HONOVRABLE, mournefull, wor­thy Auditory

I stande heere, as that ama­zed servaunt of Elias, crying & lamenting for my MASTER feeling the paine, fearing the pe­rill of his losse; Ps. 19.5. ô what a thunder­bolt of astonishment is it to vs all, that the sunne, comming forth as a bridegroome, out of his chamber, and reioicng as a Gyant to runne his course, should set even before the Meridian and mid­day! it is a thought that beates the breath out of my body and makes my soule ready to fly from mee: yet seeing it is your owne desire and expectation that wee should frequently gather to these sad, and solemne ex­ercises in this holy place of this house of mourning, though my worthy Colleagues sicknesse and mine owne weakenesse might be Apologies, I forbeare rather the excuse then the exercise, seeing Apologies be as obvious as odious, not only Heralds to blaunch, but vshers to blame such delinquencie.

You haue heard how our Saviour his servants, his disciples, dayly waiters, were scattered;Mat. 26.13. in the same chap­ter, [Page 2]I finde smal argument of comfort for these distressed dispersed soules, but at the same time, as may be colle­cted out of S. Iohn, our Saviour comforteth his ser­vants thus,Ioh. 16.22. Yee are now in sorrow but I will see you againe, and your harts shall reioice: which meditation now hath moved me,Gen. 8. to bring you an Oliue braunch, in these waues and waters of sorrow, not thereby to wish an end, to your mourning, but to season it that it may be better and stronger, Gen. 8 8. Mat. 3.16. and hereafter more for your plea­sure, more for your profit: when the Arke was on the waters the Doue was sent out, when Christ was in the waters the Doue was sent downe,Greg. in Moral. Columba est spiritus consolationis saith Gregory, the Doue representeth the spirit of comfort, and when the flood is come to full tide, the Doue shall be sent that the waters may cease, when sorrow is at full age, sweet wood must be cast into the bit­ter waters, Psal. 85.8. peace shall come saith the Prophet, Comfort shall haue a time, worldly contentments may end in bitternesse,Ioseph. Antiq. Iordan may runne a long race, sweetly and pleasantly, and afterwardes fall into the dead sea, and never recover it selfe againe, but the ioy, and comfort of Gods servants (notwithstanding all ecclipses) shall fi­nally never be obscured, Chrysost. times twins day and night shal be changed, the foure colours of the vaile of mans Tē ­ple, the Elements, shal be consumed, the soule and body of the world, Heaven and earth shal be destroyed, but the comforts of Gods children shal never be extinguished, you may beleeue him without an oath, but I haue sworne by my holynes saith the Lord, Psal. 89.25. 1. Kings. 19.12 I wil never forsake Dauid. As he dealt by Elias, to send first the whirlewind, [Page 3]then the Earthquake, then the fire, but then the small still voice, so hath he dealt with all his Prophets after all the threatnings, and thundrings, he sends messages of Consolation, by Esay thus, Comfort yee, Comfort yee, Esay. 40.1. Ier. 31.13. my people, will God say; By Ieremy thus, I will comfort them & giue them ioies for sorrowes; By Ezechiel thus,Ezek 14 22. yee shall be comforted concerning all the evill I haue brought vpon you; By Zachary thus, The Lord will yet comfort Syon, Zech. 1.17. & as Christ spake, so may COMFORT say, of me all the Pro­phets bare witnes: but among al Prophecies, none so cō ­fortable, none so watred with the dew of heaven, as the booke of Psalmes, this is the Spowses garden, Cant. 4.12.13 here be the lilies and roses, here be Apples and Pomegranats, and sweet fruits, here be the mirre, aloes, Cassia and sweet spices, here be the fountains of the gardē, wels of living water, the springs of Lebanon, sweet waters: every Psalm is as the foūt of Bethel, Basil. in. 1. Ps. & as Basil by experience speaks [...], every Psalme is a message of Peace, & embassage of mercy. Hence had the servāts of God in all ages the balme of Gilead to apply to their soares & sorrows.Euseb lib. 12. & prep. cap. 13. I need not tell you how many Prophets and Apostles in the old and new Testament haue vsed autho­rities hence,Euseb. or how Plato is by Eusebius reported to receaue instruction from this booke, or howe Babilas the Bishop, or Mauritius the Emperour seasoned the misery of their Martyrdome with a Cāticle of a Psalm, or how many holy Martyrs, all the ancient Fathers, all the Saints of God haue made blessed vse of this book, that begins with blessednesse, In Maz. & Cō ­cord. and containes nothing but blessednesse, being repeated in the Concreat 27. times [Page 4]in this one book, which like the tree that beareth fruit every month twelue times a yeare,Reu. 21. so the Church hath appointed every month that this booke bring forth fruit in due season,Ps. 1. and among all vses of Comfort our blessed Saviour hence commended his soule sent vp in a Psalme vnto his father, Father into thy handes I com­mend my spirit.

This Psalme I haue taken vp for your vse, in this sad and sable time, it is the first of all the Psalmes in or­der, though not in number, it was made 300. years be­fore David or this booke were extant; for when Moy­ses the man of God,Deut. 32. had passed the Meridian of his life,Mart. in. Is. being now in the after-noone of his age, seeing & foreseeing the night of death approaching, Gods hea­vy indignation encreasing, Israell stil disobeying, he en­treth into the consideration of mans transitory stati­on, shewing how many waves are ready to devour this little Ile of man, how he is turned to destruction, scattered and consumed, cut downe,Psal 90. dryed vp and wi­thered: our misdeeds (saith Moses) are before thee, our sins are in the fight of thy countenance, our yeares are a tale that is told, our strength is but labour and losse, so farre you see mans sunne is in the Ecclipse, here is nothing but lachrymae & suspiria, teares, sighes, sobs, & sorrows, deploration, lamentation, fit meditations for our soules. But behold what followeth,Amb. O turne thee vnto vs a­gaine, O be gratious, O teach vs, O satisfie vs, O comfort vs, O shew vs the light of thy countenance, O prosper thou the workes of our hands vnto vs, O prosper thou our handy workes. Here be preces & vota, praiers and Consolations, [Page 5]amulets of comfort, the Sunshine in brightest lu­stre and splendor. Our of those fiue stones that David tooke out of the brooke, he vsed but one,1 Sam. 17.40. so out of all these I haue singled this singular petition for consola­tion. Comfort vs now, according as thou hast afflicted vs. And my harty desire is as that of S. Austin in the like kinde, Deus faciet hunc textum tam commodum, Aust. quam ac­commodatum, God grant it may be as fruitfull and pro­fitable as it is fit and commendable for these sorrowfull seasons. The text it selfe is a praier; and a praier you know is a present helpe in trouble, it is the language of heaven, it is a messenger as speedy as happy, faithfull for speed, fruitfull for successe, and partaketh much of om­nipotencie, no hinderance of the way, no difficulty of the passage can hinder, Praier dispatches in a minute all the way betwixt heaven and earth, and as a fiery chariot mounteth into the presence of the Almighty to seeke his assistance: Si in terrore mentis, si in agone mortis, if in any anxiety of mind, if in any agony of mortality▪ Chrys. thou fly to this Tower here bee the armes and Armory of the strong men, it is the incense of the Church, it is the spikenard of the Tabernacle, it was Moses rod,Can. 5 5. Exod. 30.34. Exod 17 5. Iam 5.17. it was Eli­as key, it was to Iacob his sword and bow, it was to Dauid his sling and speare, so is Praier in generall; and this one text in particular, to make no more excursions, is as the Angell that came down into the poole of Shiloa, it is a healing praier, a praier never is more necessary then now, especially this kind of praier, Comfort thou vs now according as thou hast afflicted vs. [Comfort thou] thou hast plagued, as in the former verse, Thou turnest [Page 6]man to destruction, turne thou, therefore vnto vs a­gaine, it is the same God, vulnus opem (que) tulit, he casteth downe and raiseth, killeth and quickneth, scattereth & ga­thereth, plagueth and comforteth. [Comfort thou] God is Lord of the soile, as well of the waters of Mara as the waters of Shiloa. Comfort thou vs now, The eies of vs all looke vp and trust in thee, thou givest vs meate in due season, O giue vs comfort in due season, in this needfull time of trouble,Divisio. now that sorrow cloathes vs, and mourning clowdes vs.

I might devide this fountaine into many streames, God plaging, Moses praying, the time when he praied, the cause why he praied, the manner how he praied, but I remēber that positiō to devide a litle into many parts, is to make every part lesse then it should, and the whole lesse then it selfe. 2 ae Partes. My meditations shall only bee fixed vpon these 2. The Comforts desired, and persons afflicted, and of these in that order.

Comfort is the soule of a Christians soule, the swee­test Companion, that ever accompanied mā in this vale of mortality, never did the dew of Hermon, so sweetly fall vpon the hil of Sion, as comfort when it is distilled into the distressed soule of a Christian. In our travaile through the wildernesse of SIN, hatefull for the name harmefull for the nature of the place, comfort is the fie­ry piller to lead vs through this wildernes of our wils, it is the brooke in the way to refresh vs, the Manna of the desert to feed vs, the Angell of the Lord to cōduct vs,Psal. 121. I may truely say as David in the Psalme, It is our defence vpon our right hand so that the sunne shal not [Page 7]burne vs by day nor the moone by night, it is even this that shall keepe our soule. The names of mercy & loue and grace and Peace, be pretious and glorious, Zeged. sweeter then hony and the hony combe, Ps. 19. more to bee desired then golde yea then fine gold, and where these bee there is truelie, The family of Loue: But I may saie, that Comfort is as much as all these,Greg. in Mor. in Iob. for as Gregory wri­ting vpon that, Manna habuit omne delectamentum, saith that no variety of delicacy, in the touch & rellish of the tast was wanting in that Angels food; and as the Opall resembleth in it selfe the firie lustre of the Car­buncle, the fieldy greenesse of the Emerauld, the heavēly cleerenesse of the Diamond, the aierie azure of the Sa­phire, so Comfort containeth in her regiment the effects of peace, the comforted soule is reconciled to God, it conteineth the adiuncts of grace, the soule is endowed with heauenly gifts, it containeth the protection of mer­cy, the soule is compassed with defence on every side: In a word it containeth in it, the affections of loue, the comforted soule loueth others as friends, God as a father, loueth his enimies for Gods sake, loueth affliction for hits owne sake, remission of sinnes, communion of Saints, protection of Angels, faith, hope, charitie, repen­tance, fasting, praying, obaying, all blessed spirits, all Tu­telar powers dwel in such a comforted sanctified soule, the soule is then like the Kings daughter all glorious within, her clothing is then of wrought gold. Shee shall be brought vnto the King in raiment of needle work, Ps 45.13. the virgins that be her fellowes shall keepe her company, so that soule, that is blessed with these fiue, Comfort, and [Page 8] Peace, and Grace, and mercy, and loue, is attended as Abi­gail when she went to meet David, shee was followed by her fiue virgins.1. King. 25.42 In the Canticles I finde that there is hortus conclusus, and fons signatus, a garden inclosed, & a fountaine sealed, in the Gospell I finde that there is Thesaurus absconditus, Chrys. Aug. Greg. a hidden treasure; I want not testimonies of some ancients applying there, both the fountaine sealed, and the Treasure concealed vnto comfort, for as the Lord only knoweth who are his, so they only that are his, knowe what his comfort is. To all others comfort is hortus conclusus, a Paradise closed vp, kept with the brandishing swords of two heavenly souldiers. These seeke and find not, because they seeke amisse,Mat. 7. they knock and it is not opened be­cause they knocke being not prepared.Aust. Non nisi post pluviam sequitur serenitas, sunshines be never so plea­sant and seasonable as after showres: Such as are not acquainted with sorrow neuer knew the mysterie of godly holy comfort, which is the Christians heauen vpon earth, ioy in life, hope in death, prosperitie in aduersitie, staffe in affliction, anker in desperation, brestplate of preservation, golden Chaine of glorification in the heavens. Which we hope to possesse in ioy, as the Saints doe now enioy in glorie.

Sorrow is the burden of euery Christian, Confidence is the shoulder to hold vp this burden, Comfort is the hand to help this shoulder, he that is without comfort in the world is without God in the world. If the well of Gods mercies bee deepe to him, and hee haue nothing to drawe, Eccl. 12. If the siluer cord be not lengthened, and the golden [Page 9]Ewer be broken, and the pitcher broken at the well, Bucer. and the wheele broken at the Cesterne, illic desolatio, non consolatio, to such there is miserie, and an vnspeakable degree, an vnmeasurable measure of miserie, they are dead being aliue as S. Paule speaketh, for the comfort of Gods holy spirit is taken from them. And how great a losse it is to loose Gods spirit, and to loose the comfort of Gods spi­rit, David mentioneth in the Psalme of his sorrowe,Ps. 51. when he ingeminateth O take not away thy holy spirit from me, O giue me the comfort of thy spirit. Hee found how great a curse this losse was to his Predecessor, for God tooke away the comfort of his spirit and an evill spirit came vpon Saul. Bernard. S. Bernard comparing the Re­pentance of David and Saul observeth, that when they both had sinned, and God had answered them both, the answere vnto both was, Dominus transtulit, the Lord hath taken away. Saul repenteth, and his word is Pec­caui, 1. Sam. 15.24. Dauid sinneth & repenteth, 1. Sam. 15. 2 Sam. 12. 1 Sam. 15. 2 Sam. 12. his word is Peccaui. 2. Sam. 12.13. The wordes of confession the same. The answere to Saul was Dominus transtulit, 1. Sam. 15.28. The answer to David was Dominus tran­stulit, 2. Sam. 12.13. They were both Kings, both sinned, both were warned byn="*" Sam. & Nath Prophets, both confessed, both repented, both were answered, their both words alike to the Prophet, their answers both alike in part from the Prophet, Dominus transtulit. Yet never so much diffe­rence between words as betweene these two answers, for to Dauid the answer was transtulit peccatum the Lord hath taken away thy sinne, but to Saul a double transtulit, but a curse with both Dominus transtulit [Page 10]regnum, the Lord hath taken away thy kingdome, 1. Sam. 15.26. againe,1. Sam. 15. Dominus transtulit spiritum, the Lord hath taken away his spirit 1. Sam. 16.14. This lat­ter was the greater, 1. Sam. 16. it was the plague, and the vtter o­verthrow of Saul, Gods spirit was taken from him, the sun was for ever ecclypsed to him, the life of his life was extinguished, his soule was dead within him, Dominus transtulit spiritum. David knewe this and remembred it O take not the comfort of thy holy spirit is his pray­er, he prayeth not, take not away my children, or my health, or my goods, or my subiects, but spiritum sanctū tuum ne aufer as à me. Psal. 51. In which words Athanasius pro­veth that Dauid doth manifest that the holy Ghost was knowne to the Iewes vnder the law, and especially by this place, which that father thus readeth [...], Take not from me that spirit of thine which is ho­ly, Athan. in Ep ad Scrap. long. & as that father expoundeth this place of the third person, Hier. in. Ps. 51. so S. Hierom vpon the words following, Giue me the comfort of thy salvation, againe proueth the knowledge of Christ foreknowne & foreseen by the Iews, for that father readeth it. Restore me the comfort or ioy Iesutui, and the Hebrew word there [...] is expounded by the learned in that tongue to be Iesus. But to the pur­pose.

Moses here, as Dauid there, sheweth that al comforts come from God: Take not the comfort of thy spirit, saith the one, O comfort thou vs, saith the other; from which this observatiō necessarily ariseth, No comforts are truly comforts, Obseru. vnlesse they be divine proceeding from God. No dew to Hermon, no ioy to heauen, no food to [Page 11]the Manna of God, no content to the mercy of God, Summa consolatio, saith S. Bernard, non à creatura, sed à creatore concipitur▪ quam cum conceperis nemo tollet à te, Bern. Ep. ad Vig. cui aliunde quodcun (que) comparatū, omnis iocūditas maeror est, omnis suauitas dolor est, omne dulce amarum est, omne postremò quod delectare potest molestum est; The chiefe comfort is that which is conceiued in the Creator not in the creature, vnto which whatsoever thou dost cō ­pare, all sweet is sower, all pleasure is paine, Gen. 3.16. Gen. 26 31. Rev. 17.4. all things that seeme delightsome, proue loathsome; Adams apple loo­sing the blessing, Esaws broth selling the birthright, Babylons cup full of poison, or Iudas sop the earnest of perdition: Mat. 24.23. the pleasures taken by them in the time of Noah, were ended in bitternesse, they were eating and drinking marrying and giuing in marriage, but saith the Text, The flood came and tooke them away. Iob. 21. & 24. The Rio­ters in Iob are described often especially in the 21. and 24. Chapters, but his sonnes might haue served for examples,Iob. 1.18. they were eating and drinking in their eldest brothers house, but saith the Text there came a winde from the wildernesse, and smote the house and it fell vpon the young men. Or if there be not curses vpon these assimilated comforts,Iob. 15. yet some crosse or other wil fall vpon them; Braunches may be greene saith Iob, but they fal of before their daies, the sweet vine may haue sower grapes, or the faire oliue may cast her flowers. Adās Para­dise notwithout a serpent, Ionas guord notwithout a worme to destroy & engaster it in the most time of vse of it. Whereas true, solid, real, cōforts they shal never be divorced, or sequestred frō Gods Saints, they will e­ver [Page 12]looke vpon them with a mutuall, reciprocall, in­terchangeable aspect, as the cherubins from the mercy seate; they will ever be inseparable individuall compa­nions, peregrinantur, Pro Arch. Poet rusticantur, as the Orator spake of Arts, these divine comforts, will sleepe and feede, and travell, and liue and die, with those that be possessed of them. How therefore are the gallants of the world, as well passiue as actiue guls, in this that they suffer thē ­selues to be cheated by becomming slaues to the plea­sures of the world,Tit. 3 3. as S. Paule to Titus calleth thē! they beleeue Sathan vpon his offer, and beleeue not God vpon his oath, wheras Sathā promiseth to some that which he cā not, to others that which he wil not giue, to some seeming to giue what is not his, to others giving that which were better not theirs. Moyses in his last fare­well to the world, considers this, & lamenteth for his people,Deut. 32.29. o that they were wise, then they would cōsider this, they would remember the later end; it is the end, that doth giue grace, to every action, the world could not be possessed with a generall witchcraft, if they cō ­sidred the end:Innocentius. they then might finde, that of Innocen­tius true, that al sublunary passages, had either a vaine, a vile, or a wicked obiect, ex opibus prava, ex voluptati­bus turpia, ex honoribus vana, Honours make men vaine, pleasures make men vile, riches make men servile: wret­chednesse and wickednesse beget these, vanity and servi­litie attend these, sinne brings them in, shame leads thē out, and when the world hath beene glutted with thē, the Apostles question is what comfort haue yee in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed?

[Page 13] I will end amplyfying of this point, if before wee leaue the Court, wee may be bold to go through the best and bravest roomes therein and see, now our MASTER is gone, whether any thing can giue vs a sure, and setled comfort, nay, I say more, whether any thing re­maining may giue vs any manner of content. At the best state of Court, he spake true that said, Paucos beauit Aula, plures perdidit, & quos beavit ipsos perdidit, Bern. ad. Eugen at the best state Courtly offices are consciences burdens, and favours bondslaues; courtly services, daily attendances, howrely encombrances; courtly feeding, the bodies sur­fet, and the souls surquedry; courtly cloathing, wormes excrements, wormes make them, moathes eate thē: courtly friends, affections weathercocke, a Northwinde settles them, & a Southwinde turnes them; courtly hopes they be the aires attomes, a sunshine engenders them, and a frost kils them. This house of this Court where wee thought, Comfort had said, as God sometimes spake, here will I dwell for ever, this house now is the prison of our sorrow, as our bodies be the prison of our soules, wee sit here as Rahell sate,Ier. 32.15. Mat. 3.18. weeping and weeping refusing cō ­fort, so that vnlesse comfort come frō God, who is the God of all cōfort as the Apostle speaketh, we may sit here, til our eies fal into the holes of our heads, & we our selues become as stupid as the seats wee sit on: wherefore beloved let vs all take vp this Petition, this part of my Text, Comfort thou vs now O Lord.

Vse. And seeing that God is the author of Comfort, & not only so Deus Consolationis, but Deus omnis consola­tionis the God of all consolation, & that we may take [Page 14]the wings of the morning and fly into the vttermost parts of the earth we may travell from the East to the West, even to the nethermost partes of the sea and not obtaine Comfort, but only from God. Let our vse here­of be that of Martiall, Martial. Episc. Quid ad nos consolatio mundi? what doth the pleasure of the world belong to vs? the world is vices nurse, Natures stepmother, vertues mur­therer, it is Thefts refuge, whordomes Pander, Nil mū ­dum in mundo, the comfort of the world, is a Strens song,Philo. Sodoms fruit, [...] as Philo calleth it, a bitter sweet, pleasure a spurre, riches a thorne, honour a blast life a flower, glory a feather, beauty a fancy, ioy a frenzy, every one of these like the book in the Revelatiō, sweet in the mouth, bitter in the belly. The mercy-seat stood not in atrio Gentium nor in Templo Iudaeorum, nor neere Altare sacerdotum, but in Sancto Sanctorum, in the holy place: Comforts be ever in scripture either attributed to God, or derived from him, God is the God of comfort 2. Cor. 1.3.2 Cor. 1.3. Christ Jesus the Saviour sent to comfort, Esay 61.2. The holy Ghost is the comforter▪ Ioh. 16.7. His An­gels deliver glad tidings of comfort, Ioh. 16.7. Luk 2.10. Esay. 40 1. Luke. 2 10. His Pro­phets are commanded to pronounce comfort, Esay. 40.1. The office of his Apostles was to teach comfort, Act. 16.40.Act 16.40. Ferus. Deus intùs exhilarat animum sibi bene con­scium, &c. God doth make the bones that he hath bro­ken to reioice, the soule that is truely humbled he doth comfort and satisfie, no other meanes, but his, can do it, hee and hee only can bring it to passe. Pompilius may write epistles to Tully, Theat. mun di. as that he should rid away his sorrow by reading, Antimachus makes verses to rime [Page 15]away sorrow, Archilochus cals for wine to drinke away sorrow, some call for mirth to iest it away, others for musick to play it away; but the Saints of God, Iob 19.23. Psal. they know all this serues not, Iob comfortes himselfe by remem­bring his redeemer, David by hoping to see the Lord in the land of the living, Ionas by looking backe to the Temple, Paule by assuring himselfe that he shal be holpē. Ion 2.7. Confidence hath beene the Comfort of the Saints in all ages, in all places, Ioseph in the prison, Iob on the dung hill, Ieremie in the dungion, Abraham in exile, Iacob in the field, David in the Caue, Daniel in the Den. Abulens. It is God that comforteth vs in all our tribulation, that we may bee able to comforte them which are in any trouble, 2. Cor. 4.1. by the com­fort wherewith we our selues are comforted, here is comfort transient, immanēt, permanent, Gods comfort descen­ding to vs, & by vs derived to others, that as the Apo­stle there speaketh if we be comforted it is for the con­solation not only of our selues but others.

Applic. To apply therefore in these our sorrowes those our comforts. In this invndation wherin we are overwhel­med though not drowned, or rather as Ionas drowned & deuoured yet not dead, let vs take breathing, and dry our eies a little. Paul bids be wise according to sobriety, so say I, sorrow, but according to sobriety, let comfort en­terchange and haue her time, it must not be a Quotidiā feaver to dry vp our soules in this salt liquor of discon­tent. Oramus, fiat voluntas Domini saith Zanchius, wee pray thus,Zarch. let thy will be done facta est voluntas Domini feramus, Gods wil is done, let vs beare it, shal we think either God to be so angry that he will not, or heaven so [Page 16] poore that it cannot helpe vs, shall wee pray euery day, that God would performe his will one day, and shall we repine at it when hee hath performed it. It is true, our blessed PRINCE had such Princely, holy, gratious, religi­ous endowments, that wee would haue rather thought him sent from heauen to vs, then so soone to be called thither from vs. It is true, the very outside and rinde, the very raiment of his soule, his body was so faire and strong that a soule might haue beene pleased to liue an age in it. It is true his soule kept tune so well, that reason sate regent, and the vnderstanding Counsailour, neuer captiuated with violence of passions, nor hurried with the virulence of affections, virtue and valor, beautie & chastitie, armes and arts, met and kist in him, and his goodnesse lent so much mintage to other Princes, that if Xenophon were now to describe a Prince, Prince HENRY had beene his Patterne. All this I confesse, & I confesse when I thinke on this, my soule almost refu­seth comfort, because wee shall never enioy him a­gaine.

Yet in our best ordered, recollected thoughts, who that duly honoured him, can repine that he is freed from the world, and now being enfranchised enioyes greater good in greater libertie? when like a true Hebrewe, he hath gon his Passouer from death to life, where there is more grace and more capacity, where a soule cannot be surbated with feares, nor surfeited with ryots, where earthly bodies shalbe more celestiall, then man in his Innocencie or Angels in their glory, for they could fall: He is there with those Patriarchs that haue expected [Page 17] Christ in earth, longer then they haue enioyed him in heauen; He is with those holy Pen-men of the holy spi­rit, they be now his partners, who were here his tea­chers; He is with all the Elect Angels, with the Congre­gation of the first borne; In a word HE is with him by whose pretious blood, his blessed soule is bathed, and sea­led by his death to the day of redemption; Hee is in ioy, though we in sorrow. Shall wee bee in sorrow, because he is in ioye? No; my Beloued be yee not deceaued, so sure as yee haue sorrow, so sure shall yee be comforted if yee can faithfully and feruently pray with Moses, Com­fort thou vs O Lord, after thou hast plagued vs. And so I passe from the comforts desired, to the persons afflic­ted my second aime.

Part. 2 Now after thou hast plagued vs. The life of a Chri­stian hath no other Passage then Ionathan & his armor­hearer had, a sharp rocke on the one side,1. Sam. 14.4. & a sharp rock on the other side, Bozez on the one side, Seneh on the other, an anfractuous, dangerous passage, that flintie stones vnder him, briers and thornes on the side of him, mountainous craggs and promontories ouer him, sic pe­titur coelum, so heaven is caught by paines, by patience, by violence, affliction is the most inseparable associate. Cor contritum & humiliatum non despicies, Ps. 11.19. saith David, a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not de­spise. The ancients haue obserued that Dauid offred no offring, no sacrifice, for that sinne which hee acknow­ledgeth in that 51. Psalme; he had shed blood, and knew that the blood shed of sacrifice would not serue to expi­ate. Thou desirest no sacrifice, Ps. 51.18. thou delightest not in [Page 18]burnt offrings, saith the Prophet. Did not God delight in sacrifice? not require burnt offrings? when he had so precisely commanded them, distinguished the diuers formes of them, segregated especiall times for them, & beene so well pleased with them. And yet Noluisti sa­crificium, Did not God delight in burnt offrings? when the sonne of David at one time, in one place, offered a sacrifice of peace offring of twentie thousand oxen, and an hundred and twentie thousand sheepe, 1. King. 8.62. the greatest sa­crifice that ever was read of, either in diuine or pro­phane, in rude or polite story. Yet you heare, Noluisti sa­crificium, is Davids words;Cass. Noluisti holocaustum, volu­isti cor humiliatum, saith one, a burnt sacrifice will not serue, but a brokē sacrifice thou requirest, it is the speech of Christ to the Spouse, the smell of thy ointments is better thē spices, Cant. 4 10. Meliora vnguenta quàm aromata, oint­ments better then spices: which wordes Nyssenus ex­pounds of this place,Nyss. Hom. 9. in Cant. broken hearts rather then burnt sacrifices are accepted of God. Broken hearts, whether they be broken moerore interno, Greg. as Gregory expounds the place, by inward greefe, or broken humiliatione as Innocentius interpreteth,Innocent. by humiliation, or broken by frequent tribulation, as Cassiodore glosseth, or broken by vehement greefe and anguish of spirit in repen­tance,Cassiod. as Thomas and the Schooles doe iudge; the mea­ning of all is this, that the heart that is softned and mollified, the heart that hath beene the anvile for sor­rowes & afflictions, is most fit to be consecrated to God. Ioel mentions a rent heart, Ioel 2.13. David a broken, a contrite heart, S. Chrysostome of both them speaketh, fractum [Page 19]cor haud quaquā se in altū extulerit, Hom. 4. l [...]. 2. ad Cor. & hom. in epist. ad Hebr. contritum haud qua­quam exurrexerit, scissum non inflatur ad superbiam, nō concitatur ad vindictam; A broken heart is not exalted on high, a contrite heart hath made no insurrection, a rent hart is not inflamed by pride, not incited to revēge. The sacrifice of God is a broken and Contrite heart. God in the old Testament, would accept no sacrifice, if it were maimed, yet wil now admit no sacrifice vnlesse it be broken and bruised, he that then commanded sacri­fices of the Law to be offered by fire, will now receiue no sacrifice of the gospell, but offred by water. The earth, yeelds not corne, till it be plowed, the grape yeeldeth no wine, vntill it be pressed, gold is not pure, till it be fined, the stones of the Temple not brought into the Tem­ple till they were polished, Rev. 7.9. the Saints in the Revelation are not cloathed with white robes and haue palmes in their hāds, before they haue passed through many tri­bulatiōs, the Prophet Moses here expecteth not cōfort, before affliction; & as in Ecclesiastes a time of weeping, Eccl. 3.4. a time of reioicing, & no weeping, no reioicing, so here first affliction then consolation, Comfort thou vs, accor­ding as thou hast afflicted vs. It were impertinent I shoulde roaue so farre backe to Deuteronomy to shew how they were afflicted, seeing the Psalme hath no o­ther Tenor, then the memory of mortalitie, and Moses himselfe being the Prince of the people, being himselfe presently to passe the way of all the world, whether it were that his people might be comforted for his losse, or whether for the liues of those many, that had dyed in the desert. You see that the manner of his praier [Page 20]yeeldeth vs this observation. Observ. That the comfortes of Gods spirit are not ministred by God, nor can be expected by mā, vntill man hath beene throughly seasoned with sorrowe. None can come to Paradise, but by the burning Sera­phins of affliction none returne from Canaan, but they must passe by the waters of Marah; no passing backe to Ierusalem, but by the vally of weeping, no seeing of Mount Sion, before we haue sit at the waters of Baby­lon. Christ came only to comfort the mourners, Esay. 61.2. Esay 61.2. The second blessing that he pronounceth in his first sermon is to mourners, Mat. 5.4. Mat. 5.4. appointeth none to be marked in Ierusalem to be preserved but mourners, E­zech. 9.4. Ezek. 9.4. Our Saviour then only promised comfort to his disciples when they were mourners; Ioh. 16▪ 22. Yee are now in sorrow, but I will see you again, & you shall reioice, & your ioy shall no man take from you. All the daies of our life be as the fits of a feaver, as the changes of daie & night, darknesse and light, the moon hath not more alterations thē man; so that as that of Ieremy must be ac­knowledged,Ierem. Lam. were it not for the mercies of the Lord wee should be vtterly consumed, Hierom. so also that of S. Ierome his observatiō vpō Arcturus in the heavens, semper versa­tur nūquam mergitur, may be applyed vnto the sons of men,2. Cor. 6. these are often turned never overwhelmed, but es­pecially vnto the sonnes of God, they are, as Paule spea­keth, as dying and behold they liue, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowfull yet alway reioicing, as poore and yet make many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things: for God doth so sweeten his visitations, & sendeth such a gracious dew vpon his inheritance, as [Page 21]that in affliction and after affliction hee sendeth vn­speakeable consolation. In die tribulationis exaudiam te, in the day of Tribulation I will heare thee. is his pro­mise, and more then so, it is not only, that then he will heare, and afterwardes will helpe, but both in the daie, and after the day he will heare, he will helpe, he wil cō ­fort. In the affliction, because the affliction remaineth for a moment, after the affliction, 2. Cor. 4.17. 1. Cor. 11.32. Prov. 3.12. because when after we are chastened of the Lord, we are sure not to be condemned with the world; Comforted in the affliction for we know, he correcteth only whom he loveth, Com­forted after the affliction, Ps 64.16. 2. Cor. 1.5. for he hath assured vs that ac­cording to the multitude of Troubles that are in our harts his comforts shall refresh our soules, and againe by S. Paule, as the suffrings of Christ abound in vs, so our cō ­solation aboundeth by Christ. So that here it is manife­sted which was in the observatiō proposed, no comfort but after affliction, no consolation but after Tribulati­on and therefore Moyses praier is, Comfort vs according as thou hast afflect vs.

Vse. How blessed then ought our afflictions to be estee­med, seeing that in them we shall be comforted, after them we shall be rewarded, and by them we shal be ad­mitted into glory, for through many afflictions, wee must enter into heaven. Are there comforts therefore laid vp in store for the Godly? are there pleasures at Gods right hand for ever more? O thē come, & heare, & soe, and tast how good the Lord is, O come vnto him all ye that labour and are heavy laden vnder the burthen of your sorrow. It is impossible to escape Esaus sword, [Page 22]or Ismaels tongue,Gen 27.41. Gen. 21.9. 2. Sam. 16. or Shemeis stones, or Doegs sclander, or Hamans envy, or Ioabs treachery. When there were but fowre in al the world there was a Caine, and after­wardes when there were but eight that number but doubled, there was a Cham, Philistins shal be left in the land to try and to exercise the Israelites: or suppose thou escape all these yet either losse of health, or losse of friends, or want, or some meanes or other shal bee ap­pointed to polish thee if thou belong to heaven. The Martyrs and Saintes of God who now carry Trium­phant Palmes they haue bin thus afflicted, and hereby their glorious lustre like vnto the sunne, gaue greatest light in the lowest places, and in their patient content & contempt of afflictiō, they gaue grace to the greatest miseries Tyranny could deuise, God distilling into their soules, the apparant supply of his grace, in the middest of their pressures to encourage and enable them in their perseverance. Esay. 3. O yee then that with those minsing dames in Ierusalem, are loath that the soles of your feete should tread vpon the face of the earth, yee may bee hurried betweene heaven and earth, but never wil bee carryed as Elias vnlesse in a fiery chariot. Ye that set more by Agar then Sara, more esteeme your bodies then your soules, feare and tremble if no afflicton hath ever visited you;Luk. 16.25. you know whose words they be, son remember thou in thy life time receivedst all thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, now hee is cō ­forted, and thou art tormented: it is a time if ever to lay the axe to the root of the tree, especially of those trees that beare nothing but leaues and liuelesse braunches, [Page 23]you knowe what a stroke is given to the fairest Cedar of the gorrest, our figge tree is blasted evē before it was its time to beate fruit, the greene tree, the glory of the trees is striken, & were it not I should breake the peace of my meditations of comfort, I shoulde drawe Paules sword, and make vse of Ieremies hammer to lay home some stroakes to your consciences in this point. But I proceede.

If the Saints of God and their afflictions wil not in­vite you I say not to endure, but to welcome sorrow, yet let the braue resolutions of heathens as gallant as the most, nay more glorious thē the best of you, amase you: they bare their troubles with vndaunted comfortable honourable minds, so that neither force of fire in Scaeuo­la, violence of pouertie in Fabritius, perplexities of ba­nishment in Rutilius, Torments in Regulus, Poison in So­crates, Ingratitude in Scipio, Persecutiō in Caesar, Guevar. in Ep. or death in Cato could ever ecclipse their valor or honour. How few such noble martiall spirits breath among vs!

How many of those that doe liue, bee trulie hum­bled among vs! Alas, none ever shall bee truely comfor­ted, but those truely humbled. Thinke yee any to bee truely comforted, whom nothing did ever amate? Think they that are in opinion obstinate, in good purposes inconstant, resolute in evill action, in humilitie false, in charitie fained, in desires violent, in mischeefes viru­lent in hate implacable, to be truely comforted? They that are so rash in censuring, peremptorie in hearing, hard harted in obeying, hypocryticall in professing the word of God thinke they to bee truely comforted? [Page 24]They whose sinnes are so many, whose prayers so few, their oathes so frequent, their almes so few, that serue themselues by the Ephah, and scarcely serue God by the Gomer, thinke they to be truely comforted? I assure my selfe, that all yee of this expiring family haue better learned Christ Iesus, my knowledge of many, hope of o­thers, charity to all makes me beleeue it. And therefore I hope yee shall be truely Comforted, euen according as yee haue beene afflicted, in as full measure as yee haue beene humbled. Yet I know in this last close, you can be scarcely perswaded of this [according] my owne soule silently tels mee, it is beyond expectation, that wee should so recover our losses as that according to our sorrowes we should receaue Comforts. Cambden. Brit. 164 1 Ed. 1. sonne to Hen. 3. 2 Edw. blacke Prince sonne to Edw. 3. 3. Rich. of Bur­deaux sonne to Ed. black Prince 4 Hen. sonne of Hen 4. 5 Ed. son, H. 6. 6 Ed. sonne K. Hen 4. 7 Ed. sonne K Richard. 8 Arthur sonne to Hen. 8. No more crea­ted but those: Ed. 6. not inve­sted by Patent, nor created. For if the Ro­mans called the heire apparant Princeps Inventutis, Prince of the youth, and Prince Edgar the last heire male of that blood royall was long after called Eng­lands dearling, and when Prince Arthur died, the Poets then complained that Arcturus was vanished in the heavens; what can we say of him, that would haue beene subiect for all pens, and obiect for all eies, as if the worthines of all the eight created Princes of Walles of the English blood, and of the eight Henries his Highnesse Royall Auncestors, had met in him as in the Confluence I will say of him as S. Paule to the Hebrewes spake of those with whome our Master is nowe in Company, Prince HENRY was hee of whom the world was not worthy. Yet beloued let me still say as my Text, God may Comfort vs even according to the greatnes of our losse, his power is not weakned, his arme is not shortned: [Page 25]It was a blasphemous speech in the Governour in the daies of Elisha that doubted whether there might af­ter that great dearth bee so great plenty, though,2. Kings 7.3. saith he, God would make windowes in heauen. Hee is able to doe, whatsoeuer in faith we are able to beleeue. Wee haue yet the sunne and moone, and starres of a Royal fir­mament; and though we haue lost the morning starre, yet we haue Charls-waine in our Horizon; wee haue a Prince, if starres be of any truth, like to be of long life, & great learning, most hopefull for his time, most fruitful for his hopes: we hope that God hath said to our Iacob, Gen. as Iacob said of his Iudah, sceptrum non auferetur à Iuda, so the scepter shal not be taken from our Iacob til Shi­loah come againe into the world. Let this Comfort serue vs, so long as wee are Gods servants, so long hee will be our Lord. Send out Comfort in ambush against all feares, al enimies, and when she returneth with conquest, Iudg. 5. say to thy soule as Debora did to hers, thou hast mar­ched valiantly O my soule. Thinke not that our Master is dead — Musa vetat mori: saie as Christ said of Lazarus, He is not dead but sleepeth.Ioh. 11.3. In a word after all these Cloudes be past, the sunshine will appeare, or we shall appeare before God our selues: sure I am this Text will be vncontrouled for ever, Heauen and earth shall passe, but no iot of this word shall passe;Act. 1. After the Lord hath afflicted vs, he will comfort vs. Let vs there­fore with the Apostles who staid at Ierusalem expe­cting the Comforter, continue in holy deuotions, hea­ring, praying, fasting, falling downe before his presence for he is holy: And thou O Lord, that seest all hearts, vn­to [Page 26]to thee let our crie come, and let comfort descend vnto vs, in this house of mourning and valley of teares. Now like poore distressed sinners we beseech thee then with thy Saints and Angels we shall glorifie thee: Lord grant this for thy promise, for thy mercy, for thy Zyon, for thy sonnes sake CHRIST IESVS.

Amen.

THE story sheweth you David the king in a sorrowfull case, weeping, mourning, crying for his sonne, lying all day and night on the earth; Hewept, & wept, and would not be comforted. S. Bernard mentioneth,Bern. in Passi­one Dom. Heb doma­dam dolorum, a week of sorrows David had no lesse, the child died the seaventh day, 2. Sam. 12.18. & the 7 day David arose from his low & lamentable lod­ging; his meditation could be no other thē this, O who shal deliver his soul from death? His cause of mourning was non propter vitam, sed propter animam, Chrys. non propter animam, non propter filium, sed propter adulterium, not so much for the life, as for the soule of his childe, not so much for his sonne, as for that sinne by which his mother conceived him. The childe was messis in herba, life was spes in messe, but the soule of the childe was gloria messis, the ioy and glorie of the harvest, this is the cause that David mournes bitterly.

[Page 28] There is a strange sentence in the former verses, Non Morieris, thou shalt not die, Davids sinne is acquitted, sed Morietur filius, but thy childe shall die, the innocent babe is punished.2. Sam. 12.13. I need not to vncover the nakednes of this father further then scripture takes away the vaile from him: he committed adultery, heaven sees it, God sends Nathan, 2. Sam. 11 4. Nathan wounds David through the sides of one of his owne subiects, David sentenceth himselfe in another thus, He that hath done this shall die and pay fourefold. At hoc iustum est, & iniustum iudici­um, This iudgement is both iust & vniust. The trespasse is but a lambe, to pay fourefold is satisfaction enough for a lambe: if it be the life of a man, to die for it is the satisfactiō required, enough for a Mans life, but suppose it what it may bee to die and pay, pay and pay foure­fold is iniustice, it is to much. Therefore God tooke one part of Davids sentence against himselfe; though Non morieris stood as God had promised, 2. Sam. 28. yet David shal pay fourefold as himselfe had sentenced, 1. Hee paid the life of Ammon his sonne,2. Sam. 18.9. by the sword of Absalon, here is one satisfaction, 2. he paid the life of Absalon, hanging in the Oke by the sword of Ioab, the 2 satisfactiō. 3 the life of Adoniah by the sword of Iehoiada, 1. King. 2.25. the 3 satisfa­ction; and fourthly the life of a childe here by the sword of God, the fourth satisfaction. For the life of one Vrias, no lesse thē foure of his own children must die the death. vers. 14. The first of this Tragical Chorus is this childe, sentenced in the 14 verse; in the 15. ye find him sicke, poore infant, silly innocent, after his panting and striuing for breath he is deceased in the 18. verse.ver. 15. vers. 18. while [Page 29]he was sicke, David did sorrow, wept, and fasted, & pray­ed, and lay on the ground; but being dead, riseth, appa­relleth, washeth, worshippeth, eateth: herevpon his servāts expostulate, What thing is this that thou dost, ver. 21. thou didst fast and weepe for the childe, while it was aliue, but when the childe was dead, thou dost rise and eate? David answe­reth, and the best part of his answere is this my Text, Being dead, why should I now fast? Can I bring him againe any more, I shall go to him, but he shall not returne to mee. These two be points very remarkeable, that vsher the meditations of my Text; the first the punishment of the childe: for the father David commits adultery, the childe dies for it, as after, David numbers the people, 2. Sam. 24.14. the people die for it.

Secondly, when the childe is sicke, David sorroweth, the childe being dead he riseth, and eateth. Hee wil bee no longer in paine then the childe is in perill. Benoni is the sonne of sorrow at his birth, this shalbe no longer the subiect of sorrow then his death: He is dead, no hope, no helpe, no recovery, it is impossible

Revocare gradum, superas (que) evadere ad auras, David cannot infuse life into him, the childe is dead, he is gone, all the world cannot revine him, David must follow, the child must not returne. Thus the wordes were occasioned, thus opened, thus they fall in sunder & impart themselues vnto vs.

Divisio Textus. 1 Davids patient consideration in forbearing fur­ther sorrow. Being dead why should I now fast? 2. His wife resolution implying the impossibilitie of revi­ving him. Can I bring him againe? Thirdly, his conside­rate [Page 30]acknowledgement of the inevitable stroake of death, I shall goe to him, he shall not returne to me. I con­fesse there be many disproportions betweene this sto­rie and our state, our misery is without all paralell, scrip­ture doth nor yeeld a fitting example, no king of Israel or Iuda had such a losse, I had almost said nor such a sonne. I am therefore constrained to choose not as I would but as I may, though not so plentifully fitting the subiect, yet sorrowfully fitting with our sable thoughts: In these therefore I craue patient attentiō, the rather because the 1. part offring it selfe to vs, is Davids patient consideration in forbearing more mour­ning.

Some haue obserued that it was a custome in David to fast and pray,1. Part. Lor. in Ps. Ps. 35.13. and mourne, for the sicknesse of his friend, his owne words giue warrant, Psal. 35.13. when they were sicke, 1 cloathed my selfe with sackcloath, and humbled my soule with fasting. And these both were v­sed either in sorrow, or repentance; in sorrowe, so the Orator testifieth, sackeloath and fasting be moeroris in­signia, Tully. the ensignes of sorrow: in repentance, so S. Hie­rome witnesseth, they were Penitentiae arma, the wea­pons of Repentance. In this place by fasting David means all the Circumstances of mourning.Aret. Flac. Illyr. To mourne and weepe is common and commendable in sicknesse, or death of friends; profit there may be in it, but you will thinke there is small pleasure, yet saith the Poet, Est quaedam flere voluptas, There is pleasure in this paine of weeping, to disburden the soule, to open the sluces, to discharge conchas in canales, Bern. the Cesterns into con­duit [Page 31]pipes, to ecclipse the light of our etes with teares, because those eies shall never behold those deere de­ceased friendes till we our selues passe into the Cham­bers of death. This is naturall and common, yet I may say Christian. But to fast in these occasions is not so common, as commendable, and profitable; for indeed in true sorrow there should be a neglect of all the offices of the body, a sequestration of all contentment, a for­getting and forsaking of ordinary food, a shutting vp and imprisoning of the body from all pleasures of life, thereby to pull downe the height and strength and pride of the soule, that the soule heare not, thinke not, mind not mirth, that the body see not, touch not, tast not meate, such should be our sorrowes when we see Corporall punishments for spirituall iudgements. Such was Davids diet, it was a real, hearty sorrow, not coū ­tenanced with a heavie looke, or with a solemne sigh blowne from the lips and lungs, but it was a weeping, watching, fasting sorrow.

I hate excursions, but seeing I meet in the words of my Text with so great a straunger as fasting, giue me leaue to salute it. It was the first precept that ever was given, it is as ancient as Paradise, Ieiuny canitiem sive­lis, Epise. Lond. in Ion. perscrutare ieiunium prime homini coaevū. The for­bidding of that tree, was the first rule of abstinēce. The antiquity, necessity, perpetuity of it enforce it, Nature law, Gospel enioine it, Divinity commands it, Physicke commends it, law prescribes it, it is the life of the Saints, and the food of the soule, in the court of heaven there is no other dyet, and in the Church on earth the chil­dren [Page 32]of the bridechamber must be acquainted with it; as David was, whose fasting daies I could easily cōiecture, if I should looke but into the Galender of the Psalmes: but my Text telleth me, at this time hee did eate and drinke and therefore here he seemeth to bee, as in the Psalme hee speaketh,Psal. 42.4. as amonge those that keepe ho­ly-daie. His fasting endeth the seaventh day, and hee questioneth, why should I now fast? which words do bring forth this observation, Obs. 1 That as there is a time to sorrow, so also a time to leaue of the act of sorrowing. His example proveth this, Nemo in lachrymis, nemo in Cāticis, no mā was more frequent in songs or sorrowes then David, Lud. his meate were his Teares, he mingled his drinke with Teares, washt his bed and watered his couch with his teares: you would scarce beleeue, that he ever enioied good day, that ever the sunne shined on him, he is so full of anguish and care, and feate, sometimes biding, some times flying, Psalm. 32 10. still almost lamenting. Yet how frequent be his ioyfull acclamations in the Psalmes, Reioice in the Lord; Ps. 103.1. Be glad ô yee righteous; Be ioyfull all yee that are true of hart; Praise the Lord O my soule, & all that is with­in me praise his holy name; Praise the Lord, O my soule and forget not all his benefits: how sweetly doth he exalt his exultation of ioyful praise,Ps. 145. I will praise the Lord my God, I will praise his name for ever and ever, every day will I praise the Lord, and praise his name for ever and ever: and againe, Praise the Lord O my soule, while I liue wil I praise the Lord, I will sing praises to my God, while I haue any breathing. Looke vpon this good King at other times you would scarsly thinke that ever he could haue had [Page 33] ioy to cast his cies vp to heauen, Psal. you may find him on a couch, nay more on the cold earth, crying out, I am at the point to die, from my youth vp thy Terrors haue I suffered with a troubled soule. Yet after al this, you shal find him reioicing, triumphing singing, harping, dancing, ma­king melody vnto God, and calling for his consort Trumpets, Timbrels, Psalteries, Harpes, Organs, Cymbals, Ps. 150.3.4.5.6. Pipe and string, low and lowd instrument, nay heaven and earth must beare a part, nay every thing that hath breath must praise the Lord. Heere bee the passages through fire and water, here he is brought from the wildernesse into a wealthy place. Here be his fits good & bad daies, crosses and comforts, ioies and sorrowes.

Dolor & volupt as invicē cedunt — Brevior voluptas; Seneca. his griefe and pleasure came successiuely, but his cōforts were not extended to the same measure, that his sor­rowes, yet as the cause gaue occasion, so hee ever altered his note.

Yet is it a wonder to obserue how vpon the same passion Gods best servants haue been diversly affected, the same persons, & the same passions, and yet so strāge­ly altered, and their passages in and vpon the very same causes so diametrally opposed, as if they were not the same men. In some miseries howe sweetly haue they carried themselues, In others how boisteroufly; Shiloa never ran so quietly as they haue in some, in others Torrents never so raged.Iob. 1. Pineda in Iob. Look vpon Iob in his 1 chap­ter, he is Patience mirror, never did or could man be­haue himselfe better in such a bitter storme. His Oxen taken away by the Sabeans, Camels by the Chaldeans, fire [Page 34]devoures his sheep, his servants slain, his children killed, yeet being so neere touched, he opens not his mouth against heaven, Ps. 3. but as if with the Psalmist hee had laied downe to sleepe and taken his rest he makes no other exclamation, or lamentation, but this, Dominus dedit, the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away, blessed bee the name of the Lord. You may wonder to see the same man, Iob. 13. so contrarily affected afterwardes; Challenging God to his face, I will dispute with the Al­mightie, I will fill my selfe with arguments, what is it that God can answer me; Cursing his birth, let the day perish wherein I was borne, Iob. 3. let that day be darknesse, let not God regard it, let darkenesse and the shadowe of death staine it, let the Cloudes remaine vpon it, let it be a fearefull bitter day, let it not be ioined with the daies of the yeare, desolate for euer be that night, let the stars of the twilight be dim, let it looke for light but see none, let it never see the daw­ning of the day. What tragical & bloody heavy cursed clamours be these! Nay look vpō our own Prophet, how did grace attend him in all the ambushments betweene Saul and him! Saul was his enimy, hee hath now his op­portunity, the place, the privacy, the obscuritie of the Caue might incite him to kil his enimie, but he bowes downe and cries,1. Sam. 14. O my Lord the King, I wil not lay hand on my Master, he is the Lords annointed, the Lord keep me from doing this vnto my Master: how sweetly, how graciously, how wisely, doth hee carry himselfe in the time that Shemei curst him,2. Sam. 16. and cast stones' at him! hee endures him, and rebukes them that reproue him, The Lord hath bidden him curse, suffer him, the Lord hath bid­den [Page 35]him who shall forbid him? But looke vpon him in the storie of Nabal you would thinke him another Saule, 1. Sam. 25. Nabal only denies him a request, he sweares and frets, and girds to his sword, takes 6 hundred men with him, vowes to kil Nabal, nor only so but whatsoever is Na­bals, yea and before the dawning of the day he wil not leaue a man, no not a creature of Nabals aliue. Nabal only denied him, Shemet cursed him, Nabal was but a foole, 1. Sam. 25.25. 2. Sam. 16.7. Shemei a Dog, as the Text tearmeth him, yet he is much more violent against Nabal then against Shemet. Look vpon him in this particular, Iob was not more patient then he is here, while the poore innocent infant is sicke panting, and fainting, and striuing for life, he weepeth, the child died, he riseth, and apparelleth, washeth, wor­shippeth, eateth, goeth into Barsheba answereth al the world, that should aske him his resolution is, calmely & religiously this, being dead, why should I fast? Nothing could savour more of Religion, wisdome, patience, & a holy spirit: what a sweet behaviour & heavenly tem­per is here, Patterne him with Patriarch, or Prophet, or A­postle, or Angel, None could go further then he did. But look vpō him in his obsequies for his Absolō, he was op­pressed, surcharged, distracted, hee continueth his note as if with the Philomele hee would never giue over.Ovid. Met. O Absolon, Absolon my sonne, my sonne, Absolon my sonne! No content but Absolon, his daintie prettie Absolon, 2. Sam. 18. his dearling, fondling Absolon, Absolon the Idol of his affection, as if Absolon had been the beautie of his name, and the glory of his Nation, as if Absolon had been the best of his seed, and the cheefest of his sonnes, Absolon, so [Page 36] faire and ruddy, as that none in all Israel was so com­mended for beautie, from the sole of his foote to the crowne of his head, no blemish in Absolon; O entreate the young man Absolon well, and if Absolon die, David will not liue, he wil dislolue into teares, O my sonne Ab­solon, 2. Sam. 18.31. my sonne, my sonne Absolon, would God I had died for thee o Absolon my sonne, my sonne. Obserue the circum­stances; 1. the King was moued, exceedingly moued, great alteration in his affection, there was an earth­quake in his soule, his passions were as flames, his eies as floods. 2. He avoids the roome; Ioseph weepes & puts all out of the roome but remaines there himselfe;Gen. 45.3. Da­vid puts all out, and goeth himselfe out, putteth even himselfe out of himselfe. 3. He cannot containe, breaks forth on the staires, his sorrow must haue a vent, it is a precipitat torrent, with Oceans in his eies, & a tongue fired at the altar of his heart. 4. He calleth (the traitor) Absolon, his sonne. Happy had it beene that Absolons birth had beene his buriall, the sunne in the firmament never beheld such a disobedient sonne on earth, yet his burden is my sonne, my sonne. David remembers not how Absolon had slaine his brother, enveigled the sub­iects, betrayed the Crowne, aspired to the kingdome, en tred Ierusalem with violence, abused his Concubines vp­on the top of the house in the sight of heaven, none of these be remembred; David will not liue, if Absolon bee dead. He considereth not, that Absolons beauty was but effections fancie and natures frailtie, a blister might blast it, dor a fever blemish it, but age would surely parch and perish and wither it:Ludolph. hee considreth not, that [Page 37] Absolon was neither vnigenitus, no nor primogenitus neither the first begotten, nor the only begotten son of his father, that he so bewaileth him.Aust. Abraham pater credentium the father of the beleeving could not haue deplored his sonne Isaac had he beene offred, Nor A­aam, pater viventium the father of all things living could haue more wept over his slaine Abel, then Da­vid over Absolon. What great alteration is in the car­riage of this passion, in the death of one sonne, frō this calme contentation this holy patient resolution in the death of this other, Being dead, why should I nowe fast?

Vse. Hence then we may learne, that seeing the best of Gods children haue bin so various in their passions, and so subiect to infirmity in some others of them, wee ought to craue the assistant power of Gods spirit in all sorrowes, so to season and sweeten them, and to direct them to right ends, that we looke not only vpon the power of God, herein as to forget his favour, we so much consider not the greatnesse of the afflictiō, as the goodnesse of his affection, that hath laid it on vs for our good: and therefore so to cast anchor in al stormes of our life,Pet. Martyr. Common places. as that this Passion of sorrow (as Peter Martyr cō ­pareth it) may direct our sailes as a prosperous wind to the hauen, & not rend our souls and sinke our ships, that the masts of our faith be shaken, & the anchors of our hopes broken, that we shew our selues wise men, not mad men, not distracting our spirits, not distrusting our God, but with David here temper our soules, or rather tune them to that song of his,Ps. 121.1. I will lift vp mine eies [Page 38]vnto the hils from whence commeth my helpe; Helpe shall come from the Lord which hath made heauen and earth.

Hence also we may learne, to stay our carnall, and to encrease our spirituall sorrow, bodily labour availeth not, bodily sorrow profiteth not. Fasting spoken of in the Text of it selfe is but an outward ceremony, Externum sig­num saccus & ieiunium. Hier. true ab­stinence consisteth in holynesse of life: mistake me not as if I derogated from fasting, that venerable daughter of repentance one of the best mothers in Israel. I would we might imitate either Patriarchs or Prophets herein, or even at this time the French and Dutch Churches in this citty, who in consideration of Gods iudgment vp­on vs lament with fasting and praying as may be seene in their congregations weekely. But I say fasting is but the outward countenance, it is the inward motions that God is pleased with. And in them none more accepta­ble vnto him, then an humble obedience to his wil, when his hand hath given the stroake, & the Lord hath done what pleased him,Ion. 2. a sweet and comfortable carriage of our afflictions wil be pleasing vnto him, and a blessing to vs.

Priamus in Homer bewailing his sonne Hector, Homer. fa­steth, and mourneth after his death, Dauid doth this be­fore his sonnes death: when it is past, he riseth, washeth eateth, worshippeth & doth cōfort himselfe. How did the Patriach Iacob carry al those pressures laid vpō him with a holy calme disposition,Gen. yee never finde him tem­pestuous, & yet who ever endured so successiue storms: In al the daies of his pilgrimage scarse any faire wea­ther, he is rent from his fathers family, flyeth for the [Page 39]feare of his brother, he is cheated by his vnckle, his place vile and servile, Gen. 31.40. in the day the drought consumed him, in the night the frost, the sleepe departs from his eies, serues for Rahel seauen years, and a bleere eied Leah is given him, serues seauen more for Rahel and shee is barrē, at length a childe shee shal haue, but the childes life is the mothers death; when his children increase, his sorrowes increase, not Beniamin alone, but almost eve­ry one of them is Benoni, the sonne of sorrow, Incestu­ous Reuben, Adulterous Iuda, Levi that is to be conse­crated to God in his Church, is bloody, Er and Onan strook dead before him, Ioseph lost, Simeon imprisoned, Bē ­iamin endangered, his only daughter young Dinah, his dearling, ravished by an alien from Israell. Yet you ne­ver finde in all these perils among his owne, that he stagge­reth. These meditations be best fitting, the practise and imitation of these examples wil be fruitfull. And as the Apostle speaketh giue no place to wrath, so say I, giue not place to sorrow, especially to worldly sorrow, 2. Cor. 7.10. for Godly sorrow worketh repentance to saluation, not to be re­pented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death, & yet cannot redeeme from death, as it followeth in Davids words, Can I bring him againe? His wise resolution im­plying the impossibility of his reviving him.

Part. 2 The first speech was drawne ab invtili, there is no profit, no hope, no helpe, no means by fasting to reco­ver him, Being dead, why should I fast? this second is ab im­possibili from the improbability and impossibility of re­calling him, Can I bring him againe? David was not ig­norant of the reduction, restitution, resurrection of the [Page 40]body▪ there bee no lesse then 13. places that may bee collected out of the Psalms to this purpose, Thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell, Ab [...]lens. nor suffer thy holy one to see cor­ruption; Thou O Lord, shalt raise me vp at the last; I shall see the Lord in the land of the living, &c. These & other frequent places be commonly noted to this purpose. The Resurrection as it is most certaine, so also most cō ­fortable; Iob had nothing to sweeten his dunghill but the hope of the resurrection,Iob. 11. and Paule had no other doctrine to preach to the devout Greekes at Thessaloni­ca, Act. 17.3. Act. 17.32. Act 23 6. Act. 26.23. to the Stoickes at Athens, to the Pharisies at Ierusa­lem, to Festus the Governour at Cesarea, nay almost in every place he preacheth the resurrection of the deade; and our blessed Saviour of all other mysteries of our redemption, maketh none more plaine then this points and though it seeme a doctrine so far beyond al sense, yet he hath so sensibly proved it to all the senses by his owne rising, that al the world may with S. Paule con­fesse,1. Cor. 15. Christ is risen frō the dead, and become the first fruits of them that sleepe. Christ is risen and wee shal rise, and this is the manner how. He manifested himselfe by sight, C. proueth his resurrection by the 5. senses. when he shewed his wounds, by hearing, in his sa­lutation Peace be vnto you, by tasting, he did eate of the broiled fish with them, by touching, Thomas put his fin­gers into the print of the nailes, by smelling, for he brea­thed vpon thē. Here be the senses: They that haue seene this haue beleeued, and blessed, saith Christ, are they that haue not seene, and yet beleeued. But because our Saviour foresaw that vpon his resurrection the ground of this point would for ever be setled, He as Luke speaketh shew­ed [Page]himselfe to be aliue by many infallible arguments, by necessary, true, evidēt proofes, such as the Philosopher calleth [...].Act 1. Arislot. in Rhet. c. 2. He left no circumstance of time, place, persons vnmanifested, that this might bee beleeued he appeareth after his resurrectiō, earely in the morning & late at night, in both the times of the day, to the disciples abroad and gathered togither in the house, in both the places, to the souldiers & Apostles, both conditions of men, to the Iewes and Gentiles both reli­gions of men, to men and women both the sexes, to the liuing in the world, to the dead in the graue, both states, to Angels, devils, friends, foes, disciples, strangers; al shal beare witnesse that Christ did rise from the dead, and is become the first fruits of them that sleepe. And he only can by his power wherby he subdueth al things to himselfe, raise vs againe from the dead; no other po­wer, or meanes but his: & therefore every man may say with David here, Can I bring him again? which in some copies is read thus, I cānot bring him againe, and mini­streth this observation.2. Obs. That though it be not in the pow­er of man to raise any from the dead, yet there is a power whereby al shal be raised and revived. Our Prophet pro­veth it before Christ came, It is thou O Lord that shall raise me vp at the last. This power shal change our vile bodies, to be made like his glorious body, our weake dis­eased, naked, mortal, sickly, earthly, momentary bodies shal bee like his glorious body. Iewes did knowe this, Gentiles did confesse this: The Iewes before Christs cō ­ming, had knowledg and made faith of this point, how soever S. Chrysostome maketh doubt whether or no this mystery were revealed in the old Testament. Chrys. Hom. 1. de Lazaro. Indeed [Page]it was not so generallie or so manifestly delivered till Christ came who was to be Oriens ex imo, as Oriens ex alto, Aug. the day sprong from an high, and the truth bud­ding out of the earth sprong from below. But knowne it was, and taught it was; Esays testimony is this, The dead men shall liue, Esa. 26.19. with my body they shall rise, awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust. Ezek 37.10. Ezekiel proueth it by the Embleme of the drie bones vnited together. Daniel thus, They that sleep in the dust shall arise. Dan. 12.2. Hos. 13.14. Hosea pronounceth this in the person of God, I will redeeme them from the power of the graue. Hier. in Ep. 61 & 101. Iob as S. Hierom collecteth hath most absolute proofe for this, I know that my redeemer liueth, and when wormes haue consumed this body, I shal see God in my flesh, yea I my selfe shall behold him, and mine eies shall see him, as if Iob had beene the Prophet of the resurrection, Iob. 9.13. or the trumpet sounding to iudgement, or the starre to lead to this mystery of Christian beleefe. And Gentilisme was not without some notions of this Restauration and reparation of bodies;Lor. in Act 24. and they among them that beleeued this were esteemed as worthy men, and favourers of the good of the Common-wealth. So that it being plaine that Iewes and Gentiles before Christ knewe & professed it, it is manifest that among the Iewes, the sweet singer of Israel, David the man af­ter Gods owne heart, the Type of Christ, the Pen-man of the holy Ghost was not ignorant of the resurrecti­on, as not only in the Psalmes, especially in the 15. it is plaine, and by implication out of these wordes, Can I bring him againe? inforcing thus much; Brought a­gaine from death he may be, but in my power it is not. [Page 43]Before I land this point I must not omit one place for proofe of the resurrection, Exod. 3.6. knowne even to the Israe­lites in their younger daies in Exodus. It is the onely place of all scripture that our Saviour maketh shew of to conuince the Sadduces, God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, Mat. 22 32. the God of Iacob, but God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Therefore these holy Patriarchs, they are not dead, but in respect of the resurrection they sleepe in peace, and to vse the phrase of David, Psal. 3. they laid them downe in peace, and haue taken their rest, but the Lord shall raise them vp at the last. But this one question being resolued will make way to some fruitfull vse of that already spoken, why could not David bring again the soule of his sonne? Elias besides his many miracles in this kind could doe so much and Elisha did more then Elias, for the spirit of Elias was doubled vpon Elisha, that as hee receaued a mantle from Elias at the first time he saw him,1. King, 19.9. and another mantle fell from Eli­as, at the last time that Elisha beheld him, when he was caught into heauē:2. King 2.13. So also a double spirit, as appeared by his wonders, was bestowed vpon Elisha. For Elias caused that the oile in the widdowes one vessell, 2. King. 4.6. wasted not; But Elisha caused the Pot of oile of another woman to encrease to the filling of many vessels. 1. King. 17.27. Elias revived the dying sonne of the woman of Sarepta, Eli­sha by prayer did obtain a child to the barren Shunamite, and obtaine life to this child being dead. Elias in a great famine obtained raine, 1. King. 4 18. but Elisha in another famine, obtained incredible plentie without raine, 1. King. 18.41. incredible victory without bloodshed. 1. King 17. Elias raised but one from [Page 44]death in his life, 2. King. 13.20. but Elisha being dead, his bones in his graue raised the dead. Could Elias, & Elisha do so much, and cannot David doe it?Ludoloh. No. Non est Davidi donum hoc concessum, this gift was not granted to him, David may kill the beare, the lyon, Goliah, David may over­come the Philistins, the Ammonites, but cannot deli­ver a soule from death, cannot bring backe a soule to life. David by prayer may bring backe his soule from sorrow, Bernard. Hezekias by prayer raise himselfe from sickness, Elias and Eliseus by prayer raise from death, but alteros non seipsos, others, not themselues, as Bernard noteth. Only Christ by his power did raise himselfe & others,Aust. Praedixit & revixit, as Austin noteth, he foretold it, & by rising he performed it:Tertul. Mori dignatus ex voluntate, sed resurrexit ex potestate, He died by his owne will & was raised by his own power, a gift never given to any of the sonnes of men. S. Pauls speech to the Corinthians may serue to this purpose,1. Cor. 3. secundùm gratiam mihi con­cessam, according to the grace given to him, every mā may performe what Gods spirit doth enable him, hee can go no farther, he can do no more. Gods spirit say­eth as Gods sonne,Math. sine me nihil potestis facere, without me ye can do nothing. To life we may be revived, and when these our bodies shal be laide low in the womb & tombe of the earth we shal be raised, Phil. 3. but it can only be by that power which is able to subdue all things to him­selfe.

Vse. And is it so? let vs thē with acknowledgement of our owne weaknesse, reioice in the power of our God, who shal raise our vile bodies, let vs so expresse the vertue & [Page 45] power of the first resurrectiō in this life, as that we may receiue the honour and ioy of the second resurrection, in the life to come.Rev. 20.6. That divine speech of Iohn in his revelation should rap vs vp into heaven with Paule. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrectiō, for on such the second death hath no power. The Godly on­ly die once, but rise twice, they die only the death of the body but rise in soule and body: the wicked they die twice, & rise but once, they rise in body but die the death of soule and body, a part they haue in the second death of the damned, but no part in the second resurrection of the iust, or if any part, such a part as Iudas had in the Sacrament, a sop that poisoned his soule, or such a parte as Simeon and Levi had in their fathers legacy;Beaux in Harm Partē habent nō redemptionis etiamsi resurrectionis, a part not of redemption, though of resurrection. O then, who wil cause his eies to be the Pander for his lust, if with these eies he hope to behold God? who wil cause his body to be the curse of his soule, if hee hope in his soule and body to attend God for euer more? When that all that haue beene kept fast and fettred in the chaines of death, from al the ages of the world shal meete, their bodies cursing their souls, crying against them, that either the soule should please the body that loathsome lumpe; or the body should be the snare, and prison for the soule, ei­ther to abuse it or abase it to perdition by subiection.

What shal then be the comfort of the Godly! who shal rise to ioy and immortality, and be restored to glo­ry, I say to more glory then the bounds of imagination can containe, that the Lord shal shew them the pathes [Page 46]of life, and in his light they shall see light, and shall bee filled with the ioy of his countenance for evermore; That they shal rise to the resurrection of the iust, to the everla­sting length of daies, Aquin. to the beholding of Gods glori­ous face, in which blessed vision omnis sit a est beatitudo al blessednesse consisteth as the schooles determine; & al this ioy Christ hath purchased with his bloud and is gone to possesse in his body.Heb. 12.1. Wherefore beloved, to vse the exhortation of the Apostle to the Hebrewes, lay a­side every waight of sin, & the sinne which hangeth on, & run with patience, the race which is set before you. The holy Patriarches haue runne it, & now be with Christ, whom they haue longer expected then yet enioyed; the blessed Prophets, haue run this race, though through a sea of bloud the Apostles, Martyrs, Saints this race victo­riously haue run in the sunnes course with more light then the sunne vp. Vp then and the Lord shal be with you,1. Cor. 15. pray, fast, watch, weepe, endeavour, labour, and your labour will not be in vaine in the Lord. You shal laie downe your bodies in grace, and peace, & resume them againe in ioy and glory. You must goe this iourney, the decree of this Taxe is come our, it is as the lawe of the Medes and Persians not to be revoked. Everie one of vs may say of our Master as David of his sonne, I shal go to him, he shall never returne to me, which leadeth me to my third and last part, the acknowledgement of the in­evitable stroake of death; I shall goe to him, hee shall not re­turne to me.

In the 3. of Genesis, Pars 3. Gen. 3. you may finde mans Exodus, Thou shalt dye, it is the first Text of mortality in Scrip­ture, [Page 47]al Comments doe concur to the exposition of this. The caus of Adams death was the breach of dyet: God forbad him fruit of one tree, this he hungreth for, and taste it he wil though it cost him his life. S. Austin brin­geth our first parents thus disputing in a dialogue con­cerning that fruit; if this fruit be good,Aug why may I not eat of it? if it be not good, why groweth it in Paradise? Domine dedisti hortum & negâsti pomum, Lord haste thou given vs the garden, and denied vs the apple? therefore saith Austin, God hath given thee the be­nefit of Paradise, because thou maist know his favour and mercy, and therefore hath hee denied this one fruit to thee, because he may find thy obedience and dutie. This duty and obedience neglected by our Grand-sire, ever since death the lodge of all mens liues commeth with insensible degrees vpon the children of men, no wisdome shall appease, no policy prevent no riches cor­rect it. The impartial hand of death is ever destroying, the insatiable throat of the earth ever devouring; death the vsurper of Kingdomes, and the intruder into Countries, breaketh the studies of the learnedst, interrupteth the enterprises of the wisest, croppeth of the hopes of the fairest; in a calme a tempest overtakes them and sinkes them, delay may repriue them, but death wil serue the execution of that sentence vpon them. It is a sta­tute, statutum est omnibus semel mori, It is appointed that all men must die. David knewe this and therfore his words be, I must goe to him, he shall not reture to me.

It is the conceit of some Thalmudists, that if ever a­ny had escaped this fatall generall sentence,Miscel. Thalm. Moyses and [Page 48] Christ had beene freed. Moses saw God, spake with him, asked him, answered him, beheld him, and a kind of cō ­municatiō of some divine lustre was imparted to him, his face did shine: never face to face did man behold God, as Moses did, yet Moses must die, hee must ascend the Mount, and there expire. The oracle of Israel, Ter­ror of Egypt, discoverer of Canaan, Prophet, Priest, Captaine, Guider, leader of his people must yeeld to death, though hee lived to behold the God of life. Though Moses died, and yeelded to death, yet Christ might haue beene freed, hee was equal to the father touching his Godhead, and concerning his manhood his body was not begot in sinne, not conceaued in sinne; yet the death of this sonne of God if ever any one was so sealed and ratified, as farre as either the iustice of the fa­ther, or the engins of Tyrannie of men could devise, this Virgin sonne of the Virgin mother, Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda, lambe of God gaue vp the Ghost.

Every true Hebrewe must celebrate this Passover, every man may say for his Master, Father, neighbour, brother, friend, child, as David here, I must goe to him, hee shall never returne to me. They cannot come from that ioy and glory they are in, a Cloud of witnesses giue te­stimony of the blessed state of their abode. No returne, no comming backe, no passage from them as Abraham told Dives in the Parable, they bee in refrigerio, in that sweet refreshing saith Austin, Aust. de Sanctis Ambr. Chrys. Hom. Greg. they bee in gaudio, in ioyfull rest saith Ambrose, they bee in atrio Domint saith Chrysostome in the Court of the Lordes house, they be in manu Dei, in the hand of God saith Gregory, [Page 49]in sinu Abrahae, saith the Gospell,Phil. 3. [...] saith Paule they be with Christ: Returne cannot be, misery shall not bee vnto them. Vse. Whence I settle this observation, Obs. 3 that every man shall haue his passe in death, but none his returne, till the day of iudgement. The Tearme of death hath no essoynes, no returnes. All must celebrat this Passover, all must trusse vp their loines, all must take vp their staues in their hands, al must passe to their low­er roomes, all must lay forth their shrowds, napkins to bind their heads, annointings for their bodies to the burial, I meane preparation, meditation for their death that their names rot not, but that their memories may remaine in the posterities that are to come. None shal returne til the earths great Iayle delivery, heavens great summons to the sessiōs. A point that may be of much comfort, to ease and mitigate the gripings of the pangs, and fangs, and iawes of death, when our bodies lie vpō the altars of our beds for the sacrifice of our souls, whē the Evening of our life is even at the ende, and shut­ting vp, this is a sweet smelling savour, to remember that all our holy friends, that we leaue behind vs, shal follow vs, all that are gone before shall meet with vs, none faile for following, none want for meeting, Villand. & therefore not to feare death to be so horrid, thinke thy sicknesse thy prison, thy pangs of death, thy last fits, thou art vpō recovery, thy Pantings be but the sem briefes, the notes of division of the harmony that they ever haue in heauen, the bells that call for thee be but to tole thee to the triūphant Church, thy friends that weep greeue because they cannot go with thee, Divels that gape [Page 50]vpon thee looke but for legacies, leaue one thy pride, another thy lust, another thy ambition, and so as sinne brought in death, let death driue out sin. Death is but a ferrey, a boat, a bridge to waft thee over into another place, or a groome that lights a Taper into another Room; thy soul like a Tritō lying in the water, is presētly to be mounted vpon the waue, Angels carry thee, & thou shalt (hauing thy Nunc dimittis, Chrys.) passe into Abrahams bosome. Thus the Lord shall let his servants depart in peace according to his word: and it will be their com­fort, that they haue run their race, and fought their fight, and finished their course, and receaue the glory of the better life.

Conclus. And now beloved, for conclusion, giue mee leaue to repeat the words of my Text, and so end. Our MASTER is dead, wherefore should we now fast? Can we bring him againe? we shall go to him, hee shall never returne to vs.

But doe I aske? wherefore should I now fast? where fore should we now mourne? shall I say there is no cause now of mourning for our Master? I dare not say so;Seneca. Hectora flem us for his death is like an Ecclypse, the event whereof appeareth many yeares after, & the future generations shall lament his losse, and I feare out of the sides of their sorrow shall runne both water and blood.

I confesse it is in vaine, to ad new showers to our late streames of teares: the losse was such, that if after all our sighes and groanes, we should herein weepe out all the humours of our bodies, and wast out all the marrow of our bones all were but vanity and vexation of spirit.

[Page 51] Yet there is a cause to draw the Cesternes of our sor­row dry, and to make vs vow, not superstitiously but re­ligiously, an everlasting lent of fasting and mourning, and humbling our selues before God; the reason is, Cananeus non est occisus, nec factus tributarius, Greg. in Moral. and this brought such plagues vpon Israel. The Cananite is amongst vs, the basphemous Traiterous Papist is neither exiled, nor suppressed, but hath more countenance and mainte­nance secretly, then good men openly, and more plea­sure & content in prisons, then many holy men in their houses. This snake lyeth close in the City, this spider creepeth vp into the Court, and hath feeding in our Church, & housing in our vniversities. My thoughts be not bloody, I shal hartily pray for them, though they be our enimies, though they reioice & triumph at our pre­sent miseries, & though they haue evil wil at our Siō, yet my wishes & devotions shalbe rather for their conuersiō, thē confusion. But for our selues, let our praiers be daily & howrely powred out, that the Lord adde not so heavy and grievous a misery vnto this present, so great an ec­clipse of his glory and our good to this present clowde of both, as that this his Church ever become an Egypt, a Sodome, a Rome, a Babylon, a prostituted stewes for all commers: but that all good harts may be encouraged, and all good lawes may be executed to bring al the peo­ple of this kingdom to the knowledge of the Lord. And for this purpose let vs fast, and pray, and weepe & watch, and cry betweene the porch & the Altar, Spare vs good Lord, spare thy people and be not angry with thine inheri­tance; Opē their eies that they may see the wondrous things [Page 52]of thy law; Open thy hid treasures that we may receiue frō the hidden fountaines of thy loue, Grace mercy and peace, in our daies and the daies of our posterities, from thee O God the father and from thy sonne Iesus Christ, To whom both with the eternall spirit of thee holy Father bee all honour and glory in both worlds. Amen.

IErusalem the largest Mappe of misery, that ever eye beheld, ha­ving beene often threatned, often battred, and her visitation grow­ing neerer and greater then be­fore, Salem being to become a tributary City,Lam. 1.4. Ierusalem to be­come a solitary widdow, the waies of Zion to mourne, her streets to be empty, her gates de­solate, her feasts vnfrequented, her Priests to sigh, & her Virgins to be afflicted, shee her selfe, the obiect of this sight and subiect of this sorrow, to weepe day and night, and the teares to runne downe her cheekes continually; Lam. 1.2. her Plagues growing mighty because her sinnes were wax­ed many, Many committing them, few mourning for them: The Lord now sendeth sixe to destroy this City, commāding them, to spare none, to take no pity, Ezek 9.6. but to destroy young & old, the maids and children, & women, yet to touch none that had the Marke, and what this marke is, my Text telleth you.

[Page 2] A Publike Notarie is sent to take the list of the Mour­ners, their sorrow is their safety, their lamentation the cause of their preservation; Exod. 12. houses marked in Egypt, are deliuered because marked, mē marked in Ierusalem, mar­ked that they may bee delivered. Mercy hath her lod­gings taken vp in all Cities or Countries, bee the Iudge­ments never so great mercie cannot,Gen. 7.1. Gen. 19.22. Exod. 12. will not bee exclu­ded. The Saints are priviledged men, they haue speciall immunities, an Arke, a Goshen, a Zoar, a City of refuge, shall be ever prepared: or if the breaches of the City be many, yet some shall be marked to be deliuered, the meeke, Mat. 8.5. or mercifull, or peacemaker, or persecuted, or poore in spirit, or pure in heart, or those that hunger & thirst for righteousnesse. These onely shall not bee blessed; Mourning shall haue a part.Iudg. 1.15. Acsaph cannot want a blessing, shee shall be endowed with springs aboue & springs beneath: the godly may sow in teares, but shall reape in ioy, thousands shall fall before them, and ten thousands at their right hand, but the plague shall not come nigh them. My Text is the patent of the privi­ledge granted to Mourners, set a marke vpon the fore­heade of them that mourne and crie for all the abhomina­tion? But were any in Ierusalem to bee marked? there was a time there were none to bee found; In another Prophecie you shall find Ierusalem without a man. The Philosopher through Athens was not more careful to find a wise-man then Ieremie in Ierusalem to finde one good man. Ier. 5.1. A wonder it was, Inventus est vnus in Sodo­ma, non iustus inventus est vnus in Civitate sancta. So­dome yeelded one Lot, but Ierusalem yeelded not one [Page 3] iust man then. At this time the state was better, though not many, some there were, these seeke and finde, they loose not their labour, some children of the bride­chamber mourned, their sight was bestowed intromit­tendo, extramittendo, they saw and shed teares to see the abhominations: Mourning was as the Shiboleth be tweene an Ephraimite and a Gileadite, mourning is the Marriage garment;Eccl. 3.4. Ps 126.6. Ps. 90.11. Mat. 5.4. Ecclesiastes appointeth a time for mourning, David mentioneth the fruit of mourning, Moses prayeth for comfort in mourning, Christ promi­seth blessednes for mourning, but a mark for mourning a seale, a character, an embleme, an ensigne is never found before, never after. I knowe in the life to come, mour­ning shall not be vnrewarded, Revel. 1. all Teares shall be wiped away; but in this life, where the 12 fountaines of Elim doe continually flowe, in this vale of miserie, in this valley of Teares, in this way of the wildernesse, full of stony waies and bitter waters, that not only Con­solation, but preseruation is assured to Mourners, may seeme strange, yet is true, my Text giveth evi­dence. Set a marke vpon those that mourne and cry for all the abhominations. Spices cannot preserue the dead by embalming, as Teares will preserue the living by mourning. who thé is not desirous to sow in teares, Ps. 126.6. that he may reape in ioy and to go on his way weeping and bring this good seed, that he doubtlesse may come again with ioy, & bring his sheaues with him? That not a sigh is sent out but is heard in heaven, not a Teare but is kept, not a groane, but commeth before God, he that seeth him in secret to reward him openly; These poore [Page 4] soules to be rewarded with ioy in their teares, when the wicked that were in ioy before their faces wallow in their blood, Ps. 101.1. This is an extraordinary song of iudgement & mercy, set a marke vpon the foreheads of them that mourne, & cry for all the abominations.

Divis. Which words in an easie & kindly distribution, thus divide themselues. 1. The Priviledge of mourning, set a marke vpon the foreheads of them that mourn. 2. The spirituall cause of true mourning, for all the abhomina­tiōs. In the 1 there is a separatiō & distinction; not as the Prophet distinguisheth them marshalling the inhabi­tants of Ierusalem thus,Ier. the strong man and man of war, Iudge and Prophet, prudent and aged Captaine of fiftie, Honourable man and Counsellour, Artificer & Eloquent man, but whosoever of any state of life, any age, any sex, that mourned are all preserved. Gedeon divideth, and separateth his company by lapping of waters, Iudg 7.1. God di­stinguisheth his Saints here by shedding of watry teares, set a marke vpon those that mourne and cry in Ierusalem. Secondly, as no man saved but the mourners, so no mourning is approved but that which is for the ab­hominatiōs of the time: though their friends, neighbours, the wiues of their bosome, their childrē, the fruit of their bodies were slaine before their face, that no Myrmidon, no savage Barbarian could abstaine from weeping at such Ruthfull wofull spectacles,Aencad. lib. 4. that standers by woulde brand thē with the cursed character of hard-harts with a Quis temperet à lachrimis? Yet their mourning is not allowed vnlesse it be for the abhominations. The deso­lation is spirituall, because the abhomination is spiritu­all [Page 5]all, the lamentation must be no other, must be no lesse: Set a marke vpon the foreheads of them that mourne and weepe for the Abhominations. But 1 of the Priviledge of mourners.

Pars. 1 It might well haue beene the question of these peo­ple, when they saw this day of their visitation comming vpon them, O who shall bring Salvation vnto Israell out of Syon? They had heard the feareful denunciation of God in the last verse of the former Chapter, Ezek. 8.18. I wil deale in my fury, mine eie shall not spare, neither will I haue any pit­ty, though they cry in my eares with a lowd voice, yet I will not heare them: this word was a sword able to devide be­tweene the bones and the marrow. They had heard of fettring, scattring, consuming, banishing, & that their Virgins, Nazorites, Priests, Prophets, and Princely Citi­zens should be diuoured by the sword, and other plagues, the bitter blasts of the breath of Gods displeasure, they could expect no better: yet he, Aust. who had & nomina & membra, in whose roll were their names, and in whose booke were all their members wrtiten, sendeth to com­fort them: he had them in his hand, & none could take them from him, his eies were set vpon them,Psal. and with his eie-lids he considereth these children of men, no e­vill shall come neere their dwelling, though they were deiected in their owne eies, despised of their neighbours, and their enimies laugh them to scorne to see them go mourning all the day long, yet these mourners shall without any perill goe about in the street, every one of them might haue said Posui Deum adiutorem meum, In God is my helpe, in the Lord will I reioice, he hath regar­ded [Page 6]the lowly estate of his servants, Luk. 1.41. he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and hath remembred the humble and meeke mourners. God could not forget to be gratious, but wil visit this his vine, Habet ille vine­as semper lachrymantes suas, Magis frugife­ferae sunt lachry mantes vincae. hee hath vine-trees drop­ping of Teares in the winter of this world that they may flourish in the summer of a better life.Pined. 2 de Sa­lom▪ c. 4 num 4. Virga tua & baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt, Thy rod & staffe doe comfort me. Pineda hath a strange interpretation hereof, that hereby the kingly Prophet meaneth his Li­ctors, or the Chelethites and Petethites who were his guard. And as this is forced, so be there many fained & various others, wresting this holy speech to ridiculous senses. Some interpret this rod to be Moses rod, wher­by he did miracles,Exod▪ 4.2. Zeno veronens. ser. de Iud. some the Rod of Aaron, which on­ly rod flourished among the Roddes of the Tribes. Some this Rod to be the roote of Iesse as Iustin Martyr, and Eusebius. In Triphon. But the better opintons doe sentence it of afflictions and humiliations, these doe comfort, these incourage,Ps. 23. these do strengthen the godly. There by affli­ction David is strengthned and encouraged, here by afflaction these sorrowfull soules are preserved. It was with them, as with Mordecai; one day hee walketh through the middest of the City with rent cloathes, Ester. 4 1. and put on sackcloath, and cryed with a lowd, and bitter cry; on ano­ther day, the royall apparell that the king vseth to weare, he is apparelled with, Ester. 6.8. and the horse that the king rideth on, fitted for Mordecai, and the Crowne Royall which is set vpon the kings head, is put vpon Mordecai, and one of the noblest Princes do leade him through the same citty where [Page 7]Mordecai mourned. No man imagined such an altera­tion. Could any man thinke that God would so remember and provide for these pitiful sorrowful souls, whose teares were their meat day and night, their heads aking, & their eies streaming, sitting as the Doues in the holes of the Rockes, their soules weeping in secret,Cant. 2. and their eies dropping downe day and night,Lam 2. that in this great destruction, when neither the aged haue reverence for their gray haires, nor the suckling reliefe for innocencie of his tender age, nor the Virgin nor Matrone priviled­ged for their Modesty, nor the Priest or Senator respe­cted for their dignity; yet these marked for preservatiō, and honoured to posterity, brought out of their privat cels, out of their darke, & loathsome, fulsome, fuliginous dwellings into the light, vbi non lux sed luctus luceat, where not only their light shall shine before men but even very darknes shal be turned into light,Chrys. and as Esay speaketh, they shal haue beauty for ashes, the oile of ioy for mourning, Esay 61.3. the garment of gladnes for the spirit of heavi­nes. David may fly frō Country to Countrey, frō Samuel in Ramah to Abimelech in Nob, then to Achish in Gath, sometimes be in a Caue, sometimes in the fields, some­times in the Rockes, sometimes in the Wildernesse, but an eye shall behold him, whom no eye can perceaue, a hand shall lead him, that he dash not his foot. Ionas the most admirable patterne of misery that ever humane vnderstāding cōceaved, the most absolute Model of mi­serie, seeke (as a Reverend father of ours worthily saith) frō the Cēter to the Circle, no Paralel (being only mā) to Ionas, of whom the interpreters deliver miranda ed [Page 8]vix oredēda, were we nor bound to the word by the ob­ligatiō of faith, Ionas I say, cast out of the ship into an­other vessell, the bowels of a whale, the very belly of hel & being so imbarkt worse thē shipwrackt, Ovid. Trist. that he might truely haue said Mors mihi munus erit, Epis. Lond. in I on. he is wafted a long the bottome of the sea, and promonteries of the earth, from sea to sea, through the Syriacke sea, thence to the Egean, thence through the Hellespont where A­sia and Europe be devided, thence through Propontis, from thence to Thracius Bosphorus betwixt Constan­tinople and Natolia, and from thence to the Euxine sea, where he was vomited out of the Guts and Garhadge of the fish. In all this time, the Deepe drowned him not, the stomacke of the Whale digested him not, al his mi­sery devoured him not, al the surges, al the waues can­not wash away his marke his character, but preservati­on shal ever follow him, and bring him vnto the havē where he would be. There is a roote that keepeth life in the winter of misery, there is a good Angell that leadeth the Saints through fire and water, a guid there is that leadeth them through the chambers of death & breaketh the bonds of yron in peeces. Psal. 1. Cor. The foundation of the Lord is sure, saith Paul, and hath this seal, the Lord knoweth who are his, he hath signed and sealed thē with a marke, sometimes invisible, alwaies indelible, never to be expunged, never removed. You may aske why this priviledge is given to mourners? For if the Righteous only be Gods servants, and that of S. Austin bee true, vbi Iustitia ibi laetitia, where there is righteousnes there is gladnesse, then what place hath sorrow in the assem­bly [Page 9]of the Iust; againe in Habacuc in the great preserva­tion the Prophet speaking of the deliveraunce of the Godly saith, the iust man shall line by his faith. Hab. 2 4. Ps. 118 15. Esay. 61 3. Now the iust man is said to haue vocem laetitiae, vestom laetitiae, & oleum letitiae, the voice of gladnesse, the garment of gladnesse, and the oile of gladnesse, here is no mourning taken notice of. But S. Ambrose answereth, Non solùm do­lor, sed & laetitia habet suas lachrymas, Ambros. Not only sorrow but even the ioy of the iust hath private teares, and groanes and sorrowes. The ioyfullest feast, that ever the Israelites had, was the Passeover, and yet the Rasse­over must not be eaten without bitter hearbs: Exod. 12.8. and the most content that ever this life can afford, is but a bitter sweet. Therfore as the Apostle warneth, They that reioice must be as though they reioiced not; for all the ioy that the godly haue in this world is but vva acerba, a sowre grape. The counsell of S. Gregory vpon the rainebow fitteth vs in it at one time there seemeth to be the re­presentation of fire and water, Greg [...]in Mor. not only thereby symbo­lum vtrius (que) iudicij, a plaine manifestation that as the world was drowned by water, so it shall bee burnt by fire, but more properly in those colours of fire & water is represented ioy and sorrow, so interchangeably ap­pearing as not to be devided, a sorrowful ioy, and a ioy­ful sorrow, a showre in a sunshine, a bright starre in a dark night. So here these servants of the Lord doe mourne, and therefore are marked, and being marked reioice, be­cause they are preserved: set a marke vpon them that mourne and cry. Obs. Whence this observation as out of a cleere fountaine is derived, It is an vnseparable signe of [Page 10]the true children of God, to bee sorrowfull concerning this world, while they are in this life. The reason is because we ought to conforme our selues, not onely to the olde Saints vnder the Law, but to our Saviour, whose acti­ons in this kind be our instructions he was never found resting, or reioicing, but solitary, and sorrowing, & tra­velling; you may behold him, at a well solitary sitting, at the graue of Lazarus weeping,Luk. 2.3. in the Temple displea­sed and greeving, in the garden sweating and sighing, on the Crosse sorrowing and expiring. Hee was not borne in the yeare of Iubile, the yeare of reioicing, but in the yeare of Augustus the first yeare Taxing of the world. His seruants before had their markes, and prac­tises of mourning, the ancient Prophets oftē receaued their prophecies, in sorrowful solitary places by the wa­ters, as heavenly doues vpon the floods of waters: Eze­kiel by Cohar, Daniel by the river Tigris, Ioseph the Pro­phet and more then a Prophet by the river Iordan; and others though they receaued them not by the rivers, yet they dissolved their messages into waters, Ps. 119. 1 Cor. mine eies gush out, saith David, I haue writ vnto you with ma­ny tears, saith Paul, Non atramento magis quàm lachrymis Chartas inficiebat Paulus, saith an expositor vpon the Acts. Among all the fathers, none more abundant in teares then S. Austin, Lor. in Act. 22. v 19. Aust. he wept in praying and prayed in weeping, Da mihi lachrymarum fontem tum prae [...]ipuè cū preces & orationes tibi Domine offero, O Lord, saith he, giue mee then a fountaine of teares, especially then O Lord, when I offer vp my prayers vnto thee. Not to be able to weepe is hellish, a Marke of infernall compli­ces, [Page 11]the furies are so descried by the Poets, Horat. 2. Carm. 12. Ode. and Bodinus affirmeth the same of witches, and sorcerers. Certaine it is that Gods servants are well acquainted with such sacrifices, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

I finde in Scripture 3 especiall times of marking, 3. Times of marking in Scripture. Exod. 12.22. the first in Goshen, the houses to be preserved were marked yee shal take a bunch of Isop and dip it in blood, that is in the bason, and strike the Lintell, & the two side posts and the Lord wil passe over the doore, & wil not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. And the same Text saith, there was a great cry in Egypt, Exod. 12.29. for there was not a house wherein there was not one dead.Rev. 7.3. The second marking is in the Revelatiō by an An­gell ascending from the East, having the seale of the li­ving God and he cryed with a lowde voice, to the foure Angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea. The third marking is this of my Text, set a marke vpon them that mourne, & cry for the abhominations. Whē the Israelites were marked in Goshen, the Aegyp­tians had sorrow but no markes, when the servants of God are markt in the Reuelation, they haue markes, but no sorrow, but in my Text here we find sorrow & marks togither. The sorrow in Egypt, where there were no markes, doth describe the estate of the wicked, who drinke deepe of sorrow, but are estranged from all priviledge of preservation. The Saints in the Revelation who had markes but no sorrow, describe the estate of the Godly, whose sorrow is ended here, & in the life to come haue Palmes, Lawrels, white Garments, the seales and signes of the Lords eternall loue. These markes do [Page 12]designe the glory of Martyrs, Roses of the field red by their death, and the beauty of Saints, Lilies of the val­leyes, white in the innocencie of their life, these shal ne­ver hunger, nor thirst, nor sorrow, for the Lambe is their light and Lord for evermore. But the Saints marked in my Text, doe designe the militant Church, ever as the woman in the Revelation travelling, ever like Rachell weeping, and therefore marked to be preserved.

In the 1 of Chronicles the 4 and ninth,1. Chr. 4 9. Iabez the son of Ashur is said to be more honourable then al his bre­thren, the reason is because his mother bare him in sor­row, and his name is a name of sorrow. In the next verse Iabez called vpon the God of Israel to bee delivered from evill, 1. Chr. 4.10. and the Lord, saith the Text, heard him and granted it to him; here is the fruit of sorrow. Of all the Trees in the world, we read of none remaining, but the Oliue tree after the flood, from this tree the Doue had the bough. Many ancients do obserue much here­vpon, Gen. 7. & attribute much to this Oliue tree as being most greene when it is most watred, most fruitfull when it droppeth and distilleth. David compareth himselfe to an Oliue tree,Psal. I am as a greene Oliue tree in the Temple, in the house of the Lord, & Christ was more conversant in the Mount of Olivet, then on any other place. I inferre nothing vpon these places but onely this, that after the flood of sorrow our Oliue branches shal be greene, and flourishing. Elisha cast salt into the bitter waters to make them sweet, salsum in amarum, saith one,Lud. did he cast salt into bitter, can salt make sweet? Yes the sorrow which is as salt (cast into the passages of our [Page 13]life which of themselues be bitter) doth sweeten and relish our whole state in this life. Wee never read that our Saviour tooke the booke out of the Priests hand in the Temple but once, and then the Text hee opened, was that of Esay, the spirit of the Lord is vpon me, Esay. 61. 1. Luk. 4.18. because he hath annointed me to preach the Gospell to the poore, hee hath sent me to heale the broken hearted, and as it follow­eth in Esay to cōfort thō that mourne in Zion. A great comfort it is, that cōfort was the Embassage of Christ, the only Text of Christ, in his first sermon, the second blessing pronounced by Christ, & in the day of iudge­met the assured retribution of Christ. Mourners shal be marked, and by this shall bee preserved examples to all posteritie, and Saints hereafter in eternall glory.

Vse. A Doctrine fitting vs the scattered flocke of this fa­milie, who mourne for losse of our service. If we bee true mourners here is entertainement, mainetenance, Countenance and protection: we are sure to bee defended in the perillous times, and to be delivered in the day of adversity, then if we heare of dangers, or feares, or ru­mors of warre, we may lift vp our heads on high, as knowing our salvation is neere at hand, nay, we shall be dearer to God then ever we were, we shal be as the apple of his eie, or as the signet on his right hand, Ten­der as his owne bowels, he will water vs with the dewe of heaven, keepe vs in the quiver of his providence, and cover vs with the wings of his protection, we shall then no longer sit by the waters of Babell or drinke of the waters of Marah.

O what an honour wil it be, to be Gods servants, to [Page 14]be chosen by him, to be set apart by him, to bee his pri­viledged men, honoured and remembred by the poste­rities that come after! His servant Moyse, shall bring Manna from heauē, Exod. 16.16. 1. King. 18.41 Numb. 25.11. Gen. 19 22. his servant Elias bring Raine from heaven, Phinehas stay a plague, Lot shall haue such po­wer as that God can do nothing while he is in the citty, to these he promiseth that he will destroy none of all Ie­rusalem till they bee marked. Who so is wise, saith the Psalmist, wil ponder these things and will consider the loving kindnesse of the Lord.Psal. But alas, we are givē to affect Courtship, and the service of court so much,Iob. to seeke the face of the ruler as Iob in his time spake, or as Elisha is there any thing to be spokē to the king or to the Captaine of the host? ever we seeke great preferments, and desire continuance in the blandishments of Court.2. King 4.13. O, it is a braue thing to be counted a Courtyer, and yet a matter no happier then Salamons spider the wormes and moathes of greatnesse do hang vpon many here,Prov. it may be some haue vipers hanging on their hands, and the beholders do daily expect their downefull. Acts. 27. At the best Courtship is but splendida miseria▪ enuy may eate,Bern, or slaunder bite thee, ambition may breake thy hart, or pride break thy necke,Pro. or at best ease slayeth the foolish. I haue already remembred you of the kings speech in the Psalme, I will ingeminate it, for it is penned for this purpose,Ps. 146.5. the misery and vncertainety of our Courtly dependances Blessed is he that hath the God of Iacob for his refuge & whose help is in the Lord his God. To this refuge we may haue recourse he is not as Baal is said by Elias to be, busie, or slumbring, he that keepeth Israell neither [Page 15] slumbreth, nor sleepeth; To this refuge we may fly as the Grecians did to Themistocles, or as travailers in a storme to a shelter.Thuc.

Secondly therefore let vs examine our selues, whether we are marked to be his seruants or no: marks we haue, yet not his; Caine had a marke set on him,Gen. the marke of murther; Edom had the marke of Horror, Esau the marke of shame, Ieroboam the brand and mark of his sin▪ never to be removed. There be marks of dā ­nation, as wel as of preservation. God hath devided betweene Iacob and Esau in the same womb, betweene Pharisie & Publican in the same Temple, betweene Ephraim & Manasses in the same place, No doubt many men of Note at this time in Ierusalem were without this Note of preservation: And so now in the world if such another seale-day came among vs, many great mē, the magnificoes of this age, would beare part in the Commō desolation, having no part in this Patent graunted only Christi fidelibus. How many be there whose mouthes serue only to breath out the vnsavory speches of the soule, corrupting not the Company only but the aire they are in! whose eyes are the windowes, whose eares the doors of their own destructiō, whose vnderstanding represents their will, whose wil is a common Curtizā of pollution, whose memory a treasury of corruption. Nay among our selues, how many of vs haue but laid aside in this mourning time our common sinnes with our common garments, our ordinary sinnes in these extraor­dinary iudgements? It was an honest dutifull speech of Vriah when David bid him goe home, and eate,2. Sam 11.11. and [Page 16]drinke, and sleepe; he answered, The Arke, and Israel, & Iuda abide in tents, and my Lord Ioah, and the servants of my Lord lie in the fields, shall I then goe into my house, to eate, to drink, to lie with my wife? As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth, I will not doe it. He denieth to take his honest ease, I pray God none of vs haue presumed to take vnhonest courses, since our misery hath beene so eminent, and our dangers so imminent. This now should be our meditation; our blessed MA­STER lyeth now in his sheet and Sindon, Terras re­liquit Astroea, our sunshine is darkned, that place of Iob seemeth to be pend for vs,Iob. 21.18. WHERE IS NOW THE HOVSE OF THE PRINCE? the sunne of our glory is gone downe, the Philistins reioice, the Popish vncircumcised triumph, what shall I doe? Shall I be vnmindfull of my Saviour, vnfaithfull to my presēt sorrow, vngratefull to the memory of that my deceased Master, continue in Lyes, lusts, oathes, aspiring proiects, or malitious trapps? No I will make and obserue this vow, I will not suffer mine eies to sleepe, nor mine eie­lids to slumber, I will neither continue my tongue to betray my brother, nor my body to betray my own soul, I will endeauour to liue a iust and holy, and sober life, this I desire, for this I hunger, and thirst, this I vow, for this I pray, the Lord heare and grant mee this petition.

Vse. 3 Lastly, examine whether you haue so mourned as yee ought, in this our last losse. Alas, where now be our Teares? Its a Prodigie that fountains be dried vp in win­ter. Heathēs in their ritual books, deliver their order of Lamentation for common men to be 30 daies: the He­brewes [Page 17]lamented Moses, and Aaron, and Iacob 40 daies; the Egyptians went beyond both, and mourned for Iacob 70 daies:Gen 50 3. and I knowe in this company some will goe farre beyond these Egyptians, making their whole liues remembrances of their Masters death, and enter­taining no guest into their soule but sorrow. Yet herein also others haue gone further then any of you intend: Amorits by laming their bodies, Grecians shaving their heads, Tibracians by howling and roaring for the dead, & so many other Countries by horrid and vnnaturall Ge­romonies. But in all this causes rather then effects are to be lamented, Ratio docet & trahit affectio, Bern. saith Bernard, Reason doth informe, and affection doth inforce this former manner of lamentation, but grace doth commēd and God doth command another mourning, mourning for abhominations as it followeth in my Text, for the Abhominations. When Rahel wept,2. Part God by his prohibition crieth Noliflere, weep not. Our Saviour in the Gospell beheld none weeping but prohibiteth them.Ier 31.16. Luk. 8.15. Tairus wept for his daughter, and Christ saith, Noliflere weepe not. The poore widdow following them, that bate her sonne to the buriall is forbidden in the same words, Noliflere, Our Saviour ready to go to his pas­sion.Luk. 7.13. the daughters of Ierusalem wept for him, hee for biddeth thē Nolite flere, weep yee not.Luc. 23.28. Doth God for­bid weeping, and doth the Prophet promise a reward for weeping? yes saith Rabanus non ideo vt nonlugeant temporalia, sed ne negligerent suiritualia. Nature doth teach vs, to weepe for Naturall causes, but grace for spi­rituall, such is this mourning to bee rewarded Mourne [Page 18]for the abhominations. Common sinnes are to be lamen­ted, they be the vnfruitfull thornes that choake the good seed of vertue and grace, the corrupters of iudgement, the seducers of will, the betrayers of vertue, the flatte­rers of vice, vnderminers of Courage, slaues to weaknes, infection of youth, madnesse of age, the curse of life, and the reproach of death, the least of our bosome sinnes is fire in the hand, and a serpent in the heart, a Canker, a spi­der, an evill spirit, and the fruit hereof is death. But the worde wickednesse is a degree, that farre ex­ceedeth common sinnes. The Hebrewes obserue that the word wickednesse in the originall is transcendent. It is not [...] a small fault, nor [...] iniquitie, nor [...] sim­ply evil, but it is [...], as importing the all sufficient Tearme for all manner of impetuous impiety, nor re­strained to any one branch of the breach of the Com­mandements, but outstretching al degrees, that whatso­ever exceedeth modesty & is contrary to reason, nature, grace, or scripture, settled into dregges, frozen into ice, hauing forced, captiuated, the soul to impious servility, with a whorish forehead, that cannot be ashamed, aspi­ring, crying, climing, towring, filling and defiling the earth, poisoning the aire, lifting it selfe aboue the stars: yet in this exuberancy, & transcēdēcy, Abhominatiō like the whore of Babylon striueth to sit higher,Rev. 13.1. shee is the beast that rose out of the sea, hauing seauen heads & 10 hornes, and vpon her hornes ten crownes, and on her heads, the name of Blasphemy. Abhomination is the ab­stract, the Lucifer, Rev. 17.5. the Dragon, the Babylon, the great mother of all whoredomes, all witchcrafts, and to say no [Page 19]more it is Idolatrie; survey the former Chapter & you will find it. The great abhominations mentioned there be foure, first the Idoll of indignation, or as others read it the image of ielousie; Pint. in loc. quatuor abom. genera. secondly the Auncients or No­bles committing Idolatrie, and one especially named a­mong the rest; Thirdly, women weeping over an Idoll, women not of the meanest; Lastly, betweene the porch and the altar, the place of the Priests, Villapand. and therefore collected hence that these were Priests, they are commit­ting Idolatry. And after the Prophet had seen every one of them, the Lord by a gradatiō leadeth every degree, every vision to a higher elevation of their abhominati­on: for when he had seene every one of them, he saith, but behold greater abhominations. The first is that I­doll of indignation, or image of iealonsie, Luth. Lamb. Villalpand & Pint. in Ezek. which what it was is not generally concluded, but as the most, and best, it was the image of Baal which was the first occasion of the heathens and Iewes Idolatrie. Every Idoll in scripture is called, vanitas, mendatium for nicatio, abominatio, but this especially,Villalp. this is the abo­mination of desolation in high places, some referre this Idoll, to that which Manasses made,2. Chr. 34.4. but Iosias tooke that away, for he brake downe the alters of Baalim, that were before him. Others expoūd this of those made in the time of Zedekias: an Idoll it was, and the cause of indignatiō. The second was greater Ancients cōmitting Idolatry, worshipping, & burning incense to the formes and pictures of creeping things, Ezek. 9. v. 16. & abominable beasts pri­vatly in their chambers and to all the Idols of the house of Israell. These seaventy, the Sanidrim, the Councell of Is­rael, [Page 20]the elders of Israell, Num. 11. as they be called by God at their first institution, they that should haue taken care for Gods service, they commit abomination. But the third abhomination was greater, at the doore of the Lords house there sate women weeping and mourning for Tammuz, Lascivi daemonis simulachrum, saith an in­terpreter, the Idoll of a lascivious Devill, whether of Adonis, or Osiris, or Saturne, or whatsoever it was, devi­lish it was. R. Moses apud pint. in Ezek. Rabbi Moyses the Aegyptian saith, this Tam­muz was the Idolatrous statue of one so called who was a great worshipper of Idols, and he dying desired to be so adored; it was an horrid abominatiō. But the fourth is greater then al, betweene the porch & the altar, some Priests, say all Interpreters, turning their backes to the Temple, and their faces to the sun, worship towardes the East; this was the most abhorred of al others. Ob­serue the transcendency, and priority of these in their dagrees, first the Idoll of Iealousie, this was but at the gate, at the entry, there it might haue stood as a by­word to those that passe by, a contemptible thing, a Me­hushtan, a ruin ous Skeleton, time eaten weather beaten Monument; no, it stood there to be adored, worshipped publikely. Behold, saith the Lord, the abhominatiō, that the house of Israell committeth herein; yet beholde grea­ter abhominations, the Nobles and Ancients, worship not one Idoll only, but the formes of creeping things, ab­hominable beastes, all the Idols of the house of Israell, nay more one among the rest, a chiefe one, Currus Dae­monis, Pint. in Ezek. quo multi vehebantur ad infernum, a chariot of the Devill wherein many were carried to hell, this mō ­ster [Page 21]hath a Censor in his hand, in the middest of them, & every one of them round about, burne incense to this I­dolatrous imagery pourtrayed on the wall, yet this was only in their chambers, it was privatly. But the third a­bomination is greater, women weeping for that monster that Devill of lust, or that devill of Idolatry, women shamelesse Idolaters. The devill had no other engine in Paradise but the woman, Gen. 3. shee was the wheele to turne about all the world. Ahabs Iezebell is his instrument to slay the Prophets, Herodias daughter to strike of Iohn Baptist his head, Helena shal further Symon Magus stra­tagem, Philumena her Apelles, Montanus must haue his Prisca Donatus his Lucilla, Priscillinus his Galla, Arrius must be favoured and furthered in his heresie by Con­stantines sister, and Nicholas the Deacon will haue cho­ras foemininas: whether it be that women by their na­ture, are more flexible, or by law lesse lyable to punish­ment, (though very many of them haue beene holte worthy Saints and Martyrs of God,) yet many haue beene most faithfull servants to their infernall Master, they be the loadstones and loadstars in all evill, the Iesuit not more serviceable to the Pope then Idolatrous womē to the devill. These women were not in the common streetes, but in the gate of the house of the Lord, in an e­minent place do they commit this Idolatry. Yet the fourth is far beyond all, in al the circumstances. It is much that the Idoll should be publicke, yet better publicke by the common people, then in private by the Lords & An­cients of Israell: in the second, it is not so much that the Nobles and Ancients, do commit Idolatry in private, [Page 22]in their chambers, as that these women, those idolatrous witches, should openly, even at the doore of the house of the Lord, mourne for that monster, whether it were the God of their corporall, or spirituall filthines, for both be sworne sisters and inseparable associats. In the third it is not so clamorous in the eares of heavē, that women, weake for their sex, though wicked in this ser­vice, should weepe, and mourne, this being done with­out t the gate, though in an Idolatrous custome; I say it is not so clamorous as that the Priests of the Lord, the se­ers of Israel, the strong men of Sion, the foundation of Ie­rusalem, they that should haue bin the Oracles of God, that these should build Babell in Salem, it is more then that all the Commons, many Nobles, some women bee I­dolaters. Numb. If the light be darknesse how great is that dark­nesse? Nadab and Abihu, if they offend, fire shall strike them; Corah if he offend the earth shall swallow him. The offring of the Priest was greater then the offring required frō the Prince, Lev. 4.15 not respectu dignitatis, but pieta­tis, the Prince to offer a Goate, Bux. but the Priest, a bullocke. The Priest was not only the sacrificer, Sacerdos sal sa­crificii. but the salt, of the sacrifice, if this salt haue lost his savour, wherewith shall he be seasoned? if the Priest commit Idolatry, what hope in people or Prince? at his hands all wil be required. Here then is the full measure; people, and Prince, women, Priests, all are found faulty, all are ahominable, or at least some of all kinds and qualities among them, this is the cause that this mourning is required, that the Saints may herein be discerned, that they are so far from par­ticipating in the wickdenesse of the world, that they in [Page 23]consideratiō hereof may be found, not only watching but weeping as the Pelican, Storke, Doue, Turtle, be­moaning the increase of iniquity; and as my Text spea­keth for the abominatiōs that are done. Observ. 6 Whēce this ob­servation properly ariseth, that it is the duty of all Gods Saints to deplore the sins of the time, by which Gods iudge ments are hastned vpon the world. Moyses left this as a legacie to his people, they did not more lament his losse after his death, then hee mourned for them, and their ensuing sorrows for their present sins before his death.Deut. 32. David had the same spirit; Ps. 119. mine eies gush out with wa­ters because men keep not thy law. To say no more, all the Prophets do bewaile the sinnes of Ierusalem the seate of the kings of Iuda and Samarta the citty of the kings of Israell. Ieremy wished himselfe a fountaine, & if you read his Prophecy and Lamentations, you may think hee shed an Ocean of Tears, for the sinnes of the daughter of his people. As I name him for all the Prophets, so I on­ly direct you to S. Austin of al the fathers, who besides his practise herein, Confessions, Meditations, Aust. and Solilo­quies, doeth vpon this occasion of my Text exhorte all to this generall Lamentation. Aug. lib 2 cont. Ep. Parmenian. Cum idem morbus plurimos occupaverit, nihil aliud bonis restat, quàm dolor & gemitus, vt per illud signum quod Ezechieli Sancto re­velabatur, illaesipossint evadere ab impiorum vastatione: whē the same discase (or general calamity) shall visit ma­ny, there remaineth nothing to the Godly but sorrowe & weeping, that by that signe, which was manifested to holy Ezechiell, they may escape vnhurt,Chauc. Gerson. Alvar. Pelag. in the devasta­tion of the wicked: what Gerson, and Alvarez Pelagius [Page 24]a Papist in his booke named Gravamen Ecclesiae haue written even against I dolatrous Papists, is worthy for ever to be remembred, though it cannot in this scanrell of time be recited.

Vse. In this dysastrous time of my distracted meditations I haue been at a maze to cōsider whether these prophe­cies of Ieremy & Ezekiel be Oracles for Ierusalē only, or the Chronicles of our own lands: sure I am we haue the Idol of indignatiō among vs, Popery the mother of two sorry twinns Idolatry & Treachery, we haue some Idola trous Ancients, noble Idolaters, Idolatrously luxurious women, I dare not say that Noble women mourne for Tammuz. Wee haue Idolatrous Priests of our owne Tribe, of our owne Temple, who wish more Rome in the Land, who often offer strange fire vpon the altar even in Bethel, spurious, Heterogeneous monsters, Her­maphrodites, Ambodexters, Rapsodisticall Postillers, false hearted fellowes, who edge their swordes vpon the Philistins forges, and for this and these commeth the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience. It is confessed that Ieremy and Ezekiel prophecied both at one time; Compare their prophecies, & you will beleeue that they prophecied purposely for this age, and this place wherein we breath.Ier. 13.16. In the 130 of Ieremy there is a prophecy, that while men looke for light there should bee great darknesse: Is not this fulfilled? and haue not our eyes seene, & sorrowed, haue we not wept day & night, to see our present and apparant ioy ecclypsed, the ex­pectation of such solemne and solid comfort in the cō ­iunction of that blessed starre, with the religious Prince [Page 25]Palsgraue? In the same Chapter in the 18.Ier. 13.18. verse the Prophet, as if hee cried to the English Court, vseth these words, Say vnto the King & Queene, humble your seiues for your Principality is come down, even the Crown of your heads. And were the sun and moone of the firmament of this land, I meane his Royall Maiestie and the Queene ever so distressed with sorrow, as now, that the glory of the Brittish Principality is ecclypsed? In the 20 of the same Chapter, the Prophet asketh where is the beauti­full flocke that came from the North, the flocke that was gi­ven him? And may we not aske? where now is the beau­tie and glory of this flocke, of this family? where be those worthy, actiue, rarely qualified, Religious, Noble, and di­vinely tempred Gentlemen? whom, if another Queene of Sheba had beheld in the order of their service & man­ner of their attendance, shee had pronounced, 1. King. 10.8. Happy are these men, happy are these servants. In the 22.Ier. 23.10. of Ieremy there is a command to weepe bitterly, the reason, be­cause of the death of the Prince, Shallum the son of Iosi­ah; for saith Ieremy, He shall goe away, and shall never re­turne to see his natiue Country. O that the graue had o­pened her mouth vpon vs, and that this had not beene sulfilled in our eies, that a Million of our liues had ser­ved as an expiatory sacrifice for our blessed Prince! In. Ezekiel there be many notable places, that hee that rū ­neth may read how truely our history is pourtrayted in that Prophecy; but this string wil grow harsh, if it bee touched longer or lowder.

Yee may aske me wherein be any of these Prophe­cies fulfilled in our times, in connivence of Idolatry? [Page 26]But yee are wise, yee haue harts & iudgements and eyes to behold the increase of this desolation; yee need not aske, or if yee wil aske, aske the father in Christs name for some redresse: for did not the wakefull eye of heauen keep Centinell over vs, and the divine hand protect vs from the furious battry of tempestuous Popery, wee should bleed vnder the presence of their wished for desolation, as now we ought to weepe for that continued abhomi­nation. Babylon hath beene described by Esay, Ieremy, E­zekiel, and almost all the Prophets, especially S. Iohn, haue foretold her Papall Tyranny, and farall and fi­nal misery. If there were any life, or spirit, or any of our Ancestors iealous, zealous courage in vs, we would bee avenged of Gods enimies. Is it not enough that they haue reaped of the best fruits of our land and blasted some of the fairest hopes & crept into houses, & led wo­men captiues laden with diverse lusts, and haue their annuall sessions, and customary officers, for their subsidia­rie collections among the hell borne brood of bastards, enimies to our King, and God, and Church. I knowe if there were no Popery in our land, yet Abhominations might every where be found, Oportet esse hareses, Opor­tet esse abhominationes. But I say it is impossible, that all the world should afford so many high and horrid ab­hominations, as be in these. What greater pride then that a Priest shall so abase the mettall of the Crowne and lay the golden head of the picture vnder the earthy foot of the Pope? what sensualitie more then to proclaime indulgence with liberty, to all kinde of lust, what Covet­ousnesse more then to sell soules, the great marke of [Page 27] Romes market in the Revelatiō. Rev. 18.13. A most notable place to prone the abhominati­on of Rome: No place of the world selling soules but Rome Tully in Catil. coniur. Iob. A place so invincible to convince Rome of Antichristianisme, as no quicksilve­red Sulphurous Enginer among the Iesuits shall ever be able to countermine it. Veniunt, & in senatum veniunt, thy liue and come to Church, and I would they came no neerer. But come they as neere as they may, he that sitteth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne, the Lord still hath them in derision, the sea is limited, nay hell it selfe is bounded, their Navies haue beene shipwrackt, their fire workes prevented, their weapons, poisons, Treasons, e­ver hitherto descried, and God will continue to bee our God, their Dagon ever shall fall before our Arke, if we continue his servants.

Acknowledge this, Honourable, & Beloved, let Gods protection, if nothing else seale the certaintie of our Re­ligion vnto vs, you that haue any place of government and deriue any beames of authoritie from the sunshine of his Royall Maiestie, looke to your oathes of allege­ance to God and the King, how soone you must giue account of your stewardship you knowe not, be faith­full in the cause of the Lord. In some parts of this land by the countenance and furtherance of our late Renow­ned Prince, authoritie hath kenneld vp some blood thir­stie she-seminaries,Banbury Castle and Religion that was sicke of a Con­sumption beginneth daily to recover. There is no open Toleration for Popery, I confesse better were it that the Eagles of the valley should pick out their eies, but in eo quod superstitio non tollitur, toleratur. I never shall re­member that remarkable place of S. Paule to the Gala­thians, but my soule will abhorre the thoughts of blen­ding [Page 28]or suffring two religions in one place. The Gospell was planted in that Church, and yet this desired to re­taine some few of their ancient Iewish ceremonies: if yee read the place, Gal. 3.4. and 5. Chap. you will wonder that Paule should bee so vehement against the participation of some fewe re­liques of their old religion. You will find him more bitter (if I may call his holy zeale, the seale of his Apo­stleship, bitternesse) I say you wil find him more earnest and piercing then in all his Epistles. Besides an ingemina­ted Anathema to those that preached Iewish doctrin a­mong them,Gal. 2.1. & foolishnesse heaped on their heades be­cause they did hereby frustrate the grace of God, he protesteth vnto them in the 5. chapter and se­cond verse, Behold I Paule say vnto you that if yee be circumcised, Christ profiteth you nothing. Is Circumcision growne so odious? Is the seale of the covenant, Abra­hams covenant of grace antiquated? Is there no means, that this and the gospell may stande togither? Wil not Paule suffer a little leauen in the lumpe, not agree, that an agreement, or reconcilement be made between Moy­ses and Christ, I say between Moyses a type of Christ & Christ, between Moyses, who was with God the father in mount Sinai, & Christ with him in moūt Tabor. Not this Moyses and his law to be endured where Christ is, & his gospell? How then, if leauen bee not suffred, is poyson mingled? if Law and Gospell not to be togither, how shal that be endured, graced, maintained and countenanced a­mong vs, which is derogatory to law and gospell? Beloued be ye not deceived God is not mocked, he seeth harts, as you see faces. Idolatry and the connivence of Idolatry, [Page 29]brought all the plagues vpon Israell; favours among vs done to our enemies, haue almost vndone vs. Eheu su­slulerunt Dominum, I may say with Mary, they haue ta­kē away our Lord. Whether it was by any hellish plot of theirs sent from their infernal caues and cavernes, or the too much sparing of these Amalekites, whom God (if man neglect) will punish, I may say sustulerunt Domi­num. The choicest and greatest plague that these Incendi­ary, Sāguinary assaciāts could haue devised, they haue perfourmed. I know not whether, it was their damned villany, when they saw that Salomon would not linke with Pharaoh, that they fearing Salomon would pull of the crest of Pharaoh, haue prevēted it by their infernall stratagems. Speak it I must not, feare it I do, yet not be­cause I feare to speake it: for alas, now that sustulerunt Dominum for vs of this distressed family, did they cut our throats presently, they would rather free vs then adde any thing to our present miseries.

But Lord looke downe vpō vs, we are thy people and the sheepe of thy pasture, thou hast broken our bones in sunder yet art able to cause the bones that thou hast broken to re­ioice; build vp the wals of thy Ierusalem, looke downe vpon thine Annointed, cloath his enemies with shame, but vpon him & his let his Crowne flowrish on earth, til thou crowne vs all in heaven. Amen.

MY Text containeth the furniture for a funerall, an Honourable sha­dow presented on the stage of mortalitie, concluding his last act vpon the face of the earth. In the 1. of Samuel and 14. yee may finde his birth, 1. Sam. 14.50. Abner the sonne of Ner, kinseman to Saul, a Prince of the blood. In this Chapter is recorded his death, funeral and last obsequies, v. 27. and these so fully described that nei­ther the maner nor marshalling of it be left out.v. 31. Herse, Sepulcher, mourning garments, mourning Elegies be not omitted, and as if David gaue the Impresse, v. 38. his owne words bee, knowe yee not that a Prince and a great man is fallen this day in Israell. I will stay my medita­tions from running as Peter and Iohn did to the sepul­cher: Ioh. 20.4. he that commeth after, whose shooe latchet I am not worthy to vnloose, he is to annoint the body at the buri­all, & foelix est cui talis praeco contigerit, and happy is our dead Achilles, as in heaven in his soule,Rev. 1 that hee sin­geth praises with those who are made Kings & Priests [Page 2]to God, so in earth, that at the interring of his body his praises shall be sounded by him,Aug. who is as Augustin spake of Cyprian, Tanti meriti, tanti pectoris, tanti oris, tantae virtutis Episcopus, our most Reverend Prelat, & of such worth, such wisdome, such speech, such spirit.

My part at this time is to shed some Teares over Abner, and as David in the 31. verse of this Chapter to lament before the hearse: V. 31. a duty vnexpectedly imposed on me, the weakest of my worthy brethren, yet now to be performed so farre as Omnipotency shall enable, as a finall end, and funerall of my service to that vertuous, gratious, Princely spirit, which once inhabited this Ta­bernacle of earth that here lieth before vs.

Abner the Princely Hebrew, was now going to his last Passeover. From the Egypt of this world, to the Ca­naan of heaven is one Passeover, but this was not it, he was now to pass the other frō the world into the earth, to remaine in silence, and solitarinesse in the wombe and Tombe of the earth. David asketh the question, died Abner as vnregarded, died Abner not lamented? No; for the Text saith, David lift vp his voice and wept, all the people wept for Abner, & againe David lamēted & followeth the beere, & wept besides the sepulcher, & all the people wept again for him, & yet further, Da­vid commands them to mourne, & in a solemne obser­vance, wisheth them to lay aside their purple & Prince­ly furniture, their wanton, superfluous, and supercilious sailes of Pride, nay not only lay them aside, but to rent and teare them in peeces, and to put on Sables, mour­ning Abiliments, outwardly to testifie their sorrowing inwardly, because Abner was fallen in Israel. And what [Page 3]was Abner, that he is so lamented, so honoured by these observances, so mourned for in these obsequies, that King and people, and all Israel lament him? Abner was the grace of the Court, & the hope of the Campe, he was the Candle of his father, as the originall signifieth. Abner was the bearer of the sword, and the ioy of the souldiers. Abner was the glory of the king, & the supporter of the kingdome, a noble-minded Martialist, that did not af­ter a dishonourable Peace, which is no better then lusts truce, & valours rust. To say no more, hee was Abner, the light of Israel, & now this light extinguished, Ab­ner is dead and departed, therefore Rent your cloathes, put on sackcloath, and mourne before Abner, for Abner lieth dead before you.

Not only change your garments, but rent them, teare them to totters, and put on not only sables, semblances of sorrow, but saccloath hairy, dusky, dusty sackcloath, nor only Scindite vestimenta, rent your garments, but scindite corda, rent your hearts by mourning, & doe not this [...]làm, but coràm, not privatly, but openly. Put your garments on of lamentation, non tanquam illi qui thea­tro vivūt, not as though you did personate sorrow, but as though greefe were as cloathes to your backes, and as marrow to your bones. And mourne you, nō tāquā illi qui in funere plorant, not as mercenary men among the Heathēs, who were hired to mourne in their publike fu­nerals, but really let all the senses, all the faculties of the soule be cloathed only with sorrow. Weep, and wait, and watch the body while it is here, water his couch with your teares, attend the herse and beare it to the buriall, and performe these last ceremonies of service, and sor­rowe [Page 4]to Abner Davids Chiefetaine, Israels Captain, whose presence was a heaven of delights, whose depar­ture seemeth to leaue an Ecclipse in all things. Rent your cloathes and put on sackcloath & mourne, Abner lyeth dead before you. The Parts of this iniunction of sorrowe are three; Divis. Text. 1. the required outward signes of sorrow, rent your garments, & put on sackcloath. 2. The inward signs, mourning and lamentation. Thirdly the cause of both, Abner is the sad spectacle dead before them.

I forbeare descant, plaine song best fitteth sorrows. First of the first. 1. The manner of the Easterne people was when they lost friend or child, or in any common calamitie, to rent their garments. In the latter, when the Israelites found want of the favour of God, they put of their wonted garments, Iob. 2. Ion 3. Amos. 8. as in the Prophets may be found, Iob sat in ashes, Niniveh in saccloath, the Iews rent their cloathes. J need not record the frequency of the Phrase in scripture. The holy Patriarch Iacob was one of the first J find so passionat, and it was when hee lost Ioseph his ioy,Gen. 37. the light of his life. Rachel never mourned for her children as Iacob for the sonne of Ra­chel, he mourned and rent his cloathes, saith the Text. Pardon the good Patriarch that hee was in such an ex­tasie, well might he rent his cloathes from his back, when they had rent his bowels from his belly, and taken his Ioseph from him. Isaac his father was not more deare to Abraham, then Ioseph his sonne to Isaacks son Iacob. Wherein obserue that God tried these three Patriarchs in their three children, Abraham by Isaac try­ing his faith by offering to offer Isaac; Isaac by Iacob, [Page 5]Iacob flyeth from his fathers house for feare▪ Jacob by Joseph, Ioseph is sold by his brethren, and they bring old Iacob his bloody party coloured coat, and Iacob seeing it accepit vnam vestem scindit alteram, he receaued Io­sephs garment, but rent his owne,Lud. herein manifesting how great his sorrow was for the losse of his sonne.

The losse of a sonne is the greatest losse vnder the sun. Iob lost all, last of all his sonnes: when those fatall Nun­tioes bring him newes of severall losses, one waving af­ter another, any of them all readie to shipwrack al Iobs senses,Iob 1.20 he answereth none of them till the death of his sonnes was presented to him, then, saith the Text, Iob arose and rent his mantle. But J will not rent my selfe from the Text.

In holy scripture there is not almost any state or con­dition of life but yeeldeth an example of this Renting the garments. Iacob the Patriarch, Iosuah the Captain,Gen. 37.10. Iosh. 7.6. Iud. 11 15. 2 Sam. 15. 2. King. 2. Ioseph the iudge, Chusai the Counsellour, Elisha the Pro­phet, David and Ezekias, Achab and Ahalia the Queen. But of all other I find not many examples of the high Priest, for in the law it was prohibited the high Priest: Lev. 10.6. for Moses thus speaketh, Rent not your cloathes, least yee dy, and least wrath come vpon all the people. And therefore when the high Priest in the Gospell rent his cloathes, hee rent his Priesthood, saith Abulensis, Abul. Praesagium scissae pontificae dignitatis, it was a presage and prodigy of his renting officium & vestimentum simul.

This custome is not only mentioned in Scripture, but in all monuments of history, Poetry, and Oratory,Iuv. Satyr. 10 that of Iuvenal of Polyxena

[Page 6] Scissâ (que) Polyxena Pallâ: Herod lib. 9. Lucian. dial. de luctu. Dion. lib. 6. that also of Augusta in Seneca, scindit vestes— Augusta suas. Herodotus re­cords it of the Lacedemonians, Lucian of the Grecians, Dionysius Halicarnassaeus of the Romans, though Tully in his Tusculans iest at these Ceremonies calling them Luctus Barbaricos, yet these shewes and shaddowes haue much life in them, and bee sensible provocations to sor­rowfulnesse and solitarinesse. For by renting of the rich roabes, and apparelling themselues in sables & sack­cloath, they manifest their mourning in body as in mind. With renting of garments, putting on of sackcloath is ever ioined. Moeroris insignia, tristitiae Emblemata. And indeed the vse of sackcloath, Rab. hath beene very ancient, & frequent; the Arke vntill the Temple was built was co­vered with sackcloath, and Iohn Baptist was cloathed in sackcloath, Mat. 3.4. and Esay and the other Prophets, were com­monly apparelled in saccloath, & in the end of the world Enoch, Esay. 20.20. Apoc. 11.3. and Elias shall preach in sackcloath, I can shewe you a whole Court thus arrayed, in the time of Ahab; a whole City in the daies of Ionas: Niniveh. But not to stray fur­ther: vpon this renting of garments, and cloathing with sackcloath; Observ. I obserue that the sadnesse and sorrow of the spirit draweth the body and all the habiliments of the body into the participation and manifestation of griefe. Every worke of ours, in ordine ad Deum, hath many outward necessary ceremonies in the performing of it. Prayer is a holy service and by this tenure we hold our temporall and spirituall blessings, herein bowing of the knees, be­dewing of the eyes, smiting of the breast, bee not of the substance, but of the circumstance of prayer, Domer. Non tàm o­pera [Page 7]quàm passiones, neither commanded, nor prohibited by God, nor so properly workes as Passions, yet when these attend prayer, not mimically sought or vainely studied for, or Hypocritically affected & personated, but come of themselues; these holy perturbations, procee­ding from the spirit and power of prayer, they never returne without a blessing. In the repentance of Ni­niveh, they vsed besides fasting, the livery of my Text, sackcloath, and that so generally, as that man, and beast put it on, and not only so, but a forbearance of meate, neither man, woman, or suckling, neither rationall nor irrationall creatures, had their feeding, the infant cry­ing for the dug, and the dombe creatures crying in the Crib, in the great & solemne abstinence, did add much life to the performance of the Ninivites repentance. To let passe the guise of other Actions, our own custome, & the habiliments that now are on vs, now wee see all things are turned to mourning round about vs, it hath a strange operation to stirre vp the powers and passions of sorrow in vs, to set open those cesterns of our soules, that rivers of Teares may flow from in this Hart-brea­king, yet well pleasing pensiuenesse. For the nature of greefe doth vtterly exile all obiects of pleasure, & when true sorrow sits her downe in a stupid and stupendious manner, and calleth for heaven aboue to weepe with her, the earth beneath to lament, Rockes to cleaue, moū ­taines to eccho grones, Rivers to run with Teares of greefe: the Israelites did not more loath, then she doth delight to sit downe on the bancks of Babylon, her mu­sicke is Lachrymae, or Doloroso, she is as Rahell in hard la­bour, [Page 8]she no sooner conceiueth but is delivered, Gen. 35.16. and no sooner delivered but conceaues againe, her throbs and throwes almost devide her soule from her selfe, but that her solace being in division, that which killeth o­thers, keeps her aliue, emptinesse in the bowels, blacknes on the back, round about spectacls of misery, al circum­stances to make sorrow greater then her selfe.

Vse. Is it so? Be outward circumstances required to ex­presse inward sorrowes? Downe then with all the signes, and sailes of vanitie, and in true sorrow, and humilitie, humble your selues before God. It was one of our Sa­viours questions to his Disciples after their return frō the visitation of Iohn Baptist, Luk. 7.24. whom went yee out to see, one cloathed in soft arrayment? he answereth him­selfe, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and liue delicat­ly, liue in Princes Courts. Ahlas, Beloued, that tune is al­tered, you that haue beene as Orient starres in this fir­mament, now the darke and blacke colour of the night cloathes you. It was a true speech of the Emperour, sump­tuousnesse of apparell is vexillum superbiae, Nidus luxu­riae, the banner of pride, & nest of lust: & as true is that of another, the worst apparell is natures garment & the best but follies garnish. The great sinne of the Assyrians was excesse in cloathing, Ion. and therefore their great City Niniveh was therefore apparelled in sackcloath. The great sinne of our land is excesse in the same kind, and therefore God hath cloathed this our great City at this time in mourning garments. Aske of the most ancient observer, and Register of times, whether either in mans memory, or in records of antiquity the like example [Page 9]hath appeared, as that which is obvious now in al parts of this City that almost the third man wee meete is a mourner. The froth of ostentation that appeared lately, I say not only in this house, and in this City, but in al this Land did prodigiously pretend an alteration. It was not strange to see a man carry a whole house on his backe, nay to see some more able to beare then Elephants, car­rying more then Castles, lapping themselues in their land, being the living sepulchers of their ancestors, exe­cutors to themselues, and theeues to their successors. I ac­knowledge a free vse of all Gods good blessings. Honour to whome Honour belongs, and all the accrument of all honourable ensignes to them whom God hath lifted vp aboue their brethren; but Nature and Nations haue ever vntil now made distinction as in other Circumstā ­ces, so in apparell betweene the Master and servant, the Prince and Subiect. It is the generality rather then the bravery of apparell I condemne. Yet even in the braue­ry, what a poore ambition is this, that a Peacocke is more beautifully suited then thou, or a Lylly of the field more glorious thē thy Colours▪ feathers, spangles, pearles, silkes, and golden suits can make thee! Be not deceaved, my Beloved, in the bravery of the world, in the vanitie, or opulency, or voluptuousnesse of life, hee that gaue a garment may giue a Rent, hee that hath cloathed with beautie, may cloath with leprosy. Looke into the ri­fling of a wordrop in Esay; Esay. 3.18. The inventory is taken in the 3. Chapter, the bravery of their Ornaments, and chaines, and bracelets, and muflers, and bonnets, and Tablets, and earings, and rings, and ornaments of the legs, & changeable [Page 10]suits of apparell, and mantles, and wimples, and cris­ping pinnes, and glasses, and hoods, &c. But the destruc­tion of all this feminine furniture is in the next verses: It shal come to passe, that insteed of a sweet smell, there shall be a stincke, insteed of a girdle a rent, insteed of well set haire baldnesse, and insteed of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloath, and burning insteed of beautie. The gates shall lament and mourne. That story sheweth how our state is, so we sinned, so we are plagued.

It is observed that among the Iewes, whosoever were present where blasphemy was committed,Thalm. they presently rent their cloathes in detestation of the blas­phemer. Were it an iniunctiō among vs, we should never be in a whol suit of cloathes, there be so many blas­phemies daily committed. In all the olde Testament I finde but foure blasphemers, Shelomiths sonne in Levi­ticus, Corahs murmu­ring was a kind of blasphe­ming. Corah in Numbers, Golias in the 1 of Samuel, and Zenacherib in the 2 of Kings. The first one of the com­mōs, the 2 a Priest, the 3 a souldier, the 4 a King, & none of all these escaped without vengeance, to shewe, that if in the Cōmunalty, or Clergy, or military men, or in the very throne of Maiestie, blasphemy bee found, without great mercy there will be great iudgement executed. In our weaknesse oathes doe fal from the best of Gods children: Humanitie and infirmitie, those two twinnes both dwell in vs, and therefore let vs pray, Enter not Lord into iudgement with thy servants, for in thy sight no flesh shall be iustified, keepe vs from the cursed custome of oathes, and keepe vs from being either principals, or ac­cessaryes in blasphemy.

[Page 11] Lastly to close vp this first part; In your mourning gar­ments, see that yee cloth mourning minds, and truely sorrowfull soules. None of you can condole so much as yee ought, and therefore farre be it, that among any of you, there should lurke vnder the sable habit of a mourner, any falsehearted, Pharisaicall, Hypocriticall, Po­pish masker, whose soule is not robed with either the Nuptiall, or funerall, wedding, or mourning garment. To such J say not friend, but foe, how camst thou to this mourning garment. Epiphanius mentioneth some He­reticks that were called [...] that continually went in sackcloath, and yet were rotten painted sepul­chers.Epiph. Haer. 80. I feare mee, if due inquisition were made, wee might find Hereticks in sackcloath, even in these solem­nities. The pressing in of Papists into those places, which our Gracious Master honoured with the accesse of his Person, this last Summer will never out of many good mens mindes, who saw and pittied to see the boldnesse of these blood suckers. No wonder that there is masking in mourning, when there is such common masking in beleeuing, that many a one that commeth to these assemblies may be asked, noster es, an adversa­riorum? as Ioshua once questioned.Ios. 5.13. But the day shall come when the secrets of all hearts shall bee disclosed, Conscience shall be vnmasked, and their owne souls say to their owne consciences, as Achab to Elias, Hast thou found me ô my enimie? But vnto those that doe truely mourne, the Lord will marke them in Sion: and howso­ever the Persians in the history of Ester would not suf­fer any in sackcloath to come into Ahashuerosh his [Page 12]Court, yet as Iacob got the blessing in sackcloath by making himselfe rough in the sense of Isaac, so he that commeth to God with the inward sackcloath of sor­row, shall surely find a blessing. O then howe happy were we if wee could for ever continue our mourning till our blessed Master, who is in glory, and we who are here in misery come to meeting.

For our part we pronounce not renting of cloaths only, without the putting on of other roabes, nor so much wish you to put on sackcloath as to put on Christ. Induite is the voice of the Church, not scindite: Put on, not rent of. We pray for the Kings Maiesty, In­due him plentiously with heavenly guifts; for the Royall progeny, we pray,In the Collect for the King. In the Collect for the Royall issue. In the Letany. Indue them with thy holy spirit; for the Honourable the Lords of the Counsell, we pray, In­due the Lords of the Counsell, with grace wisdome and vn­derstanding, and in many other places in our Liturgie; the Originall of all being from that of S. Paule, Put on the Lord Iesus Christ. Which will be the better perfor­med if yee please to be acquainted with the second part of my Text, which is mourning, inward mourning, not only scindite vestimenta, but scindite corda, Rent not only your cloathes, but your harts.

And mourne. It hath beene an ancient and a laudable custome for the Saints of God to deplore their decea­sed of what estate or condition soeuer. Honourable be those examples, Abraham lamenting Sara, the Hebrews Moyses, Ioseph Iacob, the Israelits Ioseph, the Apostles Ste­phen, Nazianzen Basil, Bernard Malachie, and our bles­sed Saviour Lazarus his friend, and far be it that Chri­stians [Page 13]be blameable for neglect hereof. If it were that but Nature only did teach this, and affection presse it, those internall acts, the Passions and operations of our soule would diffuse themselues, not onely by a sensible but reasonable motion, to bewaile the want, and lament the losse of such as were, by our duty, or propinquitie deare to vs. But when a greater enforcer hereof, then nature appeareth, when Grace approveth this, we may then open the floodgates of affection, and deplore the death of those, whom the eies that saw blessed, and the eares that heard, gaue witnesse vnto. David in these 5. last Chapters celebrateth many funerals with mour­ning for Saul and Ionathan, for Ishbosath, for Ahasel, and here for Abner. And it is not without much reason that Salomon doth giue Counsell to goe to the house of mourning, est enim illic benedictio, saith one,Pin. there is performed that blessing which Christ promiseth. A blessing is promised no where to mirth, but to mour­ning our Saviour hath annexed this reward. The kee­ping vnder of the soule is much availeable to all religi­ous and devout offices, the contemplation of the la­mentable estate of the several occurrences of this low­er world, is one of the cheefest and first rounds of Iacobs ladder, & hath brought many holy ancients to heauen, and doth teach every man Davids lesson;Ps. 119. I see that all things come to an end, therefore they law doe I loue. The whole world is the house of mourning, whither then may man goe but to mourning. The Paracelsian may hold that there is salt in every body; I am sure, there ought to be sorrow in every soule. The second sonne [Page 14]that Adam had was Abel, Gen. his name the name of vanitie and sorrow: of vanity because Adam was exiled Para­dise, and the whole creature was subiect to vanity; A­dam might haue taken vp Salomons Text, Omnia vani­tas: and Abel had his name from sorrowe, because all things were so obnoxious to vanity, both these be ioy­ned in Salomons vniversall censure, Eccl. vanity and vexation of spirit. Abel the first name of mourning, Abel the first cause of mourning. S. Austin onely collecteth three rea­sons of praising Abel, virginitas, Sacerdotium, Martyri­um; and in all these he was the type of Christ, & indeed his name of mourning did typically prefigure the nature of Christs life, which was spent in solitary sorrow. It is a conceit of Methodius, that Adam continued his mour­ning for his sonne Abel a hundred yeares,Hist. schol. in lib. Gen. his reason is, because he had no other sonne, as he collecteth frō the Text, in the space of a hundred yeares after. Howe long soever he lamented his sonne, we knowe not, nor need care: we are sure that all the daies of our Pilgri­mage, we may lamēt our father Adā; for as he brought in sinne, so sinne hath brought in Lamentation and mourning vpon vs, and not Ieremy only but all mankind may write Lamentations. Non finiresed semper reser­vare lachrymas debemus, Hier. we must never ende our sor­rows, intermit them we may, but still to keepe our ac­quaintance with them. That of Hierome I confesse it is true, Detestandae sunt illae lachrymae quae non habent mo­dū, mourning without measure is a hell vpō earth, yet again Detestandi sunt qui carent lacrymis, they are to be detested that haue no measure of this heavēly Manna.

[Page 15] My obsernations vpon the word Mourne, is this,O [...]s. The best seruants of God ought to lament the losse of those that haue beene Pillars either in Church or Common-weale. It is confirmed by S. Hierome, Pietas plorare iubet, desideran­di sunt vt absentes, deplorandi vt amici, Hier. Pietie doth com­mand these lamentations, holy men are to bee lamented, because being absent to be desired, and as friends to be deplored. Tauri pro tauro mugiunt, saith Bernard, vnrea­sonable creatures do low one for another: how much then should reasonable men, especially Christians de­plore those that are departed from them, when reason teacheth, and affection inciteth? It was the practise of many of the Prophets, as S. Hierome noteth.Hie. in 17. Isa. Esay. 57.2. Mich 7.2. Iustus pe­riit, saith Esay, the iust man perisheth, and no man taketh it to hart, sanctus periit, saith Mioheah, the holy man pe­rished out of the way, Pius defecit, saith our Prophet, the godly man ceaseth, and Ieremy in most ample sort, in his, 9. Chapter, whither if yee haue recourse, yee may see the fountaine from whence ranne the riuers of al his lamentations. Ier. 9.1. O that my head were water, and mine eies a fountaine of teares, that I might weepe day and night, for the staine of the daughter of my people! I acknow­ledge that these all did deplore rather the generall deso­lation in the want of good men, then in their particu­lar affection the death of such good, holy, iust, godly men. But in this kind also, these blessed seruāts of God are not without example; Dauid shall speake for all in his Elegies for Saul, Ionathan, Absolon, Abner, &c. Nay our Sauiour, as before I mentioned, wept for his friend, I find that name bestowed onely vpon his friend Laza­rus [Page 16]and I find our Sauiour weeping onely for Lazaru, for no one particular but his friend Lazarus, and that was so obserued by the Iewes, as that their speech was, behold how hee loued him. Ioh. 11. Our Sautour raised vp, as S. Austin noteth,Aust. three especially, and particularly in­his life, but he wept only at one of them. The circum­stances of his raising these differ much, the first was dead but an houre, the second dead a day, the third dead foure dates; the 1. dead but not taken out of the bed, the 2. dead and laid in the coffin, but not in the graue, the 3. dead and laid in the graue, dead 4. daies, and began to sauour: he touched the hand of the first, the coffin of the second, but the third he touched not at all. At the first few persons were present, and Christ charged them not to speake of it: at the second many were present, and it was noised farre abroad: at the third a number of Iewes present, and they obserued it. At the first there was no publike weeping; Ioh. 11. at the raising of the second the mother wept: at the raising of Lazarus, the friends, and sisters, and Iewes wept, & fleuit Iesus, & fremuit, & tur­bauit seipsum, Iesus wept, and groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and againe hee groaned and was troubled, and cried with a lowd voice; thē said the Iewes, behold how he loued him. Et quare fleuit Iesus, nisi hominem flere docuit, and why did Christ so weepe, but that hee hereby taught man to weepe? he opened 2. fountaines of passion and compassion, and therefore those that carry his name, are to conforme themselues in some measure, and though there bee no proportion betweene finite & iufinite, yet in the best manner we may, precept, and ex­ample, [Page 17]and promise doe enforce this blessed practice. It was a strange lawe, that the Athenians made an edict to prohibit mourning at funcials, fit for heathen, not Christians to imitate. For they that haue been honou­rable & commendable in their liues, are to be followed with the best testimony of affection, that the iust may be had in euerlasting remembrance, yet with this warning in mourning, that as we proue not without charitie in not lamenting their deaths, so also not without hope to forget the good estate of their soules when we so ouer­much lament the death of their bodies.

In the 9. of Numbers, when the cloud was taken vp, Num. 9 the children of Israel iournied, when it abode, the chil­dren of Israel pitched, so when sorrow commeth, sit downe with sorrow and mourn; when ioy commeth, returne and reioice, yet neuer to bewray a want of faith when we would manifest an abundance of loue.

Vse. Hence then wee see our warrant for bewailing the irrecouerable losse, that the Church & Common-wealth, and Protestant world hath now sustained by the sad spectacle before vs, we may rent garments, and put on sackcloath, and mourne. Mourne then, ye children of the bride-chamber, the bride-groome is taken from you. Mourne ye sonnes of Eli, Nebility and Gentry, the Arke of God is gon from among you. Mourne ye Priests of the Lord, betweene the porch and the Altar, Iosias is dead, and slaine among you. Howle yee poore fir trees, your shelter is downe, the Cedar is fallen, and lieth here before yee. Let the house of Dauid mourne, & lugeat Domus Iacobi, let S. Iames mourne;Zach. let the inhabitanes [Page 18]of Ierusalem mourne, and to vse the words of Zacharie, let them mourne as for their only sonne, and lament as for their first borne. In that day shall be a great mour­ning in Ierusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo, and the land shall bewayle euery family apart, mourning shall bee in all the ends of the land, complaining in the streets of euery City, crying in the chambers of euery house, Alas for the day of the Lord is come, it is come: all the orders and Companies, I say not of this house only, but of all this Realme, from the honourable Counsellour, to him that draweth wa­ter, from the man of gray yeeres, to the young child, shall plentifully water their cheekes, and giue iust occa­sion to the Chronicles and Prouerbes of our posterities, to be remembred. And we especially of this Collegiate society, that shall this night end our watching, shall to morrow haue a new occasion, not only of increasing but renewing our weeping. Hitherto we haue mourned for the departing of his soule out of his body; now vvee must lament for the departing of his bodie out of this place: so long as his herse, his vrne remained, we had a Master, though wee could not inioy him aliue, yet it was some solace in sorrow, to attend him dead, though we heard not his words so full of grace, nor enioyed his presence so full of glory, yet his ashes, his effigies, gaue a glimse to vs sitting in darknesse, and now wee must loose this, and this vnhappinesse will admit no helpe. Gen. 50.10. When Iacob was carried from Goshen to Canaan the Egyptians mourned with a great and very sore la­mentation, and that mourning was so wondred at by [Page 19]the Canaanits, that they call the place Abal-Mizraim to this day, Egyptians gaue the cause of the name: Canaa­nits gaue the name of the place, mourning the cause of both, both these strangers, nay in themselues infestu­ous enimies to the Israelites. If Egyptians and Canaanits, strangers, haue done this for Iacob, what shall the ser­uaunts doe, and attendants in familia Iacobi, pro filie Iacobi; let vs crie mightily vnto heauen, that after our bodies lie buried in the dust, our lamentation may be re­membred, Ah the Prince, ah our glory, ahlas for the day of the Lord is come, for Abner lyeth dead before vs! My last part.

Mourne before Abner: Coram not Claàm, not priuately but openly. Math. Many acts of deuotion are to bee performed priuatly: when thou giuest almes, saith our Sauiour doe it priuately, when thou prayest enter into thy chamber doe it priuately, when thou repentest, saith Dauid, com­mune with thine owne heart, and in thy chamber, Psal. 4 and be priuat. Priuacy is a speciall circumstance in all these, and sure if many would but vndergoe the catechising of their soules in priuate,Laer. tit. 3. de Jra. they would not be obserued so much for their sinnes in publike. Laertius mentioneth Pyrrbus Eliensis, which was wont to consult himselfe daily in some secret place, and being obserued to talk to himselfe, hereupon being questioned the cause, hee an­swered, Meditor bonus vt sim. And Seneca mentioneth Sextius in this kinde, who euery night would priuatly examine himselfe, Quod bodiê maesum tuum sanâsti? eui vitio obstitisti? quâ parte meliores? and what custome sayth Seneca, can be more commendable? These beloued, [Page 20]shall arise in iudgement with this generation and con­demne it: their practice was a kind of vailed Christiani­tie, they did shame to doe that priuately, which this age doth perpetrate daily and publikely.

Mourning is to be performed openly, solemnitie ex­pects it, and antiquitie, that constant, wise, and vnpain­ted Herauld, prescribes it, Coram Abner, the last act of his obsequies, the last tribute of duty. Abner yet carrieth his names, the earth yet carrieth his body, it is not Cada­ver, nor Inane corpus anima, it is Sacrarium vitae, not a Carcase, Athan. or empty corpse, but as Athanasius well obser­ueth, the dead body is the vestry and Chappell of life, and haue their Camiteria, sleeping places til the Resurrecti­on of the dead. They be as Kings houses, not to be con­temned, when their Masters depart out of them, be­cause they are to returne againe: life shall visit these desolate roomes, all the offices in this Princely bodie of Abner shall be supplied, the Court is but remoued, Hea­ven is the standing house, this body againe shall be the bedde chamber of the soule, yet because life is gon out, lament, for Abner is Abner still, let not your last act faile, though your eies cannot see him, yet let them send our Teares to sorrow for him, and Mourne before Abner.

The sorrowfull presence of a sad stectacle calls sorrow before it commeth, and often createth sorrowe where it is not. It is no maruaile that Abruham wept when he saw Sara his wife dead, or that Bethshebe wept for her husband, or Eleazar for Aaron his father, or Dauid for Absalon his sonne, or Rebecea for Deborah her nurse, [Page 21]or Christ for Lazarus his friend, or Dauid for Abner his Captaine. But that Alexander should so lament when he came to behold the Sepulcher of braue Achilles, or those many in histories to deplore, and fall out into teares vpon the first sight of spectacles of desolation, may seeme strange.

Yet those spectacles some-times cause passions of di­verse effects. When our Sauiour beheld Ierusalem, he wept ouer it, but when the army of a worthy Conque­rour, aboue 1000. yeares after came to behould the ru­ines and rubbish of the same City,Hist. Ture. p. 21 the deuout passions of diuers are very diuers: somewith their eies and hands cast vnto heauen, calling vpon the name of their Sa­uiour, some prostrat vpon their faces, kissed the ground, as that wherevpon the Redeemer of the world had wal­ked, others ioifully saluted those holy places they had heard so much of, & then first beheld. Our Sauiour, in a holy as well pittiful, as sorrowfull contemplation, beheld the presage of their vtter dissolution and desolation by reason of that horrible contemptuous iniquity of theirs Quod nulla posteritas taceat, sed nulla probet, Sencea. & therefore vpon a more cause of griefe then these souldiers of ioy, lamented the City, and yet slept not till he came neere to the City, the sight of the City was the seale of his sorrow, Propter Ierusalem hath much more in it then this day can giue mee leaue to deliuer. S Iohn in his Gospell doth deliuer the story of Christs raising vp of Lazarus: and well may Iohn write Lazarus storie, they were both almost in one line in Christs loue, Iohannes dilectus Domini, Lazarus amicus Domini, Ioh. 11. Iohn the belo­ued [Page 22]of Christ, Lazarus the friend of Christ. The story is worthy obseruation? V. 11. Iesus told his Disciples our friend Lazarus sleepeth, they vnderstood him not, the Text saith,V. 13. Iesus vnderstood it of his death, then said Iesus, Lazarus is dead, yet Iesus wept not, in knowing or telling them this. Our Sauiour then goeth on his tour­ney towards Lazarus, hee discourseth all the way con­cerning Lazarus, yet Iesus wept not, hee meeteth by the way with Martha, and communeth with her about her deare deceased brother, Nondùm fleuit Iesus, Iesus wept not yet. At the length Mary commeth, shee fal­leth downe and weepeth, and cryeth out, Master if thou hadst beene here my brother had not died, then Iesus seeing her weepe, and the Iewes weepe, he groaned in spirit, and was troubled, yet he wept not At length he asked where haue yee laid him, and in his passing thither, the Text saith, Iesus wept, comming neere to the graue, he could not containe: Fleuit Iesus.

The Doctrinall obseruation of these words (before Abner) is, that it is the duty of Gods seruants to lament ouer their deceased, and carefully to prouide for their Christian funerals. Honesta sepultura is much remem­bred among the fathers, Aust. and one of them hath writ a booke de cura pro mortuis. If there were nothing to proue the Lawfulnesse hereof, that one parcell of ground that Abraham bought to consecrate to burials, may iu­stifie the antiquity and reuerend vse hereof. How ho­nourable were the sepulchers of the Kings of Israell and Iuda, it is a grace to them that had this Epitaph, he was buried with his fathers, the Piles of Pyramides of Egypt [Page 23]be yet in part to bee seene,Mat. they were made of that bricke as some record, which the Israelites in the house of their bondage were constrained to make: and so it might be, that God suffred them to be the instrumēts of making Pharohes sepulcher who were the cause of his death.In vita Ambr. In the New Testament wee want not exam­ples of these solemne funerals, that of Stephē may serue for all, holy men carried him to buriall and made lamenta­tion for him. S. Ambrose, as appeareth in the description of his life in this kind was very carefull, those that were honourable in their places, or profitable to the Church, or Common-wealth, or any way to be esteemed good, holy men, he would bewaild their death, and at­tend their funerals. But it may bee some such Scepticall Cynicall creatures may question, whether such pompe as is vsed in funerals, be lawfull or no, for why should not I thinke that Iudas tribe is not vtterly extinct, whose cry is ad quid perditio haec? To answere all such that part of solemne seruice, the last night, being a por­tion of the 50 Chapter of Genesis may satisfie all such curious and querulous Inquisitors. Gen. 50 Ioseph commands his Phisitians to embaulme old Israel, forty daies the Embalming continued, then they provided furniture for his funerall, and all the house of Ioseph, and his bre­thren, and his fathers house, all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and Chariots and horsemen, and a great company and they made great lamentation. To this may bee ad­ded many examples, sacred and prophane as also the Emperous constitutions: Constantine that appointed [Page 24]950. officers about funerals, which order Arcadius and Theodosius confirmed, and afterwards Anastasius increased to 1100 and a certaine pension allotted vnto them; this also established by Leo and Iustinian, some to visit, some to provide necessaries in sicknesse, others to lay out the dead, others to embalme them, others to carry them to buriall, as Claudian witnesseth

Vse. Hence then the lawfulnesse of our Christian celebrities and solemnities in funerals, is approved, and hence wee may learne to performe those offices in the last obsequies of our deceased, as knowing that before the Law, vnder the law, after the law, yea even to heathens that knewe not the law, this custome was with reverence and care observed.

But J draw to the end of this my service & sermon.Exod. 12. Numb. 14. Those two speeches of Moses, Cràs movete castra, Cràs celebrate Pascha, be fitted for vs; To morrow wee must remoue our Tents, to morrow we must celebrate a Pass­over. There is a fourefold Pascha, Pascha populi, Pascha Christi, Pascha in mundum, Pascha è mundo, I am sure we haue a Passeover, and to be performed with bitternes, and as at the Passeover the first borne was slaine, so vn­happy are we that we see the first borne to lie slaine before vs. Shall I say, Abner is slaine? Abner was a Prince, and a great man in Israel by Davids testimonie, and David lamenteth him the more, because being a Prince of the blood, he was such a souldier. For certainely the souldier how ever he paceth, the same measure of miserie with the scholar, yet in all ages hath beene ever in high e­steeme, [Page 25]til these daies. The marchant cannot trade with­out him, the Law cannot remaine vnviolated without him, nor the Crowne stand stedfast without him. The souldiour is the hart, and arme of the state, the vpholder of the King, and the glory of the conquest, the Captaine of the Navy, and the father of the army, and the most laudable improver of his Coūtry. For alwaies the oliue garlands of Peace be not so glorious as the Laurell wreathes of victory, seeing Peace only keepeth and often rusteth good spirits, but victory imployeth and edgeth and encreaseth them. The losse then of a souldier is much, but especially of an Abner a Princely souldiour. Lament then for Abner, the fathers Candle is extingui­shed, Abner the Champion of Israel is deceased. Nay a greater then Abner is departed. Prince Salomon for wis­dome, Prince Iosias so pietie, Prince Alexander for chi­valrie, to say no more, noble, holy, chast, virtuous, graci­ous Prince Henry lieth dead before vs. He, He is dead, who while he lived, was a perpetuall Paradise, every season that he shewd himselfe in a perpetuall spring, every ex­ercise wherein he was seene a speciall felicitie: Hee, He is dead before vs, who while hee lived was so holy in his morning and evening, publike and private devotions, so gratious a Protector of truth, so true an enimie to Popish falsehood, so faithfull to God, dutifull to Parents, pious in his life, patient in his death, respectfull of his de­serving servants, and so respected of all the world. Hee, Hee is dead; that blessed Modell of heaven his face is co­vered till the latter day, those shining lamps his eies in whose light there was life to the beholders, they bee [Page] [...] giue over shining, Those [...] we haue kissed, be closed and [...] shall open. He, He, is dead, and now [...] conclude with that Apostle. Eamus. [...] let vs goe and die with him, [...] he shall not return to vs.

[...] [...]ourable Religious, and every way [...] Fare yee well, The [...] as I haue of sorrow [...] Apostles salutatiō to those [...] yee well, bee perfit, [...] one [...] of good comfort, and [...] ever with you, and so I commend [...] of power to establish you, to him that [...] falling, and sent you blamelesse [...] exceeding ioy, To the [...] maiestie, dominion [...] Amen.