THis whole Chapter may well be diuided into two parts: the one concerning Saint Paul, the other touching Saint Pe­ter: the one the Apostle of the Gentiles, the other of the Iewes. The ones wonderfull conuersion, the others mira­culous operation: the con­uersion of the one from a Wolfe into a Lambe, from a Beare into a Sheep, from plai­ing the Lyon of the Tribe of Beniamin, into following the Ly­on of the Tribe of Iudah: from Saul into Paul: from a persecu­tor, into a Preacher of Christianity. The others miraculous o­peration in healing a sicke man at Lydda, in raising a dead Wo­man [Page 2] at Ioppa: both workes [...], but the latter more, by how much more harder it is to giue life to one that is dead, then to restore health [...]n one that is sicke. In this later story, besides many other circumstances that may bee noted, I obserue vnto you these three: First, the person raised to life, Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. Secondly, the instrument which God vsed in the raising of her, viz. Saint Peter. Thirdly, the effect of the miracle, which v. 42, is intimated to bee two­fold, fame brought to the eares, and faith bred in the hearts of many people; for it was knowne throughout all Ioppa, and many beleeued in the Lord. I will speake onely of the person raised, for my text stretcheth it selfe no further, concerning whom the story records three things, her life, her death, her being raised againe. Of the third point nothing at all at this time, for it com­meth not within the bounds and limits of my text: only of the two former, her life, and death; whereof you haue a Sermon in print so intituled, The Life and Death of DORCAS; to which I will refer you for many good notes; which, because there so ful­ly handled, by me shall be omitted.

1 In speaking of her life I will intreat of two things, first, of her name, Tabitha, by interpretation Dorcas: and secondly, of her profession; her profession in the forme of it, shee was a Disciple, and her profession in the fruit of it, she was full of good workes and almes which she did. In intreating of her death, I will speake of two things, the fore-runner of her death, which was her sicke­nesse, and the euent of her sicknesse, which was her death.

The first thing then to be spoken of is her name, Tabitha, and that is Dorcas, which names doe signifie a Roe or a Bucke, and are both of them deriued from such rootes in their seuerall lan­guages, as doe betoken to see. I will say nothing of that obser­uation that might here bee made, how that God knoweth his children by name, as he said to Moses, Exod. 33.17. Thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name: to shew that par­ticular and peculiar knowledge of approbation, whereby God knoweth the elect aboue others; nor any thing of the discreet choice that should be vsed in the naming of children; in which point, as I commend not the nicety of some, who like no other names, but such as haue their good signification in holy Scrip­ture, [Page 3] so I much rather condemne their absurd folly, who out of wit as they thinke, I am sure without any dramme of discretion, giue ridiculous and vnseemly names to the children they come to be sureties for. The note I doe gather out of her name, and I will but touch vpon it, is in a word this, as her name was, so was she: Tabitha, or Dorcas was her name, and she was, and wee ought to bee cleare-sighted, and with our eyes open, to the things that concerne our soules health. In things of the world we are Eagles, but beetles and moles in diuine matters: curious inquisitors into the liues of other, carelesse neglecters of our owne estates, and of what belongs to our Christian duties; whereas if we would search the Scriptures as wee are comman­ded, we should in them be taught what the obiects are, which God would haue vs chiefly to fixe the eyes of our cares and en­deauors on. See that you keepe my Sabbaths, Exod. 31. See (said old Tobit to his Sonne) that thou neuer doe that to any man, which thou wouldest not that another should doe to thee. Why seest thou the more in thy brothers eye, and doest not see the beame in thine owne eye, Mat. 7. See that no man deceiue you; See and take heed how you heare; See that you walke circumspectly, not as fooles, but as wise, Ephes. 5.15. See that none recompence euill for euill vnto any man, &c. 1 Thes. 5.15. And in many other places of holy Scripture we are taught, that if we wil be true Dorcasses indeed, we must cast our eyes, the eyes of our affections, not on things be­low, but on the things that are aboue, Collos. 3.2. Therefore did Dauid pray vnto God, saying, Turne away mine eyes that they be­hold not vanity. But I haue seene (saith Salomon) and considered all the workes that are done vnder the Sun, and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit, Eccles. 1.14.

The next thing to bee spoken of in the life of this Dorcas, is 2 her profession, which was not in shew onely, and for formalities sake; but in deed, and in truth: She was a Disciple, and full of good workes & almes which she did. A disciple in professiō, & in practice too, a disciple in confession and conuersation too; the one by her faith, and the other by her workes, the one is as the roote, the other as the fruit of Christian profession. They met toge­ther in her, and must in all that will be true disciples: Without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11.6. and without holi­nesse, [Page 4] impossible to see God, Heb. 12.14. Faith without workes is dead, and workes without faith, are sinnes, not in the sub­stance, and because they are done; but in a maine circumstance, because done without faith.

Morall honesty, without profession of the true faith, is blind, and wanteth an eye to direct it; and profession, without practice, on the other side, is lame, and wants a foot to cary it in the way to heauen. Therefore saith Saint Paul, I beseech you that you walke worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, Ephes. 4.1. And, let your conuersation be as becommeth the Gospel of Christ, Phi. 1.27. that the Gospell of Christ, the profession of Christiani­ty, the name of disciples, the truth of God bee not ill spoken of, as the Apostle telleth the Iewes, saying, The name of God is blas­phemed among the Gentiles through you, Rom. 2.24. and willeth Titus to teach all degrees so to behaue themselues, that the word of God be not blasphemed, Tit. 2.5. for if we play the foolish pain­ters part, and humane capiti ceruicem adiungere equinam, put a mans head on an horses necke, looke like disciples, and liue like Deuills, confesse God in our mouthes, and deny him in our workes, shall it not be said of vs in scorne and derision, as it was of the Iewes by the Heathen, Ezek. 36.20. These are the people of the Lord, these are the Protestants of our times, these are the Professors of our dayes, these are they that call themselues di­sciples, and are not; But as many as walke according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and vpon the Israel of God, Gal. 6.16.

O beloued, when the doctrines and deeds, the words and workes, the profession and practice of Christians, of Disciples, of Professors, shall not agree together, but be at oddes and at iarre with one another, consider and thinke on it in the feare of God, what aduantage you giue to any the enemies of God and his Truth, of Christ and his Religion, of goodnesse and good men, to speake euill of your God, to lay a blemish on your Religion, to condemne your profession, because they will not easily bee made to thinke that there can be any good root or foundation there, where they see no better fruit, so bad a building. This holinesse of life, (I mean not that alone which the Philosophers speake of, and we call it morall honesty, which yet commends vs vnto the world, is good in it selfe, is necessary to saluation, [Page 5] but is not sufficient) when it is the fruit and effect of a liuely faith in Christ Iesus, and a right affection to Godward, is a to­ken and testimony of our vnion with Christ, of our state in grace, of our being as we would bee taken for, true disciples in­deed: a testimony I say, and a token, not to our owne conscien­ces only, but to other mens hearts also; wheras to professe well, and liue ill, or to make a shift to liue morally ciuill, and not care of what profession we be, is to beare false witnesse against God, whose seruants we boast our selues, and would be taken for, and yet haue not on his liuery: Gods liuery is a good life, and the badge or cognizance thereof, is a right profession; this ioyntly is it which should, this is it which doth, this is it which will de­clare, when words shall proue but winde, and shewes shall bee but shadowes, whose seruants we are in deed. Wee all desire, and are glad to bee accounted good Christians, honest men, true professors, the children of God, faithfull brethren, and the like; but let vs striue to be what we desire to be accounted; god­ly names will neuer iustifie godlesse men, nay, pium nomen est reatus impij, saith Saluianus, wee are but openly mockt and vp­braided, secretly accused and conuicted, when we are honoured with names and titles, whereto our liues and manners are not sutable. Therefore try your selues, beloued, what measure of righteousnesse is in you, let not the names of honest men, and good Christians, and such other, puffe any of you vp; try and examine your owne hearts, with what loue you heare the word, with what care you are fitted to doe thereafter, what conscience you make of sinne, what ioy you conceiue in the workes of righteousnesse, what griefe you feele when your frailty doth make you to fall; thus try, and so like or dislike of your selues. Certainely a Christian, though he cannot be sine peccato & cul­pa, without sinne; yet he should labour to be sine crimine & quae­rela, without being scandalous and offensiue. No man shall e­uer be able to say absolutely as Christ did, Iohn 8.46. Which of you can conuince me of sin? for in many things we offend all, Iam. 3.2. And, if we say that wee haue no sinne, we deceiue our selues, and the the truth is not in vs, 1 Iohn 1.8. And therefore wee pray with Dauid, Psal. 143.2. Enter not into iudgment with thy seruants: Yet in respect of men, and of the world, we ought all of vs to la­bour [Page 6] and endeauor, to striue with might and maine, to bee able to say as Moses did to God, Numb. 16.15. I haue not taken so much as an Asse from them, neither haue I hurt any of them; as Sa­muel did to the people, 1 Sam. 12.3. Beheld, here I am, beare re­cord of me before the Lord, and before his Anointed, Whose Oxe haue I taken? or whose Asse haue I taken? or whom haue I done wrong to? or whom haue I hurt? &c. As Saint Paul did to the Corinthi­ans, 1 Cor. 4.4. I know nothing by my selfe. So to liue in sincerity of heart, that we may be able to say with Iob, We haue our witnesse in heauen, and a witnesse in our owne consciences; and outwardly to fol­low such integrity and righteousnesse, as that we dare challenge either common fame to accuse vs, or our very enemies to con­demne vs if they can. And in thus doing, wee shall bring glory to God, comfort to our owne consciences, and benefit vnto o­thers. God shall be glorified; and therefore saith S. Peter, Haue your conuersation honest among the Gentiles, that they which speake euill of you as of euill doers, may by your good workes which they shall see, glorifie God in the day of the visitation. 1 Pet. 2.12. Others shall be ashamed hauing nothing concerning you to speake euill of, Tit. 2.8. and by this good shame won vnto the word through the con­uersation of the rest; and aboue all, our owne consciences shall receiue that peace and quiet which the world cannot giue, nor the vnderstanding of man comprehend. And so I come to speak more particularly of the fruit of this womans profession, out of those words, she was full of good workes, and almes which she did.

3 In which words the fruit of her profession is commended, from the matter of it, from the measure of it, from the quality, from the quantity of it; the matter or quality twofold, in gene­rall good workes, in speciall almesdeedes; the measure and quanti­ty, in the word full, full of good workes, and full of almes. First, full of good workes. Now when I speake of good workes, I will not bound and impale them within the too narrow compasse of the workes of mercy onely, and charity towards men; nor doe I thinke my text inforceth me so to doe: neither will I speake in the language of Gentilisme, that knoweth no other good works then those which we call morall vertues; no, the seuerall fruits of faith, the many branches growing out of the tree of holinesse and righteousnesse, the seuerall Commandements of the two [Page 7] Tables, are not more wide thē the name of good works is. What­soeuer is commanded in any of those precepts (faith it selfe a­lone excepted, which is included in the first Commandement, is comprehended vnder the name and title of good workes: euen as the proper branches of our faith doe spread themselues as far as the Articles of our Creed doe; the sum of that which a Chri­stian ought to beleeue to his soules health.

Let no man therefore thinke it enough for him to bee care­full and zealous in performing the Commandements of the first Table, while those of the second Table are neglected by him, if not by his open or actuall transgression of the letter, yet by too ordinary violating the sense of them, in his truely disobeying vnder an vntrue pretence of greater obedience, by his pride, and malice, and couetousnesse, breach of charity, of Christian, yea of naturall affection, hypocrisie, double-dealing, and deceit­fulnesse: (into which crimes many I feare, that thinke well of themselues, and would be so thought of others, do yet run head­long and doe not heed it) nor on the other side will it serue our turnes to abstaine in some good measure from violating the pre­cepts of the second Table, (which fear or worldly shame, or other temporall respects may make vs carefull in) while wee make no conscience of the Commandements of the first: perning our Religion with the Weathercockes of the time, diuiding our affections betweene God and Baal, allowing Dagon a roome as well as the Arke, gracing (as wee thinke) our speeches with oathes and blasphemies, making our selues Gentiles on Gods Sabbaths for feare of being Iewes. God hath ioyned these two tables together, the first he calls the great Commandement (and we make least account of it) and of the second he saith, that it is like vnto it, and no man must, (if he wil be a true Disciple) seuer the things which God hath ioyned; they may be distinguished in our bookes and learning, they must not bee diuided in our practice and liuing.

Now, workes are then good, when, first, the ground of them is good, and that is the word of God, the touchstone by which we must try, the compasse by which we must direct, the square by which we must frame, and the rule whereby we must order all our actions, if wee will bring them within the compasse of [Page 8] religious good workes. Secondly, when the roote of them is good, and that is faith, without which, whatsoeuer hath the name of a good worke, hath yet as our Church speakes (art. 13.) seeing not done as God hath willed, the nature of sin in it; and all such things though they appeare specious and beautifull in the eies of men, yet are (as S. Austin speakes) but splendida pecca­ta, they are not gold though they do glister. And thirdly, when the end of them is good, & that is Gods glory: therefore sayth our Sauiour Christ, Mat. 5.16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heauen. And the Apostle, Whatsoeuer you doe, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10.31. And from good works thus vnderstood and thus qualified, none are exempted, all haue their peeces of mo­ney, all haue their talents giuen them, Luk. 19. to some in one measure, and to other some in another, but to all to imploy ac­cording to the Law of their Master, and all to giue an account for their vse of them; euery man hath his burthen, and hee must beare it himselfe, Gal. 6.5. Works of supererogation are works of superarrogation, and he that wanting righteousnesse himselfe hopeth to be saued by another mans, doth but mock himselfe as Pope Symmachus did when he said, and as the Canonists doe the Pope in saying so too (as it is dist. 40. c. non nos.) that, In Papa si desint bona acquisita per meritum, &c. If the Pope haue none or little goodnesse of his owne (as it seemeth by this it may bee in that most holy Father himselfe) he shall haue enough deriued vnto him from his Predecessor; if none in possession, enough by succession; if little by purchase, enough by inheritance: no, no, the Saints in heauen though they haue Crownes to weare, yet they haue none to spare: And, God shall reward euery man ac­cording to his (not according to anothers) workes. Euery man is a tree, and should be a good tree, whose root is faith, whose sap is hope, whose branches, the seuerall branches of Gods Commandements, and of euery tree (without exception) that bringeth not forth good fruit, it is said, Mat. 3.10. it is cut downe and cast into the fire. And, vpon euery soule of man that doth euill, shall bee tribulation and anguish, Rom. 2.9. O now, if I would looke about the world for a Dorcas, and in the troope of Disci­ples too, should I not need with the Cynicke Philosopher to [Page 9] light a candle, and yet should not find? not many. The fruits of the spirit are loue, ioy, peace, long suffering, gentlenesse, goodnesse, &c. Gal. 5.22. These are fruits of faith, these are workes of righte­ousnes. But where are these? And in stead of these, what are the too common fruits of faith? is your swearing and blasphemy a fruit of faith? is your lying and periury a fruit of faith? and what say you to your riot and drunkennesse, to your chambering and wantonnesse, to couetousnesse and oppression, to vsury and ex­tortion, to strife and contention, to enuie and malice in one to­wards another, and the like to these? If these were the signes of Christian profession, if these were the badges of Christs Disci­ples, if these were the works that God did looke for, God might come when he would, hee should finde these things a­mongst vs, & find vs full of them. O iudge with your selues (B.) is this the way to make your calling and election sure? as S. Peter willeth you: or is it not the way rather to seale vnto your soules the assurance of your condemnation in the day of iudgment? No, no, if you will, as all good Christians ought to doe, striue to attaine to a certainty of your future blessednesse, these things ought not to be so among you; the workes of darknesse are not the way to heauen, the workes of righteousnesse are, though no meritorious cause of our comming thither. You must giue dili­gence, saith the Apostle, 2 Pet. 1.5, &c. and all diligence, (for all will be little enough) to adde to your faith vertue, (for faith without workes is dead) to vertue knowledge, (or else you may doe that which is good, but you shall not doe it well) to know­ledge temperance, (otherwise your knowledge will puffe you vp rather then edifie you) to temperance patience, (for as you must doe, so you shall suffer for your wel-doing) to patience god­linesse, (for you may else giue your bodies to bee burnt in the fire, and it shall profit you nothing) to godlinesse brotherly kinde­nesse, (for how can he that loueth not his brother say truely that hee loueth God?) and to brotherly kindnesse charity, or loue: (not onely brotherly kindnesse to them that are of the hous­hold of faith, but charity also towards all men, friends and ene­mies, as Christ stretcht out his armes on the Crosse to both the malefactors;) the first named of these things is faith, the last is loue, in the middle are other good workes, the summe of all is [Page 10] that, Gal. 5.6. Faith working by loue, if this bee in you, if these things be in you, saith the Apostle, and abound, they will make you that you shall neither be barren nor vnfruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ: neither inwardly barren, nor outwardly vn­fruitfull. And thus much concerning good workes in generall, for which this Matron in my Text is here commended; she is commended in the next place in particular for her almes-deeds, an excellent species and member of those good workes, to which we are enioyned. We haue precept for it, and example for it, and reasons for it, in the holy Scriptures: Cast thy bread vpon the waters, saith the Preacher, Eccles 11.1. First hee saith, cast, doe not crumme it, doe not doe it lazily as if lothly, but giue it with a cheerfull minde: Secondly, Cast bread, what is necessary for the sustenance of them that need; and bread, not a a bone, that is for dogges; not a bastinado, thats for rogues; nor panem lapidosum, as Seneca speakes, bread full of grauell, such as the hungry soule must needs eate, but it goeth downe heauily, because it is giuen grudgingly: Thirdly, panem tuum, thy bread, that which thou hast gotten with a good and an honest consci­ence; for to rob a Church, and then build a Spittle, or to de­fraud or oppresse by the pound, and then deale a dole by the peny, is but (according to the well knowne prouerbe) to steale away the goose, and sticke downe a feather; And he, saith the sonne of Sirach, that bringeth an offering of the goods of the poore, doth as one that killeth the sonne before his fathers eyes, Ecclus 34.20. And lastly, it is said, vpon the waters. First, there distributed where there is no more hope of recompence, then of regaining that which is throwne into the Sea. Againe, saith God in the mouth of the Prophet Esay c. 58.7. Is not this the fast, first, this is the fast that I haue chosen, to deale thy bread to the hungry, when thou seest the naked to couer him, and that thou hide not thy selfe from thine owne flesh: In which last words a reason is giuen why the rich should not turne away their eyes from the poore in con­tempt and disdaine, as too commonly they doe, euen because, they all are of the same mold & flesh, and among themselues one anothers members. And lastly the Apostle, 2 Cor. 8.7. Therefore saith he, as ye abound in euery thing, in faith & vtterance, &c. see that yee abound in this grace also, viz. a liberall contribution to the ne­cessities [Page 11] of the poore, by the example of Abraham, Gen. 18. of Lot, Gen. 19. of Iob, who protested for himselfe, that hee did not eate his morsels alone, but the fatherlesse together with him, Iob 31.17. and by the example of Zacheus, Luk. 19.8. Nor are examples so many, but the benefit is as great. After many dayes thou shalt finde it. Eccles 11.1. And, The mercifull man doth good to his owne soul, Pro. 11.17. And, He that giueth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord, and what he hath giuen he will pay him again, Pro. 19.17. And, Bles­sed is he, (saith Dauid) that considereth the poore and needy, the Lord shall deliuer him in the time of trouble, Psal. 41.1 And lastly, Charge them that are rich (saith S. Paul to Timothy,) that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come, &c. 1 Tim. 6.18. I speak not this by way of taxe, or as con­demning you, I know how the poore in this place are in very good measure prouided for: but I speake you see to a great ma­ny of the Country, as well as to you of the towne, and all are not alike minded neither among them or you. I pray God there be not amōg both sorts of you (though I know none here) some such as in the world there are too many, who are humani in bellu­as, & in homines belluini, prodigall in their expenses on hawks or horses, or hoūds, or worse, & yet close fisted the whil, & squint­eyed when they should look on and succour their poore needy brethren: for them that are as in this case they should be, what I haue spoken tends to their commendation and incouragement, and to the exhortation and stirring vp of others who are not a­like well minded, not alike as others, not alike as Dorcas in my text, of whom out of the words themselues it may be truely af­firmed, that euen while she liued, shee was full of almes which shee did. She knew that in heauen shee should meet with none that did none her helpe, and therefore shee would helpe them that needed before she was going thither. I haue no reason to con­demne mens leauing to the poore by way of legacy in their last wills, yet ye know there is an old saying, that bis dat qui citò, that man doth giue double, that giueth seasonably; and on the con­trary, the Heathen man could say, tantum gratiae demitur, quantum mora adijcitur: a good turne that is deferred and put off, doth lose a great deale of that grace and thankes which otherwise it [Page 12] would haue, and a suspition is left in the minds of men, that we giue therefore then, because we cannot keepe it: non bona ta [...] pausat, quam benefacta Deus, God more respects the wel-doing of a thing, then the deed done: and indeed (Beloued) if no thing else did, the hardnesse of these times, hard times for the poore certainly, doe euen force vs to open our hands as God hath in­abled vs, for their reliefe and succour; O let vs not persecute them whom God hath smitten, nor vexe them whom hee hath wounded; let not their affliction bee forgotten in the midst of our feasting. Plead not that the times are hard for others also, as well as for the poore: who will beleeue it that shall but thinke on this, that scarce was there euer more spent in pride and gal­lantry, in ryot and gluttony, in quassing and carousing, in sports and gaming? and what a great deale of good might bee done to the poore, if they had what may well bee spared out of the costlinesse of our apparell, out of the superfluity of our diet, nay out of that that is bestowed vpon the Deuill; for who else but he gaineth by what is cast away in ryot and drunkennesse, in lusts and filthines, in games & sportfulnesse, in needlesse quarrels and contentions? doe not mis-apply my words, I speake in generall termes, and to forreiners from abroad, as well as to the inhabi­tants of this place; all whom I would haue to examine their owne soules; who take exception at what I speake, doe but be­wray their owne guiltinesse, and thinke a great deale worse of themselues then of me they can. O consider (and so I will con­clude this point) that it is panis esurientium quem tu diuoras, &c. the bread of the hungry which is deuoured in gluttony, the drinke of the thirsty that is swilled in intemperately; the gar­ments of the naked that men strut in so flauntingly (who some of them as St. Ambrose speakes, parietes vestiunt auro, & pauperes nudant vestimento, doe array their walls with cloth of Arras, of silke, of siluer, of gold, and leaue bare, if not make bare also the backes and armes of the needy) and the money of the poore peaceable ones which is cast away in malitious sures and contro­uersies. Let euery thing be placed in his due place, cause not the leane checkes to become lanker yet, make not the needy eyes to wait long, and bee euen ready to fall out of their sockets with waiting; defraud not the poore of their due almes? though it be [Page 13] giuen vnto them, it is but lent vnto God, and he will repay it, and in due proportion too, as the Apostle speakes, 2 Cor. 9.6. He that soweth sparingly, shall reape sparingly, and he that soweth bounti­fully shall reape bountifully: as of this godly matron in my Text it is said, that she sowed bountifully, for she was full of good works and almes which she did. Concerning which words, it is noted, that fulnesse here doth commend her good workes and almes, for three good qualities; sincerity, generality, constancy; since­rity in respect of the root and fountaine, generality in respect of the streames and branches, and constancy in respect of the growth and current, her goodnesse proceeded from her heart, did spread it selfe farre and wide, and did continue and last vnto her end.

And now (Beloued) that in the midst of our fulnesse in other kinds, fulnes of pride, fulnes of idlenes, fulnesse of knowledge, and fulnesse of good words, wee would be full of good workes also as she was: If we do good, is it not grudgingly, or for world­ly and temporal respects? where is our fulnesse of sincerity then? Is it not mincingly, and with that great personages limitation, in the booke of the Kings, God be mercifull vnto vs in these and these cases? where is our fulnesse of generality then? Or is it not wearisomely and with great fainting? where is our fulnesse of constancy and perseuerance? It is this being full of goodnesse that bringeth glory vnto God, for herein is my Father glorified, saith our Sauiour Christ, that you beare much fruit, Ioh. 15.8. It bringeth assurance to our consciences of our happy estate here, for he that abideth in me and I in him, saith Christ, the same bringeth forth much fruit, Ioh. 15.5. and of the reward of blessednesse laid vp for vs in heauen, therefore saith the Apostle, Gal. 6.9. Let vs not be weary in well doing, for in due time wee shall reape if wee faint not: if not now while we liue, (and indeed their case is the worst of all of whom it may be said, they haue their reward) yet assuredly when death commeth, as it did to this good woman in my text, and is the second generall thing I must speake of concerning her, the death of Dorcas, with the immediate fore­runner thereof her sicknesse.

And it came to passe in those daies, that she was sicke, and dyed. 4 Now the word that is here read it came to passe, is sometimes [Page 14] read, it fortuned or happened, both well in diuers respects, the one in respect of God, vnto whose prouidence all things being subiect, and gouerned by it, it is said in regard thereof, that things come to p [...]sse; and yet to chance or happen in respect of vs vnto whom God thinkes not fit to reueale and open those fu­ture euents, which hee mindeth to kepe in his owne hands. Whence the point collected is that which you all know, that there is nothing can befall man in this world, be it cloudy wea­ther or cleere, sunshine, or full of stormes, but it is all subiect and subordinate to the wisdome and prouidence of Almighty God. There be other names vsed among men, as fate and destiny, and the like; but heare what St. Austin saith, ( de ciuit. Dei, l. 5. c. 1) Qua si propterea quis (que) fato tribuit, &c. If any man attribute the things that come to passe vnto fate or destiny, and say that by it he meanes the will and prouidence of God, Sententiam teneat, linguam corrigat, let him keepe his opinion, but let him alter his phrase of speech, because many when they heare these words, fate, destiny, and the like, are moued to beleue the some thing inferiour vnto Gods prouidence is meant, as the cause or pro­curer of the things that happen: and the lesson hence arising is in a word this, that in all the changes and chances of this pre­sent life, we lay vp our rest vpon Gods prouidence, and next after our honest and lawfull endeauors refer the successe of all to him: in time of health and prosperity, not lifted vp with pride and presumption; nor murmuring and repining when wee see the hand of God vpon vs, (though we see the hand of men, or the Deuill there also) in case of crosse and aduersity; but alwaies resoluing as old Ely did, 1 Sam. 3.18. It is the Lord, let him doe what seemeth him good. It came to passe that shee was sicke, yea sicknesse is the suburbs through which ordinarily wee doe enter into the gates of death: and for this purpose hath God placed in mans body deaths armory, his fort of munition, wher­in hang a thousand shields, wherewith the Lieutenant and his Captaine, the messenger and his master, morbus and mors, sick­nesse and death, doe but come and then ouercome man. Mans head and heart, and stomacke, and lyuer, and lights, and lungs, and other parts of his body, what are they, but so many seuerall cells wherin sicknesse and death haue seuerall swords to wound [Page 15] and kill man with when God will haue it so. Nay, man saith Ber­nard is alwaies sicke of one disease or other, generally of three aboue other, the one in his beginning and entrance into the world, and that is full of infirmity and vncleannesse: the second in his progresse through the world, and that is full of iniquitie and peruersnesse: the third in his going out of the world, not without paine and perill: and nasci in corpore mortali aegrotare est, to be born into the world, is to be thrust out into a Spittlehouse. And if we consider almost the whole course of a mans life, how it is spent, we shall finde it composed of nothing else, but infir­mities & remedies, maladies and medicines, sicknesses and their physick, and the physicke and remedies many times more trou­blesome then the diseases themselues; whē a man is hungry he is not well till he eat, & labor killeth without rest after it; the com­fort of the one to cure the paine of the other, and yet ofttimes eating makes as sicke as hunger did, the rest of the body yeelds no rest to the mind, and the time of quiet proues the most vn­quiet time of all. It came to passe that she was sicke; What, this godly and charitable matron? yea, and no maruaile at it, the Lord chasteneth whom he loueth, and afflicteth with some kind of crosse or other euery sonne whom he doth receiue, and qui excipitur è numero flagellatorum, excipitur è numero filiorum, They that are altogether without correction, are bastards and not sonnes, Heb. 12.8. But it proues in Gods children, though harsh to flesh and blood, as the clay by our Sauiour Christs po­wer, did to the blinde man, Ioh. 9. an excellent meanes to open those eyes which were shut by sinne, and make a man see both Gods power, and his owne weaknesse, which in time of ease and freedome he did not so well discerne: for the fruit of wis­dome groweth on the tree of trouble, and the schoolehouse of affliction is the schoolehouse of instruction. But if iudgement be executed on the house of God, where shall the wicked and sinners appeare? the one are corrected in the world, that they may not be condemned with the world; and the other let alone oft-times to spend their daies as oxen in fat pastures, of purpose to be reserued for a more grieuous slaughter. O then, if you will that death shall not be terrible when it comes (though the Phi­losopher calls it of all terrible things the worst) learne first to [Page 16] bid the forerunners of death welcome; learne to entertaine, as ye ought sicknesses patiently, the sicknesses of the body; and crosses patiently, the crosses of the minde; and losses patiently, losse of goods, losse of friends, losse of liberty; if God doe so order it, these are anteambulones, the prodromi, the footposts, the messengers, the harbingers of death; bid (I say) these welcome and death shall come well vnto you when it comes, as come it will, perhaps as neere to the heeles of sicknesse, as the words in my text doe come close together, she was sick, and dyed. Or if not, as not alwaies, yet are there two wormes, the two daughters of Time, Day and Night, which continually bite and gnaw at the root of the tree; our very life and hart-blood, while we, prodi­gall of that whereof to bee couetous is the onely couetousnesse that is honest, viz. our time, doe so long feed on the honey-combes that hang ouer out heads, desiring to satiate our selues with the pleasures of this life, till this tree of our life bee bitten through by those two worms, and we fall into that pit whence there is no redemption. She was sicke and dyed. Yea, this is the 5 ordinary effect of sicknesse, that sooner or later it will end in death; she was sicke and dyed: and man is sicke, and dyeth, saith Iob, c. 14.10. but what meanes Iob so immediately to the former words man is sicke, to adioyne those other, and man dyeth, why doth he so? Is it to aggrauate the miseries to which poore man in this world is subiect? by the whole scope of the text it should seeme it is, and yet how can it be so? for man is sicke and dyeth, is no more then man hath gone a long and a wearisome pilgri­mage, and hath finished his course, or man hath laboured and wearied himselfe al the day long, and is set him downe to rest; or man hath ouer-watcht himselfe and is falne asleepe: this is man is sicke, and dyeth: death indeed, the remembrance of death is bitter to the man that is at rest in his possessions, that hath nothing to vexe him, but hath prosperity in all things, whose brests are yet full of milke, and his bones of marrow, who may wash his plants with butter, and whose rocks powre him out riuers of oyle; O how would the newes of death make him startle, and his knees smite each other with trembling, as it fared with Foelix when Paul reasoned of the iudgment to come. Act. 24.25. But when a man shal long for death, as a seruant doth [Page 17] for the shadow, an hireling for the end of his worke, and a wo­man in trauell for her deliuery: when he would seeke for death if hee knew where, as a man would seeke for treasures, and re­ioyce if he could finde the graue: whose cheekes are gummy with weeping, and the picture of death sits in his eyes, who ne­uer eates morsell with pleasure, but is still dying in the bitternes of his soule: to such a man how acceptable would the iudge­ment of death be, and to dye after sicknesse no degree of mise­ry? Indeed if wee consider death as adioyned to that world of miseries which in this world of misery we are subiect to, then is death a more excellent medicine then all the Art of man can prescribe, to cure all diseases: but if in the cause of it which was sinne, and in the nature of it, euen the dissolution of nature; then doth flesh bid away to death, though it be the ordinance of the Lord ouer all flesh; yea all. The words of Iob doe shew the Pedi­gree of all mankind, I haue said to corruption, thou art my father, and to the wormes, thou art my mother, and my sister, Iob 17.14. And if King Dauid said personally of himselfe, prophetical­ly of his Lord and ours, I am a worme and no man, what man is there that is not a worme also? This we know well enough all of vs, euen so well that the Deuill himselfe cannot make vs be­leeue the contrary, he dares not say to vs as he did to our first pa­rents, ye shall not dye, they had seene none dye before them, wee haue had millions, yet see how easily he makes fooles of vs, hee chokes vs with the same bait as he did them, but with this diffe­rence, he gaue them the bait whole and they swallowed it, he giues it vs by peeces, as that we shall not dye yet, not this day, or this weeke, or this moneth, or perhaps not this yeare; and so quickly perswades vs so to liue, as if we were immortall, neuer dreaming either of deaths certainty, or hells misery, or heauens felicity.

The due consideration of which things, euen of death alone, would serue to humble vs, as it did those Ancients, who made their often casting ashes on their heads, a monument and memo­riall of their mortality: it would serue to worke repentance in vs as it did in the Niniuites; and that excellent resolution which it did in Iob, when hee said, Naked came I out of my mo­thers wombe, and naked shall I returne thither: the Lord giueth and [Page 18] the Lord taketh away; (liuing as well as life, and life as well as liuing) blessed be the name of the Lord for all, Iob 1.21. It would bee auailable against the lust of the eies, couetousnesse, for hee might easily be perswaded not to loue the world, that would duely consider how soone hee might leaue the world, and the things of it: against pride of life it would bee auailable, for what should make him lift vp his heart aboue his brethren, whose head hee may happe to trample vnder his feet that now kneeles before him? O if a man would but thinke on it, how vile Christ became for him, & what himself is in himself, weak­nesse in his birth, wickednesse in his life, the subiect of rotten­nesse in his end: in his comming into the world miserable, in his liuing in the world sinfull, in his going out of the world the heire of corruption, if not the child of perdition too, this would make to stoope the necke of pride as white as Iuory which must shortly be as the clay in the streets. And lastly, against the lusts of the flesh which though neuer so much doted on, and euen made an Idoll of, must first breed a multitude of wormes, then be deuoured of them; nay, there are three things that wait to share vs and what we haue betweene them, the wormes to haue our flesh, the world to haue our wealth, and the Deuill to haue our soules; and euery of these so well contented with his owne part, that he will not leaue it for both the other: the world will not care for our soules, or for our bodies, so it may haue our goods; the wormes will not care for our goods or for our soules, so they may haue our bodies; and the Deuill will not care for our bodies or for our goods, so he may haue our soules: but let vs therefore care more then we doe, if not for our bodies, (let death make his best of them that he can) yet for our substance and for our soules, to put both our houses in order before wee dye; our outward and our inward house, the one for setling of peace both our owne and theirs whom wee leaue behinde vs, and the other for our soules eternall happinesse; and both these, because it may be said to any of vs thou shalt dye and not liue, be­fore it can be said put thine house in order, that so the houses espe­cially of our hearts may be in order alwaies.

Conclu­sion.And thus we haue followed Dorcas as farre as my text did lead vs; Is there now euer another Dorcas for me to speake of? [Page 19] sure this towne had, and habuisse decus, The me­moriall of the graces and godly end of Mi­stris Mary Bab. it is a credit to them that they had, for shee was a credit to them while they had her, in a good degree such another Dorcas: Concerning whom though I should be silent, and shall be sparing, yet this Church which she duely frequented, those poore whom she continually relee­ued, this towne which she alwayes loued, nay not Ioppa onely, and this her dwelling place, but all that knew her by acquain­tance, and many other that did not know her but by the eare, will yet say, (and it will be said hereafter perhaps with more fee­ling then now) that this place hath lost a Dorcas, who was, as the name I told you signified in the root of it, cleare-sighted, to be­thinke herselfe how she should, and to prouide in some measure that she might so lead her life here, that shee might afterwards liue eternally with God, as her good life, and right Christian end doe assure vs that she now doth. Why, is shee dead then? what else meanes our meeting here at this time? what this great concourse of people? in all whose faces a man may easily read the loue and griefe, that brought you hither: and shall I not think you thought her worthy of loue? I am sure you had reason so to doe; you the poore of this place, to whom I cannot say, as Da­uid to the Daughters of Israel, weepe for Saul that clothed you in Scarlet, but weepe for Dorcas who was alwaies ready, and to her end, and at her end, to succour and releeue in great measure your wants and necessities; wherein if other women did well, yet shee surmounted them. Yet doe not weepe for her, weepe for your selues, and for your sinnes; serue God in holinesse and godlinesse of liuing; expresse so your thankes to God for bles­sing her a [...] [...]ntinuing her so long among you, (till shee was aged fourscore yeares and fiue) for your good, and then doubt not but if ye serue God as ye ought, hee will prouide for you as you need: or else feare that God will take away more Dorcas­ses from you (if at least there bee more) and it fare worse with you yet then now it doth. But our Dorcas did not dye till she was sicke first, and in her sicknesse, O how did God shew that whom hee loueth, hee loueth to the end, and toward the end expresseth it more abundantly, as he did to her, who, as if shee knew that this sicknesse should be her last, and because she knew that the least thought of worldly things is of force to withdraw [Page 20] the mind from necessary meditations, left presently the care of these things to others, whom by her Will many yeares before made, she had trusted with these things; & spent euen al the rest of her time (as I am and you may be informed by those to whose report you can make no scruple to giue credit) in a right Chri­stian preparation for her last end, by an often confession of her trust in God, sorrowfull acknowledgement of her owne wret­chednesse, admirable patience in the middest of her paines, earnest desires to be with her Sauiour, yet with Christian sub­mission of her will to Gods, to the great comfort of them that came to comfort her, till euen at her last moment, as if shee saw heauen open, and her Sauiour ready to receiue her into his armes, shee desired to be heaued vp into the armes of her Saui­our, who did not stay long from her, nor would let her stay long from him, but receiued her soule into his heauenly King­dome, leauing her body to be by vs brought vnto it long home, there to sleepe in its bed of rest, till at the last day it rise againe, and be made partaker of that endlesse happinesse which her soule in the meane while doth alone enioy; and whereto God in his due time bring vs all, for his great mercies sake, and the merits of his Sonne and our Sauiour Iesus Christ. To whom, &c.