saith Verus poenitens semper est in labore dolore dolet de praeteritis laborat pro futuris cavendis A true Penitent saith he is full of sorrow and care sorrowful he is for what is past careful he is for the future to avoid the sins he hath sorrowed for And St. Ambrose saith Ille vere plangit commissa qui non committit plangenda He truly lamenteth the sins he hath committed who doth not afterwards commit such things as are to be lamented We ought to renounce all sin Peccatum in deliciis as St. Bernard calls it that darling sin which lies nearest the heart According to our Saviours Precept we should pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand i. e. Part with sins that are as near and dear unto us as the members of our body Mat. 5.29 30. Col. 3.5 Immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est ne pars sincera trahatur Better to part with a gangren'd Member that is offensive then endanger the whole life So it is better for you to leave your dearest sins or the occasions and incentives thereto then that the whole man should be utterly and eternally ruined by them St. * Jerom. lib. 2. Ep. 15. Jerom's counsel is to be followed Nulli parcas ut soli parcas animae Spare not lust but let it be mortified that so thy Soul may be spared for fleshly lusts war against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 Say not of any sin as Lot did of Zoar Gen. 19.20 Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live O my Friend there is no little God to sin against no little punishment reserved for any sin for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not said that the wages of this or the other sin is death but of sin indefinitely i. e. of all sin of every sin of any sin Death not onely temporal but eternal too for this is chiefly here meant as it appears by the opposition to eternal life in the Text is as due to every sin lived in as wages is to him that earns it And thereupon St. Austin said Audacior est qui cum uno peccato dormit quà m qui cum septem hostibus He is fool-hardy indeed that can sleep securely in any known sin Even those sins which you count small faults become great by frequent repetition and in a short time lay Conscience waste As small expences multiplied insensibly waste a vast Revenue and therefore saith the same * Aust lib. De decem chordis Father Noli illa contemnere quia minora sunt sed cave quia plura sunt c. What your little sins as you call them want of other sins in weight they make up in number and therefore take heed of them †See Resin'd Courtier Small wounds multiplyed will let out life and a great number of narrow leaks endanger the sinking of the stateliest Ship and several minute drops of Rain swell to an overflowing deluge Ehud kill'd Eglon who was a very fat man with a Dagger of a cubit long as you may read Judg. 3.16 a long Sword could have done no more it may be not so much A Pocket-Pistol Pen-Knife or Stilletto are more dangerous many times than bigger Weapons because not discerned and so no danger is suspected Thus it is with your small sins as you are pleased to call them they are not taken notice of by you and therefore you fear no harm from them whereas indeed because undiscerned they are the more deadly Resolve then with David to refrain thy feet from every evil way Psalm 119.101 Yea to hate every fable way vers 104. Vain thoughts vers 113. as well as lying vers 163. For Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one Point he is guilty of all That is say some he makes it appear that he keeps no Precept in obedience to God for if he did he would refrain from every sin as well as any sin Or according to Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase 'T is but a small excuse for you to think that this is but one transgression and therefore not considerable for obedience to God's Will is required universally to all that he commands and he that offends in one though he keep all the rest is guilty of the breach of that obedience and punishable as well as if he had broken all In vain doth any man hope for Heaven that lives in any known sin 1 John 3.3 He that hath this hope viz. of seeing God in glory vers 2. purifieth himself even as he is pure Heaven is not like your common Inns that receive all commers or like the Ark in which entred both clean and
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.
this he had said to God Job 10.2 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me When God takes away Relations he testifieth against you as he did against Naomi who had lost her husband and two sons Ruth 1.5 21 compared that something in your lives hath been displeasing to him God oft-times visits the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Exod. 20.5 34.7 2 Sam. 12.14 1 King 15.29 30. Isa 14.21 Parents may by their sins provoke God to bring upon their children a temporal but not an eternal death for Ezek. 18.20 The soul that sinneth it shall die Indeed all persons as well Children as Parents ow a death to God if not by reason of actual yet of original corruption that is in them Psa 51.5 Rom. 5.12 Yet God many times takes away Children and other Relations not having an eye so much to their sins as to the sins of parents and others that provoke God to inflict a penal evil Well then pray to the Lord to discover to thee thy sin which provoked him so soon to take away thy Friend Psal 4.4 Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still When others are a sleeping do you be a thinking what sins you were guilty of that might cause God to deprive you of such a Relation Search into God's Word and see for what sins God usually punisheth with loss of Friends Now God might take away thy Relation for such sins as these 1. Thy sin might be undervaluing thy Friend May be thou didst not prize him according to his worth and now God will teach thee the worth of him by the want of him You would not follow his good counsels reproofs example c. and therefore God might because you did not work by it put out this burning and shining Light It may be you dealt by him as the Philistines did by Sampson make sport with him and a laughing-stock of him and therefore God took him away Or 2dly Thy sin might be overvaluing thy Friend You might over-love him too much rejoyce in him or trust in him too much God breaks the Conduit-pipes when you forget the Fountain Gustavus the renowned King of Sweden said God would take him away because he was too much admired and his words were too true a prophecy Indeed hopeful Children godly Relations they are Jewels Mal. 3.17 but if you take them and make a golden calf of them and idolize them God may justly break them to pouder as Moses dealt with the golden Calf Exod. 32.3 4 20 compared So Hezekiah brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made when he saw the people give divine worship unto it 2 King 18.4 When you make Idols of Friends and Relations bestowing that love joy and delight upon them which is due to God he may justly break them to pieces Jonah took more delight than he should have done in his refreshing Gourd and that hand that sent it sent a worm to destroy it Fond Parents like foolish Apes kill their young ones with imbraces Or 3dly Thy sin might be foolish indulgence Eli was too indulgent towards his Sons 1 Sam. 3.13 his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not or according to the Original frowned not upon them he was too gentle in his reproofs and corrections as you may see 1 Sam. 2.22 c. and God threatned that all the encrease of his house should die in the flower of their age and his two sons Hophni and Phineas should in one day die both of them ver 33 34. And accordingly it came to pass 1 Sam. 4.17 So David too fondly affected Absolom and he lived to see him come to an untimely death Or 4thly Thy sin might be undutifulness to thy own Parents Absalom even now mentioned had once three sons as you may read 2 Sam. 14.27 but he lived to see them all buried as you may gather from 2 Sam. 18.18 Absalom was an undutiful child seeking to take away the life of his Father and God takes away his childrens lives Or 5thly Thy sin might be Lasciviousness or Wantonness You read 2 Sam. 12.14 The Child gotten in Adultery dieth Solomon loved many strange women 1 King 11.1 and he left but one son behind him as we read of in Scripture Rehoboam by name v. 43. and he no wiser than he should be as you may reade 1 King 12. Or 6thly Thy sin might be Bloodshed or Murder God threatned Ahab's posterity for his murdering of Naboth 1 King 21.21 so God threatned David for his murdering Uriah 2 Sam. 12.9 10. that the Sword-should never depart from his house and he lived to see two of his Children slain incestuous Amnon 2 Sam. 13. and rebellious Absalom 2 Sam. 18. Or 7thly Thy sin might be Oppression See Job 27.13 14 15. God there threatens that the Sword or Famine or some such sudden and fearful Judgment shall sweep away the Oppressors Children So Amos 4.1 2. There is the posterity of Oppressors threatned God may most justly take away the lives of their Children who take away the livelihood of others Children It is seldom seen that a covetous griping Oppressor or Usurer leaves many Children behind him For these and some other sins mentioned before God may suddenly deprive us of dear and near Relations Now what saith Conscience doth it not fly in your face and tell you that you have been guilty of some one or more of these sins With Pharoah's Butler call to mind thy fault this day Gen. 41.9 And having thus found it out 2. Confess it to God be deeply humbled for it and pray heartily for pardon thereof Say as Josephs Brethren did Gen. 42.21 We are verily guilty concerning our Brother Let your uncircumcised hearts be humbled and accept of the punishment of your iniquity as the Expression is Levit. 26.41 Turn sorrowing for your Friend into sorrowing for your Sins that have deprived you of his sweet society We find 2 Sam. 24. David sin'd in numbering of the People and God punisheth him in lessening the number of them See what David doth vers 10. His heart smote him after he had numbred the People and he said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done And now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy Servant for I have done very foolishly No sooner was David convinced of his sin by the testimony of his Conscience acted by the Spirit of God but presently makes his humble addresses to God confessing his sin and heartily bewailing his folly he prayes to God for pardon thereof vers 17. David seeing the People smitten by the destroying Angel he cries out Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done David knew very well that the People were not without their faults justly deserving this and a greater judgment yet reflecting upon his sin as an occasion of this judgment he endeavours to acquit them taking the fault wholly upon himself and
the Righteous when the night of Death approachcth after all their hardship and sore labours have their bodies laid down to rest in the Grave where they sleep quietly until the Resurrection Chear up then ye Servants of the Lord under all your Grievances your Afflictions cannot continue long because your life is short See 1 Cor. 7.29 30. Weep as if you wept not for it will be shortly better with you than now it is God will wipe away all tears from your eyes Rev. 7.17 21.4 As Athanasius said of his Banishment so may you of your Affliction what ever it be * Bp. Pilkington on Neh. 4.16 it is but Nubecula cito transitura a little Cloud that will soon be dissipated and blown over Niceph. 10. cap. 19. Thus as the Psalmist saith Psal 30.5 Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning After a wet night of Affliction comes a bright morning of Consolation which no night shall ever overtake Though Spectacles of Mortality administer Comfort to the Righteous under Affliction yet they may strike terror into the hearts of impenitent Wretches for they may reade their own death in the death of their Friends They must shortly die aswell as others Job 24.24 Psal 37.35 36. 49.10 And though Death put a period to the sorrows of the Righteous yet it is an inlet to the wicked man's misery See Job 20.5 6 c. The Lord laughs at the cruel wicked man for he seeth that his day is coming Psal 37.13 The day of vengeance is drawing on therefore envy him not v. 1 2. Neither be afraid of him Isa 51.12 To end this we read Dan. 5.5 6. There came forth fingers of a mans hand and wrote over against the Candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the Kings Palace and the King saw the part of the hand that wrote These fingers did not snuff the Candle of Belshazzars joy to make it burn the brighter but quite put it out for the King's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his bones were loosed and his knees smote one against another Methinks every Spectacle of Mortality should be to wickedmen as this Hand-writing upon the wall to Belshazzar It should make them crest-faln stand in fear For Death like Israels Pillar of the Cloud Exod. 14.20 as it brings Light to the Godly so Darkness to the Wicked Prov. 13.9 The Light of the Righteous rejoyceth but the Lamp of the Wicked shall be put out Use 12 12. Let death of Friends make us careful to do all good with as much speed as we can It is said Gen. 47.29 The time drew nigh that Israel must die So the time of thy Departure draws nigh therefore whatever thine hand finds to do do it with all thy might Eccl. 9.10 hide not thy Talent in a Napkin thou knowest not how soon thou mayest be called to an account assure thy self when a night of Death comes no man can work John 9.4 Why stand you idle the day of your life being for ought ye know well-nigh spent A man cannot think to have his money when he hath spent it you cannot spend your time and have it As you have therefore opportunity do good to all especially to them of the houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luk. 16.9 and as Solomon adviseth Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it Say not to thy neighbour Go and come again and to morrow I will give when thou hast it by thee Prov. 3.27 28. Be provident to lay up something for Wife and Children Prov. 13.22 1 Tim. 5.8 We hold our life with great uncertainty be careful as may be with a good conscience to lay up something for posterity to live upon Joseph in a time of plenty laid up against dearth and scarcity Gen. 41.48 especially labour to promote the spiritual welfare of Relations and others whom you converse with lead an exemplary life reprove rebuke instruct and pray for them Ministers should do so ex officio they are called and appointed hereunto Isa 58.1 2 Tim. 4.2 Private Christians should likewise do it ex charitate out of christian care and charity Levit. 19.17 so 1 Pet. 4.10 And for encouragement consider Prov. 11.30 He that winneth souls is wise And Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many unto righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever So Jam. 5.19 20. Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins Furthermore if we endeavour the conversion of souls and do not effect it yet the Apostle tels us for our comfort we shall not lose our reward 1 Cor. 3.8 Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour It is not said according to success but according to labour Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love This comforted the Prophet Isa 49.4 Then I said I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work or reward with my God However as another Prophet shews Liberavimus animas Ezek. 3.17 18 c. we free our selves from that guilt which we might have contracted through negligence Well then hast thou a treasure of spiritual Wisdom and Grace labour to communicate it betimes for Death ere long may stop either your mouth or the ears of others and then it will be too late to make Dives's motion to forewarn your Brethren lest they come into the place of torment Luke 16. latter end The Apostle Peter was diligent in putting people in remembrance of good things knowing that shortly he must put off his tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.13 14 15. And St. Paul is earnest in his exhortations and spiritual directions to Timothy especially knowing the time of his departure to be at hand 2 Tim. 4.5 6. Mr. Perkins his Motto was Hoc age do the business you are about what concerns you most Abel-Redivivus in Life of Mr. Perkins do it speedily exactly And truly that good man as if presaging that his life was likely to be short for he dyed at the 44th year of his age husbanded his time with double diligence to God's glory and the good of many others Oh then let us consider the taper of our life may be almost spent and therefore tanquam ultimus lucernae fulgor let us now shine most gloriously to the good of others And truly as some think if there were grief in Heaven it would be most of all for this that Believers did no
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
12.9 10. He is cast out Ejectione firmâ and shall never re-enter He sets not his ugly Paw upon the pavement of Heaven The tempter enters not into this Paradise for Rev. 21.27 There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth 3. From Spiritual desertions The Church like the Moon hath her spots and therefore sometimes her Eclipses so long as she wanders in this Planetary world See Isa 50.10 The Prophet there intimates unto us that A Child of God may walk in darkness and see no light So it was with David Psal 22.1 with Asaph Psal 77.7 8 9. with Heman Psal 88. with Ethan Ps 89.46 So it was with Jonah Jon. 2.2 4. Nay it was thus with Christ himself Mat. 27.46 And thus to want the sense of Gods favour must needs be troublesom Psal 30.7 Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled So Psal 104.29 So Cant. 5.6 My beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone saith the Spouse and then it follows my soul failed Egressa est anima mea She was as it were without her soul whilst without the sence of Gods favour But Death frees Believers from such desertions They shall be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 There shall be no more suspensions of the light of God's countenance no more eclipses of his savour never cloud more shall interpose betwixt Heaven and their souls but the Sun of Righteousness shall shine upon them with perpendicular rayes of comfort to all eternity 4. From evil Company It is a sad affliction to live amongst the Wicked Psal 84.10 so Psal 120.5 Wo is me saith David that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar And Isaiah sadly complains Isa 6.5 Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Sad indeed it is to live amongst them for their wicked manner of living is an heart-break to the Righteous Psal 119.136 Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law And St. Paul could not speak of their sins without tears in his eyes Phil. 3.18 And before this Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.7 8. See Mr. Leigh's Crit. Sac. in vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat oppressus fatigatus graviter afflictus We translate it vexed but according to Orig. He was laboured against He laboured under it as under a burden he was even tired out under their wicked courses Besides the Wicked load the Righteous amongst whom they live with calumnies raylings revilings scoffs jears taunts c. if they run not with them to the same excess of riot see 1 Pet. 4.4 like the troubled Seas they 'l cast forth mire and dirt upon them Isa 57.20 Thus the old world dealt with Noah that Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 So David was abused for his goodness Psal 69.12 he tells us he was spoken against he was the Drunkards song and v. 19. Lord saith he thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonour mine adversaries are all before thee See the complaint of the Church Psal 44.14 so 79.4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us No wonder it is thus with the servant when it was so with the Lord and Master Christ himself was set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as old Simeon said Luke 2.34 He was set for a sign that shall be spoken against To end this The Righteous are the mark at which wicked men shoot their Arrows even bitter words but Death takes them out of their company and from the reach of their malice See Job 3.17 There the wicked speaking of the Grave cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest 5. From bodily Aches and Diseases The body here is the receptacle of innumerable distempers St. Austin tells us de ipso corpore tot exstant morborum mala De Civit. Dei lib. 22. c. 22. ut nec libris medicorum cuncta comprehensa No Book that ever Physicians wrote contains a perfect Narrative of all distempers Many distempers daily arise unknown to our fore-fathers One alas lies languishing through a Consumption another's tortured with the Stone another with the Gout another burnt with a Feaver another complains under Head-ach Tooth-ach c. some lie under one distemper some under another So that as one alludes to the speech of our Saviour Luke 17.37 Where the body is there sicknesses and sores as so many Eagles are preying upon it And some by reason of these distempers lie under so great misery that they wish for death but it comes not and would be glad and rejoyce exceedingly if they could find the grave as Job tells you Job 3.20 21 22. Some with Job ch 7.3 4. Possess months of vanity and have wearisom nights appointed for them when they lie down they say When shall we arise and the night be gone And they are full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day And again v. 13 14. saith Job When I say my Bed shall comfort me my Couch shall ease my complaint as sick people think to change their pain with changing their place then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifiest me with visions so that what with frightful dreams when sleeping and evil thoughts whilst waking the sick man takes little rest in his resting-time and finds little ease in an easie bed but now Death frees them from all pain Rev. 21.4 There shall be no more sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain Death frees Believers from heats and colds from hunger and thirst Rev. 7.16 17. or any thing else that is painful to the body It is the best Physician curing them of all bodily distempers 6. From troublesome works of Calling Man at first before the fall was to labour Gen. 2.15 Adam was not to live an idle life but to imploy himself like a Gardener in pruning and dressing the trees and herbs of the Garden c. But this labour would not have been a toil but a recreation to him had he not faln into sin For weariness and sweat came as a curse upon him for the commission of sin Gen. 3.17 18 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread c. By sweat we understand all manner of labour whether of body or brain and this he was doom'd unto because he ate of the forbidden fruit What is Mans diet now but bread of carefulness got with the sweat of his brows what disquieting projects hath sinfull man to get worldly things what riding up and down what digging and delving toyling and moyling is there in the world some taking pains in one calling some in another and all to get oyl to maintain the lamp of life but after death there is no such working Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord they
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
1.12 c. Old Par in Shropshire by faring hardly had attained to above an hundred and forty years Tenuis mensa sanitatis mater Delicate feeding renders the Body dull and diseased whereas slender meals make it active and healthful 5. Consid God can make course diet as pleasant to the taste See Prov. 15.16 17. Even a dinner of herbs is sweet Prov. 27.7 The full soul loatheth an honey-combe but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet To the hungry soul how pleasant is a piece of bread and cheese 6. Consid God can make course diet as satisfying if you belong to him Prov. 13.25 The righteous eateth to the satisfying of â—his soul but the belly of the wicked shall want Indeed we read how they who have their portion in this life God filleth their bellys with his hid treasure Psal 17.14 But many Epicures though their Bellies are filled yet their appetites are not satisfied but they are still hankering after variety of dainties Ecles 6.7 But God hath promised to his People that he will satisfy the poorest of them with bread Psal 132.15 I end this with that of Musculus Muscul in Gen. 1 29. p. 48. Sic esse naturam humanam comparatam ut quod cibum attinet modico ac facili demitti posset nisi ingluvies obtinuisset cui nullo edulij genere satisfieri potest 7. Consid God can make a little go far As he multiplied the Sareptan Widows handful of Meal and little Oyl in a cruse to the feeding of many many dayes 1 King 17.15 and Christ in the dayes of his flesh with five loves and two fishes fed five thousand men besides women and children Mat. 14.17 c. And though Miracles are now ceased yet we see daily God feeds many poor people with a little so that we wonder how they live yet through God's blessing they live and look well There is an expression Psal 107.41 of God's making the poor man's families like a flock of sheep which may imply thus much that the poor godly man's children being divided into families as so many flocks of sheep shall live and look well with a little as sheep you know gather fleece and flesh though they fare hardly 8. Consid God sees coarse diet to be most convenient for thee Pro. 30.8 wise Agur prayed that God would give him food convenient for him God sees that high feeding is not convenient For 1. It unfits for good Duties as Praying Reading Hearing Meditating Receiving the Sacrament c. St. Chrysostom in the first Homily on Genesis hath this pretty conceit That Moses when he came from the Mount and brought the two Tables of the Commandments with him when he perceived the Israelites to whom he came that they had fill'd themselves full and were dancing and sporting he threw down the Tables because saith that golden-mouth'd Father he thought it an absurd thing to give Commandments for them to observe upon a full stomach See Mr. Ramsden's Serm. on Luke 21.34 For 2. It besots men and makes them careless and sensless It is the nurse of security as you may see Luke 17.27 c. so Luke 21.34 Intrárunt Urbem somno Vimque sepultam Virg. Corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat Horat. Full meals as they make dull bodies so they make foggy minds 3. It is accompanied usually with many sins As great and delicate Persons have usually a great Retinue waiting upon them so high and delicate feeding is generally accompanied with many sins as Pride and Idleness Ezek. 16.49 Unthankfulness and Forgetfulness of God Deut. 32.15 8.10 11. Prov. 30.8 Vomiting and Filthiness Isa 28.8 Lust and Uncleanness Prov. 23.31 c. Jer. 5.7 8. Rom. 13.13 Rioting and Drunkenness Chambring and Wantonness go together Saturitas ventris seminarium libidinis A full belly and a foul heart seldom go uncoupled 4. And lastly It brings down God's Judgments It brought the Flood upon the old World Mat. 24.38 Fire on Sodom Ezek. 16.49 50. The Sword on Israel Amos 6.4 7. compared See what befell the murmuring Israelites that desired delicious fare Psal 78.30 31. They were not estranged from their lusts but whilst the meat was in their mouthes the wrath of God fell upon them and slew the fattest of them c. We reade likewise of the rich-man that fared deliciously every day was after his death in Hell and lift up his eyes being in torment Luke 16.19 23 compared The Apostle tells you Phil. 3.19 Whose god is their belly their end is destruction To shut up this The Psalmist speaks of some how God gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul Psal 106.15 If God should give thee thy request and bestow more delicious fare upon thee however thy body might come on yet thy soul would be but poor in grace lean and ill-favoured It is well for God's Servants that their Master keeps them in good working case for as an Heathen said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand It is better to fare meanly and live well then to fare deliciously and live disorderly A barren ground doth well for Gods sheep fat pastures may rot them And a full table may be a snare to Christians and that which should have been for their welfare through an ill disposition in them may become a trap unto them Psal 69.22 God then in giving thee course Diet sees it most fit for thee 9. Consid If you serve God you are not without your feasts you have several Spiritual feasts which are far better then bodily To name a few 1. you have the feast of a good Conscience Prov. 15.15 He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast The Scripture oft puts Heart for Conscience 2 Sam. 24.10 Acts 15.9 1 John 3.20 The Hebrews have no other word but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to express Conscience by And because a good Conscience causeth joy or mirth therefore it 's rendred a merry Heart but it may be rendred according to the Original A good Conscience is a feast alwayes or at a feast continually 2. You have the Word of God which is a feast This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens calls it Vitae aeternae viaticum David looked upon it as such Psal 119.19 I am a stranger here on Earth hide not thy Commandments from me He looked upon Gods Commands backt with Promises as his Spiritual food whilst travelling towards Heaven his own Country He esteemed it sweeter then honey or the honey-comb Psal 19.10 and Job esteemed it more then his ordinary food Job 23.12 3. You have the feast of the Lords Supper This is Heavenly Manna our viaticum to the Heavenly Canaan This is Spiritual meat 1 Cor. 10.3 It is Angelical food indeed an excellent banquet for saith Christ Joh. 6.55 My Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed Meat and drink indeed by way of reallity and by way of excellency see Psal 22.26 29. and 36.8
of the World out of a confused Chaos and made Clay and Spittle likely to put out sight a means to recover it this God I say can bring it to pass that what thou thinkest will undo thee shall be a means to promote thy eternal good Oh the admirable harmony of Divine Dispensations in reference to mans Salvation To shut up this you know several herbs have several qualities some of them very bitter yet if a skilful simpler have the mixing of them he will make you a pleasing and wholsom sallade so there are many interchangable passages of Providence and some of them very bitter to flesh and blood yet divine Wisdom and Goodness will so order the matter that they shall in the end be both pleasing and profitable Jam. 1.2 My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations For vers 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Indeed we read Psal 36.6 Gods judgements are a great deep And again Psal 77.19 Gods way is in the Sea and his path in the great waters and his footsteps are not known Which words some apply to the bringing of his People through the Sea and the waters returning to their course of which you read Exod 14.28 29. Others apply the words to the interchangable passages of Providence in reference to his Church the administration of the World and of every mans Salvation And so Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out Gods wayes are many times cryptical full of Meanders we cannot trace them they are a compendious heap of intricacies oft going contrary to mans judgment and expectation and to our apprehended rules of common right Yet all his wayes are judgment that is justice and equity for he is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 Much may be above us because our ignorance is such that we cannot see a reason of his wayes but nothing is unreasonable or evil that proceeds from an holy wise loving and just God I end this with that of the Psalmist Psal 25.10 All the pathes of the Lord how rugged and severe soever to flesh and blood are mercy and truth to such as keep his Covenant and his testimonies They may seem cruelty but indeed they are mercy though thou can'st not see it for the present yet thou may'st hereafter Another crys out 7th Apology answered This relation of mine dyed in the best of his age in the prime of his strength in the acuteness of his parts his Sun set at noon-day he fixed a Period where we made account of a Comma hoping at least half the Sentence of his Life was behind but it was broken off in haste and this troubles me Answ We do not much lament the death of Old persons because we know they could not live long Every mans Life as one saith is a Lease and an old mans Life is an old worn Lease ready to drop into the Land-Lords hand We expect a Taper should go out when the Wax is spent but to see the Lamp of a friends Life extinguished in its brightest and strongest lustre This troubles us But 1. Consid 'T is ordinary for man to dye in his full strength Job 21.23 24. One dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow c. King Edward the 6th that hopeful Prince fell asleep before noon and was laid untainted in the Bed of Honour So that good King Josiah died before he was 40 years of age as may be gathered from 2 Chron. 34.1 Nay Christ himself was cut off before he attained one half of the age of man described by Moses Psal 90.10 Nay David tells us Psal 39.5 Every man at his best state whether of age or honour is altogether vanity It being so ordinary for man to dye at or about the vigour of his age it should be the less troublesom 2. Consid If thy Friend had lived to old age what is that but an age of misery a stage of vanity an hospital of Diseases The dayes of Old Age are called Evil dayes by the Wise man Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evil dayes come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them q. d. The dayes of old age bring so many aches and troubles along with them that if they be lengthened into years yet a man can find no pleasure or content but whole years together shall be full of weariness and sorrow Nay the very strength of the years of an Old man is labour and sorrow saith Moses Psal 90.10 Old people are oft-times a trouble to themselves and others 3. And lastly consid Thy Friend must at last have died Man's Life is by some fitly compared to a Lamp which may be soon extinguished by some fall or violent blast but if it escape these there is but a set proportion of oyl which will soon be consumed and then it goes forth of its own accord The Clock though it goes slowly strikes surely at last And the Sun in the longest day of its perambulation at last goes out of sight He that walks longest over the graves of others comes at last to his own So that if thy Friend had not died now he must have dyed some other time And if another time why not now Another cryes out 8th Apology answered This Relation of mine was loth to die he died comfortless desperate words idle vain talk unseemly gestures and speeches proceeded from him and this troubles me Answ Was your Relation loth to dye 1. Consid Many of Gods dear Children have at some time or other been loth to depart So was David Psal 55.4 5. and Psal 102.24 And Hezekiah Isa 38.1 And Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and fear of it denyed his Lord and Master The Godly cease not to be Men by becoming Christians as men they are sometimes afraid of Death which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Malum corruptivum destructive to nature God hath imprinted saith a Dr. Abbot Lect. 6. on Jonah p. 126 127. judicious Divine a passionate love betwixt the soul and the body that they grieve to leave one another So that the spirit may be willing yet the flesh is weak What man is he whom God's Spirit hath not in a great measure mortified that feels not in himself oft-times an horror and a quaking to think of his dissolution 2. Consid Thy Friend though he might fear the pain of death yet he might rejoyce at the gain of death as many a man desires the Haven yet trembles at the voyage The pangs of death might a little affright him yet being dead if a good man let us not question his happiness Christ
his neck brake and he dyed 1 Sam. 4.18 So that good King Josiah 2 King 22.19 20. was suddenly cut off in War 2 King 23.29 30. So the Prophet that came out of Judah whether Shemaiah mentioned 1 King 12.22 or some other Prophet I know not neither ought we curiously to enquire or positively determine any thing where Scripture is silent yet he was a true Prophet as appeareth by his title 1 King 13.1 call'd a Man of God by the Message it self and confirmation thereof by miracles ver 4 5 6. And as a true Prophet so questionless a pious Man yet because he was too credulous in believing the lie of the old Prophet and did eat and drink contrary to God's Command a Lion met him and slew him v. 24. So blessed Stephen stoned in a popular fury was put to a sudden and violent death Act. 7.57 59. Let us not conclude any to be in a damnable state meerly because they die suddenly Indeed God threatens the Wicked with sudden destruction as Job 15.32 33 34. so Job 22.15 16. Psal 37.35 36 38. 55.23 Prov. 10.27 Eccl. 7.17 and elsewhere And I know that wicked men many times are suddenly cut off in their wickedness when they might have lived much longer as to the course of nature But all that die suddenly are not to be reputed wicked men For the Godly as you have heard may dye sudden violent and untimely deaths And the Wise-man tells you Eccl. 9.1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him All things come alike to all there is one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked c. The Barbarians seeing the Viper on Pauls hand thinking the venom would presently have invaded his heart and vital spirits so that he would have died presently rashly concluded him to be a Murtherer and that Divine vengeance would not suffer him to live Act. 28.3 4 6. Let not Christians like these Barbarians be rash censurers of any that dye suddenly seeing that Gods dear and peculiar People may dye so 2. Consid A sudden death is best if we be prepared for it Octavius Augustus as oft as he heard of any man that had a quick passage out of this world with little sense of pain he wished for himself and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Similem Sueton. such an easie death Suddenness saith that Prodigy of Learning Mr. Hooker because it shortens grief Eccles Polit. pag. 277. should in reason be most acceptable and therefore Tyrants use what art they can to encrease the slowness of death That monster of cruelty Caius Caligula would not permit those that he put to death to be speedily dispatched his command was this Ita feri ut se mori sentiat Sueton. Strike so that they may feel themselves dying and endure the pains of an enduring death Quick riddance out of Life is often both requested and bestowed as a benefit We read Judg. 8.20 21. that Zeba and Zalmunna chose rather to fall by Gideon than by Jether his son either because it was more honorable to be killed by a man like themselves rather than by a boy Mr. Fuller in his Coment on Ruth 1 Chap. Or rather as a learned Divine observes Because the Childs want of strength would cause the more pain And he adds Better to be speedily dispatched by a violent Disease than to have ones Life prolonged by a lingring torture And Erasmus somewhere saith Si pio homini deligere fas esset mortis genus nullum arbitror magis optandum quà m subitum If it were lawful for a godly man to choose the manner of his death I think a sudden death most to be desired and he gives this reason of it because Non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit he cannot dye ill that hath lived well For though death be sudden in its self yet in regard of his preparation for it and expectation of it to him it is not sudden Improvisa nulli mors cui provida vita Sad indeed it is to dye as Onan Absalom Amnon Ananias and Sapphira and several others that we read of in Scripture who were suddenly snatcht away in their wickedness From such a sudden death Good Lord deliver us For it is a speedy downfall to the bottomless-pit of Hell But if a man live as he ought to do in continual expectation of death and so set his house and his soul in order surely sudden death is best for him for it prevents much torturing pain which others met with upon their beds of languishment and besides this it is a speedy passage into Life Eternal 3. And lastly Consid Be thy Friends death never so sudden and violent it is that death which God in his providence hath allotted him God ordaineth our end by an immutable decree See Jer. 43.11 When he commeth Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.3 4. Lect. 26. pag. 543 he shall smite the Land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death to death and such as are for captivity to captivity and such as are for the sword to the sword This intimates that by the Providence of the Lord who did set that King on work several persons in their times are determined to their several ends We must not attribute any friends death as the Philistines would their destruction to Chance 1 Sam. 6.9 Homer speaking of Achilles that slew many worthy Grecians saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iliad α. v. 5. Joves will was fulfilled Homer though blind as some report yet saw the hand of God in their destruction And Mr. Fuller in his Coment on Ruth 2.3 4. some observe the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fortune is not used in all his Works It was only the ignorance of true causes that made the name of Fortune Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia sed te Nos facimus fortuna Deum Juven Sat. 10. For there is nothing fortuitous in it self seeing Gods Providence orders all events Indeed some things are said to happen in Scripture Ruth 2.3.4 Luke 10.31 but this is spoken not in respect of God but in respect of us because oft-times they come to pass not only without our purpose and forecast but even against our intentions and determinations but yet those things which thus fall out are ordered by the secret working of Gods providence We read 1 Kings 22.34 A certain man drew a Bow at a venture or according to the Orig. in his Simplicity 2 Sam. 15.11 not intending to bit Ahab yet God's purpose was to have Ahab slain and accordingly it came to pass for he smote the King of Israel between the joynts of the harness and the King dyed vers 37. Thus providence orders even casual events Christ's death with the manner was decreed by God Acts 4.27 28. Of a truth against thy holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and People of Israel were gathered together
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
to lie unburied and dye unlamented Deut. 28.26 1 King 21.23 24. 1 King 14.11 2 Chron. 21.19 Isa 14.20 Jer. 7.33 8.2 14.16 16.4 and 22.19 Fit then it is that we attend at the Obsequies of deceased Friends not that it helps the Dead But 1. For their Honour it being a decent respect we pay to their name and memory for it is an honour to live desired and die lamented See Dr. Walker Fun. Sermon on Luke 7.12 13. 2. In Charity to the Living for their comfort and alleviating their sorrow while the burden is made lighter by many helping them to bear it John 11.31 The Jews were with Mary to comfort her at the death and burial of her Brother Lazarus Curatio Funeris conditio Sepulturae pompa Exequiarum magis vivorum solatia sunt quà m subsidia mortuorum Aug. 3. For our own advantage and encrease of Piety Eccles 7.2 3 4. 4. And lastly To testifie our faith in that great Article of the Resurrection of the Dead For if in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 Now it strengthens our faith of the Resurrection when bodies of Christians are not cast away as beasts bodies are But if thy Friend wanted decent Burial if there was no Funeral-solemnity for thy comfort 1. Consid It cannot reasonably be expected that there should be Funeral-Solemnities in Pestilential-places for this would occasion further infection We read Luke 7.12 how the Widows son of Naim was carried out of the City to be buried Hinc collige Judeos Sepulchra sua habuisse non in Urbe sed extra Urbem idque tùm ob nitorem tùm ob sanitatem nè cadavera suo faetore putredine aerem inficerent Cornel. à . Lap. The Jewes buried out of the City that the Graves might not deface the comliness of their Cities nor noysome Exhalations and Vapours of the Graves infect the Air and hazard the health of the Living Great care is to be had that the Living be not infected with the Contagion of the Dead For if a living Dog be better than a dead Lion as Solomon concludes Eccles 9.4 Surely the persons of Christians that survive are more to be respected than the bodies of those that are dead Now how dangerous were it for the Living to accompany the Corps of such as dyed of the Plague how noysome to bury them there where the Living have often occasion to make their recourse so that it were incommodious to humane society to perform solemn Funeral Rites at such a time I end this with words taken out of that godly Exhortation at the end of Divine-Service appointed to be used on the Monthly-Fast during the continuance of the Plague The words are these Though it be a Christian and laudable custom to accompany the Bodies of the Dead unto the Grave and commend them in decent manner unto their rest yet seeing the end of such Assemblies as are then gathered together is by the use of Prayer and the Word preached rather to give comfort unto the Living than any benefit unto the Dead let men be advised perswaded and content that their Dead should be buried with no more company than is needful for the interring and laying them up in the Earth because the gathering together of Friends and Neighbours in so common a Contagion cannot be without present danger and hazard of their health and lives and it is verily thought that Infection by this means of meeting hath ensued unto many 2 Consid It is all one to the Dead whether their Bodies be drown'd or burnt or buried and if buried it is all one where the Grave is made for them Facilis jactura Sepulchri Lucan lib. 16. If they fail of the Burying-Place they expected the loss is not great for the Body is not sensible how it is used Neither do such Solemnities do the Dead either good or hurt Though they adde to the comfort of the Living yet not of the Dead 3 Consid What if the Body be thus used the Soul is safe if thy Friend belonged to God The Soul of man is his Darling Psal 22.20 and 35.17 If this Jewel be preserved no matter what becomes of the Cabinet 4 Consid Many of Gods dear Servants have wanted decent Burial See Psal 79.2 3. The dead Bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven the Flesh of thy Saints unto the Beasts of the Earth their Blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them There was none to bury them either none that durst for fear of the enemy or so many slain by the enemy that the living sufficed not to bury the dead In persecuting times many Martyrs have been devoured of wild-beasts torn in pieces hang'd on gibbets burnt to ashes drowned c. so that they have wanted burial Moses himself a dear Servant of the Lord was buried no man knows where Deut. 34.6 5. And lastly consider The Dead in the Lord are never the worse thought of by God if without decent burial Sore Lazarus had little cost bestowed on him at his Death that found so little mercy in his Life It is said Luke 16.22 This Beggar died no mention made of his Burial yet he was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom which as St. Ambrose Ambros Orat. fun de obitu Valent. saith is a certain retiring-place of eternal rest Sinus Patriarcharum recessus quidam est quietis aeternae But it is said of the Rich-man that he died and was buried buried he was and probably with great pomp yet the next news we hear of him is that in Hell he lift up his eyes being in torment ver 23. Another cryes out 12. Apology answered It troubles me to think the body should lye rotting and stinking in the grave and be eaten up of wormes and be turned to dust disrobed of all amiable features so that after a few years there are but few remains of our dear friend here perhaps a scalp and there a bone c. Answer 1. Consid The Soul of thy Friend if a Child of God is in bliss whilest the Body lies in the grave that place of silence rottenness stench and corruption That the Soul dyes not with the Body these places of Scripture shew See 1 King 17.21 Elijah raising to life the Widows Son of Sareptah cryed unto the Lord and said O Lord my God I pray thee let this Childs Soul come into him again Which expression as it shews the Child was really dead and that death separates the Soul from the Body so it shews that after death the soul lives or hath a being for he said Let this Childs Soul come into him again or let it return He doth not say let a new one be made for him So Eccles 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God
who gave it So Mat. 10.28 our Saviour teacheth that the Soul cannot be kill'd though the Body be So Mat. 22.32 God is not the God of the dead yet he is said to be the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob These Patriarchs then were alive as to their Souls You see then the Soul dyes not with the Body And if the Soul of a good man it is in bliss and happiness even in the state of separation as these places shew Luke 23.43 2 Cor. 5.1 8. Phil. 1.23 Rev. 14.13 The Body is as it were the Nest or Cage of the Soul Death disturbs this Nest opens this Cage and then the Soul that Bird of Paradise flyes away to the kingdom of Heaven Seneca Seneca ad Merc. cap. 24. could tell disconsolate Mercia Imago duntaxat filii tui periit ipse quidem aeternus meliorisque nunc status est despoliatus onexibus alienis sibi relictus That the Image only of of her Son was defaced by death and that himself was Eternal in a better state eased of his uneasie burdens and now at freedom to enjoy himself 2. Consid There is not a fitter place for the Body of thy deceased Friend than the Grave is Gen. 23.4 Give me a possession of a burying place with you saith Abraham to the Children of Heth that I may bury my dead out of my sight He would be rid of Sarah when she was dead he would have beautiful Sarah removed out of his sight he would have the Wife of his bosom laid under foot When once we are dead all beauty and glory ceaseth and we become loathsome to our best friends and the Grave is the fittest place for us 3. Consid Thy friend fares no worse than Princes do The Grave is called The house appointed for all living Job 30.23 Living men in short time become dead men and are housed there Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the Grave No death will attach the greatest and the Grave be a Prison to hold their bodyes fast 4. Consid Is not the Grave a desirable place Death is a sleep and the Vault or Grave is a Dormitory or Bed for the Body to rest in See Isa 57.1 2. The Righteous that are taken away are said to enter into peace and rest in their beds Poor afflicted Saints are glad when they can find the Grave See Job desired it Job 3.13 c. and 14.13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the Grave he longed for it 5. And lastly Consid Thy Friends Body shall rise again and if he dyed in the Lord be made a glorious body The Body of man shall rise again as appears by holy Writ Deut. 32.39 1 Sam. 2.6 Job 14.7 c. Job 19.25 26 27. Isa 26.19 Ezek 37.1 5. Dan. 12.2 Joh. 11.23 24. ◠Cor. 15. The Apostle spends the longest Chapter in all his Epistles in proving the Resurrection of the Body against some in the Church of Corinth that denyed it Most of the Heathens dreamed of an everlasting Separation Nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux Nox est perpetuò una dormienda Catullus But Christians make the Resurrection of the Body an article of their Faith Manchest All mon. in contemplatio mortis immortalitatis And truly when we see as an honourable person observed worms and flyes and other creatures that spend the winter season in a kind of Death revive in the Spring when we see our selves dead every night and alive in the morning we may easily conclude and believe the Resurrection of the Body No stone great enough could be laid in the mouth of Christs Sepulchre to hinder him from rising again and nothing shall hinder the rising of God's dear servants St. Austin saith Bodyes of Believers shall be raised tantâ facilitate quantâ faelicitate with as much facility as felicity with as much ease as happiness The Body of a Believer is a pretious treasure which God locks up in the Cabinet of the Grave so much is implyed in that Phrase Job 14.13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the Grave We use to hide our choicest treasure At the great day of Judgement he will open his Cabinet and take out the Body and it shall be as good nay better than before There shall then be a new Edition of the Body in a fairer Letter more amended for Phil. 3.20 21. Our conversation is in Heaven saith the Apostle from whence we look for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself The same Body shall rise again the same for substance but not for quality a change of it there shall be but 't is for the better The vile body shall be changed that it may be fashioned like unto Christs glorious body and that you should not doubt of it he tells you it is done according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself q. d. There is nothing too hard for Omnipotency to effect Your friends body though sown in corruption is raised in incorruption sown in dishonour yet raised in glory 1 Cor. 15.42 c. It shall then be a glorious body indeed for it shall be beautiful full of brightness active and nimble not stand in need of outward refreshment it shall not be subject to irksom labours afflictions and diseases it shall not dispose the soul to sin nor the soul make use of the body as a weapon to fight against God it shall be an immortal body and every part and member of it shall have as much happiness as it is capable of Such honour have all the bodies of Believers at Christ's second coming So then thy Friends Soul is not eternally divorced from his Body nor shall the Body lye for ever in the grave but at Christ's second coming which will be shortly it shall rise again and his Soul be re-united to it in a more glorious and firm contract and they shall enter together into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 25.34 Dr. Abbot on Jonah Lect. 15. To end this You know a Watch is taken in pieces before it be mended and things new cast are broken first So thy Friend's Body must be knockt in pieces by death and the power of the grave that it may be new cast not only in its old figure but to a better form in the day of the Resurrection Wherefore comfort one another with these words 1 Thes 4.18 With what words with those words going before vers 13 c. Whereof this is the summe that they shall rise again and be for ever with the Lord. 13th Apology answerd Another cryes out This Friend or Relation that God hath taken away was a good and useful person a very charitable man c. not only I my self but the
I know there is a kind of bastard counterfeit patience which as one saith ariseth from the natural constitution whereby the heat not abounding too much the man is not so prone as some others to choler and discontent but useth his reason in ordering of himself and bears what he cannot avoid but this is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shadow and picture of true patience which indeed is an herb of Grace not growing in Natures Garden or if you will it is a Slip taken from the Tree of Life and planted in the Soul by the finger of God it is of an heavenly extract or descent from God as well as Faith Phil. 1.29 Men naturally meek good natures as we call them may bear a little but not enough nor in a right manner nor to right ends without the supernatural work of patience The Apostle placeth it amongst the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. Well then If any man be afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 Let him under loss of Friends or any other Affliction lay open his sad condition before God in prayer as a man opens his mind to his Friend So did Hannah 1 Sam. 1.12 and then with her ver 18. he may in time come from prayer and his countenance no be more sad The End of the First Part. Deo gratias A Funeral Handkerchief The Second Part. Containing severall Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends By Thomas Allestree M. A. Rector of Ashow in the County of Warwick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocumenta documenta Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Psal 90.12 LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1671. To that Worthy Gentleman and my much esteemed Kinsman Mr. William Allestree Living in Darby Grace and Peace be multiplied Dear Sir DIvine Providence hath deprived you of many dear Friends and Relations amongst others he hath taken away your Religious Parents and lately your dear * Mâ—is Frances Lorymore Wife the choicest under heaven of all your outward Possessions and Delights made nearer unto you by Marriage than either Father or Mother I call her one of Gods Jewels such there are Mal. 3.17 she was little of stature but of great worth She was a Great Fortune but which is more considerable she was an huge good person She was a constant frequenter of the Ordinances a strict observer of the Sabbath her Family-devotion was great and her secret ejaculations fervent and constant She was meek modest chaste courteous charitable patient humble c. These and the like Virtues came streaming into her Soul from the Fountain of Divine Grace She was no scoffing Michal nor you a churlish Nabal The onely strife betwixt you was this which should shew most dearness and tenderness so pleasing was your deportment each to other that one would think one Soul animated two Bodyes You did never grieve her Spirit but by your excessive grief to see her in that extreamity of She dyed in child-bed pain which with greatest care you could not remedy and with admirable patience and Christian courage she chearfully underwent She was not afraid of Death Though she loved her Husband as dearly as any Christian ought to do yet she loved him much less than her Saviour and she knew that Death would bring her to an happy sight of him and I doubt not but she is with him whom her soul longed for What remains sweet Sir but that you look upon your self at least as half dead and become a most serious and mortified man I know when God first snatched this precious Jewel out of your bosom you were sadly affected with your loss indeed her Funerals were celebrated with great solemnity with many a weeping eye and sorrowful heart let not sensual delights make you to forget it Labour to get good by this affliction Let her Memory be still pretious with you not for adoration leave that foppery to the Papists but for imitation And that you may make a right use of this and such like losses which have and may still befal you let me entreat you to peruse this following Treatise to which I take the boldness to prefix your Name to testify my thankfulness for former Favours and to declare to the world That I am SIR Yours unfainedly T. Allestree Ashow March 3d. 1670. A Funeral Handkerchief Part 2. CHAP. I. Containing several Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends SAint Austin cryed out against some who did not profit by afflictions August de Civit. Dei lib. 2 cap. 33. Perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis Ye have lost the benefit of your affliction Christians should improve cross Providences to their spiritual advantage Sad it is when as Salvian Salvian lib. 7. de Cub Dei p. 231. complains Curâ ipsâ deteriores sumus we are made worse by that which should make us better It is with Spiritual as with bodily Physick if it makes us not better it leaves us worse than we were before I shall therefore Courteous Reader for thy spiritual benefit shew thee what Use ought to be made of the Death of Friends which discourse like the Wine in the Gospel John 2.10 though it come now at last yet through God's blessing may be best of all And here my Prayer is That my Doctrine may drop as the Rain my speech distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass Deut. 32.2 Now if you would make a right Use and spiritual improvement of the Death of Friends and Relations you must Use 1 1. Eye the hand of God in such losses Gods Providence reacheth to all worldly occurrences Not a Sparrow falls to the ground nor an Hair from our Heads without the will of our heavenly Father Mat. 10.29.30 Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 God worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 There is no evil befalls us but God hath a hand in it Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City he speaks of malum culpae of the evil of punishment and the Lord hath not done it God is the appointer of the Rod as the Prophet Micah tells us Mic. 6.9 In particular God hath an hand in loss of Friends as I shewed at large in the former Treatise and therefore under such losses look up to God and give him the glory of all The Psalmist Psal 28.5 there threatens with destruction all such as regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands So Isa 26.11 Lord saith the Prophet when thine hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed It is a most grievous sin when people do like the Dog snap at the stone forgetting the hand of him that sent it It is a
forbidden Fruit he should surely die Now we know Adam did eat Gen. 3. and the threatning took effect for after that he had eaten every day some part of his life was gone The wise Man tells us Eccles 3.2 There is a time to be born and a time to die What no time to live Truly it may be the wise man thought this life-time was so short that it was not worth taking notice of or it may be he would give us to understand that all the while we live we are in a dying condition An Heathen by the dim candle-light of Nature had a glymps of this for saith Seneca Quotidie morimur quotidiè enim demitur aliqua pars vitae Vita hominum dum crescit decrescit dum augetur minuitur Cylind as a Candle you know is no sooner lighted but begins to waste it is not the last blaze that spends it but it spends all the while it burns So an Hour-glass is no sooner turned but presently the Sand begins to run out The longer a man lives the less he hath to live Oh did we but see the Glass of our Life running many of us would see but little Sand remaining Well then let your going to the House of Mourning and following the Corps to the Grave mind you of your mortality that God will shortly bring you to the Grave The House appointed for all men living Job 30.23 15th and last Use Lastly Let death of Friends put us upon preparing for Death Seneca said Aetate fruere mobili cursu fugit Use time while you have it He meant it not in that sence in which the merry Greeks and voluptuous Epicures take it 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die But he would have us to imploy our short time in doing vertuous actions Labour that the Temple of Grace be erected in your souls before the Temple of your bodies be pulled down I have read how Peter Waldo about the year 1160. a Merchant of Lyons Mr. Fuller in his Holy War rich in substance and learning was walking and talking with his Friends when one of them suddenly sell down dead which lively spectacle of mans mortality so impressed the soul of this Waldo that instantly he resolved on a strict reformation of life which to his power he performed Mr. Dugard in his Serm. on Ps 89 48. pag. 39. Ribad de vita Fr. Borgia lib. 1. c. 9. It is likwise reported of Sir Francis Borgia a Spanish Courtier That having been at the Funeral of the Empress and considering how little a Grave had devoured all earthly Greatness he said when he came home Augustae mors mihi vitam attulit The death of the Empress hath brought me life and forthwith he became a wonderfully reformed man So when Friends die and we return from their burial let us resolve to lay aside worldly vanities and return home more grave and serious Let us set our House and Souls in order Luke 12.40 Be ye therefore ready for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not As we know not the time of our general so neither of our particular judgment It is good for us to stand upon our watch Mar. 13.32 and to improve all our opportunities both of doing and receiving good that so we may be as the wise Virgins Mat. 25. having Oyl in our Lamps Grace in our Hearts and may be fitted and prepared to meet the Bridegroom of our Souls when ever he cometh Now because preparation for Death though last mentioned is a chief and principal use that we should make of death of Friends I shall therefore somewhat enlarge upon it and shew you in the next Chapter wherein it consists CHAP. II. Shewing wherein preparation for Death consists NOW preparation for Death consists in these following Particulars 1. In praying unto God 1. Dir. Praecandos Confess thy manifold sins at the Throne of Grace and pray to God for pardon thereof Moses David Daniel Paul and other good men mentioned in Scripture were conversant in this duty of Prayer Our Saviour himself in the dayes of his flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears Heb. 5.7 The * Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei Publican confessing his sins and most humbly suing out the pardon of them went away justified Luke 18.13 14. How did Christ remember the Thief upon the Cross praying to him Luke 23. 42 43. Jacob was frequent and prevalent with God in prayer Gen. 32.28 even when he was old and weak he humbly presented his devotion to God Gen. 48.31 Heb. 11.21 Stephen that saw Heaven opened Acts 7.56 as he lived so he died praying Abel rediv in life of Luther and Erasmus vers 59. Luther he died praying and resigning his Spirit into Gods hands Erasmus breathed out his Soul in these Ejaculations Mercy sweet Jesus Lord loose these Bands How long Lord Jesus How long Jesus Fountain of Mercy have mercy upon me c. Bishop * Dr. Bernard in life of B. Vsher Usher he died like Mr. Perkins who expired with crying for mercy and forgiveness Pray then to God that he would pardon your manifold sins and fit you for death say with David Psal 39.4 Lord make me to know my end and the measure of my dayes that I may know how frail I am Pray with Moses Psal 90.12 Dr. Abbot on Jonah 4.2 p. 521. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Prayer rightly performed as a learned Doctor saith is the best Sacrifice which the Soul can send up into Heaven 2. Preparation for Death consists in bewailing our sins 2. Dir. Peccata deplorando We should be like Doves of the Valleys all of us mourning every one for his iniquity as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 7.16 A broken and contrite heart saith David O God thou wilt not despise Psal 51.17 The words are a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he means God highly prizeth a broken and contrite heart under the sence of sin St. Bernard saith Qui non plangit peccata non sentit vulnera He is not sensible of his spiritual wounds who doth not bewail his sinful condition And again saith another Father St. Austin Gravissima peccata gravissimus lamentis indigent Great sins call for great sorrows David saith Psal 6.6 All the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears and Psal 38.6 I go mourning all the day long so that night and day he mourned for his sins And Peter having sin'd he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26.75 The crowing of the Cock was a Monitor of his fault And some say he never heard a Cock crow after but he wept bitterly for his offence in denying so shamefully as he did his Lord and Master St. Paul complains of a Body of Death Rom. 7.24 * Tertul. lib. de Panitent c. ult
Man is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 Gods Children are savingly enlightned 2. Cor. 4.6 Such as have their understandings darkned through the ignorance that is in them are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 Yea and from the life of Christ too 2. There was in Christ meekness and patience Christ was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Isa 53.3 He was a Man of sorrows it is an Hebraism and signifies the manifold sorrows he met with as though he had been wholly made up of sorrow and he is said to be acquainted with grief Grief was his Acquaintance Tota vita Christi continuata passio his Familiar it lodged with him it was no stranger to him He was hurried from place to place posted from Judge to Judge put over from torment to torment from the Garden to Annas from Annas to Caiphas from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to Pilate again Cruelty as one faith walking the Circle and Impiety if ever now treading the Ring Yet under all indignities offered he opened not his mouth murmuringly or impatiently Isa 53.7 He was oppressed he was afflicted saith the * Non tam Propheta quam Evangelista dicendus Hieron ad Paul Eust Tom. 3. p. 26. Evangelical Prophet yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before the shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth He died the painful shameful and accursed death of the Cross without the least bleating of impatience see Heb. 12.2 3. so 1 Pet. 2.21 22.23 This Lesson he would have us learn from him promising that thereby we shall find rest to our Souls Matth. 11.29 Considering the manifold afflictions we may meet with in our Christian course we have need of patience Heb. 10.36 Ye have need of patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye might receive the promise 3. There was in Christ humility and self-denyal Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son And this Son emptied himself of his glory * Bishop Andrews on Gal. 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that thought it no robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself c. Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. He was born in Bethlem a mean City in a Stable a very mean Room the Manger was his Cradle the Cobwebs his Canopy He conversed with not as a Companion but as a Physitian the meanest of men Publicans and Sinners He sought not humane applause but suppres'd his own praises We read in the Gospel how he forbad his Patients to declare their Cure Mr. Abraham Wrights 3d Serm. Cant. 2.2 and desired his Miracles might be as invisible as his God-head He unlockt the mouth of the Dumb and then cryed See you tell no Man which was to tie up that Organ which he had before loosed so he drew the Curtain from the blind mans eyes and yet commanded him not to see and take notice of his Physician so he restored the withered hand and straight-way as it were dryed it up again in forbidding its use crying Point not at me What greater token of his humility and self-denyal than this Nay when some would have made him King he with-drew himself John 6.15 and elsewhere told them His Kingdom is not of this World He washed his Disciples Feet to teach us by his own Example a Lesson of loving condescention John 13.14 15. Let us resemble Christ in humility and self-denyal Mat. 11.29 Learn of me saith Christ for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest to your souls And Luke 9.23 Christ said Descende ut ascendas humiliare ut exalta is Aug. If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me A proud man that will not stoop cannot enter into the narrow Wicket of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor in Spirit Mat. 5.3 and to such as are little in their own eyes Luke 12.32 4. There was in Christ harmlesness and inoffensiveness He is compared to a Lamb John 1.29 A Lamb he was for innocency as well as meekness The Spirit is said to descend upon him in the likeness of a Dove Mat. 3.16 What Creature more harmless then a Lamb among Beasts and a Dove among Birds They may suffer wrong from others but they do none to others Christ was very inoffensive some of his very enemies acquit him as you may read Luke 23.4 22. Judas who betray'd him said He had sin'd in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27.4 He walked very inoffensively both before God and Man 1 Pet. 2.22 Though he made his Grave with the World and suffered betwixt two Malefactors yet he did no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth Isa 53.9 He is such an High Priest as is holy harmless undefiled Heb. 7.26 Indeed many took offence at Christ at the meanness of his Person strictness of his Life purity of his Doctrine c. Mat. 15.12 Mar. 6.3 but he gave none offence Thus ought we to walk inoffensively with St. Paul endeavouring to keep a Conscience void of offence both towards God and towards Man Acts 24.16 so 1 Cor. 10.32 Give none offence saith the Apostle We should he blameless and harmless Phil. 2.15 so 1 Thes 2.10 Christ would have us to be harmless as Doves as well as wise as Serpents Mat. 10.16 Ut nulli nocuisse potes imitare columbam Serpentem ut possit nemo nocere tibi 5. There was in Christ usefulness and profitableness He did good both to the Souls and Bodies of all that came to him with a desire to profit by him He was anointed for this purpose Luke 4.18 19. And we read Acts 10.38 He went about doing good He did not confine himself to one place but as the Sun in its perambulation so this Sun of Righteousness for so he is called Mal. 4.2 went about that he might do the more good So let us do what good we can both to the Souls and Bodies of such as we converse with Let us be useful with our Purses Prayers and wholsome Instructions Believers are profitable Converted Onesimus was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vtilis fructuosus Name to which perhaps the Apostle alludeth he was profitable God bestows his Spirit upon them that they may be profitable 1 Cor. 12.7 The Apostle sought the profit of many that they might be saved Muscul in Gen. 1. p. 23. 1 Cor. 10.33 Mundo fideles utilitatem suae praesentiae non denegant 6. There was in Christ zeal for his Fathers Glory Christ though cool in his own yet was hot in the concerns of his
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
and what art thou now afraid to depart Go out my Soul And with that he laid himself down upon his Pillow and quietly slept in the Lord. That good man Oecolampadius when he lay a dying being asked by some of his friends whether the light did not offend him he clapt his hand on h s breast saying Hic sat lucis est Here is light enough meaning comfort So that solid Divine and eminent Christian Master Bolton said to some of his Friends that came to visit him at the point of death I am said he by the wonderful mercies of God as full of comfort as mine heart can hold and feel nothing in my Soul but Christ I could produce great store of such like Examples but let these suffice Object But are not some of God's dear Servants unwilling to die as was David Psal 102.24 and Hezekiah Isa 38.1 2 3 Do not some die with little or no comfort Answ As for David and Hezekiah they were publick Magistrates and desired to live longer that they might be serviceable in their Generation and bring glory to God They knew if they had died at such a time the wicked would have insulted and made Songs of Tryumph at their Funeral They feared Distractions both in Church and State which might follow upon their death And haply they were the more unwilling to die because in their apprehensions not sufficiently prepared for Death Possibly by falling unadvisedly into some sins they had blurred their evidences and wounded their Consciences It is therefore good counsel which * Dr. Boreman in Serm. on Phil. 3 20. p. 45. Carthusianus gives and that is so to provide for the coming of Death ut nihil in mente resideat quod Conscientiam mordeat cum quo mori timeat that no sin reside or remain in our breast which may wound and trouble the Conscience and with which we being guilty cannot die in peace and safety Sin like Jonah in the Ship raiseth a tempest in the Soul The reason why many find so little comfort at death is because they are too negligent in preparing themselves for it I end this with that of the Psalmist Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace 3. and last Consider 3. And lastly By this means you shall arise again with comfort That there will be a Resurrection of the Body is clear from Scripture Insomuch that our Saviour told the Sadduces which said there is no Resurrection Matth. 22.29 Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures When Jesus told Martha that her Brother should rise again Joh. 11.23 she replyed vers 24. I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last Day And the Apostle spends the largest Chapter in all his Epistles in proving this Point against some in the Church of Corinth who denied it 1 Cor. 15.12 Well then at Christs second coming to Judgment we must all rise again with our own bodies and give an account of our own Works as you may see 2 Cor. 5.10 Rom. 14.12 This will be a joyful day to such as have lived in expectation of it and preparation for it For when Christ their life appears they shall appear with him in glory Col. 3.4 They shall have a Crown of Righteousness conferred upon them 2 Tim. 4.7 8. They shall rise to everlasting life Dan. 12.2 John 5.29 They shall lift up their heads with joy They shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Joh. 2.28 For he who is their Saviour Surety Intercessor Head and Husband will be their Judge He will at that day gather them together and place them on his right hand and pronounce that blessed Sentence Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World They shall be Assessores in judicio like Justices of the Peace upon the Bench with the Judge approving of that righteous Sentence which Christ shall pronounce upon the wicked both Men and Devils 1 Cor. 6.2 3. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World Know ye not that we shall judge Angels * Psalm 149.9 This and much more honour have all the Saints in that great day They enter upon such happiness as shall never end Dan. 12.3 They shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever see 1 Thes 4.14 c. After the Apostle had spoken of the Resurrection and second coming of Christ he tells us that Believers shall be for ever with the Lord vers 17. And then he adds Comfort one another with these words vers 18. This eternal happiness will make amends for all our pains and care in our Christian course Thus you see how comfortable their condition is that live in continual expection of Death and preparation for Death They live comfortably they die comfortably and they shall rise again with comfort Whereas on the other side if men be careless herein they have no true comfort whilst they live even in laughter their heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 So it was with Belshazzar Dan. 5.4 5. God saith again and again by the Prophet Isaiah That there is no peace to the wicked Isa 48.22 57.21 And if they have no true peace and comfort whilst they live I am sure they have none when they come to die As Ahab said to Elijah so may a wicked man say upon the approach of Death 1 King 21.20 Hast thou found me O mine Enemy Death to him is the King of Terrors as Bildad in Job call'd it Job 18.14 Or as the Philosopher Arist Eth. ad Nic lib. 3. c. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing is so terrible to him as Death The Soul at such a time is usually full of horrors and heavy apprehensions Pangs of Death horrour of Conscience sense of Guilt and frights of Hell are sufficient to render him perfectly miserable If there be any wicked men that die with little sense of pain and less fear of Death as Psal 73.4 we must know that this is security and sensless stupidity no true peace And if they have no true peace and comfort neither in life nor at death they 'l have none after death nor at the general Resurrection for no sooner is the soul separated from the body but God passeth a particular judgment upon it Eccles 12.7 Heb. 9.27 and dooms it to misery Even as Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Jude 7. And at the second coming of Christ to Judgment the body shall rise and be reunited to the soul and Christ will pronounce that dreadful Sentence upon all wicked persons Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels And this Sentence being once pass'd shall never be alter'd Hence it is called
Prov. 16.28 Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Aspiring Absalom soon expired so did ambitious Adonijah Proud Haman had a sudden downfal like the Toad in the Fable he swell'd till he burst Herod when he took that glory to himself which was due to God he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eaten up of Worms Acts 12.23 8. Take heed of blood-shed and murder See Psalm 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men i. e. say some deceitful murderers that lie in wait privily for blood see Prov. 1.10 to 20. that can speak fair and seek your ruine these shall not live out half their dayes they shall be suddenly cut off and come to some fearful end But whether blood-suckers do it by secret conspiracy or by open violence God hath threatned them with death So Psal 140.11 Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him So Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed The Sword of Justice is especially committed to the hand of Magistrates to cut off such offenders Rom. 13.4 To this Head I may refer your Duellists who for trifles challenge the field If you be assaulted you may justly defend your self but to agree upon a bargain of blood-shed to use Bishop Hall's Bp. Hall in Decad. 2. case 2. expression is wicked and damnable And though both should come fairly off yet the very intention to kill is murder saith that worthy Bishop To end this Prov. 28.17 A man that doth violence to the blood of any man shall flee to the Pit let no man stay him or endeavour his rescue 9. Take heed of decit and fraud See that forementioned place Prov. 55.23 I think we may safely make them two distinct Offenders and deceitful men as well as the blood-thirsty shall not long prosper The same Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies life signifies likewise livelyhood 1 John 3.17 and it is a grievous sin to cheat another out of his livelyhood as well as to take away anothers life 1 Thess 4.6 That no man go beyond and defraud his Brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified But the worst piece of theft or fraud is that Pia fraus to take away or alienate that which is given to pious uses as to the relief of Ministers or poor People Mal. 3.8 9. Prov. 20.25 It is a snare i. e. destruction to the man who devoureth that which is holy i. e. Takes that to his own use which was appointed to God's Achans sin in stealing the Babylonish Garment and the two hundred Shekels of Silver and the Wedg of Gold Josh 7.21 was sacriledge as well as theft for God had reserved the spoyls of Jericho for his own Treasury Josh 6.18 19. and you see it cost him his life Josh 7.25 You read Acts 5. beginning Ananias there sells a Possession which he had devouted to the Churches use and kept back a part of the price and in this as Chrysostome Chrysost in Acts. Hom. 12. saith he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken stealing his own Goods and for this struck dead Now if he that takes away from the Church but a little of that which was once his own be so severely punished how severely will divine Justice pursue those who by fraud and violence take away the possessions wherewith other men have endowed the Church So Sapphira his Wife agreeing with him in this ungodly act was struck dead immediately after her Husband as you read vers 10. These two by their lying and fraudulent dealing are said to tempt the Spirit of the Lord vers 9. You fraudulent Trades-men that say your Commodities cost you so much and you cannot afford them under such a rate and you have your Wives at your elbows ready to back you in what you say what do you by thus lying and sinning against your Consciences but even presumptuously tempt the Spirit of the Lord to try whether he will be just or no Remember Ananias and Sapphira having lyed to God and dealt fraudulently sunk down being stark dead Deal fairly then above-board as we say lest God strike you dead beside the Counter 10. Take heed of covetousness or worldly-mindedness Great and earnest care for the things of this life is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies heart-dividing and heart-distracting care Matth. 6.25 Phil. 4.6 excessive care for the things of this life spends a mans spirits Cura facit canos quamvis homo non habet annos See 1 Tim. 6.9 10. The wise Man tells us He that hateth covetousness shall prolong his dayes Prov. 28.16 but covetousness may provoke God to shorten them Gehezi by his covetousness provoked God to plague him with the Leprosie 2 King 5.27 Take heed then as Christ saith lest at any time your hearts be overcharged as with surfetting and drunkenness so with the cares of this life Luk. 21.34 Deluculò surgere saluberrimum est 11. Take heed of Idleness Labour in an honest Calling provided it be moderate Ad ruborem non ad sudorem is most healthful Prov. 10.16 The labour of the Righteous tends to life Moderate exercise preserves health but a sedentary idle life subjects a man to diseases Prov. 21.25 The desire of the sloathful kills him for his hands refuse to labour Otium est vivi hominis sepultura Sen. That which the slothful man desires which is his ease and rest layes his soul open to temptations and his body to diseases as standing Waters most putrifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Of idleness comes no goodness therefore take heed of it 12. Take heed of unworthy receiving the Sacrament See 1 Cor. 11.29 For this cause viz. for want of due preparation when they came to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper God sent a fearful sickness amongst them whereof some were then weak others sick and many fallen asleep that is taken away by temporal death This Sacrament which to the worthy communicant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wholesome potion of immortality to the wicked impenitent wretch through an ill disposition in him turns to the bane and ruine except speedy repentance step in both of soul and body I gave you notice this morning that your Minister purposeth the next Lord's Day through God's assistance to administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper be exhorted to fit and prepare your selves See Exhortation at the Celebration of the Communion else by receiaing the same unworthily you become guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ your Saviour You eat and drink your own damnation not considering the Lords Body You kindle Gods wrath against you you provoke him to plague you with divers Diseases and sundry kinds of death 13. Take heed of rejoycing at the calamity of others Prov. 17.5 He that mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at calamities shall not go unpunished So Prov. 24.17 18.
place Psalm 68.20 He that is our God is the God of Salvation and to God the Lord belongs the issues from death This God whom the Righteous are related to and have an interest in can help in greatest straits and send in deliverance when they are nigh unto death and stand in most need of help That God that kept Moses's Bush burning yet it was not consumed Exod. 3.2 and preserved Noah's Ark upon the Waters from perishing in the Waters This God can preserve his People under sickness and their saddest tryals and in his due time give them an happy issue out of all afflictions See what the Psalmist saith Psal 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart or according to Orig. The Rock of my heart or according to Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God of mine heart and my portion for ever When the Godly Man's flesh fails health declines strength is weakned then is God ready to support him under sickness and to ease him of his pains either by restoring him to health or by taking him out of the miseries of this sinful World by death So that if we belong to God as Bullinger Bulling in phil 2.27 saith Optimè nobiscum agitur sive revalescamus sive moriamur it will go well with us whether we live or die 2. This Consideration affords comfort not only to believers ' midst personal sickness but likewise to God's Church ' midst national calamities Though Church and State lie as it were bed-rid languishing unto Death under Schism and Division Sin and Errour and other national Calamities Yet let us not despair of help for he that cured Epaphroditus here who was sick nigh unto death can help us even in this extremity See Ezek. 37.11 12 13. God like a skilful Bone-setter or Chyrurgeon can bind up the breach of his People and heal the stroak of their Wound as the expression is Isa 30.26 God hath promised to heal in case we return unto him by prayer and unfeigned repentance Isa 19.22 so Jer. 33.6 None indeed can heal us but he Hos 5.13 All others except God be of the Quorum are Physitians of no value Let us then as it is Hos 6.1 Come and return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Una eademque manus vulnus opemque feret 3. This consideration may afford comfort to such as are spiritually sick and in their apprehensions nigh unto eternal death and destruction That God that raised Epaphroditus who was deadly sick in body can cure thy Soul mortally wounded with sin Let such as are wounded in conscience consider this Though your wounds have been grievous and of a long standing yet they exceed not the skill and power of God the spiritual Physitian God can yea and will cure you if you turn to him and relie upon him Take my word for it Nay it is not only mine but God's Word or I should be loth to speak it in this place See Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way Ezek. 18.27 and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon So Matth. 11.28 Come unto me saith Christ all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come to Christ and wellcome he keeps open house to all comers 4. And lastly Gods dear People that by their sinning have blurred their evidences for Heaven and fallen from some degrees of Grace and Spiritual Comfort as David did Psal 51.8 12. Let them not despair of recovery That God that restored Epaphroditus's sick body to its pristine health Ps 147.3 can restore thy soul to spiritual health peace and comfort Thus he dealt by David Psal 23.3 He restoreth my soul He is the Creator of Peace and Comfort Isa 45.7 so Isa 57.17 18 19. and hath promised in his due time to speak peace unto his People and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly Psal 85.8 I end this with that of the Evangelical Prophet Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light a Child of light it seems may walk in darkness i. e. have little or no comfort for the present yet let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Let him still wait on God prayingly believingly obediently c. in God's due time which is ever best comfort will come And so much for this Use by way of comfort Vse 2 2. By way of instruction We learn if God cure the body of sickness as he did Epaphroditus here surely it is he that cures the Soul of sin which is a far harder work God upon the account of Christ who as at this time came into the World to undertake for us heals our souls of sin by applying Christs perfect Righteousness to the soul he removes the guilt and by his blessed Spirit implanting in the soul the Seeds of Divine Grace he heals it of the filth of sin Psal 103.3 Who pardoneth all thine Iniquities who healeth all thy Diseases God alone that cures the body of its distempers heals the soul of its spiritual maladies The Scribes and Pharisees acknowledged as much Luke 5.21 The Pope cannot pardon sins The Ministers of the Church of England absolve no otherwise then declarativè as the Embassadors of Christ God doth it autoritativè the authority is wholly his We do but pronounce the Pardon which before we speak is really done in Heaven to sincere Penitents Vse 3 and last 3. And lastly By way of Exhortation 1. To all in general Let us be exhorted to go to God for help in time of sickness It was he that cured Epaphroditus when sick nigh unto death Too too blame are they who in sickness and such like straits consult Astrologers Witches Devils and I know not whom for help It was an inexcusable sin in Ahaziah King of Israel who in his sickness sought to Baalzebub the Godd of Ekron for recovery of his health and for so doing God threatned him and accordingly brought it to pass that he should not come down from his sick-bed but should surely die Read the passage in 2 King 1.2 c. What good got Saul by consulting the Witch of Endor Surely the Wounds of God are rather to be chosen than the Devils Plaisters Indeed their best cures are deadly wounds For if the mortal body should be restored by such unlawful means yet the immortal soul which is the far better part is thereby much endangered Habes hoc loco qui omnes depollit morbos Bul in Phil. 2.27 O do not go about indirectly to wind your selves out of trouble you have a God to repair unto who can help at all straits and at every turn your head cannot ake
swiftly towards us if these sins were removed deliverance would come on apace When God then casts thee upon a sick-bed commune with thine own heart and let thy spirit make diligent search Psal 77.6 Conscience at such a time that bosom Preacher if God in justice hath not silenced it for willful disobedience will preach to thee thy particular sins Affliction oft-times awakens a drowsie Conscience Particular straits many times bring particular sins to remembrance which have been long forgotten as you may see Gen. 42.21 so Job 36.8 9 10. Hearken then to the voice of Conscience which may bring to mind thy particular sins and seriously meditate upon the forementioned sins that tend to the impairing of health and with Job in sickness and sores pray to God to shew thee wherefore he contendeth with thee Job 10.2 And again saith he Job 13.23 Make me to know my transgression and my sin And as Elibu speaks Job 34.31 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Having thus found out thy sins confess them with grief of heart and deal with them as the Marriners dealt by Jonah Jon. 1.15 cast them overboard forsake them utterly so the storm may cease If we thus humble our selves under the mighty hand of God he will exalt us in due time 1 Pet. 5.6 and raise us up from beds of languishment if he see it best for us as he did Epaphroditus here who was sick nigh unto death but God had mercy on him And so much for the first branch of this Use of Exhortation I come now to the second branch and it is a word of Exhortation to such as have been sick and God in mercy hath restored to health Let them be exhorted to take forth these following Lessons 1. Live in constant expectation of death and preparation for death Many are too too confident of health after sickness whereas it is ordinary for poor man to recover of one Distemper and fall irrecoverably into the same again or some other Non est sic illius misertus Deus ut ab hoc mortis debito in posterum prorsus esset liberatus Muscul Muscul in Phil. 2.27 God was not so merciful unto Epaphroditus as that he should never die The best of men one time or other how soon God knows must pay the debt to extorting Nature Ps 89.48 The Apostle speaks of the dissolution of the earthly house of this Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de re periturâ as of a thing that will shortly perish So speaks St. Peter 2 Pet. 1.14 I must shortly put off this my Tabernacle And truly after sickness we may rationally conclude That the house cannot stand long that hath been so terribly shaken Let us then though reprieved for the present expect death and speedily prepare our selves for it Eccl. 9.10 Whatever thy hand finds to do do it with all thy might Let us bring our selves daily to a strict scrutiny set soul and house in order and speedily dress our selves for immortality for we see when sickness comes we have work enough to wrestle with the Distemper Oh my beloved Put not off soul-concerns till old age or sickness this is to lay the greatest burthen upon the weakest horse Repentance is too great a task to be rightly performed upon a sick-bed and usually like the party it is at best but weak and sickly Do not we who have been sick know by experience how unfit we are for any work at such a time especially for this great work of repentance which indeed should be an entire act of the whole life And therefore 2. Live circumspectly Most men in sickness are seemingly devout and therefore the Holy Ghost sets a brand upon Ahaz who in the time of distress did trespass yet more against the Lord 2 Chron. 28.22 This is that King Ahaz he points at him as a monster of man-kind for men usually during the continuance of distress do seek unto the Lord Hos 5.15 and bewail their sins and promise fair as Pharaoh Ahab and others but when the force of his hand is removed they return again to their old bias they are as bad if not worse then ever like a dunghill the more the Sun of Mercy shines upon them the more they stink and putrifie in all sin See an unworthy carriage in Hezekiah though for the main a good man 2 Chron. 32.24 there you read of his recovery from deadly sickness and vers 25. But Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up His heart was not lift up in the wayes of God as it is said of Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 17.6 but in sinful wayes as pride self-conceit c. Therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem and this wrath had broken forth upon them had they not humbled themselves and with tears of contrition quenched those flames as you read v. 26. The Devil himself as the story goes when he was sick would be holy and turn Monk but when he was recovered he was as much a Devil as before * Dr. Vanes Wisdom and Innocence p. 119. Aegrotat Daemon Monachus tunc esse volebat Convaluit Daemon Daemon ut ante fuit The Devil was sick the Devil a Monk would be The Devil was well the Devil a Monk was he But O my Friends let us labour to preserve that gracious frame that was in us in our sickness If we be not careful either wicked Company or the cares of this World will soon make us luke-warm or key-cold Methinks the mercy of God in recovering us should mightily affect us We read 1 Sam. 24.16 17 18. how David got Saul at an advantage and spared him when he had * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power to destroy him whereupon Saul lift up his voice and wept God that cast us on a sick-bed might justly have cast us thence into Hell He spared us when he might have destroyed us O let it grieve us at the heart that ever we offended so good a God And as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 6.15 Shall I take the Members of Christ and make them Members of an Harlot God forbid So let every one which God hath raised up again say Shall I take the members of my body which God hath delivered from grievous pains and imploy them in sin and wickedness God forbid I should be so vile a wretch Methinks the remembrance of the great pain that we underwent in sickness should humble us for our miscarriages all the days of our life after Lam. 3.19 20. Remembring my affliction my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me Besides are not the vows of God upon us as David speaks Psal 56.12 Sacramental Vows Personal Vows Did we not promise and vow That if God restored us we would be more holy and strict then ever It is