and father doth ordinarily fit his children for death in their sickness presenting to them the unloveliness and vanity of all things below the blessed interest which the Saints do enjoy in their Christ the happy change which they do make who dye in the armes of their Jesus and that such shall for ever be quit of all sinfull society yea of sinfull flesh no longer to abide among dead men nor among the tombs of dead ones shall never have cause to hang up their harpes upon Babylons Willows tree Ps 137.2 never be interrupted in singing our Hebrew song and therefore doth our gracious Father in sickness and otherwise open the narrow hearts and deaf ears of Simeons souls and then speak to them saying come my pretious ones suffer me now to dispose of you let me new mould you and transfigure you for your disease and so dear heart I do First make thee weary of thy body of death weary of the worlds blandishments and painted glory and weary of thy sinfull selfe Secondly I do sanctifie every pain and grief every crosse and trouble and make them become sanctified mercies Ps 131.2 whiles I do wean thee to be lesse in love with things below nay I cause that every decay of thy naturall strength every dimnesse of thy eye every dulnesse of thy ear every weakness and sicknesse of thy natural body shall tend to such a blessed change that at last the soul and body are made willing to depart for a time to attain unto Phil. 1.22 and enjoy a glorified cure Thirdly I do not only prepare thee to this submission but I do also make thee desire and long to dye I do so spiritualize and order thy soul that sicknesse shall be as welcome to thee as health death as life to thee who livest upon God in God and to God Dost want health of body I do satisfie thee with health of soul art near to death be it so then thou art nearer to life even a glorious blessed and eternall life sick man I am thy Lord God and I do assure thee by thy interest in my self through my son I am better to thee then ten healths as Elkanah was to Hannah then ten sons 1 Sam. 1.8 I am better to thee then many lives thy life here was but a breath or rivullet of life but in thy death thou art admitted to live for ever in him Joh. 14.6 Ps 36.9 who is life it self and to thee the fountain of life Fourthly in sickness the Lord speaks to his holy ones to be of good chear from the deep meditation of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 Joh. 1.16 from the fulness al◠sufficiency of Jesus Christ their dearest friend their Lord King who coms leaping skipping over the mountains to solace himself in and with them whom he had so wonderfully delivered from the dens of Lyons Cant. 2.8 Cant. 4.8 and mountains of Leopards or what else hath been formidable to them Come look on me and to me lean and rely on me pour out thy soul into my bosome Isa 45.22 Mic. 7.7 who will assuredly give her sweet repose untill the great day of my second coming Cant. 8.5 Act. 7.59 when thou shalt be received soul and body to be for ever in mansions of eternall glory Cant. 3.11 to keep a most triumphant Jubilee with the Lord for ever Mal. 3.17 Act. 3.19 3. In death wee must submit to our Lord Joh. 14.2 3 and that in two things In the approach Act. 7.54 c. and point of death Precious soul in the approach of death Heb. 11. 2 Chron. 6.42 Ps 25.6 Ps 119.49 Psa 22.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7.25 act faith in the Lord Jesus as Stephen did and as those Martyrs did faith will plead thy covenant-interest and perswade to roll thy self upon the free grace of God so fully represented in the promises faith bids thee look on thy Lord and saviour interceding thy cause at heavens throne Set hope on work to take faster anchor-hold on Jesus Christ Psal 18.2 Deut 32.4.31 2 Sam. 22.47 Ps 62.2.7 Ps 89.26 Ps 39.13 the rock of thy salvation Set prayer on work and pour out thy soul saying O Lord spare a little till I may recollect my self and bee sweetly composed to rejoyce in the approach of my my change Lord give me to welcome death with all ready entertainment as Gods messenger to deliver me from my prison Ps 142.7 Job 4.19 and house of clay wherein my celestiall soul the espouse of Christ is confined and imprisoned and say O Christ I come Luke 16.22 Lord Jesus send some of thy blessed Angels to receive carry my soul into Abrahams bosom as one of the fathers doth personate a dying Saint O holy trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost which in unity of nature art one the self-same God into thy hands I do commend my spirit into thy hands O blessed Saviour my King my priest and my Prophet do I recommend my self unto thee sweet Jesus do I a dying servant of thine come who camest into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief unto thee blessed Lord who wast conceived and born of the virgin Mary sufferedst diedst was buried and laid under the power of death Acts 1.24 for me to alleviate my death and make it stinglesse and curs-lesse who wast raised up from the dead didst miraculously ascend art now set down at thy fathers right hand for me to come again at the end of the world to be judge of all men Angels even to be my judg to justifie absolve me before all the world and to invest me a poor and miserable creature with that very glory which thy humane nature hath now in heaven and which thy self hadst with the Father before the world was into thy hands gracious redeener into thy hands O eternall spirit do I recommend my self who dost even ravish my heart by applying and sealing all the Covenant-goodnesse and gracious promises of life and of salvation even to me even now about to breath out my last breath of life Thus dying soul in thy submission un-thy Lord God set faith hope and prayer on work Quest The learned have a question whether the Saints in death do fear death having cōmission in some cases of persecution in one City to flye unto another and Christ saying Mar. 10. go not into the way of the Gentiles and into the Cities of the Samaritans enter ye not Act 9.25 and Saint Paul escaped out at a window at the fear of death and Christ himself often shunned the Scribes and Pharisees and Rulers who sought to kill him Joh. 7.1 1 King 19.3 so did David shun Saul and Elias the wicked instruments of wicked Ahab and Jezebell Answ To all which I answer that 't is not simply unlawfull to
In his declining days his Father of mercies exercised him with sore afflictions of bodily infirmities spirituall combates and conflicts and soking and grinding distempers of the stone in the bladder with Apoplexies and Palsie and other infirmities of age but O the sweet and invinceable patience O the humility the holiness contentation and wise moderation of himself and sweet composedness of his spirit He was naturally of an hasty dispositon but his conquest over such his infirmities those who waited much on him and others who much visited him do and must testifie that the Lord gave him a great measure of Christian patience meekness and self-deniall with that totall resignation of himself unto the will of his heavenly Father that indeed he was changed into another man and was of another spirit a good while before his change Near the Sun-set when the shadow must be long and his life short his sences of seeing and hearing seemed to have been renewed especially his hearing which had been much decaied for many years that surdity or privation was wonderfully restored and quickened to the great admiration not only of friends and relations visiting him but to the comfort of himself and all attendants about him reading and speaking to him enjoyed the benefit of another Patriarch to hear his gracious words which did daily improve to his dying day the losse of whom is very great and much bewailed not onely in his family and relations but in the Church of God yet so it pleased God This servant of the Lord had much of heaven on this side heaven whereby his bitter portion given him under sore afflictions and strong conflicts had much sweetning in them the various turns oâ— providence and the amazâ—ng alterations of Church and State made him live more upon God and less upon the creature when his Castle at Brampton was besieged and taken when his sweet and gracious consort yet of happy memory was taken to mercy and to rest from her labours when his children were taken prisoners his goods given to spoilers and robbers his family exposed to the cruell mercies of exasperated enemies and carried away captives his lands sequestred and all his revenues extinct yet even then good Sir ROBERT HARLEY assured his believing soul that nothing was slain dead lost spoiled and taken from him of all his proprieties which might have been better to him then the gain which this pretious soul found without them hee would long for nothing which hee found that the Lord thought good to deny him still he found stronger arguments to ballast his religious soul then to be overturned with such contrary winds the just shall live by his faith under dark and bloody providences The little which himself his had left them at that time he was very thankeful for he did want the rest with content which made him very rich whom the sword and cruell oppressor had made very poor Now much Honoured in the Lord and happy Son to such a Father after such a deliniation of so many specialls never to bee buried our eyes and hearts are towards you who do live to succeed such a president of grace and virtue our daily prayers to the Lord are for you and your posterity that the Lord who gave you such a Father will also give you to be always correcting and amending the copy and history with a wise and understanding heart to walk in his godly footsteps that you may as fair excell him in all wisedom as Solomon did good old David and will please to write on your heart and on your life in great capitall letters on a table of pure gold Holiness to the Lord that you may ever see and enjoy the Lord's covenant-goodness continued to sons and daughters of your own flesh and blood from generation to generation which is and shall be the daily prayer of Your most affectionate servant in the Lord T. W. From my house in Kingssland June 13 1658. When at deaths Gate my soul I do commend Into thy hands Salvation be mine end Deo Gloria Amen TO THE READER Christian Reader SSome have written Institutions to a christian life as Calvin Herlenius some of the emendation of life as Richardus Hampoll in his Speculum Spirituale others not a few De vita activa contemplativa as Ludolphus Saxonicus and the school-men but the right manner of dying well and the gracious encounter with death in its approach and the happy conquest in the article of death hath been very seldome heard of which gives me encouragement to cast in my mite into this treasury to make holy Simeon my happy president and indeed herein aestuebat ille senex beatissimus whose breathings of spirit did wax hot whil'st hee fixed his believing eye upon his Christ in four respects viz. as he was his peace his salvation his light his glory in the first he looked on him as his Mediatour in the second as his Redeemer in the third as his guide and teacher in the fourth as his crown of rejoicing In this Treatise you have Simeon's humble confession his faith unfained his blessed hope his constant love ravishing expectation under which hee doth happily repose himself till his departure out of his prison house of clay which he assuredly knew would not be long This Book was penned now and then a sheet as the Authors leisure from other studies permitted and were presented unto an aged eminent Servant of the Lords Sir ROBERTH HARLEY Knight of the Noble Order of the BATH being God's prisoner and confined to his Chamber by reason of manifold weaknesses and distempers of body with which the Lord pleased to exercise him for diverse years before his death being utterly disenabled to wait upon God in his publick Ordinances therefore among other mercies he gladly entertained these remembrances from a Minister of Christ who was very much his servant in the Lord the most of the papers were somtimes read to him in his Chamber by the Author himself which papers have bin since his death gathered up and now composed in this little Treatise for the use and benefit of such as do desire to live and dye blessedly as Simeon did Therefore judicious Reader accept of his good wil who hath indeavoured to pre-dispose prepare thy anxious soul for a blessed separation from the body and with good Simeon to depart in peace Thus I commend thee to God this Book to thy close perusal reading throughout hoping the Lord will please to make it very instrumental to thee to advance thy more happy comfortable dissolution and change which is the highest aim and utmost end of him who subscribes himself Thy Servant in the Lord's Work T. W. ERRATA in the Lines of the Book Page 2. Line 9. for giving read given pag. 2. lin 10. after people add p. 3. l. 20. for Elegie read Elogie lin 10. for off r. os l. 23. f. of r. off p. 14. l.
my soul is yet alive alive to God in Jesus Christ and with old Simeon you are daily singing forth this Cantionem Cygneam Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Lo the budding of Simeon's Almond tree one bud is Simeon is a volunteer to death not dragged thither by fatall necessity nor his soul thrust out of doors with a violent hand but willing now or when-ever his Master shall please So good Old Abraham dyes in a good old age full of years and full of grace scarce an empty corner in his soul both instances had enough of days and years therefore did breathe and pant after eternity And now celestiall soul hearken a while and you shall hear the Spirit of Christ sweetly whispering Arise my love my dove my fair one and come away why tarriest thou To whom the redeemed doth joyfully answer Be it so O blessed Saviour I do only tarry thy leisure I come Lord I come but in thy time and according to thy Word not before mean while Lord help me to act faith in thy rich promises and in a blessed reliance of most holy recumbency to sit at the footstool of thy great mercy admiring the honour thou do'st to all thy holy ones and magnifying thy grace to thy Saints differing onely in degrees from glory for grace is glory militant and glory is grace triumphant And to conclude Honourable SIR Holiness in heart and life is greater honour then to be born the son of a King for the holy ones of the Lord have as it were the blood Royall of heaven running in every vein and the remembrance of every such one after death is as a pretious ointment powred out or as the smell of the Wine of Lebanon bear up then souldier of Christ against all discouragements in your journial towards heavenly Canaan what if you do meet with temptations and trialls nay with fiery Serpents in the way follow your Captain Christ Jesus who for the joy and crown set before him did endure the Crosse and despise the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the most high Wonder not O warrier of Christ if bullets of temptations and fire balls of hellish terrours threaten to destroy your faith which if they hit they cannot hurt you Jesus Christ in whom we are more then conquerours takes all the blows and gives you most insultantly to triumph over them and to read down ally our spirituall adversaries and to be gainers by them all in the day of your blessed change when you shall bee clothed upon with the same glory which Christ himself had from the Father by speciall donation and the very day of your death you shall be with Christ in Paradise as a Bride welcomed by the Bridegroom when your honour shall for ever sit with the King of Saints in heavenly places congratulated by innumerable Angells and by the generall Assembly and Church of the first born enrolled in heaven by the spirits of just men made perfect and with whom your blessed self shall make one saying Hallelujah salvation and honour and glory and power unto the Lord our God Amen Hallelujah Yours FINIS Books lately printed for Tho. Parkhurst c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine characters in two parts acutely distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1. The Hypocrite in his best dress of seeming virtue and formal duties And the true Christian in his real graces and sincere obedience As also between 2. The blackest weeds of daily infirmities of the truly godly eclipsing saving grace and the reigning sins of the Unregenerate that pretend unto that godliness they never had By that late burning and shining Lamp Mr Samuel Crook B. D. late Pastor of Wrington in Somerset Folio Mr. John Cotton his practical Exposition on the first Epistle to John second Edition corrected and inlarged in Folio A Theatre of flying Insects wherein especially the manner of right ordering the Bee is excellently described with discourses H storical and Physical concerning them with a second part of Meditations and Observations Theological and Moral in 3 Centuries upon the same subject by Samuel Purchas M. A. in 40. Catechizing God's Ordinance in sundry Sermons by Mr. Zachary Crofton Minister of Buttolphs Aldgate London the second Edition corrected and augmented A Religious Treatise UPON Symeon's Song OR Instructions advertising how to Live Holily and Die Happily LUKE 2.29 30. 29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word 30. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation SIMEON here may be stiled God's white Swan Eccl. 12.5 singing his owne Epitaph now in the time when his Almond-tree did sweetly blossom It is Simeons Funeral Song Cantus F◠nebris of which Songs I onely finde two in Scripture so sadly do the most lay down this Earthly Tabernacle when as the dear Saints of God should then rejoyce with joy unspeakable 1 Pet. 1.8 and full of Glory You read of one in the Old Testament and that was good Old Moses 120. Deu. 31.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 30 Duter 32. through out yeares old who calleth his instructions before his death giving to the people a song which he requireth to be written for the use of the Children of Israel when the Lord should put a period to his days on earth The second was Simeons Song here whose days were protracted till he should see the Lord 's Christ bodily Galatians and spiritually at once Both great men and honourable as say the Ecclesiasticall Histories both Holy and Godly men Moses was God's Servant and so was Simeon Both honoured with a Religious and Blessed memoriall Moses dies with fixed eyes upon true Canaan but Simeons eyes are fixed upon Christ The Spirit of God knowes as well the time of our Spirituall joyes as of our effectuall calling and the actings of our repentance and of our Faith See here this good old man is now excited to take the opportunity to act his own joy to personate that which believers should act much more then they doe namely to look believingly on the Lord Jesus their joy and consolation as Simeon did Who First took him up in his armes whom he had before entertained in his heart and so is even raptured in the superabounding love of his Lord Christ the blessedest arme-full that ever the good Old man had in all his life Observe that Simeon declares his joy by a Holy Elegie off blessing God for this so magnificent and long expected a mercy as this sight did contein That he looks of all else and will needs die out of hand to be forever in the possession of this beatificall Vision Observe the forme of the holy Elogy verses 29 30 31 32. called Simeons Song as if he had said I fear not sin nor dread I death I have lived enough I have my Life I have seen enough I have my light I have sorrowed enough
holy life John 9.4 Prov 27.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to som câ—itricks and that very judiciously is Etymologized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy day Lev. 19.6 7. As repentance must be solid so it must be seasonable for night will else come upon thee and therefore saith Christ I must work whiles it is called to day Cras Cras is the voyce of a crow and not of a Christian loose not this day talk not of to morrow to repent in for Solomon wil tell thee thou knowst not what to morrows womb may bring forth To day then while it is called to day hear Christs voyc bespeaking presentaneous repentance Manna must be gathered in the morning the peace of offering be offered on the first second day not the third There be four ages of life childhood youth middle old age the first and last are more incapable but the other two are best to repent in trust not long life nor late repentance least thou be like unto some courtiers who usually do all too late rise too late dress too late dine too late sup too late and I fear commonly repent too late and dye Job 20.11 Gen. 4â— 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when as Job speaks their bones are full of the sin of their youth and they must be necessitated to say few and evill have been the days of my life Many flatter themselvs and deceive others with perwigs Not much different from that of the Poet Scit te Pâ—oserpina calvum personam capiti detrahet illa suo Prov. 9.3 Pro. 1.28 and so seem many years younger then they be but neither will God bee deceived nor decaying nature deceived no more then the Devill was by him that had coloured his hair when he said I know thee well enough for all thy locks Oh sinner it is present repentance God looks for long hath hee knocked cryed and call'd but thou would'st not hear thou shalt therefore cry and call and God will not hear as in that of Matthew How oft would I have gathered you Mat. 23. 37. as the hen doth her chickens and yee would not now it may be you would but I will not I would have purged thee saith God but thou wast not purged thou shalt never be purged any more till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee Ezech. 24.13 14. I the Lord have spoken it and it shall come to pass and I will do it Sinner it 's a dreadful thing to go unseasonably upon the work of repentance miserable creature being about to dye What wilt do when God and Christ and the Spirit be against thee when all mercies shall be thine enemies who shall bee thy friends and when they shall conclude thy finall miserie who shall pity thee when they shall laugh at thy self-destruction and mock when thy fear cometh Prov. 1.26 therefore what thou doest do quickly in thy repenting and thy renewing acts of repentance for for ought thou knowest death may come this very night and by the Lords takers may take away thy soul Luke 12. albeit thou hast prepared many things for thy self thy wife thy children and posterity yet none shall do thee good that art unprepared of that which should do thee good indeed whatever then thou delay let it not be solid and timely repentance hold not thy hand in thy bosom saying Pro. 6.10 vese 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a man of a child as the sluggard yet a little sleep a little slumber till death come upon thee as an armed man that is irresistably and inexorably and cannot be avoided Pro. 6.6 whom therefore God sends to the Ant and Pismire to learn wisdom of that provident but irrational creature To be prepared solidly and timely for death head 2 we must be well principled in the fundamentalls of true religion and well grounded in the doctrinals not only of repentance towards God Acts 20.21 but also of faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ We must be rooted and built in Christ Col. 2.7 and established in the faith in that faith which was once given to theÌ„ Saints Jude 3. and hath been received believed and maintained by all the Lords worthies since the primitive times Heb. 11. Heb. 12. according to the Scriptures in which we haue God himself revealed concerning whom wee must know out of those Scriptures the doctrine of 1. His nature 2. His works In his works we must know his works 1. Of Creation 2. Of Providence In his Providence consider 1. His Generall 2. His speciall Providence In his especial providence as it concerns man so look on him in his four-fold estate 1. Of Innocency 2. Of Corruption 3. Of Grace 4. Of Glory Again consider man his estate of grace And here behold him 1. under the means of grace 1. Election in God 2. Redemption in Christ 2. Under the subject of Grace The Church of God universall 3. Under the degrees of Grace 1. Justification 2. Sanctifiation 4. In the state of Glory viz. 1. His resurrection 2. His last judgment 3. Eternall life And more especially bee wee exhorted 1. To be sure we get a solid and distinct understanding of these fundamentalls by heart 1 Cor. 1.3.10 11. Ephes 2.20 21.22 Mat. 4 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 1.3.12 John 13.17 Rom. 15.4 2 Tim. 3.17 2 Pet. 3.17 Rev. 2.13 Gal. 3.1 Eph 4.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Be we well able to prove them every one by diverse plain and undeniable texts of holy Scripture 3. Be very careful to be a gracious practitioner by living upon and walking up to all those infallible and precious truths which you have known to be the reavealed will and mind of God all which are written for your learning that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to every good work and pray daily that God wil give you his holy Spirit to live and dye in the faith of our Lord and never to be lead away with the error of the wicked nor to fall from your stedfastness but to abide immovable upon the rock even in violent storms and persecutions when seducers blasphemers and hereticks are abroad and very sollicitous to gain Disciples to turn us off the foundation and to carry us away with lies and with every wind of Doctrine Dear hearts we had never more need now the beast the dragon Jud. 12. Rev. 16.31 14. and the false prophets are so busie to bee advised to bee well grounded now when so many of Antichrists emissaries be every where croaking like frogs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our very Congregations to pervert souls and to gainsay the precious truths of Christ plainly and powerfully preached and maintained by his faithfull Ministers they come I say with foul mouthes with railing and reviling
or see us die as one going to sleep O meditate on these things now while the glasse runs and hath at least some sands in it that it shall never repent thee to have soundly repented nor to have graciously lived and orthodoxly believed to have self-denyed for Christ taken up his Cross Maâ— 16 2â— Maâ— 19. â—8 Phil. 1.21 followed him in the regeneration to have been the servant of Christ to have lived to Christ dyed in Christ But then will every tongue say not O that I had lived longer but O that I had lived better O that I had sinned lesse and believed more O that I had prayed more Mar. 9.24 been more in duty more in Christian communion conversed more with the Scriptures been more in the promises studied more the covenant of grace sanctified the Lord's day more taught and better educated my family c. So shalt thou never repent any good but rejoyce that ever thou hadst any gracious breathings and wilt say O welcom death and blessed bee my God and Father who now calls for his child and servant I come I come Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart c. farewel my body and you my friends take this body of mine which I so long governed so ill to your dispose and Lord take my soul into the arms of thy mercy since now thou callest me according to thy word So much of the third viz. our holy and solemn meditation of and conference with death 4. The fourth is to set all things in order for an happy death here comes in many things very considerable 1. The soul must be set in order as thy understanding by saving illumination to know the things that belong to thy peace Luk. 19.42 thy will in order to be a sanctified will in its desires dominions and endeavours thy affections in order to fix them upon their right holy objects thy faith in order patiently to wait for the due accomplishment of all the pretious promises which in Christ are made over to a sanctified soul no more of setting the soul in order having said so much already 2. The body must be set in order 3. The estate must be set in order 1. The body is a sinfull mortal decaied naturall body Rom. 6.6 subject to a thousand mâ—lâ—dies and miseries which must be mortified and crucified of its reigning domineering power and all the organicall parts must be subj cted unto Jesus Christ till when the body is not in order to dye he that will dye happily must keep a daily funerall of his transgressions errours and sinful miscarriages towards God self and men that albeit they may have a kind of slavish being in us yet they must have no dominion over us 2. The members of the body must becom the meÌ„bers of Christ Rom. 6.12 as the eye to see the tongue to speak 1 Cor. 6.15 the hand to work the foot to walk for Christ and all the parts to suffer with Christ before we can be in order to dye 3 The body must be kept as a chast virgin for Christs use 1 Cor. 6.15.19 and the holy Ghosts use whose Temple it is wee must be sanctified bodies as well as sanctified souls but the dear servants of God have much ado with their bodies to subdue tame and bring under their untruly members of which Saint Paul did sorely complain and said to will is present but to perform that which was good hee found not Rom. 7.18 The reason was because his unregenerate paâ—t took so great advantage from and by the inordinate pravity of the body which is become so prone to serve the mind and will in every sinfull motion within and like tinder so naturally proclive to catch at any temptations and allurements to sin from without 1 Thes 5.23 that the blessed Apostle Paul does pray that the Thessalonians bodies as well as their spirits and souls be sanctified throughout and preserved blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 4. The body as well as the soul must be in covenant with God the Father Son and Holy Ghost before it can be in order to die but then though death may kil yet death cannot hurt the body for God is the Saint God and father in death and when the body lies reposed in the grave Psal 116.15 Gen. 50.25 Exod. 13.19 Jos ult 32. precious in the Lords sight is the death of his Saints and God sets a great price even upon their bodies and bones though the Saints themselvs in their sufferings have a low estimate of their bodies which I think hath so steeled and resolved them to under-go and cheerfully to wade through the bloody persecutions of most cruell and butcherly Neroes knowing the Lord God his covenant-goodness even unto their bodies should they be burnt to ashes or torn with wild beasts as multitudes were served in the primitive times since Fox Martyrol Again the Lord Christ is their head even in the grave and they be his members upon which he also sets a great price so as when the soul departs to God who gave it even then the bodies of the Saints have after a sort a principle of life within them do but sleep when they bee dead do belong to Christ by covenant whom he wil raise up Eccl 12.7 Isa 26.19 Mar. 9.21 1 Cor 11.30 chap. 15.20 Eph. 1.19 by that very exceeding greatness of power whereby his own mortall body was raised up and not onely awaken them but introduce their own souls and receive them up to himself to be for ever with him in glory Col. 3.4 Nor is it possible that any one member of Christ Ps 34.20 can loose one muscle nerve artery bone or sinew one eye one limb or one hair of the head but shall arise a compleat beautifull and well-featured body however his or her body was mangled and deformed here before or at the time of death and buriall and since for the bodies in covenaÌ„t to be united to Christ a perfect body according to the Apostle a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 Nor will Christ suffer one part never so little to be wanting for Christ must account for our bodies to his Father who of terrestiall must make them celestiall of corruptible 1 Cor 15.41 42 43 44. incorruptible of dishonorable glorious of weak powerfull and of natural must make them spirituall bodies 3. The holy Ghost is in CovenaÌ„t w th our bodies whose work it is and will be to fil those old mansions with such a plenitude of the spirit as those glorified bodies shall be capable of Ps 16.9.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hope Prov. 7.27 and at present do live in hope of though they groan a while with the rest of the creature so then the body must be in Covenant with God before it is well ordered to lye down in
displeasure or other mutining passion because the main interest of thy friend is laid up in God perhaps thou sayest Oh! it was my dear father my tender mother my sweet brother or sister my son or my daughter whose life and mine seem to be bundled together he or she was my right hand my right eye and will God take such an one from mee I had rather hee should take any one else yea my very self to have spared such an one thus foolishly do some passionate ones rangle with the just determinations of their omnipotent Lord God as churlish Nabal did with well deserving David 1 Sam. 25. Naball refused to part with some of his provisions to relieve David and his hungry souldiers by whom Naball and his flocks had been so preserved Naball answers with expostulations with pleading his propriety in his bread his water and flesh as thou dost thine in thy friends hence he concludes that Davids motion was very unjust and the most unreasonable that could have been made what saith he shal I take my bread my water and my flesh that I have killed and prepared for my sheerers and shall I send it to I know not whom nor whence they be There be many servants now adaies which break away every man from his master What is come upon me saies Naball Who is David who is the son of Jesse See we had need of this moderation when God sends crosse providences to us else we shall murmur against the Lord himself and this murmuring is a great sin The second rule is timely pacification we must not mourn over-much 2 Timely pacification or over-long when God takes away our friends Jer. 31.15 Mat. 2.18 this will be to call Gods wisdome into question it was Rachels fault that she refused to be comforted but it was Jobs high commendation that he was timely quieted and satisfied after the losse of so many friends and such an abounding estate from hence that it was the soveraign Lord God that had done it he composeth his mind and blesseth God not onely when he was full of children and wealth but when he was emptied of both and that by Satans malice and other malignant adversaries even then did Job blesse the Lord Job 12.1 and gave him thanks what for the death of his children what for the losse of his goods and estate what for the loss of his reputation amongst his hollow hearted friends no not simply so but from this consideration it is the great Jehovah the Lord of hosts let God do what he shall please with me with my relations and with all that I call mine yet I stil find abundant cause to thank him what when God shall thunder and lighten against him with storms and tempests from heaven from earth from hell what when hee shal shake the high Cedars as if he meant to pul them up and destroy them root and branch and make the earth to tremble as you may imagine when so many evills crowded in upon him when the grown up children of his own body were slain 1 Pet. 4.14 then to say blessed be the name of the Lord so timely to be content surely the spirit of glory and of God did rest upon humble and holy Job the servant of the Lord. The spirit is out of rest like Noahs dove hove ring about not finding where to rest the soul of her foot till she came to the Ark so the Godly-wise under their soaking afflictions go from place to place till they come to the Lords sanctuary and mercy seat where they find rich materialls of praising and blessing God in their afflictions and for their afflictions suppose it be losse of an eminent father or any other neere or dear relation of children as Jobs was Job 1.13 to the 20. they feasting one another to maintain and enjoy brotherly love and concord then to bee destroyed by a violent tempest beating down the house by the power and malice of the Devill who also but a little before had all his camells taken by plunder and his servants slain by the cruell sword a litttle before that also had his flock of sheep and his servants with them burnt with fire from Heaven and a little before that had his oxen plowing and his Asses feeding by them all violently taken away by the Sabeans which aggravating gradations might have eternized his sorrows but holy Job wel had learned that as God is not always chiding neither must we be always mourning besides he did assure himself that the rod of the wicked Ps 103.9 Ps 125.3 shall not always rest upon the lot of the righteous and however it be yet God is good to his Israel Thirdly for satisfaction which respects the goodnesse of God towards thee and towards thy lost friends Friends in Gods name mourn yet cōsider that your friend that is dead did war a good warfare 2 Tim. 4.7 combate with implacable foes did fight the good fight did finish his course did keep the faith and was kept by the mighty power of God to salvation Consider he is now dead in the peace of God and is even now enjoying what was promised in Abraham's bosom is now reaping what he sowed and insulting over all his spirituall adversaries faith is now in fruition thy friends soul is now wearing that Crown of glory which Christ had purchased with his dearest blood And now consider is it any branch of religious reason now to be murmuring and complaining of our losse as if it had been irrepairable to our selves or our friends since our friend is with the Lord Rom. 8.37 is more then a conqueror through him that loved him and is rejoicing praising and magnifying the Lord as for other mercies so for death which came so seasonably and so graciously to deliver Christ's prisoner out of durance to discharge Christ's valiant souldier from fighting with spirituall adversaries who command to triumph for ever over them to live and reign with Christ in heaven and to bee enthroniz'd into a kingdom of glory and to be actually in the great assembly saying Rev. 19.1.3 and singing Hallelujah Hallelujah salvation power and glory bee to our God Hallelujah the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Well then let us be glad rejoice since living friends are no loosers by thy gracious friends departure and since deceased friends are such gainers put off your sable weeds and rejoice for such as you believe do dye in the Lord imitate their holy foot-steps Phil. 3.17 follow them as they followed Christ put on the milkie white garments of holiness and righteousness all your days till you can say you are gainers by death and shal in God's time be translated to be for ever with your friends Rom. 16.7 who were in Christ before you as Saint Paul spake went to heaven before you to see enjoy that salvation which Simeon spake of in the text where you shall
us as we them being made like to Christ's most glorious body Thou then who hast been long a mourner gather up thy spirits God hath provided thou shalt not want thy friend himself will make up all to thee so far as is good for thee as he did to Job before his hand is not straightned he can raise up better friends and compose thy spirit with an holy contentment Ambros stantem lego flentem non lego as the Father says he did the spirit of the virgin Mary who standing by the crosse of Christ was not seen to let fall one tear Sixtly and lastly be perswaded to quit thy surcharged heart of all sad disquietting thoughts for immoderate grief may not bee continued without the sin of muttering and murmuring against the all-wise providence of God which is high rebellion against his wisedom and dignity as if thou poor shallow creature knewest better then he what was or what had been best go to God in faith cast thy selfe down before him humbly believingly for there 's enough in God to make thee whole go to him in humble prayer commend thy case absolutely to him and engage thy self determinately to bee at his appointment in this thy present condition and say Lord I am in thine hand do by me thy servant and mine as shall se em good in thine eyes And lastly acquiesce sweetly in the sufficiency and al-sufficiency of thy Lord God And this is the fourth exhortation wherein we had the obsequies of friends mourning for them that dye in the Lord in seven particulars and rules unto mourners in six particulars Thus have I endeavoured according to my weak measure and small talent to raise up and revive departed Simeon that in him I might set before you a gracious servant of the Lord who lived holiâ—y and dyed happily and left a sweet savour behind him unto succeeding generations that in ages to come the people of God may walk in the way which he had proved and hold by the golden line of Simeon's faith till they depart in peace and their eyes do see their salvation as Simeon did which the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafe unto us of his everlasting love and infinite mercy Amen and Amen FINIS In obitum Illustrissimi viri ROBERTI HARLEY Equitis honoratissimi ordinis Balnei MUsarum vertex obiit fidúmque Minervae Palladium patriae gloria fama togae Quem culmen sibi quem coryphaeum agnóve togati Quem sibi legerunt omnibus Alpha libris Pauperibus quorum tenuis sors esse negabat Edoctos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 utrumque dedit Nec cessat propriis de vectigalibus haustis Flaminibus stipem larga dicare manus Quin nummis puduit perituris parcere major Cui proventus opes non habuisse fuit Cumque ipso navem quisquam conscendit eandem Cui virtus fuerat cui cynosura fides Eximium hinc meritus titulum non ille creatus Sed proprio fuerat munere factus eques Quippe suas sumpsit solâ virtute secures Ipse sibi Consul fascis ipse sibi Quem nec honor nec seduxit commissa potestas Sed regere populum novit imperium Quotquot Jacobo numerabat rege senatus Anglia te vivo Carole quotquot erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senatoris toties excepit haeres Successórque fuit continuò ipse suus Hunc duo Postremi tantúm exclusere senatus Et solùm canâ fronte Senator erat Tandem obiens cecinit Servum dimitte salute Vitâ quae tecum condita Christe fuit Plenâ mente fide possis ut dicere rursus Vel nasci Christum vel Simeona mori 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉