THE PASSING BELL.

Job the 14 th verse the first.

Man that is borne of a woman, is of few dayes and full of trouble.

By James Harwood. B. D.

Printed in the yeare. 1655.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LADY CAPELL DOWAGER.

THe Honour I ever bare to that bright shining Star of Loyalty, your late deceased Lord, obliges me to Dedi­cate these few lines to your singular goodnesse; they will occasion serious thoughts in sad times; and point you out the way to life by Death: I know a great part of your joy on earth is gone to Heaven: And since Death made a [Page]way for your Noble Lord, I trust in the Lord this shall sweeten to you the thought of the approach of Death. I have made bold to set a sad object before your eyes, you may mixe it with your worldly injoy­ments, as the Israel tes did their bitter hearbs, with their pleasant passover; It may seeme at first to kill, but cures, onely removing our Landmarke from a: Coppy-hold at will, to a fee-farme of Eternity: These after Noyse may seeme as harsh as Jacobs hands were Rough; but I hope not so to you, who in life have learnt to dye; A short lesson, yet to some, too long a learning; God hath blessed your Honour with long dayes, yet some by them have been overcast with a black cloud of worldly ca­lamity, which many mouthes put all your family and deare friends into mourning weedes: What was this, but the messen ger of death sent to one, to warne you and all yours, and all others to make ready to die. Madam, pardon my presumption, I only put you in mind of Death him, of whom you have too timely an assurance he will spare none; what I here present to you, is not to terrifie you with Death, but put you in minde what you may gaine by dying: And [Page]know Right Honorable, that as none was admitted into the Temple of Honour, but such who fist went through the Temple of Uertue, so none can come to the life of glo­ry, till they have made their passage by the death of the body; your high hopes in reversion will sweeten the thoughts of that messenger of mans mortality, which the more you thinke of, the better you will bee prepared for your long journey; And this I take to be the thiefe cause, why the Em­perours of Const antinople in their Augu­rations on their Coronation dayes, had a Mason, who came and shewed them seve­rall stones, and willed them to chuse which of those stones should be made fit for their Grave-stones.

You see at the Espousalls of Emperiall Crownes, it was thought fit to Caroll out this dolefull ditty, Memento mori, O Man remember thy end. It shall not be my last, but everlasting suit, in this, you would mitate the Princes of the Nations, and whilst by Divine Goodnesse, you are In­heritrix of large possessions, at the same time to bebare in mind how here we have no continuing Citty: God for his goodnesse, [Page]and Christ for his merits blesse you and all yours, which shall be, Dum spiro, the prayer of

Your devoted servant to command, JAMES HARWOOD

TO HIS BELOVED WIFE, In his long absence from her.

Deare Heart.

HEre wee have no continuing City, our dayes, passe as a take that is told; In the prime of our Age, The world smiled upon us, in our middle Age, she seemed to hold out unto us her golden Ball; but in this our old age and worst of times, all worldly Joy hath turned her back upon us: So that after a sad and serious Meditation, Hist. I found all Earthly pleasure like Plinies flies, borne at Morne, in their prime at Noone, and dead at Night. They came to us like Oxen slowly, they have taken Pegasus his wings and flowne from us: The uncertainty of these unstable con­tents hath made me cast an eye up to hea­ven, and seeke after an eternity of Blisse; My best beloved know it, there is no way [Page]to a life a Glory, but by the death of the body; I therefore beg of you, every day to think of your end, that by the thought of death, you may be prep [...]red for a life of Glory in the kingdome of Heaven; In my long absence from you, I thought good to commend these few sentences to your every daies perusall; They will put you in mind of your long Home, and bespeake you in private to worke out your salvation with feare and trembling. And now considering much of our time is spent, so small a reverse remains; The Lord grant we may both of us re­member our ends, that we may never doe amisse. This is his prayer, who will live and die.

Your Loving and faithfull Husband James Harwood.

The passing Bell.

Job the 14 th verse the first.

Man that is borne of a Woman is of few dayes and full of evill.

My Soule is embarked in a crasie Sculler, Here is the passenger, and here is the vessell.

My Soule is sayling on from a Transi­tory life of vanity to an eternall lif of Glory.

In all my Spirituall Sea-sicke passage, behold and heare a Change of Notes.

No more, Soule take thy ease; No more Faciamus tria Tabernacula. No more quid dabitis & ego tradam vobis.

No, all the noyse is, vanity upon vanity, all is vanity.

The Pilot sicknesse Calls on me to em­barke, and now Naboths Uineyard, Bel­shazars bouls, Jona's Gourd, these give no content.

Yet this my p resent visitation I bid wel­come; knowing it is the back-doore, whic [Page]letts me [...] into the Kingdome of Heaven And therefore goe toll the bell, that all good people may take notice how nigh I am to my e [...]d.

Let them goe toll the bell, whilst I tune my tongue to the passing bell.

My Ditty is Mortality, my Tune La­crymae, my time short Semiquaver time, which will admit of no rest.

Give me leave to enchant your eares with a Language will put every one of [...]s in minde of our ends.

I have, and for this cause bethought me of some select sayings worthy of your Remembrance.

Every sentence shall give you notice of your end, and how here you have no conti­nuing Citty.

THE FIRST PART OF THE SOULS DEPARTING DITTY.

‘Quod faciendum est semel, Deliberan­dum est diu.’

1. I Have a To passe from life to Death. work to do, I am but once to do it, and I am undone if it be not well done.

2. Let me take more pains to die well then to live long, otherwise my long life will bring me to an ill end.

3. To return from the dead impossi­bles; All my life then I will prepare for death.

4. When death will come, I know [Page 2]not; that it will come, I am sure of it, but once, O make ready.

5. This life is a summers day before death; Death followes after, Set thy house in order.

6. Hath God given me lenghth of daies; It is, that in life, I may prepare for death.

7. He that dieth daily, hath done his work before the night of death shuts day in.

8. I have but once to go hence and be seen no more, that I play not loath to de­part, my last parture, I will bear in my re­membrance, and for ever.

9. Before the day of battel what a world of preparation, the war beginns when death comes; its wisdom before it come, to make ready.

10. They call death Charons boat, I am sure it wasts the soul from a materiall to an immateriall world, my advice, eye the barge before thou enter, all one, with remember thy end.

11. I have but one step to eternity; it is from life to death, I will be prepa­ring this body of mine, to win the Gar­land of a blessed immortality.

12. O the serious thoughts while I [Page 3]live; How I must die, these do so make me run, that I may obtain, a Crown of Immortall glory.

13. In my life I will oft meditate on death, when death doth come, it will be more welcome.

14. He that thinks not of his end till ready to die, his unthought of ending is like an Enthusiasts sermon, poor stuff.

15. This sound of the passing Bell as­sures me there is some to dya likly to die; Is it so nigh night, it is high time then to work out my salvation; left the night of death put in, and none can work.

16. I have a taske set will take up all my time, viz. to die well; while I live then I will learn to die; lest being found unprepared, it be said, thou fool, this night thy Soul shall be required of thee.

17. There is one, and it will not be long ere he come and call, and knock at thy door, his name is death, with Mar­tha thou hast been troubled about ma­ny things; O this unum That I must die. necessarium, let it not be forgotten.

18. As thou camest by the womb; thou must go by the grave. Learn then in life, how to be freed from death.

19. Maximilian the Emperor made his Coffin alwaies to be carried along with [Page 4]him, to this end that his dignity might not make him forget his mortality.

20. How many messengers have brought word that death will quarter here; sad newes, wouldst thou sweeten them far God and keep his command­ments.

The second part of the soules departing Ditty.

‘Statutum est omnibus semel mori.’

21. WHat was long since decreed in heaven, God hath sent war­rants to e [...]cute on earth, semel mori, for us once to die.

22. King Xerxes standing on a Moun­tain, and having many hundred thou­sands of his souldiers standing in the plain, fell a weeping, to think upon it, how in a few years, and all those gallant valiant ment must die.

23. Adam, he lived 930 years, and he dyed.

Enoch, he lived 965 years, and he dyed.

Metbusalem lived 967 years, and he dyed.

O the longest day hath its night, and in the end man must die.

24. The Princes of the Nations passe sentence of death upon others Well, it is not long, but their turn will come, semel mori, once to die.

25. When the keepers of the house trenible, the grinders cease, the lookers out of the windowes be darkned, then man is taking his journey to his long home, to die.

26. As is the Law of the Medes and Persians Irrevocable, so is that uni­versal sentence, i semel mori, for all men once to die.

27. It is reported, how there is a white and black Mouse, which continually gnawes at the root of a Tree, untill the Tree fall down: Man's the Tree, the day and night the white and black Mouse, in a small time, these hew man down, and he dies.

28. Baruch, and Gideon, and Sampison, they are all gone, and we are to follow after, and to die.

29. Better is the house of Mourning, than Mirth, this teacheth me to live in pleasure, and die in pain, that learns me in this life to die to sin; that now I must die, I may live with God.

[Page 6] 30. But where are these Heralds, who blaze that coat of death! The yeares Autumne, the Seas Ebbing, the Suns Setting: these assure me, how man ne­ver continues in one stay. Man in ho­nour lasts not long.

31. It is not long, and the Sun sets, the Tyde turnes, and the Leaf falls, and man must as assuredly expect a change.

32. Dira at vera, Terrible but true newes, it is this, not long, and the gathe­ring Hoast of Dan must sweep us clean away.

33. Many of us live where our Parents lived, & live of the same lands which they lived of: It is not long, and our chil­dren shall do as much for us, For we must go hence and be seen no more.

34. Some ride Post, some Hackney, pace at serius citius, sooner latter all arrive at the common Inne, the Grave, and die.

35. Some have the Palsie, some the Apoplexie, some a Feaver, some an A­gue, some a Consumption, some none of them: yet the sick, the sound, they all meet in the end, at the same Rendevouz, at the house of Death, and they die.

36. The Scholer thinks to delude [Page 7]death with his fallacies, the Lawyer puts in his demur, the Prince, his plea is, State-affairs: at equo pulsat pede, Death knocks at all dores alike; and when he comes, they all go hence, from their houses to their graves.

37. None leads more a Christian life, then he, who all his life, thinks of death. O all my daies I will wait till my change come.

38. Joseph the Jew, in his best health made in stone-Coffin be cut out in his Garden, to put him in mind to his Ego abeo, I go hence.

39. The Persians they buried their dead in their houses, to put the whole houshold in mind of the same lot, Semel mori, once to die.

40. Simonides, when commanded to give the most wholesome rule to live well, willed the Lacedemonian Prince ever to bear in mind, se tempore brevi moriturum: ere long, and he must die.

41. A sort of imprudent people put a fortasse upon all things in the world; they might have excepted death, it comes not Not by chance but by force. forte, sed fort ter; and none can re­scue from the Jawes of death.

42. God hath hid from me the day of [Page 8]my death, that every day I may make ready to die.

43. There is nought more sure then to die: so then live, as if to day to dy.

44. As all the Rivers come from the Sea, and run in again into the Sea, so we all come from the earth, and to the earth we must return again.

45. The Mower cuts all down, as much will death do for all us, leave none standing.

46. The Adder layeth one eare to the ground, the other, the Adder covereth with her Tail, and all that Charm the Charmer never so wisely, she may not hear: As deaf is death, it stops its ear, and will not hear, h [...]c magnos paervos (que) terit, the storm of death roots up Shrubs and Cedars

47. They say a Wolfe, if he seeth a man, first secludes the man from the use of his tongue; how true is that, I know not, this is true. I am sure of it, death leaves us speechlesse, lifelesse: Whilst therefore thou hast life, prepare for death.

48. I have heard of Abraham at Con­fession, confessing himselfe to be dust and ashes; and David, how his [Page 9]dayes are but a hand bredth: The short­nesse of this, the Britleness of that, tels me in my eare, I have no long time to stay here.

49. Solon, to pull downe mans proud heart, made this inscription on the Post of the gates of Delphos, Nosce te'psum, quasi tunc cogitabls; know thy selfe, and then thou wilt quickly know thou must dye.

50. I have read of a sort of people that use dead mens bones for money, and the more they have, they are counted the more Rich: herein consists my richest treasure, to beare that about me will make me all my life remember my end.

51. Great Sultan Saladan, Lord of ma­ny Nations and Languages, commanded upon his death-bed, that one should car­ry upon a Speares point through all his Campe the flag of death, and to pro­claime, for all his wealth, Saladan hath nought left but this winding-sheete, an ensured ensigne of Deaths triumphing over all the sonnes of Adam.

52. I uncloath my selfe every night, I put off all but what may put me in mind of my winding-sheet, and thus day after day uttereth speech, and night after night [Page 10]sheweth knowledge, how Ego Exeo, I goe hence.

53. Anaxagoras having word brought him, his onely sonne was dead: his an­swer was, scio me genuisse mortalem. I know he was borne to dye.

54. The Epicure in his life takes his fill of pleasures, yet feares one day death will deprive him of all his pleasure, let us unlearne his first lesson, let us take out his latter lesson, and remember that death one day will deprive us of all our earthly joyes.

55. The Meditations of Death are the politicks of Saints, and therefore saith the wiseman, Remember thy end and thou shalt never doe amisse.

56. Philip of Macedon gave a boy a pension every morning to say to him, Philippe memento te hominem esse, Phi­lip remember thou art a man, and there­fore must die.

57. Since man is subject to dye so soone as he begins to live, it shall make mee now that I know I live, to beare in mind, I must die.

58. The body at best is but a living Coffin to the Soule, when the Soule de­parts from the body, the grave shall be [Page 11]the dead Coffin, to that late living Body.

59. We reade of Philostrates, how hee lived seven years in his Tombe, that he might be ac­quainted with it against the time he came to bee put into it: Oh an Apprenticeship of yeares is time little enough to make us perfect in the my­stery of mortality.

60. Causinus in his Hieroglyphicks makes mention of an Indian Fountain out of which Gold is drawn in Earthen pitchers, yet none can get the Gold but hee that breakes the earthen pitcher. Est vita fictile: the life of man is the earthen pitcher. The Gold contained, the earnest of all Heavenly happi­nesse, which none can in full attaine till this corruptible put on incorruptibility, and this mor­tall Immortality: after the night of death comes that day of joy: Let mee welcome that cloudy e­vening promises so faire a sunshine, let us make fit to die that we may be counted worthy to live: hee that liveth well, cannot die ill: he that dieth well, his death is a passe from a miserable life on earth, to live a life of glory in the Kingdome Heaven. Which God for his mercies send all of us.

Divine Meditations, arising from the con­templation of these sad and serious sentences.

1. Med. Is it not high time to make fit to die; considering the Passing-Bell doth Tole: Well, I will go take my Dough upon my shoulders, and march from this carnall Egypt, to that spirituall Canaan. Let the foolish Virgins slip their time to lay in Oyle; yet, lest the gates of heaven be barr'd up, I will up, and on, and buy without mony, or mony-worth. My want is great, my time is almost run: If I make not Market to day, I am not sure to doe it to mor­row. O the uncertainty of life shall be the A­larum-Bell to give me NOW notice, to work out my salvation with fear and trembling.

2 Med. I am now sole Cesar, I have, and what not? at my disposall, Jobs Goods, Naboths Vine­yard, Iohn Baptist [...]s head in a Charger: I am of potent power, who dare controll me. O consider, ere long, it's not long, and whereas mightie territo­ries could not stint thy ambition, Death will come and make a seisure of thy SELFE, and bereave thee of all thou hast, all but an evill CONSCIENCE. Think upon it, Death hath hitherto hewed all down, and art thou able to withstand Him. Go and give him a peaceable meeting, who, with all thy force, there is no resisting. The Firmament wil endure but one Sun, but the THOUGHTS of God and the Grave may take up their lodging in the same Inne. O, I am never so nigh my God, as when I think of [Page 13]my end. FRIEND, let death be in thy thoughts, and God will be in thy heart.

3 Med. Consider well what's said, Cor sapientum est in Domo luctus, the Heart of the wise is in the house of Mourning. Death brought Tears to the house and Teares assure us that Wisdome is got within dores. There is no fear of God, where no wisdom, no wisdom, where no serious thoughts of our end. I wil think of my end, that I may be num­bered among the wise: wise to God-ward, while I have an awfull fear of his death-blow. Come, let me embrace that thought of DEATH, which fits me for the day of life, even a life everlasting.

4 Med. Meditate what new men we ought to be, who are here to day, gone to morrow, whom, it's not long, and death will arrest, and then we must answer for all done in the flesh, what a sudden triall will it be, if we get not pardon before the cause be call'd on? What a fearfull reckoning, if before the day of Death, the Lord of life strike not off all our reckoning. Lord I am deep in debt to thee, I owe thee more, than my goods, lands, and life can re­deem: my debt surmounts, my time to discharge its nigh at hand. O let the certain and swift sum­mons by death, cause me forthwith to think upon a way to compound with my grand Creditor: I dis­claim MERIT, I hold fast by MERCY. For thy antient mercie's sake, for our blessed MESSIA's sake, in the houre of death, and in the day of judgment, accept the blood of thy Son, and save my Soul.

5 Med. Meditate, since man must die, Lord, what danger in dying unprepared; this is Maxima miseria, a miserie of miseries: & St. Augustine gives the reason, quoniam qualis in isto die moritur, talis in illo die judi cabitur: For that look how a man goeth to that Prison the Grave, so he goeth to the Judgment-Hall to be tryed, and now consider of it well, if thou be not able to give a Gospell-answer to the Judge of Heaven and Earth; comest to answer; but knowest not what to say, had it not been better thou hadst never been born, than to be born to die, and be damned, not considering thy own end? A wise-man hath his answer before­hand prepared to pacifie wrath to come; whereas the fool forgets what's to come, and dieth in his folly.

6 Med. Let me all my life bear in mind, how I have to do with an enemie that hath no mercie, he bears all down before him, Peasants and Princes. O the thought of this quite astonishes, let me make readie to die, since I am sure to lay down my life; let me lay up for a life to come, since Death will come, and deprive me of This life. Before death throw me into the bowells of the earth, let me lift up my heart to the God of Heaven. O God, who can praise thee in the PIT: While I have life, then I will praise the Lord of Life; and yet while at the best of works, and best in health. Here is the grim visage of pale coloured Death lookes me in the face. O thou common Butcherer of human Nature; after thy great stroak be struck, I am not dead but asleep. Blessed be thou my God, who hast made my grave my bed, in which, after I have taken some silent rest, the noise of the Arch An­gell with his Trumpet, shall awake and raise me, from a death for sin, to a life of glory. Death is the way we must all walk to life: And as it is not the least in my thoughts that death will quarter here, so it is the upper­most in my Note book, and stands upon Record, That after death I shall live with God, and for ever.

FINIS.

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