IN this Chap. tanquam in Spe­culo, as in a Glasse, you may behold, Statum hu­manum, Mans State and Condition: His lamenta­ble Ingression into the VVorld, his sad Pro­gression in the VVorld, and his miserable Egres­sion out of the VVorld: The originall of this [Page 2] disquiet and trouble is GODS Curse on the Wo­man; Man that is borne of a Woman is of short daies, and full of trouble, ver. 1. In the following Verses he is likened to a Flower, for his fading; to a Shadow for his declining; and his daies to the daies of a Hireling: Nay, hee sheweth mans bodily condition to be worse then a Tree; for a Tree cut downe may grow againe in the same place, but a man cannot: Ver. 7.for there is hope of a Tree if it be cut downe, that it will sprout againe, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; Ver. 8.though the Root wax old in the Earth, and the Stock thereof dye in the Ground, Ver. 9.yet through the sent of water it will bud, and bring forth Boughs like a Plant: Ver. 10.But Man dyeth and wasteth away, is weakned or cut off; yea man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? In regard of bodily life, he is not; he lieth down, and riseth not, till the Heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their Sleep.

This Verse, that I have chosen for the present Occasion, acquaints us with these three things;

• 1. The Frailtie of this life present.
• 2. The Certaintie of the life to come.
• 3. Our Care and Watchfulnesse to be per­formed in the one, that we may enter into the other.

First, we have our fraile Condition in these words, If a man die; Implying by force of Lo­gick this peremptory Proposition, Man must die.

Secondly; the Certaintie of our Resurrection [Page 3] in these words, by way of Question, Shall he live againe? Where by a Question of Admiration, he puts it out of all doubt and question, That man dying, shall surely rise, and live againe.

Thirdly, the Duty of waiting for this Dissolu­tion and Restitution of the Body, in these words, All the daies of my appointed time will I waite, till my Change come.

The words afford us three Doctrines.

First, the End and Terme of life is appointed, and die we must by ordinary Prescription; and this is, Mors in olla, Death is our Lot.

Secondly, a Change shall come by Death, and there shall be a generall Resurrection; and this is Spes in Urnâ, Hope in the Grave.

Thirdly, we ought daily to Prepare for Death, and to live in continuall Expectation thereof; and this is, Viaticum in via, Provision in the way.

First, the Term of our life is appointed, and die we must, no avoyding hereof; And that for these Reasons:

First, it is GODS Will and Decree, ver. 5. His daies are determined, the number of his moneths are with thee, thou hast set his bounds that he cannot passe: As he set bounds to the Sea, hither shalt thou come, and no further, so thus long shalt thou live, and no longer. 39 Psal. 5. Thou hast made my daies (saith David) as an hands breadth. If GOD hath made them but an hands breadth, who can make them longer? Pilate would not alter his Writing. 19 Joh. 22. Nor GOD his Decree that is [Page 4] gone out. It was the first Doctrine preached to man after his Fall. 3 Gen. 19. Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt returne. Not by any necessity of his created Nature, but because he finned, GOD threatneth to make his End as base as his Begin­ning. Die then we must; Dance all in Deaths Ring; sooner or later we shall be cut downe by the Axe of Death, to be Fuell for Burning, or Timber for Building; to become a cursed Brand in Satans Furnace, or a blessed Beam in CHRISTS Palace: GOD hath passed upon Adams Posterite this sentence of Temporall Condemnation, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt returne: All of us (without some extraordinary Dispensation, as that of Enoch and Elias was) are liable to the same. 5 Gen. 24. 2 Kings 2.11.

Secondly, through the contagion of originall Sinne; Sinne is the wicket that let Death into the World. 5 Rom. 12. As by one man Sinne entred in­to the World, and Death by Sinne, and so Death pas­sed upon all men, for all have sinned: Sinne hath given Death much advantage and victory over humane nature, that the kernell of a Raison, yea a haire in Milk hath choaked and killed a man, as it did Anacreon, Val. Max. lib. 9. cap. 12. and Fabius the Romane, and layd him lower then the beasts of the earth; for they lie upon the ground, while he is layd under it.

Thirdly, from the Matter whereof the body of man consists: The originall of mans body is Dust, 2 Gen. 7. Homo ab humo: Not any durable matter, as Marble and Rocks, against which the [Page 5] Winds blowing, and the Waves beating cannot prevaile, 7 Mat. 25. but like Dust before the Wind, 18 Psal. 42. 4 Iob. 19. Wee dwell in houses of clay, whose foun­dations are in the dust; i. e. in mortall bodies sub­ject to corruption; which are crushed before the Moth; sooner and with lesse labour then the Moth is crushed, which is killed onely with a little touch. 2 Corinth. 5.1. The Apostle calls it an Earthly house or Tabernacle; For wee know that if our Earthly house of this Tabernacle be dis­solved, &c.

S^t. Paul who was a 18 Acts 3. S^t. Paul ex­ercised a handy-craft & wrought with Aqui­la, whose Trade was to make Tents of skins, then much in use in those hot countries. view Anot. on the ActsTent-maker, elegantly compareth our body to a Tent, and that in many regards.

First, a Tent or Tabernacle is easily raised up, and as easily taken down and spoyled; so is our body by sicknesse or outward violence; come but one ill night, one little touch of a Feaver, some paine in the Side, or imperfection in the Lungs, come the stone in the Bladder, Abijt illa universa Scaena, all the Stage vanisheth.

Secondly, a Tent is a moveable House or Ha­bitation; so are our Bodies, which are now like Tents pitched upon the Earth, but shall be here­after transported into Heaven.

Thirdly, a Tent is foule without, and soild with Wind and Weather; so the Body and Out­side of man is but vile, and contemptible, subject to blasts and stormes, exposed to all the violence of Nature.

Now that I may the better rivet the Truth into [Page 6] your Minds and Memories, consider with me, that the walke of Death is Vniversall, not some men die, but all; all that have breath must lose it and all that have life must leave it; as the Woman of Tekoah told K. David, 2 Sam. 14. cap. We must all dye; you a Soveraigne, and I a Subject; you a Man, and I a Woman, We must needs die, and be as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be ga­thered up againe, Wee shall all be desperately lost; I have seen an end of all perfection, said Holy Da­vid, 119 Psal. 96. There is nothing so perfect on Earth but it hath an end; David had a sight of this; Happy are they which have Davids Eyes: It concernes us to looke into this matter; And GOD requires us to listen to the Proclamation of mans Mortality, that he makes by his Prophet, 40 Isaiah, 6. Quia per nativitatem viret in carne, per juventutem candescit in flore, per mortem aret in pulvere. Greg. in Ps. 5. Paenitent. A Voice said cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grasse, and all the good­nesse, the gracefulnesse, the glory thereof is as the flawer of the field. GOD would have the Prophet discover the Vanitie of all humane Excellency; to cry it in the Eares of the People; to make such a noyse, that might rouze a man that were slum­bring, awake a man that were sleeping, move a man that were musing; so carefull is GOD that you should learne this Lesson: For,

First, no Eminency of Office or Dignity can priviledge thee; though thou sittest in the Chaire of Earthly Dignity, Death will pull thee thence: 82 Psal. 6. I sayd yee are Nuncupa­tivè, non Substantivè Gods [by Name, not by Nature] but yee shall dye like men. No Title [Page 7] of Honour shall excuse you, die you must, and render an account, as well as other men. Wee have seen this Truth verified in our daies: Hee that made the Earth of nothing, can marre the greatest in a moment: Hee bringeth Potentates to nothing, and maketh the Iudges of the Earth as Va­nity. 40 Isa. 23. Hee poureth contempt upon Princes, sayes Job, 12.21. And looseth the Girdle of the Strong; i. e. For their VVickednesse and Ty­rannie, He causeth their People and Subjects to contemne them.

Secondly, no Strength or Statelinesse of any Place or Palace can protect thee: Xenoph. in Apolog. pro Socrat. Socrates would live no longer, unlesse his Freinds could tell him of a place without the Territories of Athens where men never die: And it was a pretty An­swer of Hormisda the Persian Ambassadour to Constantius the Emperour, demanding of him how he liked the Citie of Rome, with the Am­phitheatrum, the Capitolium, and other such rich Monuments as were shewed unto him: In truth I thinke it the most glorious Citie in the World; Id tantum sibi placuisse quod didicis set ibi quo (que) homines mori. Am­mian. Mar­cell. lib. 16. Sigon. de Occid. Imp. lib. 6. But this onely pleaseth me well, that I see men die at Rome, as elswhere. So it may be said of all other Eminent Places, and Renowned Cities, from which Death cannot be excluded: Enter it will upon thee; either at thy Gates with full force, or in at thy Windowes with great feare: There is no possibility avoid it, as the Prophet 9 Jer. 20,21. Ieremiah from the LORD tells the Mourning. VVoemen who were usually hired at great 2 Chron. 35.25.Fu­neralls [Page 8] to Mourne, and to make exquisite La­mentation, Heare the Word of the Lord, O yee Woe­men, and let your eare receive the word ef His mouth, and teach your Daughters Wailing, and every one her Neighbour Lamentation: 21 ver. For Death is come up into our Windowes, and entred into our Palaces. Our strongest places cannot keep it out.

Thirdly, nor the height of Honour or Esti­mation can priviledge thee from the fatall Dart of Death: The Rich mans Gold it cannot guard him; the VVise mans VVit cannot ward him; the Knowledge of Learned men cannot keep it out, their Skill cannot save them; nor the Arms and Trophies of Noblemen exempt them; nor the Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regum (que) turres. Ho­rat. lib. 1. Od. 4.Guard of Kings deliver them.

Paulus Jovius, de vita Illustr. Tamberlaine the Terrour of the VVorld dyed with three fits of an Ague: And Saladine that that Mighty Pagan, which wanne the Holy Land from the Christians, in the height of his Pride and Ruffe, in the midst of all his Pompe and Glory, in the top of his Honours was surprised by Death; and the Solemnitie he had at his In­terment was onely this, one carrying his Shirt or Shrowd one a Speare or Spade, crying, ‘G. Parad. in Heroicis. Hae sunt reliquiae Victoris Orientis.’

This is all that Great and Mighty Saladine the Conquerour of the East carrieth to his Grave. You see then die we must; thou canst not with­draw thy selfe from it; no place can priviledge thee; no power protect thee; no strength defend thee. GOD alone hath an eternall Being, accor­ding to that expression of the Apostle, 13 Heb. 8 IESUS CHRIST the same yesterday and to day, and for ever; an Incomprehensible Being, an In­dependent Being. GOD alone can say, 3. Ex. 14. I am that I am, and will be what I have been: Men may say no­thing else, but I am, and shall not be: I am to day a fresh and lusty creature, perhaps to morrow smitten like Ionahs withered Gourd, or Palmarist, Ionah 3.7. To this agreeth the Plutarch. Lacedaemonian Song consisting of three parts; The Quondam alij, nunc nos, subitò crescent (que) minores, Quorū nos stirpem sata videre ne­gant.Elder sang, We have been strong, and are not now; The Youth re­plied, We shall be strong but are not yet; The Mid­dle-age sang, We are now strong but shall not be: All men must needs sing this note. Now I shall further demonstrate this unto you: And first from things above us, secondly from things about us: First, look above you, there you see the Sunne that glo­rious creature over you daily rising and setting; the Moon monethly waxing and wayning; the Stars shining, and anon shutting: What doth this but tell us, hold out unto us, that we who now rise must set; who now wax must wayne; who now shine and glitter must shortly shut and fall?

Secondly, look about you; Vt (que) notus frondes ad terram de­jicit imam post alias viridi pro­d [...]cunt ver­ [...]ice sylvae, sic g [...]s humanum rursùs cres­cit (que) cadit­ (que). Glauc. apud hom.In your feilds and gardens, you see the Trees and Flowers now flou­rishing, [Page 10] anon withered; Doth it not teach us, that we who now flourish must perish? Looke to the Sea, now flowing and filling high banks, anon eb­bing; Doth it not teach us, that our life which is now at full tide, must be at a low ebb; we must be emptied by Death.

1. Consider the Apparell on your backs, the Gloves on your hands, the Shooes on your feet, the Meat on your tables; All teach and instruct us, that these bodies of ours which are kept alive by the death of other creatures, must at last yeeld to Death.

Consider the severall parts of your bodies.

1. Your Eies every night dying in sleep, doe shew that we at last must sleep in Death.

2. The Haire and Nailes calling for poling and shaving, tell us that the whole body must shortly be shav'd by Death.

3. The Stomach still digesting our meat, and craving for more, sheweth the unsatiablenesse of the Grave, which having eaten and digested our Freinds, gapes for us; and when it hath devoured us, will hunger for them that must come after us.

4. This very place sheweth we must die; the action that we are about, this last function of Cha­rity to our deceased Brother, that it will not be long ere our Freinds must meet here, or elswhere to requite our kindnes, by doing the like for us: My Text tels us we shall die. All things in this life make way for Death, that she may triumphantly passe through the feild of this world, over the car­casses of her slain.

Thus Death rules on Earth, as Eternity in Hea­ven; there all live, here all die. The Dominion of Death is Vniversall: 'Tis a Clock that alwaies strikes; a Sword that alwaies executeth; a Snare which alwaies entrapeth; a Sea whereinto all Ri­vers run, wherein all Ships suffer wrack; a Paine which every one must endure; a Tribute which every one must pay; sooner or later thou must taste of Deaths cup; even in the furthest and fairest path of Nature thou art not far from it; and the day will shortly come, when thou shalt live in the morning, and at night be dead. But I must looke into my second Doctrine, namely, there shall be a Resurrection, a Restitution of the body from the Grave. 'Tis neither totall, nor perpetuall: It strikes upon the baser part; the body is dead because of Sin. Rom. 8.10. We shall live again, none may deny it: All the people of GOD have a holy per­swasion of this Truth; there is an impression in them of their Immortality; this hath been a naile of the Sanctuary to keep them from desperate di­stractions, to set them forward to Perfection, to make them undaunted in the terrours of Death: Iob was hereof perswaded, Job. 19.24,25. I shall llve againe: He was undauntedly assured hereof; so assured that he would have it written, and how? Not in loose Papers, but in a Book, O that my words were written! And not onely written, but engraven! and that with an Iron-pen, in lead, or in stone, to endure, not for a time onely, but for ever, for the solace and comfort of all the distressed Saints of God: [Page 12] David in his distresse anchored in this Hold; 27 Ps. 13. Veri­ly I believe to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living: St. Paul was ravished with the assu­rance of life after death; his note ever after was to be dissolved, Phil. 1.23 [...] I desire to be dissolved, or resolved into my first Principles, or to be dischar­ged or released out of the prison of my body, that I may presently be with CHRIST my Sa­viour in Heaven, in rest and in blisse.View An­not. in Philip.

Now a word or two of my third Doctrin, and I shall make Application. A Change will come, and we must daily expect it. We are all desirous of Change; Adam would be changed, 3 Gen. He had enough Wisdome, he would be as wise as his Maker: And 2 Sam. 15. Absolom would be changed, hee would sit in his Fathers Throne, and of a Subject become a Soveraign: Solomon would have change of Wives, 1 K. 11.3. 700 whom he solemnly married: The Israelites would change Samuel for Saul. 1 Sam. 5.8. And the food of Angels for the flesh-pots of Aegypt. 11 Numb. 4,5,6. Men affect alterations, choppings and changes, but we sel­dome or never remember the great Change of which the Apostle speakes, 3 Phil. 21. Who shall change our vile bodies, or [...],Beza An­not. the body of our vilenesse, that it may like unto His glorious body, or the body of his glory. We never think of this Change. O the glorious estate that a child of God shall be transchanged into! this corruptibilitie and mortalitie shall be changed into incorruptibilitie and immortalitie: But I will fall [Page 13] Appli­cation. upon the Application of these Points; Applica­tion being the Life of Doctrines. The use in ge­rall that we are to make of all this precedent Dis­course, is to prepare for Death and Dissolution. We read in Solomons distribution of times, that Eccl. 3.2. there is a time to be borne, and a time to die; but of no time to live; as if our Birth bordered upon our Death, and our Cradles stood in our Graves. That Death therefore may not surprize you as it did that wicked Adversus omnia peri­cula me munivi praeter­quàm ad­versus mor­tem, amp;c. 1. Seriously. Caesar Borgia, think upon it, 1. Serious­ly. 2. Rightly. 3. Seasonably.

1. Seriously.1. Doe it Seriously; this doe by laying it to heart: 7 Eccl. 2. This is the end of all men, and the living will lay it unto heart: [to the very heart of our heart] We must not lay it to our Eyes to gaze up­on it; nor to our eares to heare of it; nor to our tongues onely to discourse and talke of it, O such a one is dead, such a one is gone to his long home: but we must apply it to our hearts; ruminate it in our minds, rivet it in our memories, ponder it in our meditations, suffer it to make a deep impres­sion in us: And that for these reasons:

Qui con­siderat qua­lis erit in morte, sem­per: fit ti­midus in o­peratione. Lud. Gra. Tit. Morb.He that thinks seriously of his death, will be very circumspect in his deeds: Men will not be such traders in Sin, such drinkers in of Inqiuity; Religion and the Waies of GOD will not be so slighted; set before thine eyes the picture of Death. A serious thought of thy Death, will help to drive evill thoughts out of thy heart: Mortem co­gitare est vitiis omnibus renunciare: 'Twi [...]l divorce thee from the Vvorld; 'twill alienate thy affections [Page 14] from things earthly; this pricketh in the right veine.

2. The thought of Death will make you lessc worldly; you will not be such drudges to the world: Now thou art like a Mole over head and eares in earth, anon comes Death like a Mole-cat­cher and takes thee up. The Luke 12,19,20.Rich man had Goods for many years, but not many years for his Goods: Death will turne thee empty into thy Grave, as Carriers turne their horses into a dirty Stable with a gaulled back, and thee per­haps with a gaulled Conscience. Now thou mayst state it, and stout it out, but shortly death will make thee stoop: Now you may feed your un­sanctified desires, but you shall have at length your full deserts.

3. Thinke of thy death, and it will take thee off from all thy unjust dealings: VVe should not have so many Oppressours; there would be lesse wrongs in the world: A heavy Judgement hangs over mens heads because of oppression and vio­lence: Nay thy Conscience will one day rebuke thee; at thy death it will trouble thee. In Barons Wars.I have read of a Great man in this Land, by whom a poore VViddow was exceedingly wronged, and put from her house and home, and constrained to make an old Oake her best harbour; But when he came to die, he was so affrighted, that in horrour of mind he often exclamed, O the Widdow under the Oake! O the Widdow under the Oake! In the midst of your Ruling remember your Reckoning: [Page 15] He that thinks upon his death seriously, will be afraid to get his goods wrongfully.

4. To think of Death will greatly humble thee; nothing so powerfully treads down Pride as this: Consider that thou art but a dead man, and thy body be it never so strong or beautifull is but a lodging of Death; thou art but a rotten creature; yea, vermis crastino moriturus, a worme that must dye to morrow: So oft therefore as corrupt Na­ture stirreth up thy heart to Pride, because of the flowers of beauty and strength that grow out of it, let this humble thee; thy flowers, O man, can­not but wither, for the root from which they spring, namely the body, is dead already.

2. Rightly.Secondly, thinke of thy death Rightly: Send out the scouts of thy heart aforehand; And that for these reasons:

• 1. To discover the Power of Death.
• 2. The Perill of Death.

1. The Power of Death: Great is the Power of Death; 'tis unresistible; thou art not able to encounter it: Art thou able to withstand the Messenger of the Almighty? No: Death is an Iron-hammer that breakes us all to peices, as so many Potters vessels: Death comes upon the Wicked as Iehu came upon Iehoram. 2 K. 9. v. 23, 24. He made with all speed to his Chariot, thin­king to fly away, but in vaine; for the Arrow of Iehu overtooke him: So when men with all speed run to their Chariots. i. e. to their refuges of vani­ties, the dart of Death surely overtakes them.

2. To discover the Peril of Death: O there is a great dealt of peril and danger in Death! Death will be very terrible to an unregenerate man: Art thou a Sweater or a Drunkard? 'tis the Devils Ser­jeant to arrest thee, and carry thee without baile to the prison of utter darknesse. It is Satans Cart to carry thee presently to execution in Hell.

3. Sesona­bly.3. We must: think upon it seasonably, timely, and in due season: Think on it while we are young and strong: Remember thy death in the daies of thy youth, in the daies of thy strength, before sicknesse and weaknesse seize upon thee: Lay not the greatest burthen on the weakest beast: Ad­journe not the longest journey to the shortest day: A whole life is but short enough to provide for Death. We are a week providing for a Feast; a moneth preparing for a Wedding; three moneths deliberation about a Bargaine; And will we make no provision, no preparation for this aforehand? We take time to make provision for the buriall of the dead; And shall we take no care to provide for Death it self? Many men never think of Death, untill Death come and take away their thinking. Think upon it I beseech you in season, whoever thou art that hearest me this day; whether freind or foe, stranger or familiar, be not deceived; the great God of Heaven and Earth, the great Deter­miner of time and daies, hath allotted thee such a portion of time which thou shalt not passe: Death Rev. 6.8.mounted on his pale horse is posting towards thee: Here is not thy abode nor rest, thou dwellest [Page 17] a House of clay; in a Tent pitch'd up to day, and removed to morrow: Thou art a Didapper pee­ning up and down, in a moment depart thou must and be gone, God knows how soon.

First then, this may reach us watchfulnesse, we know not the hour goe; let us watch every houre: We know not the hour wherein Death the Lords Handmaide with the broom of sickness or sorrow will sweep us away, as the maide doth the spiders house.

2. It may teach us to provide for things Eter­nall, what ever becomes of Temporals; for Death will strip us of all.

3. Labour to bid Death welcome: How shall I doe this?

First, follow the precious Counsell of Christ; Mat. 6.20 Lay up Treasure for your selves in Heaven: Which are Workes of Pietie, and Deeds of Charity; they will comfort you in Death, and accompany you to Heaven.

2. Looke carnestly to things that are above; To GOD, to IESUS CHRIST who sits at Gods right hand, carrying on the great worke of Mans Redemption. So did Acts 7.55 Stephen, in that extraordi­nary vision he saw the admirable Glory of Christ in Heaven.

3. Live after the Laws of the new Ierusalem; become a new creature; be borne againe; he that is borne but once, shall die twice; and he that is borne twice, shall die but once.

4. Labour to get an assurance of the forgive­nesse [Page 18] of thy Sinnes: Labour to finde God recon­ciled unto thee: Labour to feele the power of CHRISTS Death, and the vertue of His Re­surrection.

5. Live in all good Conscience: they that live in all good Conscience till their dying day, shall depart in abundance of Comfort at their dying day: Get a good Conscience, and keep a good Conscience, that when thou shalt come to die, though thou want the benefit of a comforting Minister, thy Conscience may supply the place of a comforting Minister, and may be the same to thee as the Angell was to CHRIST in His Agony; and minister such comfort unto thee, as may make thee ready for joy to leap into the grave.

Lastly; be willing to die: feare it not, IESUS CHRIST was once among the dead; thou must follow him through the horrours of the grave. Art thou a child of God? Hast thou given up thy Name to IESUS CHRIST? Though Death invade the naturall powers of thy body, and sup­presse them; though Death breake in upon this lodging of clay, and demolish it to the ground, yet be in no wise daunted; thy death is but like the renting of Gen. 39. Iosephs garment from him; the man of God fled, and left his garment in the hand of his Mistrisse: So a child of God escapes out of the hands of Death without danger; Vivendo decrescit transeundo nos terit. he leaves his garment in the hands of Dea [...]h i. e. his body, which like a garment, the longer we weare it will [Page 19] be the worse for wearing: The dissolving of the body to the man of God, is but the unfolding of the Net, and breaking open the Prison, that the Soule which was prisoner may escape. Here is notable comfort for the man of God; He hath a life in him which no death can extinguish; though the body descend into the grave, the Lord will take it out againe, He will not leave it in the grave, neither cast off the care thereof, but shall watch over the dust therof, though it taste of cor­ruption it shall not perish in corruption: The Ho­ly Ghost who dwelt in the body, shal be unto it as a Balm to preserve it to Immortality: This same flesh, and no other for it, though it should be dis­solved into innumerable pickles of dust, shall be raised againe, and quickned by the omnipotent power of the eternall Spirit of GOD.

OccasionI now come to the Occasion: Something I shall say of this deceased Gentleman, here arrested before our eyes for a debt of Nature. I shall not praise his Birth, nor his Education, nor his Pro­fession; but as Hierom E­pitaph Mar. Hierom said of Marcella, that god­ly Woman, Nihil in illa laudabo nisi quod proprium; I will praise nothing in him but what was proper and peculiar to him.

Consider him as a

• Man,
• Husband,
• Christian;

And we shall find him a patterne worthy imi­tation.

1. Consider him as a man: As a man he had his Infirmities; For Lord what is man? 8 Ps. An infirme fraile creature; many and great infirmities we labour under as we are men: We have strong Corruptions in us; as we are men we can doe no thing but Sinne: Yet this I may safely deliver of him, that he kept himselfe (or rather GOD by His Grace kept him) from those Sinnes against which Holy David prayed, Ps. 19.13. Lord keep thy servant from presumpteous sinnes: Wee are are naturally prone to great sinnes; he was not a strong Sin­ner: O the strength of sin in our daies! Notwith­standing Admonitions, Iudgements, Mercies, men goe on still in sinnes: No reformation, no a­mendment; we were sinners before the Wars, and we are sinners still: He was none of these.

2. Consider him as a Husband: And there he observed the rule of the Apostle, Col. 3.19. Husbands love your Wives, and be not bitter against them: He lived lovingly with his Wife in the sacred Conjunction of their GOD six and thirtie yeares together. Children he had none that lived; but a chearfull respecter of them whom Law and Love had made his own: No Lyon in his house, no Tyrant a­mong his servants; freindly, affable, courteous towards his Neighbours; observing another pre­cept of the Apostle,Rom. 12.16 equalling himself to them of low degree, whereby he gained love, and lost nothing of his reputation.

3. Consider him as a Christian: And so hee was; [Page 21]

• 1. Peaceable.
• 2. Humble.
• 3. Charitable.
• 4. Devout.

Foure most infallible evidences (as I take them) of a true Christian, and a Sanctified heart. His Devotion towards GOD was not onely publique, but private: He was carefull to set up the duty of Praier in his Family; for he had often heard from my mouth, that Families as well as Kingdomes were cursed, that called not upon the Name of the LORD. And truly, GOD will visit private Fami­lies, as well as publique States: GOD will lay His Axe to the root of an unpraying Family, as to the root of an unpraying Kingdome. O set up the duty of Prayer in your Families, that they may be GODS Families. Many men rise in the morning like the wild Asse to their prey, to their trade, to their businesse, and they lie downe at night, as Dogges doe in their kennels; they call not upon the Name of the Lord. I never knew a praying Family, a Family of much Sin: Prayer doth break the power of Sinne in a Family, and weakens the Kingdome of Satan in the hearts of Gods people. I have been often called to pray with his family; doubt not but GOD hath in mercy accepted the services of his poor servants. He had a weake and crazie body, but GOD gave him a religious mind in so great weaknesse of body: He was born for the good of Many: Most liberally he remembred the poor; both in his life [Page 22] time giving often privily many large gifts to his poor Neighbours, when he saw them in want; and at his death bequeathing ten pounds to the poor of lower Tooting in Surrey, where he dwelt; and fifty pounds to the poore of Kingston upon Thames where he was borne (and both his Father and Mother, and his elder Brother and Sister with himselfe now lie buried) to be distributed among them the next yeare after his decease: Yea in his life time, according to a former promise made to his loving Brother in Law, M^r. Abraham Colfe, Minister and Pastor of the Church of CHRIST at Lewisham in Kent near Greenwich; and as a far­ther testimony of his love to his loving Wife E­lizabeth sister to the said Mr. Abraham Colfe, he did from the 25th. of March 1642. now almost nine years past, give six pence every week weekly on every Lords-day in every yeare yearely to six poor people of Lewisham, being of honest life and conversation, and chosen by the Minister Incum­bent, and Officers of the Church and Parish, to be distributed at the publique Church, they being in health, at the end of the Sermon before noon: And also at his death hath given by Will thirty pounds to purchase lands for the perpetuating of the said gift to six poor people of Levisham in like manner successively for ever. Also he bequeathed great Legacies, to the value of above two thousand pounds, to his poor kindred, freinds, and servants. As GOD gave him Riches, so GOD gave him a rich heart. O this distribution of Wealth is the [Page 23] onely thing! This breaking of Loaves among the needy! This casting our Bread upon the face of the waters! Eccles. 11.1. Men think laying up the way to be rich, but God thinks laying out to be the way. The loynes of the poor will blesse you for your Liberality. I see the faces of many rich men; I know not the frame of your hearts; I know not the bias of them: This I know, that the clouds that are full poure out raine to refresh the earth; so the rich that have abundance must distribute it liberally. Now for his sicknesse:Dolore calcu [...]i miserè expiravit. terrible as his discase, of the stone in the bladder; wherein were found twelve stones weighing above six ounces, w^ch put him to strong Out-cries; Out-cries for the Lords Mercy, Outcries for pardon; deep acknow­ledgements for his great, and many sins, God had layd great paine and torment upon him. I never heard him repine, nor charge GOD foolishly:1 Job 22. He was patient, and pray'd for patience; Lord give me patience to suffer thy good will and pleasure: He died praying even when death shooke him by the hand; his Prayer was, O FATHER, SON and HOLY GHOST, O Blessed Saviour and Redeemer have mercy upon me. Thus lived and dyed this worthy Gentleman: The Garment which he wore of borrowed earth, he hath left to be restored to the earth againe. I forbid not his Freinds to lament him: We may lament the dead, but not the estate of the dead: CHRIST sorrowed for his Friend Lazarus: But my coun­sell is, let not the Temple of GOD be over-sad: [Page 24] And as the Apostle adviseth, 1 Thes. 4.13. Sorrow not without hope for him that is asleep: Hee is but a sleep; his Grave his Bed; hee shall awake as sure as he lay down; yea more fresh and glorious in the great Day of Resurrection.