FVnera'l Obsequies and solemnities of this nature, they are to use the words of Saint. Augustine, Magis vivoruns solatia, quam mortuorum subsidia; more for the solace & comfort of the living, then any wise subsidiary or helpfull to the dead; well may those that are a­live, reape some advantage and benefit, by seeing such spectacles of mortality, and by hearing commemorations of death, but for those that are dead, these Ceremonies are of little or no availe in the world: for neither are the wicked any whit bettered by th [...] nor the godly prejudiced in the want of them. Sepe­lit natura relictos, (saith the Poet) Nature makes a grave for those that have none; Et coelo tegitur, qut non habit vrnam, and heaven covers that corps that hath no othercoff [...]. And [Page 2] yet I must tell you, that Christian buriall is a great blessing; for a man to come to the grave in peace, is a singular happi­nesse. This was promised to good King Josiah, as a recom­pence 2 King. 22 27 for his consternation and humiliation, when the rest of the people of the Land committed Idolatry, and provok­ed the Lord to wrath; That he for his part should be gathe­red unto his Fathers, and into his grave in peace; this was both commended and blest of David, that the men of Ja­bosh G [...]lead shewed kindnesse unto Saul and Jonathan his 2 [...]. Sonne and buried them.

It is no lesse then a part and point of piety to respect those bodies on earth, and to let them have all the due rights of comely Buriall whose soules are glorious in heaven. How justly doe we take care of the honourable interring of our friends, when as God himselfe gives us a vive example; he, when the soule of Moses was expired, and conveyed into glo­ry, caused his body to be conveyed into the valley of Moab, Deut 34 6. to be buried.

Answerable hereunto was Sara buried in Hebron, Gen. 23. Deborah in Bethel, Gen. 35. Rachel in Bethleem, Gen. 48. Christ in a new tombe hewen out of a rocke. I might be infi­nite Mat. 27. in particulars, but this is a most certain truth, that though the dead body be insensible of any position, yet Christian bu­riall is a blessing. And the contrary hereunto is a curse at least a punishment, which the Lord threatens to revolters and re­bels. Jehoakam that wicked King, for his violence oppression, and other his vicious courses, had this message sent him (and it was a cutting one) that he should be buried with the buri­all Ier. 22. 19. of an Asse, drawn out and cast beyond the gates of Ieru­salem.

Amongst those many judgements that God threatned to bring upon the Iewes, this was one▪ and a maine one too, that they should not be lamented, neither be buried, but should be as dung upon the face of the earth, their carcases should be meat for the fowles of the heaven, and for the beasts of the Ier. 16.14. earth. I could with ease inlarge my selfe upon this theame, but I consider where I am, to whom I speak, and what I have [Page 3] to do; and therefore without any further Prefacing I addresse my selfe to my Text. It is appointed unto men once to dy [...] but after this the [...]udgment. These words whether you take them Text. joyntly or separate, in coherence with the Context or a part by themselves, they are a Statute Law, enacted by God him­selfe in the grand Parliament of heaven touching mans death and his judgement after death. So that in telling you what the words are I have told you withall, in a manner, what the parts be: namely, these three. First, a Statute enacted in the first word [...] thats one part, Appointed: to whom [...], [...] to men; thats another part: to men: touching what? touching their dying and their coming to judgement [...], once to dye, [...], but after this to judge­ment; that the last part: these be the parts. Of these in order.

A Statute enacted, is our first point. Statutum est; It is ap­pointed. 1. A S [...] enacted. All Statutes are not of the same constitution and en­actment, for some are constituted and enacted by men, as those in the Parliament of State, concerning theft, murther, rape robbery, with a thousand more of that nature. Some a­gaine are constituted and enacted by God, as those in the high Court and Consistory of heaven concerning sinne death, judg­ment and the like; and such is this Statute here in my text: a Statute of Death, and that not of mans ordination or ap­pointment, but of Gods. Statutum est; it is appointed and ap­pointed by God: hence it is that holy Iob ascribes the day of his departure unto God; I know, saith he, that he will bring Iob 30.23. me to death and to the house appointed for all the living: and hence it is that the Lord in the rejection and extirpation of the Iews, arrogates to himselfe both their death, and the man­ner of it. I will appoint over them foure kindes, saith the Lord, the Sword to slay, the Dogges to tear [...] and the Fowles of the Ier. 15.3. heaven, and the Beasts of the earth to devoure and destroy: the slaying sword the tearing Dog, the devouring Fowles, the de­stroying Beasts, all from the Lord, and of his appointment.

Its well observed, that there be five keyes which the Lord keepes in his owne custody, and reserves in his owne power; the Key of Raine, The Lord shall open unto thee his good trea­sure, Deut. 28.12. [Page 4] sure, the heaven to give thee raine to thy land in its season; thats the first key: the key of Food; Thou openest thy hand, and they are filled with good, thats the second key: the key of the Psal. 104.28. heart, God opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended unto the Acts 16. things that were spoken of Paul, thats the third key. The key of the wombe, God remembred Rachel and harkned unto her, Gen 30. and opened her wombe, thats the fourth key. The key of the Grave; And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have Ezech. 37.13. opened your graves; thats the fift and last key.

Now as none can forgive sinne but God onely, so none can open the grave, dissolve these tabernacles of our flesh bring to the dust of death, but onely the Lord; for man not armed with authority from above, but meerly out of spleene, or re­venge, or coller, or a bravado, or wearinesse of the world, or the like, to open the passage out of the world, and to bring death either upon himselfe or others, is to intrench upon Gods right, snatch the key out of his hand and both peevishly and perilously to transgres that Law, which he hath enacted, which he hath appointed.

Now of things appointed by God, some are absolute, some occasionall, some Lege naturae institutae, by the law of nature in its perfection and integrity; some lege naturae destitutae, by the law of nature in its defection and decay; and such was this law, the law of death, it was not enacted, neither came it in, when man was in his prime, but when he was in the wane, not when he was in the height, in the verticall point of his in­tegrity, but when he was in the declination, the state of sin. In die quo commederis, &c. saith God to Adam, in the day Gen. 2.17. that thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death, in that day but not before. If Adam had not sinned, he had not dyed; if he had not transgressed Gods law, he had not tasted Gods curse, but having once sinned, death presently ensued; not that A­dam presently dyed (for he lived after that 930. yeeres) but Gen. 5.5. that he was now dyable (as I may so speake) subject to death and the lawes of death; having and feeling in himselfe aches, paines, infirmities, diseases, infinite anxieties and vexations, the certain symptomes and messengers of death, which be­fore [Page 5] be neither had nor felt: expresse and pat for this purpose is that of the Apostle Saint Paul, As by one man sinne entred into the world, so death by sinne. And againe, the wages of sinne Rom. 5.12. Rom. 6.23. is death; every kind of death, both spirituall and corporall, is the guerdon of iniquity, the reward of sinne. Death was not God [...] immediate and proper worke; for God made not death; Wisd. 1.31. neither was it one of those Impes that God planted in Para­dice, for there all was very good, but it was the worke of Sa­tan Gen. 1.13. and had its originall from the bitter root of sinne. So that Satan begot it, Adam and Eve nurst it, and sinne brought it forth. To breviate the cafe in hand, and to give you the sub­stance of it in short, it is this.

Here is a Statute enacted concerning death, enacted by God, by reason of sinne: thus have you the pith of the Do­ctrine in point of Explication: now for Application in point of Vse.

And first, if mans death be appointed, then is it not con­tingent Vse 1 or casuall, but comes upon him by a certaine Series of causes, and these guided by an universall cause, God al­mighty. When Lazarus was dead, his two sisters Martha and Mary comes to our Saviour with this dolefull note, and pitifull complaint; Lord, if thou handst beene here my brother Io. 11.12. 32. had not dyed, saith one; Lord, if thou hadst beene here my bro­ther had not dyed, saith another: And is not this the common note and language of the world, when a man is dead, then if such a Physician had been here, if he had been let blood, if he had not taken such a potion, or eat of such a peece of meat, or lived in such a foggy ayre; if he had not done thus and thus, or so and so, he might have bin a lives man to this day.

These consider not with Job, That the dayes of man are determined, and his bounds appointed, which he cannot passe: the time, the place, and every circumstance of his dissoluti­on is decreed, that one man dyes in the field, another in his Iob 14.1. bed another in the water; that one dyes in a foraine Nation, another in his owne; this, and all this is fore-ordained in hea­ven. What though one seeme to dye casually, another by an unexpected violence? What? the hand of God is in both. If [Page 6] we should come to a man newly fallen dead from his horse, sunke downe upon the sudden dead in the streets, we must conceive and thinke that we heard God whisper him in the care and say unto him, Dye thou here that God that brought us into the world at his owne pleasure, will and doth carry us [...]ut at his owne appointment.

If mans death be appointed and appointed by God, then 2 is it unavoydable. All the armour of proofe and coats of male in the world cannot ward us from the terrible stroke of it. Let vaine man make his nest in the Ceders, build a tower that may reach up to heaven, let him wash his steps in butter joyne house to house, field to field; land to land; let him eat and drinke of the best, clothe himselfe in purple and fine sinnen; let him purchase the highest promotions, manage the greatest offices of State, insinuate himself the dearest in­to his Soveraignes favour; let him doe what he can to forti­fie himselfe against death, all will not doe. He that hath ap­pointed it will bring it to passe; nothing can hinder the pow­erfull decree and appointment of the Almighty.

It is we [...]l observed by Saint Gregory, that Deus nouit ma­ [...]are senten [...]as, at non novit mutare Decreta: God can and doth sometimes alter his meaning & reverse his Edicts threat­ned for sinne; as in the case of David, of Ahab, of Ninivie, but the determinations of Gods Decree from all eternity, are irrevocable, unrepealeable; these like the Laws of the Modes and Persians, never alter.

In vaine doe we seeke the avoydance of that, which God hath appointed: wicked Balaam could not choose but doe God right in his determinations of this nature; God, saith he, is not as man that he should lye; neither as the Sonne of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not doe it? hath Num. 23.19. he spoken, and shall he not make it good? In him there is no mutability nor shadow at all of change.

Men are mutable, appoint to day, and disappoint to mor­row; resolve now, and by and by are of another minde, but God is not so. If Palate stuck close to this quod scripsi▪ scr [...]ps [...], Io. 19. 22. What I have written, I have written, and would not have a [Page 7] letter a [...]ed s [...]rely God will [...]ck as close to [...] Q [...]od sta­ [...]u [...], st [...]u [...] ▪ what I have appointed I have appointed, and will not have a tittle diminished; the foundation of God stands sure, his decree and appointment firme; and though heaven and earth shall passe away (as for certaine they shall) yet one jot or tittle of Gods word and purpose shall not passe till all be fulfilled. As sure as God is in heaven (and thats sure enough) so sure shall these and all these frai [...]e bodies of ours one day be piled up at the gates of death, for it is appointed, and appointed by God.

Nor is it without observation, that the phrase of speech here is of the passive voice, Statutum est, it is appointed; de­noting thereby unto us, that man must be a patient, and not an agent in his owne death.

For a man to be felo de se (as the Lawyers speake) to lay violent hands upon himselfe to bring a writ of remove, and not from the Kings Bench, and by Gods owne appointment, is a foule and fearefull transgression of this Statute.

Let the Stoick Philosophers teach what they will, and in­fuse this rotten principle into their Disciples, that non mul­tum [...]erest, &c. It matters not much whether death come [...]o us, or we to it; sure I am, Religion teacheth no such thing: well may such a desperate position be maintained in Schools and by heathen Philosophers, but never in Pulpits, and by Christian Divines.

That Law in the Decalogue Non occides, Thou shalt not Exod. 20. kill, reflecteth first upon a mans selfe, and then upon his neighbour. To kill a mans selfe is forbidden in the first place, his neighbour, but in the second; this is but a breach of the law of charity, but that of the law of nature: so that accor­ding to that solid speech of Saint Augustine, Exceptis iis quos just a lex generaliter, &c. excepting those whom a just Law in generall, or God the fountaine of justice in speciall commandeth to be slaine: Whosoever killeth himselfe or any other, he is guilty of murther, and a transgressour of the Law.

If the life of man were his owne, then indeed it were [Page 8] somewhat, he might be the more lavish of it, and use it at his pleasure: but it is the gift of God▪ and man must not dispose of Gods gift, without the minde of God the giver. 1 Sam. 2.6

Or if man were sui juris, his owne man, then it were ano­ther case; but he is pars, Communit [...]tis (as Aristotle speaks) a part of the state a member of the body politick, and if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. [...] Co [...]. 12.26.

If one man dye an untimely death, all the whole Com­monwealth is supposed to be damnis [...]ed by it; and therefore it is (as I conceive) that the King doth take so procise an ac­count of the death of the meanest Subject, because both he himselfe, and the whole Kingdome had interest in him. That some have made away themselves, as former. Ages doe wit­nesse, and this our age too, is no warrant for us or any one to doe the like.

We are all set in this world as souldiers in battell array, and must not breake our ranks without order from our Captain; As Prisoners in a Gaole, must not seeke our liberty, without the Jaylors keyes to let us out; As Subjects in a Kingdome, and must not out of the Land; without the leave and past-port of our Soveraigne. And therefore Balaam craves leave Numb. 23.10. to depart, Let me dye: and Jonah, though weary of his [...] would not quench the light of it himselfe, but makes petiti­on Ionah 4.3. to God, Take away my life. And old S [...]meon begs his re­lease, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Luke [...].29.

We must not projicere animas (as he speaks) desperately throw away our soules, but fairely resigne them: nor quit our charge he [...]e upon [...]erth but wait upon God; according to Jobs example, All the dayes of my appointed time will I Iob 14.14. wait, till my change come.

Man must wait for his change, not worke it, not appoint his owne death; for it is appointed by God. And so I have done with the first part; the Statute enacted in the first word of my text, [...], it is appointed. Appointed by whom? my text shall answer. [...], to men; thats the se­cond part of text, the concernant parties, for whom this Law 2. The con­cernant party was enacted and to whom it was appointed; namely, to men.

[Page 9] And indeed of all the creatures under the cope of heaven, there is none of them all, can so properly be said to dye as men; for of them some have onely being, as the Planetary bodies the Stars the Stones and the like. Some again have being and vegetation, as the Trees and Plants: some have be­ing in vegetation and sence, as the bruit Beasts; and some have being vigeta [...], on sence, and a soule too, as reasonable men. Now death being a seperation of the soule from the body, cannot in right reason, nor in a genuine true sence, be ascribed to any creature, but such as hath a soule as well as a body.

To speak properly then, it is mankinde that suffers the sentence of death, and it is men that dye; for to them it is that death is allotted, is apoointed, [...], and that not to some one man, or to some few men, but to all men: for though the particle of universality be not expressed, yet sure it is included, and so intended; an indefinite proposition (we say in the Schooles) is equivalent to an universall. When Iob saith, Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes, he means every man; so here, when the Apostle saith, it is appointed to Iob 14. [...]. men to dye, he meanes all men, all, without exemption with­out exception. Death is a debt that every man must pay, qui vult excipere creatur decipere, he (be he what he will) that thinkes to goe free, is fouly deceived, and shall finde it otherwise. David puts the question, what man is he that liv­eth, and shall not see death? but the question is without all Psal. 89. 48. question every man living shall see death; Kings and Prin­ces and Dukes and Earles, and Barons, and Baronets and Knights, and gentlemen, and Tradesmen, and Husbandmen, and all; there is neither sex nor age, nor Nation, nor conditi­on that shall be priviledged. Absalon for all his beauty, Samp­son for al his strength, Salomon for al his wisdom, Achitopel for all his craft is dead; and so is rich Dives courtly Haman, vala­rous Ioab, all dead, (and which is more) so is righteous Noah faithfull Abraham, zealous Lot, meeke Moses, religious Da­vid innocent Iob, painfull Paul, penitent Zacheus, and he that was the center of all perfection, Christ the Lord. If any [Page 10] power, or greatnesse, or piety or integrity, or vertue or grace, or any thing in the world, had been any muniment or defence against death, surely Christ of all other, had never dyed, nor made his bed in the darke, as Iob seaks. Iob 17.13.

This Statute of death, takes hold of all that enjoy the be­nefit of life: Paracelsus that great Phisition, though he cu­red many others, and promised immortality to himselfe, yet was he cut off in the prime of his yeeres, Contra vim mortis, non est medicamen in hortis: there is no antidote for death; never yet was it seen or known. or heard, that any drug was so soveraigne as to preserve a man from dying: of the lon­gest liver it hath been said in the end [...], his life is past, or vixit, he had his time, or mortuus est, he dyed. Be­fore I quit this point, I will resolve a doubt or two, but briefly and as it were in two words; the first this:

The Apostle S. Paul saith that Christ hath destroyed death; Dub. how comes it then to seize upon the Saints of God? whence [...]. 1.10. is it that the righteous dye, seeing Christ hath dyed for the [...]?

This doubt may be assoyled thus: first, the most righteous man upon the face of the earth, besides his originall hath ma­ny Solut. 1. actuall sins, which make him liable to death. Secondly, Christ by dying did not take away the stroke, but the sting 2 of death; not the being of it, but the curse; tollitur mors, non est sit, sed ne obsit, men are still mortall; but the tyranny of death, which makes it penall, is taken away.

Thirdly, the nature of death is changed, it is now in a man­ner 3 no death, of a curse it is become a blessing, of a punish­ment a benefit; of the gate of hell, the portall of heaven: thus the first doubt is resolved.

The second doubt is this; Enoch was translated that he Dub. 2. should not see death, Heb. 11.5 and Elias was carried up by 2 Kings 2. a whirlewinde into heaven; therefore all men dye not.

I answer, the translation of Enoch, and the rapture of E­liah, Solut. are two intrigate and subtile questions, and such as have troubled, I will not say pusled, the heads of many Divines; my meaning is not to trouble either you or my selfe, with any exact discusment of these questions, onely to satisfie for [Page 11] the present and to assoile the doubt proposed; this I say. That Enochs translation and Eliah his rapture, and the change of all those that are alive at Christs second coming in the end of the world, were, and shall be a kinde of death, loco mortis, saith Aretius, in the stead of death, instar mortis, saith Bos­quter, like death.

But because this change neither did, nor shall seperate the soule from the body, nor dissolve the compositum, therefore it is not a true, proper, real death. Againe, let it be suppo­sed that Enoch and Eliah did not dye, it will not infring this common Statute, that all shall dye. It is enough that all the posterity of Adam be obnoxious to death, though some be dispensed withall and dye not: for as privilegia paucorum legem nor faciunt; (to use the words of the Canonist) the priviledges of a few doe not constitute or make a law, so nei­ther anull or infringe a law.

What though some have been priviledged and exempted from death, I say with Saint Augustine, alia naturalitas, al [...]a mirabiliter fiant: some things are done naturally, some mi­raculously, an ordinary course is one thing, an extraordinary another; but take it ordinarily, and according to the common course of nature and it is as true as truth it selfe, that it is ap­pointed unto all men once to dye.

And so I come to the third part of my Text, touching what this Statute was enacted and appointed unto men, and thats exprest here in two branches, Death and Iudgement: 3. Touching what. once to dye▪ thats one branch, but af [...]er this the judgement.

The former branch of this Statute is touching Death, it is appointed unto men, saith the text, once to dye; semel, once, Death. not twice, quod casus in Diabolo, id in homine mors, that which the fall in the Divell, the same is death in man; he fell but once, and we dye but once. Men that are dead▪ are phrased by the holy Ghost, as waters spilt upon the ground, 2 Sam. 14. 14. which cannot be gathered up againe; waters once spilt sinke into the dust, and are not gathered up againe, nor cannot be spilt againe. What is said of the death of Christ, may be sa [...]d of the death of all other men, in an ordinary regular way; [Page 12] he died but once, no more doe they, one corporall death suf­ficeth.

If any now shall object unto me, and say, that some have Object died twice, as the widdow of Sareptaes sonne, the Shunamites son, 2 Kings 4. the dead man that was cast into the grave of E­lisha: As also Jairus daughter, and Tabitha, and Eu [...]ichus, and [...] Kings 17. 2 King 13. Lazarus, and some others; these all were raised up to live, and lived to die again.

I answer, that all, or the summe of all that can be said is, Answer. that it was an extraordinary act. And beside [...] the common Road of Gods usuall way, for ordinarily and without some speciall dispensation and priviledge, all men die, and die but once.

I am the more confident in, because my text is cleare for it: Statutum est &c. It is appointed unto all men once to die: [...] to die, that is the maine matter of the statute, death. There is a three fold death.

• 1. A Naturall the death of the body.
• 2. A Spirituall the death of the soule.
• 3. An Eternall the death of the whole man, both body and soule.

The first, of these three seperates the soul from the flesh.

The second, the spirit from grace.

The third, the whole man from the Beatificall vision, and presence of God, and that for ever.

The first of these three kindes of death, (as I take it) is only meant in this place, not the spirituall death of the soule, nor the eternall death of the whole man, but the naturall death of the body, thats the death appointed unto men, with­out discrimination, to all men without exception. The death of the body and the dissolution of nature, is that, the remem­brance whereof is so bitter, whereof the wiseman speakes, Ecclesiasticus 41. 1. That which the heathen Philosopher called [...], the most terrible of all tetribles.

That which Job call, the King of feares. That Cup which Iob. 18. 14. our Saviour Christ himself was afraid to drink off, Matthew 26. 39. Et fortior non est miles quam imperator; and usual [...] [Page 13] the Souldier is not more valarous then his Leader, then his Captaine. If the apprehension and scentiment of death, was so terrible to him that was more then a man; how much more to us that are but men, but meere men? And yet death is of the nature of those things that are [...], bitter sweet. Bitter in respect of it self, or being the destroyer of nature; but sweet in respect of the consequence, as being a passage to a better life: I dare say there is not a soule of dis­cretion amongst you all, but could wish the terrours of death taken away and the bitternesse of it abated and allayed. Now that you may have that you wish for, and be able to encoun­ter with death, as a friend not as a furie, let me commend unto you these specialls.

• First, to meditate often upon death.
• Secondly, to make preparation for death.
• Thirdly, to consider the benifits that come by death.

These three well practised and put in use by a Christian, will like that wood that Moses threw into the waters of Exod. 15. 25. Mara, sweeten the bitternesse of death, and make it more pleasing. For first the frequent meditation of death, and the often inculcating, and commenting upon it, will make it more familiar, and lesse terrible. Tela proevisa minus Loe­dunt, he that sees or thinks upon a bullett or blow a coming, 2 Kings 6. 22. starts not at it, as he that is hitt upon a sudden and unawares.

Its wisdome for a man to acquaint himselfe with death before it come. For this cause King Philip would have his remembrancer every morning to put him in minde of his mortality; and the Anchorites of old would every day scrape with rheir nailes some part of their owne grave. And Saint Jerome would have the scull of a dead man before him con­tinually. Behold ye despisers, and wonder, ye that put a­way farre from you the evill day, that make a league with death, and a truce with the grave; ye that take no notice in the world of your owne infirmities, sicknesse, weaknesse, faintnesse, wearinesse, age, and the like, never remembring that these are the messengers of death, and that the sound of their Masters feet is behinde them; ye that can passe by the [Page 14] death of others and never once apply it, that can see your neighbours▪ friends, acquaintance, alliance, &c. carried to the grave, and never lay it to heart. We read in the second of Samuel and the 20. chapter, that when Amasa was dead and lay wallowing in his blood all the passengers and people stood still and [...]ooked upon him, ex ruina disciplina. Let us read letters in the ruines of others and never looke upon the death of another, without remembrance of our owne death. This is the first speciall.

The second is to make preparation for death: the reason why the sonnes of men are snared in an evill time, and in­tangled 2 in the bands of death, as fishes in a net, or birds in a snare▪ is because it fals suddenly upon them, and they not prepared for it, Eccles. 9.12. I know not whether God in his wisdome, hath of set purpose concealed from us the coming Eccles. 9.12. of death, for this very end, that we may be alwayes in rea­dinesse when it doth come; woe to that man whom the Lord, when he comes, shall finde sleeping, it had been good for that man that he had never been borne; for as the tree fals, whether towards the South or towards the North, so it lyes and there it shall be. As death findes a man, so judge­ment Eccles. 11. 3. takes him; looke how he dyes so shall he rise againe, and so shall he be judged. It is a maine point of wisedome in a Christian to prepare for death; in respect, first, of the certainty; secondly, many times of the suddennesse of it. There is nothing in all the world so certaine as death: let a man climbe up the highest Mount or Pinnacle let him looke downe againe upon the face of the world, and he shall see all things hang dandling upon the thred of instability, wheeling and turning upon the pin of uncertainty, onely death, thats certaine. In all other things we may use a forte, a peradven­ture, or a perchance. It is a chance for a man to be rich, a chance to be great, a chance to be wise a chance to be learn­ed but for a man to dye is no chance, but a certainty, a con­stitution that shall never be replealed till destruction be thrown into the Lake of fire▪ and death shall be no more. Revel. 21.

We all know that we must dye, and know it as certainly [Page 15] as we know our owne names, or our right hand from our left, or the joynts of our fingers, yet we regard it not we pre­pare not for it.

Secondly, as it is certaine, so many times it is sudden too, seizing upon those soonest that lest expect it. It was far and 2 wide from the thoughts of that rich man in the Gospell pro­mising to himselfe rest quiet, long life, that he should be ar­r [...]sted with that killing message, stulte hac nocte, Thou foole, Luke 12.20. this night shall thy soule be taken from thee. Little dr [...]mpt [...]el [...]hazzar in his cups that his Kingdome was numbred, and Dan. 5. that the same night he should be slaine; or Corah in his con­spiracy, that he and his partisance should be swallowed up of Numb. 16. the earth; or Iobs children in their banquetting, that the Iob 1. house should fall down upon their heads; or Ananias and Saphira in the middest of their lying, that they should sinke downe stone dead at Saint Peters feet. Many a man hath Acts 5. been taken away in an instant and put out like a candle when the thoughts of death have been farthest from him; and ther­fore make preparation for it: thats the second speciall.

The third and last speciall, is to consider the benefits that come by death; and these I shall couch in two words:

• 1. Vnde Whence it frees us.
• &
• 2. Quo, Whither it brings us.

It frees us first from sinne: our first Parents dyed because they sinned; we dye, that we may not sinne: sinne deliver­ed them over unto death, but death delivers us from all sin. Hence it is that death is stiled by Saint Paul, 2 Tim. 4. [...], a time of liberty; the loosing of the soule from the bonds and fetters of sinne. So that a soule seperated from the body, is set at liberty; like a bird out of a cage, or a fish out of a net; and freed from those manifold corruptions and heavie pressures under which it groned.

Secondly, it frees us from wicked company: it was no 2 small affliction to David, that he was constrained to dwell Psal. 120. with Mesech; to Ieremie, that he must live amongst adul­terers Ier. 9.2. and rebels; to Lot, that he must heare and see the fil­thy 2 Pet. 2.8. [Page 16] thy conversation of the Sodomites. Now death frees us from all, and carries a man out of the Gun-short and reach of Sa­tan, of all Satanicall and wicked compay.

Thirdly it frees us from the miseries of this life: The world is a sea of sorrowes, we live in it as in a vale of teares: And as in the sea, unda undam sequitur, one wave followes another, and seldome or never shall you see the waters calme or levell: So in the world affliction followes affliction, miserie miserie, calamitie calamitie, and never rest untill we arrive at the ha­ven of death. This was that that made Epictetus speak more like a Divine, then a Philosopher, Homo calamitatis fabula, in foelicitatis stabula, that man was a very map of miserie. And some of the wisest heathen too, judge it the best thing in the first place, not to be born, the next to die assoone as we ase bo [...]n, this for the ( [...]unde) whence death frees us.

Now for the (quo) whether death brings us, for as it frees 1 us from something, so it brings us some whither. And will you know whither? in a word, the death of the Saints is a Por­tall to let them into Paradise, a Bridge to give them passage into heaven, a Whirrie to waft them over and bring them to the haven where they would be; an Angell to carry their soules into Abrahams bosome. Socrates the heathen profes­sed that he could willingly dye, that he might see the com­panie of the antient worthies; As Orpheus, and Hesiod, and Homer, and the rest: What shall we do then that are Chri­stians but with Hilargan the Hermite, even chide our soules out of our bodies: And with Saint Paul, desire to be dissol­ved, that we may see the blessed companie of Patryarches of Prophets, of Martyrs, of Confessors of Apostles, nay of Christ himselfe, sitting at the right hand of God in the glory of his Majestie: This is the societie of Gods chosen and to this e­state death brings us. And so I step from the former branch of the statute to the latter, from that of death, to this of judg­ment; But after this the judgement.

After this that is, anon, presently, immediatly after, and therefore Aretias reads it, [...] upon that. Take it which way you will, the phrase implies an order of death, be­fore [Page 17] judgement, but not a long distance of time betweene death and judgement▪ Judgement followes in the neck of death either of weale or wo; of salvation or damnation; of It [...], or Venite, go ye cursed or come ye ble [...]sed. This judge­ment here after death is either private, or publike, particu­ler, or generall, of soules alone, or of soules and bodies toge­ther. Both these ju [...]ments may be here meant, but speci­ally the particular, [...] followes immediatly the other, not til the end of the worlds It is enough that after death comes judgement, one way or other; be it particular or ge­nerall, it matters not looke we to it. If whilest we live we play not our game wisely; repent of our sinnes and make our peace with God, when death comes it will be too late to play an after-game of repentance, for then there remaines no more sacrifice for sinne but a fearfull looking for of judg­ment, and firie indignation, which shall devour the adversa­ries, as the Apostle speakes, Heb. 10.27. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we perswade men, perswade them to pietie, to charitie, to holinesse, to righteousnesse: In breife, 2 Cor. 5.11. to a conscientious observation of both the Tables of the Law, and all because of this, the terror of the Lord the ri­gour of the last judgement. If this will not perswade men and prevaile with them, I know not what will: He that shall hear of death, and of judgement after death of a worme that never dies, and of flames that never shall be quenched, and shall not feele his soule within him shrinke for fear, and shrivell it selfe together for astonishment: I can say no more, nay nor lesse of him, then Simon Peter, of Simon M [...] ­gus, Act. 8.23. He is in the gall of bitternesse, the bond of iniquitie, the infinite anger of God is upon him.

Men, Brethren and Fathers let the remembrance of judg­ment smite every soul amongst us with fear, make us to rend and ransacke our hearts, and purge these Augaean stables of our polluted consciences from all uncleannesse of flesh and spirit. For the day will come (and God Knowes how soone, it may be this day before to Morrow) In quo plus [Page 18] valebunt pura coda, quam astura verba conscientia bona quam marsapia plena (as Saint Bernard hath it) in which pure hearts shall prevaile more then plausible words, a good conscience then a full purle. For the tender mercies then of the Lord your God and for the love that ye beare unto your own poor soules, think of this judgement after d [...]th, and prepare that for it before death, Cosen not your selv [...] with the weaknesse, the corruption, the facility, the merc [...]nesse of the judge at that day, for the judge is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sonne of God one that is infinite in power & cannot be overborn with greatnes punctual in resolution, & will not be overcome with importunity; powerfull in knowledge, and cannot be decei­ved with cunning; exact in justice and will not be corrup­ted with bribes; impartiall in himself; and will not be carri­ed away with favour or affection; either now or never must ye worke your owne salvation, and sue the favour of the Judge, now he is mercifull, but then he will be severe. With what face shall Palate and Iudas, and the Iewes, and all the route of the wicked, looke upon him whom they have pierced? Peirced in his owne body with thornes and speares, and nailes; peirced in his poore members with crueltie and oppression, and uncharitablenesse, and the like weapons of unrighteousnesse▪ What (troe ye) will the judge say to such cruell tormentors of his innocent bodie? but either af­ferte, &c. bring them hither, and slay them before me; or It [...] ame &c. go from me ye cursed into everlasting fire: A fearful doome, able to astonish these that hear it, but utter­ly, to confound those that undergoe it. What can possibly appale or amaze the soul of a poor Christian more then this? to hear him that should be his Saviour, to say unto him go from me: what (may it say) from thee Lord the fountaine of life? from thee the light of glory? from thee the river of pleasure? Oh God, this is terrible, intollerable; and yet this is not all, but from me into everlasting fire; if but into fire, it were enough, but into everlasting fire, is enough, and e­nough: This is the Apex, the height of a wicked mans pu­nishment, that the fire is everlasting.

[Page 19] But I would be loath to trespasse too much upon your pa­tience or the time; and therefore for the matter of my Text, I will conclude, and conclude thus with Saint Pauls Phil. 2 [...]. [...]testation, a little added; If there be any consolation in Chri [...]t, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spi­rit, if any bowels and mercies towards your owne soules, thinke on these thing [...] ▪ and when that is done, thinke on them againe; thinke on death, thinke on judgement, thinke on both death and judgement, because (there is no reme­dy) you must undergoe the stroke and hazard of both; for, saith my Text, It is appointed unto men once to dye, but after this the judgement. And so I have done with my Text. And yet I have not done; here is another Text, or rather the same text in another Character, in another Letter, that will a little require your patience? and my paines; your eares and my tongue; your attention, and my illustration: and I be­gin it thus:

When Abner was dead, David (good man) tooke it to heart, and said to his servants, Know ye not that there is a 2 Sam. [...]. [...]. Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? I may take up the like speech, and say unto you, as he to them; Know ye not? (I need not aske the question) there is none here but doth know) that a worthy Gentleman, a famous Knight, a renowned Barone [...], a great man is fallen this day in our Israel in these parts and amongst us; witnesse these persons, this Pall these blacks, these and all these accoutrements of honou [...] and ensignes of greatnesse. I condemne not such pompous solemnities and portly Ceremonies, where there is worth and estate to beare it out but rather condemne them and as Eusebius commends Actirius, a noble Senatour, for his care and cost of Mari [...]s (his buriall, qu [...]d splendid [...]ss [...]ma scpultu­ra [...]radidit, that he brought him honourably to his grave: so doe I (and I presume you will all doe the like) commend the generous and noble disposition of him, the Successour of this Patriot here deceased whose heart and hand, God hath en­larged to be at this charge.

[Page 20] If any one (busier then he neede) shall thinke it a superflu­ous peece of businesse, and say of it, as some did of the pre­cious Oyntm [...]nt and eastly Spikenard poured upon the head of our Saviour; Ad quid perdit to haec? to what end is all [...]. 26.10. this waste? I say againe, let him not trouble his pragmati­call busie head about it; for what was said of that worke, may be said of this, it is [...], a good work▪ and la [...] ­dable, and lawfull; it is done in the honour of Christian bu­riall, and that is enough.

He that shall read the Story of the Iewes or of the Romans either, shall finde the sumptuous and costly Funerals of t [...]e dead (and that sometimes even to excesse againe) to be no novelty. And their commendations too those that were honourable, and deserving in their life time, were follow­ed with the amplest testimonies of praise and honour, when they were dead; not thereby to gratifie any way the decea­sed, but to testifie their love, to bemoan their losse, to hold out the lampe of their vertues, and worthy Acts, to others lest alive. When I read how Nazianzen comended Basi [...], when he was dead, and Bernard the Monke, Malachy the Bishop, how Elisha commended his Master Elijah and Da­vid, Saul and Abner, how the blessed Apostles commen­ded those Saints, of whom the world was not worthy; I can­not thinke, nor possibly be perswaded, the due and deserved commendations of the dead, to be any sinne, but rather a faithfull and Christian endeavour, to have that blessing of God fulfilled upon them, that the righteous be had in ever­lasting remembrance.

For mine owne part, I never loved to give titles to any man, either living or dead contrary to merit; nor am I come at this time (for there is no need of it) to speake any thing in the praise of the deceased here above or beyond his de­sert; for then (happily) it will be said of me as Hierome of Russinus, that I wrong him with praises; but yet I would be loath to betray the memory of a deceased, and withall a deserving man; or burthen my selfe with a concealement [Page 21] of those things, which deserve not onely commendation but imitation; and such as may (perchance) be an incentive to some of you that heare me this day, whom God hath blest with ingenuous education, and ample estates to tread in his steps (as Ascanius did in the steps of his Father Aeneas) and to follow him in the like.

That that I shall speake in few words, shall be nothing but what I have either heard by faithfull and credible relation from others, or knowne of my owne experience or conceive in my opinion to be reall and true. Then thus, This noble and worthy shadow, and my much honored Patron, presen­ted here before your eyes, upon the Stage of mortality, was by his Parentage Nobly descended; there are those in this presence that can tell you far better then my selfe, that his birth was lineally very ancient and honorable; I dare not take upon me (nor is it indeed my Office) to draw the line and list of his Pedegree, but sicut and vimus, sic etiam vi­d [...]mus, as I have heard, so likewise have I seene, and so I say, and say as I said before, that it was both honorable and anci­ent; At Stemmat a quid faciunt? but alas what bootes birth without other beautifications? what availes Nobility with­out vertue, or ancient Pedegree without good parts? where these two are sundred and severed, it is a shame, but where they concur and meet together, it is an honour, worthy an accent of elevation, and so they did in him: for besides that which he derived from his Ancestors, he had in himselfe more then ordinary or common parts; a stately person, a comely presence, a grave countenance, a solid judgement, a good wit, a civill behaviour, a sober conversation: these are not ordinary, yet these he had. And besides these, he was deliberate in his courses, and after deliberation, resolute; he was of an excellent temper, not easily moved to passion, he was wise, prudent, provident, politick in the better sence; wary in his wayes: to sum it up in short, he was in the e­steeme of those that loved him worst, an accomplisht Gen­tleman.

[Page 22] I speake not this to free him from all infirmities; for he was a man, & nihil human [...] a se alie [...]um putamus; that is enough to intitle him, and all men else to frailty and infir­mities: there is no man breathing lives without them, or free from them; but comparing him with other men, and making appearance, the judge, he was as free (I will not say as any) but sure as many, if not the most.

For his Education, it was like others of his ranke; first at the inferiour Schooles of good learning, and then after that at the famous Vniversity of Oxford, for some small space of time, though not long; but the time that he stayed there, and the learning that he had, he did improve it to the best advantage of any that I have known. For the rest of his life, as Coesar comprized that service of his in three words. Veni, vidi, vici▪ I came, I sa [...], I vanquished: so shall I in three other words sum up and comprehend the whole course and tenour of it; Ecclesia, Respublica, Familia; the Church, the State the Family.

To the first of these, the Church He had a two-fold rela­tion; as a Patron, and as a Professour.

Take him in the former, as he was a Patron; and I must and can say for my owne part [...], that he was free from the le [...]t sm [...]ck or touch of Simonie, nor did I ever heare that he made any precontract with any of his Clerkes which he did present, so much as for a farthing. A rare example (I must tell you) in these bribing corrupt times wherein Simonie is so rise, and sac [...]iledge, so common, that unlesse the Clerke bring the bagge; he shall not have the Benefice; unlesse he abate, or compound or matry a Ruth, he shall not have the inheritance. But besides this it is not unknowne to many here present that to a Church neere adjoyning where he was Patron and Impropriat or too▪ for the respect and love that he had towards learning and Religion, he made an augment [...] ­tion of twenty pounds per annum, towards the better sup­port of the Minister, and the Ministery in that place: true it is (I confesse) that the Church there needed it; but again, [Page 23] it is as true, that r [...]bus sic stantibus, things standing as now, they doe, and ratified by a settlement of Law, as (men con­ceive) they be, he needed not have given it, and therefore deserves the greater praise: shew me a man that hath done thus much of his owne accord, and I will speake thus much in, his commendation.

Take him in the latter, as he was a Professour and I must 2 needs say, that he was exemp [...]ary, above many of his ranke; his constant repaire to the Church of God, and his diligent attention to the word of God, was not without observation and applause; all the time that he lived here amongst us I never knew him (if well and in health) misse his Church. And his diligence in this kinde was seconded with good successe; for he was thereby, and by that meanes, so good a profici­ent in the Schoole of Christ, and of Christianity, that he was able to give a good account of his faith▪ and to render a Reason of the hope that was in him, as the Apostle adverti­seth all Christians, 1 Pet. 3.15.

I have seldome knowne or heard of one of his profession and quality (not versed in positive or polemicall Divinity) that would reason a case so strongly maintaine an Argument so stoutly, or assoyle a Doubt so dexterously, as he would. Thus his relation to the Church.

As touching the second, his relation to the State, he was Secondly, the State. loyall to his Soveraigne, obsequious to his betters, friendly to his equals, favourable to his inferiours, charitable to the poore and needy.

This last namely his charitie, it was the lesse noted, because it was not (as some mens be) Pharasaicall, publike and for populer applause; but private, and in secret; his endeavour was to follow the Doctrinall rule of our Saviour. Matth. 6.1. that the left-hand should not know what the right hand did: I am verily perswaded, that he sent and gave away many a shilling, many a crowne, many a pound, to those that were necessitous and in want, who never knew their almner, nor from whence their reliefe came.

[Page 24] It is not yet, six, or not above six houres agoe, since I recei­ved a relation in writing from a noble gentleman, a [...]eind both of his and my owne, (whose relation I dare relye upon, Master [...]ohn Ackland, Esq and pawne my credit, calling and profession for the truth of it) how many good deeds he hath done in and about the place where he lived, what seuerall summes of money he hath given, and caused to be given to poore ministe [...]s, to poor widdowes, and to other poor people, according to their seve­rall necessities: But above all, to one poor minister, a summe of a good, a great value.

But because dolosus versatur in generalibus, it may be thought a kinde of fraudulencie to trade thus in generall, without specification of some perticulars: I will give you some instances, though not in the persons, yet in some of the summes of money that have been given by him in the way of charity. And therein I shall make a gradation, not down­wards (as Abraham did in his intercession for Sodome) from [...]ftie to forty, from forty to thirty, from thirty to twenty, Gen. 18. from twenty to ten, from ten to five; but upwards, from three pound to five pound, from five to ten, from ten to twenty, to forty, to threescore, to fourscore; for so much is credibly reported, that he gave to that poor Minister before mentioned: This was a worthy work, a work of charity, nay more (in these chill times) a work of wonder: yet such worthy works, such works of charity, such works of wonder did he practise: And not six dayes (as I am told) before he died, he desired to live no longer then God should give him a heart to do good such a prayer, and such almes▪ like those of Cornolius, wants not both audience and acceptance with Acts 10. God Almighty.

In reference to the State, he was an antient Commissioner of the peace, and he had not his office for nought, for as was his office, such was his endeavour, to make peace his recon­cilement of people at varience, was not without labour and charge too sometimes: For where he saw that satisfaction was necessary to the party wronged, and the party wronging [Page 25] non solvent, and not able to pay, he would make it up out of his owne purse. Here was justice (as wee say) with a witnesse; Charity joyned with justice; such a peece of ju­stice, as (I must confesse) I have never seene the like, and but seldome heard of: you that are as he was, doe in this as he did, it is worth not onely your observation, but your practice.

His carriage in the place of a Commissioner, was both faire and ingenuous; for as he was zealous for the promo­ting of his Majesties service, so likewise just and uncor­rupt, for the affaires of the Countrey. And to this pur­pose, (I speake but what I know, and what fell from his own mouth) his allowance to his Clerke, was more then ordi­nary, that he should not sherke upon the Countrey for fees, nor grate upon the people by exaction.

He was for a long time a Deputy Lievtenant (and upon the summons of a late Parliament) was by the common vote of the Countrey chosen a Knight of the Sheere; where he served his Countrey with that gravity and sincerity, that he gained thereby no small honour and applause.

These are but petty promotions to those (which no doubt) he might have beene advanced unto, if he had nor affected a private life, and chused rather to command at home, then crouch abroad; to live freely upon his owne, rather then stand to the devotion of another.

As touching the third, the relation of his Family; He was a prudent housholder, one that ruled his owne house well, 1 Tim. 3. 4. his government in this kinde was more then ordinary, deserving both commendation and imita­tion; for like the good Conturion in the Gospell, he had his servants at such a becke and command, that if he said to one, goe, he did goe; if to another, come, he did come; if to a third, doe this, he did doe is.

He was not attended with swearers or drunkards, or va­gabonds, or rif-raffes, or debauched ruffians but (which was [Page 26] his honor) with men of fashion, of staidnesse, of civility, of sobernesse,

He was a man that, besides those Stat a tempera, the times set apart for his owne private Devotions, (wherein he was constant) he had prayers usually in his Family; where for the most part, he was present himselfe, together with sing­ing of Psalmes, and repetition of Sermons, (as occasion was offered.) So that what Eusebius reports of Constantines Pallace, might in a sort be applied to his House, he had in it the forme and representation of a Church.

What his providence was in respect of his Children and of succession, let the world judge; he was one that did not waste but improve his Estate left him by his friends: When he first enjoyed it, I have often heard him say, that he was deepely in debt, but by his care and providence, together with Gods blessing upon both, he wound himselfe out, and added to what was left him.

For the rest of his demeanour in his Family; take him in his severall relations, as a Husband, a Father, a Master, I [...]e tell you what he was, in a word; he was a loving Hus­band to his espoused Lady, a tender Father to his dutifull Children, a liberall Master, to his officious and well deser­ving servants.

Now he is gone and impossible it is, that a man of so much worth, and of so many severall Relations to the Chruch and to the State and to the Family, should be pluck­ed away, but that some should feele it, and lament the losse of it; Well may that curse fall upon Jehotakim, that none should lament him, saying, Ah my brother, or ah my Sister or ah Lord, or ah his glory, bu [...] never upon this worthy personage here deceased: for over these Corps [...] Cof­fin, that Grave, it will be lam [...]nted; and said by [...], Ah my Father, by others, Ah my [...]usband, by others, Ah my Grandfather by [...] Landlord, by others, Oh my, Master▪ and by [...] some others of my Coat and [Page 27] profession, as sharing in the losse, so in the lamentation too, Ah my Patron.

As concerning the disposall of his Estate, or the nature of his decease, or the manner of his death, I can say nothing, because I heard nothing; I make no doubt, but qualis vi­ta, finis ita; as was his life, such was his death; as he lived in the feare of God, so he dyed in the favour of God. There let us leave him, thither let us commend our selves, and I have done.

Now to God the Father, God the Sonne, and God the holy Ghost, three persons and but one God, be ascribed and given, all glory and honour all praise and power, all Majesty, Might and Dominion, from this time forth and for evermore Amen.