IT is not only the wonder of of Davids Servants, but of all that read the Story, why David should fast and weep while the Child was yet a­live, and dry up his tears upon the first news of the Childs death? why he should mourn and afflict himself, while there was some hopes, with the fear of that death which he mourn'd not, when it [Page 2]happened? This is so contrary to the Cu­stom and Manners of most men that seek the chiefest relief and ease of their mise­ries from their complaints and sorrows, and indulge the sad remembrance of their Losses as a kind of Reparation and Reme­dy while they recover them, at least in their memories, and find them represented in their tears, and therefore at the death of friends they invite others to bear a part with them in their grief and lamenta­tion.

Yet seeing David was a man after Gods own heart, and therefore his Temper and very complexion more refin'd and purified with holy allayes, and even, his passions are more to be imitated by us (for a good man is a living rule to others, his example the best Sermon, and most pleasing direction to us, who are ever so­ciable sinners, or Saints, and regard more what we see others doe, than what we ought to doe.) Let us Learn here from David, not from the funeral Preacher, [Page 3]how we are to behave our selves, what we are to doe in the sicknesse and death of friends (whether Children or other near Relations:)

This one example leads us through all the Duties we owe to others in the sad­dest cases, this directs us: 1. How to behave our selves amidst the confusion of fears and hopes in the sicknesses of our friends. 1st, To seek to God before the Phisician; to distill our Tears for Balm, and apply our Prayers for their first Cure; to lend them breath from our Petitions, from our sobs and cryes, before the sen­tence of death be pass'd, Who can tell whether God will have mercy on us, and not bereave us of so great content?

2ly. How to appease and moderate our grief after the death of others, which we could not by our tears or prayers pre­vent. But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? [should I mourn or afflict my self] Can I bring him back again?

3ly. How to return to our selves having [Page 4]lost our Friends, and from the death of o­thers to prepare for our own. I shall goe to him, but he shall not return to me.

These 3 Considerations will best repre­sent the Pattern in the most lively practical Lines for our imitation, and serve best to turn this story into an usefull moral.

How we are to behave our selves in the sicknesses and visitations of others? Here good nature will joyn with piety to en­force these duties.

We are to consider what ever present visitations, as the effects and punishments of our sins, as well as theirs who are visited particularly indeed: This was manifest in this case of David, where the Child being truly conceived in the sin of the Father, and born in the iniquity of the Mother, (in adultery) could have the shame and stain of his birth only blotted out by death, and covered by the Grave.

But this may be a safe, usefull, and pro­per consideration in the visitation of any Friend, to look upon his disease as bred [Page 5]from Gods anger against us, his punish­ment of our sins, as well as from his own distemper. 1 How know'st thou whether God takes him from thee, as he did St. Austins friend, to free him from thy cor­ruptions? who wert apter to delight in him as an associate or brother in Iniquity, in Luxury, as that friend in Minutius (in erroribus socius, in amoribus conscius) as a part­ner in sins, a ready assistant in unlawfull pleasures, and confident in wild excesses, endeared by mutual secrecy, and society in vice; then as that friend charactered by the Psalmist, a friend with whom thou mightest take sweet counsell together, and goe up together to the house of the Lord, whence it is that God snatcheth him from thee, as Lot out of Sodom, to prevent his infe­ction first, 2 and then his destruction by thy sins; or else to free thee frō thy immoderate Love and Carnal Affection; God removes the Object, and thus with Iealousie courts thy affection, he suffers thee to enjoy no­thing over much, which should share in that Love and Devotion which thou ow­est [Page 6]to God alone. Thus looking on chil­dren (on friends) as greater stayes and contents of life, as so many Pins to fasten your Tabernacle on the earth; God loo­sens the Pins, to loosen your affections from the earth, and by degrees to bring you to a stricter dependance on him. Out of the sence of this so affectionate design of our jealous God, did the noble Matron Melania entertain the death of a Husband and two Sons at once, with that pious Ex­clamation: Expeditius tibi servitura sum Domi­ne; quia me tanto onere liberasti; Thou hast, O my Lord, provided that I may henceforth serve thee more freely, having released thy servant from so great incumbrances and distractions.

In this regard David here used the most proper Cure of Gods anger, and his own carnal affections, fasting, weeping, and praying. Who can tell whether God will have mercy on me? forgive me my sin and delinquency, for which the Child is sentenc'd to death, that the Child may live.

This Remedy of Praying and Fasting for our own sins in Another, is like the weapon-salve that doth so strange and se­cret cures, being apply'd to the putrify'd matter, and the guilty weapon that made the wound, not to the patient,

2. This Consideration, that sicknesses, being but the Attachments and approa­ches of death, are (as death is said to be) the wages of sin, sets us on our first work, To remove the Cause, our sins, before we may hope to take away the Effect, the disease of our friend. This Order the an­cient Canons seem'd to point at, which enjoyned the sick to send for his Confes­sor, before his Physician. Think then thy friends consumption proceeds from thy languishing towards God, from the de­cay of holy heat and zeal in thee. Think his Feaver but a just judgement on thy impure flames of Lust, or Envy, or Revenge, or thy immoderate affection towards him; his Lamenesse upbraids thy halting be­tween God and the world; his Stone the [Page 8]Symptome of the hardnesse of thy heart; his bad spleen argues thy rotten malice, and what ever corruptions answering still some more corrupt desires of thy Soul, so wilt thou find as great necessity to Phi­sick, and purge thy Soul, as the others bo­dy.

3. After the Cause is removed, by wa­shing away with thy tears thine own or thy friends stams, then mayst thou safely, orderly (and as the Physicians prescribe secundum artem) proceed to remove the Effect; to use all the means God allows for recovery; for to this end (saith the wise man) God created the Phisician as well as the herbs of the field, for the time of need: Only remember that you first beg the life of God, before you seek it from the Phisician. 'Twas Asahs fault, not that he sought the Phisician, but that he did not seek the Lord; 2 Chron. 16.12. only as you use the means, so trust not in them, but in Gods blessing, and believe they have no farther operation, or vertue, than [Page 9]while they are joyn'd with your Prayers. Epaphroditus Recovery St. Paul ascribes to Gods mercy on him, and on the Corinthi­ans, but his mercy awakened by prayers, Phil. 2.26, 27. his own preservation from the sentence of death pass'd against him at Ephesus to combate with wild beasts [1 Cor. 15, 32. which was drawn upon him by more Salvage Beasts; Demetrius and his Silver Smithes, Act. 19.24] he imputes to the Prayers of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.8, 9, 10, 11. Who knowes whether our letting our hands fall from prayer hath not caus'd death to prevail over the person we now mourn for?

2. Duty or enquiry. How we are to moderate our grief in the death of near Re­lations, which by these degrees will be discovered.

1. Some affections, some natural passi­ons are not to be denied; God doth not, like the Lacedemonians, load his Children with stripes, and require that hardinesse in them, that they should return no signs [Page 10]of griefs nor groans at all. 'Tis no stoical Apathy, no senselesse stupidity God re­quires, but only patience under his cha­stisements; for if we did not feel the blow, how should we look up to the hand that smites us? How should afflicti­on lead us to godly sorrow, but by that sensible sorrow which is according to the world? that which is natural is first, and then that which is spiritual. Even world­ly sadnesse, and melancholly is a good dis­position to Devotion, and a fair degree to an humble temper. We find our Saviour weeping over Lazarus Grave, insomuch as the people could inferr thence, See how much he loved him. John 11.35, 36. I know no Divinity (but that which the Sword and the Spirit, unlike that which came in the shape of a Dove, hath framed in this latter age) that excludes humanity, but delights always to plant it self in soft breasts, and either makes or finds good nature. I find in the Catalogue, and Spawne of highest Crimes (which the [Page 11]dreggs of these last times should bring forth [...], want of natural affection, rec­koned 2 Tim. 33. and that joyn'd with Haters of God, Truce breakers, False Ac­cusers, unthankfull, cursed Speakers, ha­ving a shew of godlinesse, and denying the power thereof ( Rom. 1.30.) And the Apostle argues it strongly; How can he love God whom he hath not seen, who loves not his brother whom he hath seen?

So then, tis not only not unlawfull, but a duty to mourn with those that mourn, if you will receive the Apostles Prescripti­on, Rom. 12.15. It is in the Scripture no­ted as an extream judgement and curse on the wicked, Job 27.15. ( Ps. 78.64.) his Widows shall not weep, as either wan­ting leasure from other sorrows, or liberty from their cruel enemies, or oppressed with Gods sore displeasure, so far as to yeeld and acknowledge the just curse with silence, Jer 16.5.7. or else, having spent their tears and grief, and dryed up the foun­tain of sorrow, their very heart, Ezek. 24.16, [Page 12]17.22.23. that the heaviest judgement you shall not mourn nor weep, but shall pine away in your iniquity, and mourn one towards another, for one to comfort ano­ther, &c. Tears are the first office we do for our selves, and the last for others.

They may not please themselves, that can with dryest eyes behold the sicknesses, the losses, the Funerals of Friends, as who had attain'd a greater measure of Religion or Discretion, or the Spirit, or who had subdued their desires to a perfecter Resig­nation, and submission to Gods will. Let them question themselves whether this Apathy, this stoutness, proceeds not from a spirit void of sense and natural affection, and not from an humble Resignation to the Providence and pleasure of God; whe­ther this calm arise not alike to that of the dead Sea, from a curse?

2. On the other side, Though Religi­on forbids not mourning, yet it forbids us to mourn as those that have no hopes; Though it excludes not all grief, yet it mo­derates [Page 13]our grief, and teacheth us to turne our sadness to an holy sorrow, our melan­cholly to devotion, and convert our dis­contents to repentance. Religion other­wise will require us to weep our Carnal Tears over again, when they flow either from immoderate or mere worldly sor­row. Hence then we are to enquire,

3. How farr we are to mourn? For what, and how we are to grieve? and and that either in regard of the Object, or Measure of our grief.

1. In regard of the measure of our grief, we are so far to mourn, as we joyn prayers with our tears; so far, (which is the true measure of all our passions, by which we may discern when they are immoderate) as not to indulge fruitless tears and com­plaints, instead of real duties. When our passions hinder not the free use of reason and Religion, and take not up the place of other Services; when they cause us not [Page 14]to omit the Evening Sacrifice, as Aaron did upon grief for the death of his two Sons, Nadab and Abihu, Lev. 10. ult. which yet Moses is said to be content with, and God to permit, not that he indulgeth more the extremities of this passion, (which most banisheth the sense of Humanity or Piety) but in regard of some holy Reflection in this his greif, that included some sorrow for the scandal and breach of Gods wor­ship. This may be some cause why God would not permit his Priests that naturall Affection, to mourn for any friends, but their nearest kin, Lev. 21.2. Lest it should make them lesse holy, God would have them less humane then others. He would have them esteem no relation so near to them, as that of God, and his Ser­vice; He suffers them not to grieve for the loss of any thing, while they may, in so near a distance, enjoy God; the reason is alleaged verse 6. In them it is interpreted Profane­ness, what in others were but a commen­dable affection, and sign of a good nature; [Page 15]seeing sorrow indulg'd, must needs bring with it some distraction in Religion. The Heaviness of heart for Christs departure, caus'd the Disciples to sleep, when they should have watched and pray'd. St. Gregory breaks off his Comment on Ezeki­el, to write Epitaphs on his Son; as Aaron omits the evening sacrifice, or a great part of the Ceremonie, at his Sons death.

2 In regard of the object; we are to mourn for sins first, and then for afflictions, sicknesses, deaths, as the Effects and Consequents of sin. So that death, and o­ther evils, are the improper and seconda­ry objects of sorrow, Sin the onely proper object of grief, and just cause of tears;

Because, 1st, Sin is the only evil, John 17.15. being the cause of all other evils: and without which, miseries themselves are not miserable, but are turned to the in­nocent to Exercises of their graces, and oc­casions of redoubled Rewards and Glo­ries.

2. Sorrow in other evils; save in sins [Page 16]only, is useless, and brings no proper re­medy, but adds more disquiet to our trou­bles. Our tears naturally fall upon our breasts, as it were to wash the stains of that part; and are not to be wasted over graves, that may save souls. Our tears ('twas the complaint of St. Chrys [...]stome) are most a­bus'd by us; wee lavish and spend them where they are not availeable on outward evils, or over the dead. We seldom (saith he) weep in the right place.

But, as sins first deserve our sorrow, so affliction and misery, the consequents of sin, more sensibly provoke our griefs, and are indeed the just, but secondary cause and objects of Sorrow. Whence Sicknesses and Deaths are to be considered & look'd on as the wages (nothing surer than the Hirelings wages) the effects and consequents of Sin.

For first, so Sin and Affliction in Scri­pture are both represented under the name of Death. Open my eyes, O Lord, that I sleep not in death; that is, in Sin that leads unto [Page 17]Death, Ps. 13.3. Pray unto the Lord to take away this death only, Exod. 10.17. that is, the plague of Vermin, that did not so much threaten to destroy, as to disquiet Pharoabs life; In the Prophet, ( Ezek. 7.) sword without, and death within, is threatned, when Famine, Plague, and other messen­gers of death are denounced, whereupon the wise man concludes safely, Prov. 8.38. He that loves sin, loves death.

2. To look on Affliction otherwise, as not sent by providence, either to punish or to discipline us: as the Fiery Tryal, either to refine and purge, to better us, or to con­sume us: as the Wind, either to fanne or to scatter us utterly; is to look on them no otherwise than the Heathen, as Chances, and the casual events of the Fates. Thus to bear them as things of course, without any thoughts of Sin, is to say that afflictiō riseth out of the dust, or (what is a blas­phemy God less endureth) That God willingly grieveth the children of men, ( Jupiter non nocet, nisi ut prosit, Sen.)

From this consideration, (that Death and all other evils, are the effects and con­sequents of Sin) will follow these father Inferences.

1. Against security in health or youth, that as Death came into the world by Sin, so it came over all the world, in that all have sinned: that we may not wonder when we find Children conceived in Sin should have death bequeathed to them, before they are well entred into life. Whence they which are not marks large enough for any of Deaths darts, for any wound, are yet wounded so often by it, and find their grave in the womb, that e­ven the Child that is not grown to Davids span, is yet old enough to die. No securi­ty in any place or state of life, while we car­ry about us, not a body only, but a soule temper'd with contrary and corrupt hu­mors, and a body of sin and death, as well as of flesh. We may conclude with the A­postle, Rom: 8.10. The body is dead through sin. VVhat wonder if so many are cut off [Page 19]in the flower of their strength, e're they well know how to live, and lesse how to die. 'Tis the sinner, not the sick or a­ged person, dies. Paradice alone had the tree of Life in it; when Adam was cast out of that, into this our Farth, he brought nothing but Death, and the Emblemes of Mortality: See him no sooner faln, than cast out of Paradice, a flaming sword, and a destroying Angel driving him from the Tree of Life: the skins of Beasts, that is, Mortality it self serving to cover him; and at last he condemn'd to dig continually the earth, and to prepare his own Grave; His posterity ever since feeding their Luxury, and sustaining their life with the death of birds and beasts (mortibus vescimur) doth not he seem to have planted in this our earth the tree of Death? whereon all the fruits perish, e'r they come to maturity, some in the bud, others in the growth. VVe passe through so many deaths to Eternal life: from the womb of the mother, of the world, of the earth, to heaven. In the midst of life we [Page 20]are in death, and like sentenc'd persons, under a reprieve, however we are permit­ted to live, yet to enjoy no certaintie of life, as not knowing when we may be called forth to execution. VVhile we walk upon earth, we alwayes tread over our graves, and know not whether our next step may bring us into it. For our bed is made in the dark, and our graves lie ready open for us, but as pits covered with snow.

2 Against impatience, or Immoderat sor­row. If sin brings forth death, we are to cō ­sider death as an evil, not so much inflicted by God, as drawn upon our selves by our own deserts, & as it were our own choice; and therefore with more patience to be in­dured, Wisd. c. 1.13, 16. God made not death ( adeo non est creatione, sed ordinatione aut ultione in poenam peccati, he fram'd it not, he meant it not for a creature, but ordain'd it for a punishment of his disobedient crea­ture) for then should the great work-man have destroy'd his own works, which yet he allow'd to be good; the Creator [Page 21]should have been the Abbaddon, [...], the Confounder of his own creature; but death was the creature of Mans Invention, and as his own brood, makes way for its birth, like the Viper; by eating through the en­trails of the Parent.

3. Against fear of death as well as sorrow, that as other Afflictions, so death in its self is not simply evil, and there­fore not simply to be fear'd or mourn'd, but in reference to sin, the sting of death is sin. Sin alone makes death deadly, and miseries miserable. Death, like those crea­tures. which take their colours from the place to which they cleave (as the Polypus and Camaeleon) becomes good or evill, as the persons are to whom it happens: It is the voice from Heaven, could our dull earth be perswaded to hear it, that they are blessed who die in the Lord, What is it then we mourn for? either our friends losse? who is more blessed by dying in the Lord ( Rev. 14.13.) who hath exchang'd the company of helpless friends, for the so­ciety [Page 22]of Angels, the Valley of Tears for the Regions of Joy; and (in a word) Earth for Heaven: or do we mourn (which is the truth if we would put off out mourn­ing Veil) our own loss of a friend? a loss of a content, of an Instrument of Gods Provi­dence, which still remains the same, and retains the same power and goodness, to supply as great contents as it hath taken a­way:

Whence will follow the last considera­tion in this point of moderating our grief.

4. Having ordered aright out sorrows, the better to moderate them, we are to learn from David how to dry up our Tears, How to comfort our selves in the death of friends?

1. From their happy Fate and conditi­on, the hope of a better life, whereof we receive any signs or assurances at their death. This was Davids main comfort here, I shall goe to him, &c. the Child had got the Goal before him. David that [Page 23]wept so impatiently for Absolon, wept not at all for this his dear infant, begot indeed in sin, but dying in innocence (David par­ricidam Absolonem) mortuum flevit, non Innocen­tem, fletur sceleratus, non fletur Dilectus, Am­bros de f. Res c. 4.) Now the hopes of salvation are the surest and infallible in baptized children. They are undoubtedly sav'd saith our Church. And the Scripture assures by infinite arguments of it, that to little children belongeth the Kingdom of Heaven. For by Baptism having put on Christ, having past the laver of Regene­ration, having drown'd the old man in Christs blood and death, and rais'd the new man, wash'd and cleans'd out of water, as it were to present Resurrection (seeing God saves by water the new world, as he destroyed the old, and that none could perish in the Ark) whereof Baptism is the Antitype, (so St. Peter) how can we doubt but that Christ receives them into his Arms in Heaven, as well as on Earth? and that they must needs be [Page 24]admitted into Paradice, who bring that innocence thither, which Adam lost? Next to Children, our Hopes are most comforta­ble of those, who have come nearest those little ones, and pass'd their days in a Child-like Innocence and simplicity; ha­ving no opinions, no affections of their own; but what their Heavenly Father di­rects. These we part with upon the ea­siest Terms,

(Ut praemissos non amissos) as only gone before, Profectio est quam putas mortem. cur mode­ratè feras abiisse, quent mox subsequeris [Tert. de pat.] Bre­vis vitae­ususnec illi multum videtur e­ripuisse, nec tibi distu­lisse. [Amb.] Res. c. 3. not taken away from us, as one absent and retired to a warmer Clime and happier Region, not lost, not dead; And why dost thou so impatiently bear his de­parture, whom thou art ere long to fol­low? For he whom thou persecutest thus with sad thoughts, is but divided from thee by a short Isthmas (the breadth of the Grave) a narrow scantling and space of Time, some fews dayes or moneths, or at most some few years, which are either taken from him, or reserv'd to thee. Con­ceive then the blessed Spirits departed in [Page 25]the Lord, crying out from heaven to you, Weep not for us, but weep for your selves, who yet live in the Regions of Death, in the Borders of Sin and misery. Why do ye parents forbid the Children to come unto Christ? Can ye believe the Mothers em­braces softer than the Arms of their Savi­our? Are they not much happier in A­brams Bosom, than in the Parents Lapp? If you have lost a Child on earth, you have brought forth a Saint now in Heaven. Ubertim fluentes la­chrimas reprime, ne grandis pi­etas in ne­potem apud incredulas mentes de­speratio put etur in Deum. De­siderandus est [...]ibi, quasi ab­sens, non quasi mor­tuus, &c. — Illum expectare, non ami­sisse vide­aris. [Her. Ep. 24. ad Hebrid.] Why do ye (ô Friends) put on Blacks for them, who have put on their white Robes? Why shed ye tears for them, whose tears are wip'd from their eyes? VVhy such Groans and Lamentations for thē, whose mouthes are filled with songs and praises, to him that sitteth on the Throne, & to the Lamb for ever and ever? This is not kindnesse, but Envy, or some misapprehension; or misbelief of their present condition. You grieve not thus for a Friend preferr'd to a­nother Kingdom. Jacob turn'd his Tears into Joy, when he received his Son Joseph [Page 26]as from the dead; testor'd not to life only, but to a Throne, Gen. 45.27.

2. A secondary Comfort from the state irrevocable, unalterable, remediless, where­by David rather chides and reproves (vio­lently stifling and suppressing his grief, as vain and unprofitable) than lenifieth or healeth it. Wherefore should I now fast? Can I bring him again? Can the consu­ming of my flesh restore his? Can my pra­yer lend breath to the deceased? Can my howlings, like the Lioness, revive the young One? And if I beat my breast, is there any Hopes, that, as the Pelican by piercing her breast, I may restore to life? How can tears, that cannot make the strew­ed flowers grow again, revive the interr'd Carkass? No hopes now; the Spirit is re­turned to God that gave it, and no wrest­ing it out of his hands; The Plant dies in the ground, and yet through the scent of the water buds again; but Man dyeth and wasteth away, without hopes of spring­ing again, till the earth be no more, Jeh [Page 27]14, 8, 9, 10, &c. Hee's gone, hee's gone past recall. No remedy. [VVe came not alto­gether, we must not go away together; what cannot be help d, must be endured. These are the Common Cordials of vul­gar Comforters. But what if your grief in the same Impatience with Augustus, shall reply, as he did to his Daughter Julia, thus comforting him (Sir, Your Com­plaints cannot recall, cannot help, but trou­ble you, all is past remedy) that is it which grieves chiefly, That there is no remedy, no cure of the wound, no Recovery of the Losse.

Add then to these uncertain Comforts of Reason, which are as easily confuted by a more peevish and sullen Reason, that is apt to dispute for its passions,

3. A third comfort, from a Religious submission to God; For, as Reason com­mands us to yield to Necessity: So Reli­gion bows us perfectly to stoop with wil­lingness to this Necessity, as it proceeds from Gods Providence and Mercy, orde­ring [Page 28]even out Losses to our good. Here is that forcible Masterer of our sorrow to a necessary submission to the power of the Almighty, which we foolishly provoke while we resist.

2. A voluntary Resignation (shall I say to the Providence and mercifull disposing) or even to the holy will of God, now manifestly declared by the event; for as his other will is revealed in his Word, to be the rule of our life and actions; so this Ordering; Governing, Over-ruling Will, revelata factis, discovers Gods secret pur­poses, by the visible effects, and issues of things, to be the rule of our passions and sufferings. Do we dayly profess to God, Thy will be done, and now it appears to be particularly Gods will (seeing nothing is brought to passe in Heaven or in Earth without the will of him that ruleth over all) why doe we not give the Lord leave to do what he will in Heaven and Earth, whom we so often standing professe the Maker of Heaven and Earth? what Athe­isme [Page 29]now possesseth us, because Gods will crosseth ours, to stick at last to pro­nounce with good Eli (in as hard a case, as great a loss as any we can complain of, the utter ruine of his family and Excision from the Priesthood, the loss of two sons and the Ark of God at once) It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good unto him.

3. There is yet a greater reason of thy Resignation in this Case; in that God hath the propriety and right, the Soveraign Do­minion of all, we only the short use. If God recall but his own Gift, what Injury, what so great cause of complaint? May not God as well take the Child away from the Mother, to whom it was committed only to breed up in the fear of God, as the Mother takes it home from the Nurse? 'Tis call'd to a better home, what Relati­on or Title soever thou canst plead in the dear loss, Whether thy Husband, thy Child thy Father, Brother, or thy friend (which is as thy own soul) God pleads a nearer claim, his Creature, his Image, his Mem­ber, [Page 30]the price of his redemption, &c. his by many Titles, his even before he was, and his when he shall not be.

3 Duty or Inquiry, How we are from the present sense of anothers death, to pre­pare for our own.

1. Prepare by a tender and watchfull apprehension of all those Memento's and Remembrances of Mortality, wherewith God and Nature dayly allarum us, so that nothing is more frequently repre­sented, howsoever nothing be less thought on than death, and we at last complain of a surprisal; Like to the Man in the old story, who had covenanted with death, that he should before his last stroak give some warning, with a Finger at least lift up; and yet after many funerals of his friends, and many parcel-funerals, and decayes of his own body and senses, being to die, required some other Messen­gers and Fore-runners of his end, and chal­lenged Death for not knocking at the door [Page 31]before he entred, only because he would not hear the knocks.

Amongst the many Remembrances of death, So the Captain of fifty seeing the other Captains consum'd by str [...], foll upon his face, with I pray thee let my life be pre­cious in thy sight, 2 Kings 1 13. the most sensible and sharp admo­nitions towards this preparation, are soun­ded to us by the Last groans of our expi­ring friends, as by the last Trump, that Grave which buries part of our Souls with their bodies, must needs call some of our thoughts that way. And how few are there amongst us that have lived half the age of man, that hath not out-lived half his Family or Acquaintance. That conti­nued Felicity of the Grecian Prince, to pass an whole age without the losss of one Friend, was a glory or boast not to be se­conded by many. Now the first prepara­tive for death, is the premeditation of it. Death, like the Basilisk, losing its sting and force, being first seen and viewed by us.

2 Prepare, not only by a weariness and contempt of life, and of the world, where­in you no longer find your Friend, but by a more comfortable Thought of going to [Page 32]him, and over-taking him. Prepare to fol­low. If this could so sweeten Socrates last deadly draught, the Thought of passing to the society of Orpheus, Homer, and the an­cient Sages, How much more should it make us gladly embrace death, that leads us to the society of Angels, and takes us not away, but restores us to our Friends, and to the Spirits of Just men, made perfect by the Vision of the most Holy One? Especi­ally if we consider, that the Friends we go away to, are much more than those we part from. VVe are gatherd to our Fa­thers.

3 Prepare, by casting aside all that makes Death bitter or terrible unto us. Now we fear death (saith the Monk, on Climacus) for one of these two Causes; either because we love this present Life, or Distrust a bet­ter. So Reuben, Gad, and Manasse, did chuse their seat on this side Jordan, because they saw the ground fit for pasture, Num. 32 5. Some there are unwilling to leave their Pastures, and Cattel, for all the beasts [Page 33]and houses Divines or Astrologers talk of in heaven. Some, with St Peter, con­founded with the Glories, and bright Ho­nours of the world, cry out in an Extasie, It is good to be here, let's here fix our Taberna­cle; but the Text tells us, He knew not what he said, being dazled with the glo­rious light, Luke 9.33. Others, that with the Apostles betray a fear of storms, and the danger of death, though Christ be in the storm with them, deserve Christs check, O ye of little faith, what are you afraid of? So that our whole work of Preparation is reduc'd to these two points,

that we strive to leave the world, its noise, and vanities, before we depart out of it. Look on the earth, and all his Comforts, as passengers in swift streams, still fleeting and parting from us, or we from it; and as Sojourners or Pilgrims abstain from flesh­ly lusts, never fix our delight in a pleasant way, or Inne, which is suddenly to be quit­ted. [Page 34]And seeing no distance can hinder us, more than the banish'd Jews, from tur­ning our faces towards the heavenly Jeru­salem, let us (that we may be able with the Martyrs of old, to refuse Life, in hopes of a better Resurrection) lay hold on Eter­nal life, before this life fail us; lay hold by a lively faith on the hands of our Savi­our, stretch'd out to receive us, and lay that sure foundation for the time to come, of Good Works, that best preparative to a good death, a good life.

Let us not rest, till we have brought our Souls to that temper of the good Hea­then, [Summan, nec metuas diem, nec optes,] neither to fear, nor desire, over-passionate­ly the day of our change, or rather to this Resolution of St. Paul, Phil. 1.21, 22, 23, 24. If I live, I shall do well; if I die, I shall do better. To me to live is Christ, To die is Gain.

And now that we may with David rise from our sorrow, and wash our faces with tears of Joy, in the thought of this Vir­gin, [Page 35]who is not lost, but gone before us to that place, whither we all strive to follow: Let us reflect on that principal Comfort, the hopes of that life, however lost on earth to us, yet recover'd in heaven being hid with Christ. While your Eyes over­flow with tears, being fixed on the Corps, on the Mantle here dropt below, send your thoughts beyond your sight, after the better part, ascended above to the Hea­vens, as we have great cause to believe and hope, by the assurances of eternal life in this Virgin departed? And what greater assurance can there be? ‘If (in the words of the Church) we are to know for a truth, Preface be­fore the Catechism. and it is certain by Gods word, that Children being baptized have all things necessary for their salvati­on, and are undoubtedly saved.’ How much more this child? who was blessed with a Lois, and an Eunice, that gave her a Bible for the first thing to play withall, and taught her first to lisp the language of Canaan, before she could speak her [Page 36]Mothers Tongue, who even with her milk suck'd in the sincerer milk of the word. As they write of the blessed Virgin Mary, that at three years she entred the Temple, offer'd her self as a living Sacri­sice at the Altar; warm'd her hands and her heart at the holy flame, and made Religion her pastime before the vanities of the world, or the pleasures of sin could seduce her; so was this Virgin brought by her Parents to the Temple (as it were af­ter her Saviours steps) to ask of the Do­ctors the way of life, even before she could firmly walk in it. She learn'd Repentance ere she knew what it was to Sin; She first began the life of Grace, ere she at­tain'd the full life of Nature, and had her Senses exercised in the knowledge of Good and Evil, before she could distin­guish the degree of bravery and Pride. She yeelded her self to be regulated by Religi­on, before she could be abused by sense or reason. Her first care was not her Dress, or Looks, but her pensum quotidianum de [Page 37]flore Scripturarum (as St. Hierom directs, Laetal. l. 2. Ep.) her dayly task out of the choicest Scripture, to sanctifie her memo­ry, as well as her Affections.

Instead of wanton Songs she repeated the Psalms (which was an ability requi­red to make a Divine in the Primitive times) but was it not strange in those ten­der years? she had not only strength and force to hold Davids Harp, but to tune it: when others of her soft age would call for a Companion, she cryed out, come Lord Jesu, come quickly! and I pray thee help thy servant, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood.

What can we imagin, but that she (who breath'd her first air in Devotion, and her last in Prayers, who was sealed to eternal life by Baptisme, and kept in the assurance and blessed hope thereof by a pious educa­tion) had gained the Love of our Saviour, much sooner than the young man, who had observed all that God commanded e­ven from his youth, though not so perfect­ly [Page 38]as he conceived. In summe, she was brought up One of the Order of St. Pauls Virgins, who from her Infancy onely ca­red for the things of the Lord.

And here, might it be safe to expostu­late with the Almighty, I should aske, Why these Graces that are not to be recei­ved in vain by us, or rather Offer'd than Given? Why so fair characters, that others might take copies from, thus immediately blotted out, and dust thrown on them? VVhy doth God delight to crop such fra­grant flowers in the bud, ere they are fully blown?

Is it that the unwholsom Air, or rude Touch might not fully them? Indeed so we read some hastily snatched out of the world, as out of a Pest-house, Ne malitia corrumperet Intellectum, before Malice or Vanity should infect their minds. Some are taken away out of a special Love and Tenderness of God; because there is some good Thing in them towards the Lord God: as Jeroboams son, 1 Kings 14.13. Is it [Page 39]to shew that we have here no abiding Ci­ty? that this world is but our Tyring room, or stage, where some Mute persons are brought in onely for Number or shew, meerly to passe over the Stage, and so serve to grace it, even in the Passage, not unlike Angelical apparitions.

Or is it (as a devout pensive VVriter ob­serves) that God trains us, as we do our children, by giving them gay and preci­ous things, but demanding them immedi­ately again, to try our Submission, whe­ther we could with Abram, yield up, sa­crifice a child at Gods call, and give thanks with Job to God, even when he resumes his Gifts — (The Lord giveth, and the Lord ta­keth away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Let not this yet discourage Parents from making their Children fit for Heaven and the society of Angels; But rather shame those careless and indulgent Parents. (Pa­rents indeed, as the Apostle terms them, afte rthe flesh, as who had no share in the [Page 40]Soul) who being forward to surrender to God in Baptism, by a most holy Vow, the Children they received from him, are not yet afraid (with Ananias and Saphira) to withdraw that they had once devoted to the Lord: and neglect the teaching them to keep their Vow, as religiously at least as formal Nuns would. VVill they not allow that Diligence that senselesse Creatures use in trayning and practising their young ones? seeing we bring them forth as deformed and mishapen in the sight of God, as any ugly Lumps of flesh the Bear is said to whelp; Shall we deny them the labour of our Tongues, to instruct them, and to lick them into shape? Ha­ving betray'd them to a life of Sin and Mi­sery, Ought we not in conscience, in Equi­ty, procure them that other life of grace and glory? Let the Duty or the Shame, the Terror or the Comfort, answerable to the Education of your Children, move you to express your Affection in this pious Care of providing a richer stock of manners, [Page 41]then of Fortunes, and hopes of a more la­sting Inheritance. St. Hierom observes from Ezekiel 18.28. The Sonne shall not bear the iniquity of the Father, nor the Father the iniquity of the Son.—That this only frees and secures the Parents in these Children, that yet arrive not to the use of Reason, that live not on their own score, that have no proper Motion of their own, but (as the Parents limbs) what the Pa­rents derive to them: in these the Parents negligence, or sinfull Indulgence makes them (who are said to live again in their Children) to perish rather in their sinfull courses, and to invert the threat of the Commandement, that the sins of the 3 and 4 Generation shall be visited and a­venged on the Parents, who have propa­gated those sins, by their loose neglect or example: On the other side the joy of those shall be redoubled and multiplyed with their seed, who being not more am­bitious to enlarge their Family than the [Page 42]Houshold of the Faithfull, or to propagate their own name more than Gods, may with boldness present themselves with their righteous seed, at the Throne of God; Be­hold us, and the Children that thou hast given us. These are they that may with more comfort lose their Children at Gods Call, than others enjoy them amidst other frail possessions, and uncertain contents of this life, seeing children so lost, are not to be accounted lost; Whence (the Father observes) Job having by his pati­ence merited a double Restitution of all his other losses, had not his Children re­doubled, for they are not taken away, they are only secured in the hands of God, and sent as pledges before us, to be more happily recovered and enjoyed for ever, when some shall be gathered to their Fa­thers, and others more gloriously gather'd to their Children, whom they are to fol­low, first in their Innocence, then in their Inheritance and Happiness; That [Page 43]Kingdom of Heaven which none shall enter that are not like unto those little Children. To both which God fit us, and then hasten his Kingdom! Even so, sweet Jesu, come quickly. Amen.