Natures goodnight. Or, A sermon preached in the parish-church of Bovitracy in Devon, at the funerall of the vertuous and godly Mrs. Mary Forbes, the great loss and sorrow of the neighbour-hood. By Fra: Moore, curate of soules at Highweek

Natures Good-night . LUKE 8.52 . And all wept and bewailed her ; But he said , Weepe not , she is not dead but sleepeth .

OUr Life is divided into labour and rest , which Nature wisely hath contrived into waking and sleeping , in an admirable manner providing the preservation of our being by a seeming dissolution of it . We must intermit it to continue it : Die we must one half of the naturall day , that we may live the other ; Lie down and sleep ( as it were ) to die in the night , that we may awake and arise to live on the morrow ; so well acquainted is our Life with Death , that our whole age appeares the Changes and Intercourse of both . Nay this kinde of death is that which continueth life : Such is the frailty of the Creature , that it immediately owes its being to a kinde of not being , to a privation , though not simply of life , yet — Tali — to something very well like death . For tell me , strongest C●nstitution ! how long canst thou labour without the relief of rest ? how long canst thou awake without refreshment of sleep ? Jacobs answer — Few and evil would our dayes be . Gen. 47.9 . Those losses and decayes the body suffers ( by labour ) in the day , are repaired by rest at night : as if the feigned plague of Titius liver were our reall blessing ; Sen Thyest . sc . 1. Et nocte reparans quicquid amisit die . The animal and vitall spirits wearied with sore travel of the day , retire to recruit new strength to their comfortable logings , that in the brain , this in the heart ; refr●shed by sleep , inable the morning body with new and lively vigour , which ●elfe would fall into its principles , dead d●st and earth . Now crazy and infirm bodies requ●re longer and more frequent sleeps ; whereby we see the breaches of Nature are for a while made up and fortified : b●t when the body is irreparably wasted , beyond the remedy of these often but short sleeps , then is it necessary it fall into tha● long sle●p ▪ then perpetuus sopor urget , the whole night of death must recover such a losse ; no repairing this tenement , but by pulling it down to the ground . Though to Man Death may seem a Murtherer , yet to Humanity it is a Physitian ; to the hopelesse Heathen the Grave is ( a● was theirs ) a fire , and Death● perishing ; but to the faithfull Christian the Grave is a bed , and Death sleeping : all such we may unite into Christs singular , what he sayes of one we may of all , They are not dead but sleep .

Non mortua est sed dormit .

1 Thes . 4.13 , 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant , Brethren , concerni●g them which are asleep , that ye sorrow not , as others that have ● hop● : For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose againe ; even s● them which sleep in Jesus , will God bring with him , as affirms St. Paul . John 11.12 . Whence it appeares , that if she sleep , she shall do well : and shall we take it ill , that our friends are we●l ? shall we be troubled upon earth , because our friends are at rest under it ? Forbid it Religion ! Aug. pereat contristatio , ubi tanta est cons●la●i● , Be not ye sad because your friend is gone to a state of joy .

If Nature sadned at departure , will let fall a tear , let Faith g●●ned with hopes of meeting again , wipe away that teare . Wre●●● not with the decrees of Heaven , nor murmur at the proced●●● of its providence ; 't was God that closed her eyes in sleep , that forbids your eyes to weep . Weep not , ( for ) she is not dead but sleepeth .

The division of this Text is made to my hands by the meeting of this Congregation , three parties are visible in the presence . Which discover three parts legible in the words : 1. The Dead , — Shee . 2. The Mourners , — All wept . 3. The Preacher , — he said , Weep not .

These parts , upon review , are like those sheep , Cant . 4.2 . whereof every one beares Twins : 1. In the Dead is considerable 1. Her Person . 2. Her Condition . In her Person her Age — Short . Sex — Wretched . Her Condition , which is — Negative , not dead . Affirmative , but sleepeth . 2. In the Mourners remarkable 1. Number of Mourners - All 2. Weight of Mourning — Wept and bewailed . 3. In the Preacher , — 1. His Doctrine — Weep not . 2. His Reason , for ye mistake her case — She is not dead , &c.

Begin we with the Dead : But is not mors ultima linea ? 1 Cor . 15.26 . Sapiens semper incipi● à sine . Death the last ? shall the last be first ? Is not Death the end ? shall we begin at the end ? Yes , wise men do so ; our endeavours , thoughts , devotions , come to no end , if not begun at the end to come . — Remember thy beginning and thou wilt seldom do amisse ; ( that dust will allay thy pride ) but remember thy end and thou wilt never , ( those ashes will quench thy wild-fires ▪ ) The consideration of Death gives life to our considerations , and our thoughts doe then flourish , when we are thinking our thoughts shall perish . The Egyptians sold their funerall balmes in the Temple of Venus ; that where they prayed for Nativity , they might be remembred of Mortality : our first voice is Crying , our Baptisme a Buriall , our first Character Christ crosse , the tree of Death ; nor is it improper to enter early on death for our Instruction , since death entred so early on us for our Destruction , John 8.44 . even from the beginning ; a woman speaking with the ill spirit brought death first to our party , in counter-working by the good spirit , we in the beginning will speak of a woman brought to her death , which is the first party , — Shee .

Mark 5.42 . Shee was of the age of twelve yea●es , as is marked by the Evangelists ; miserable brevity , is it not ? for if one thousand years upon account with eternity , make not up one present day , are but as yesterday p●st , worn out , and gone , as it is Psal . 90.4 . surely twelve yeares , nay stretch life to its old standard-number of seventy , and all will not amount to an houre , a minute ; no , a minute may challenge some proportion with six thousand yeares , because it is a Chip or Drop of time , but sixe thousand yeares cannot pretend to any share or neighbourhood with Eternity : Because the Angel makes an Affidavit that time shall be no more . Therefore David ( though he did very foolishly to number his people , 2 Sam . 24.10 . swelling the l●st to hundreds of thousands , that he might appeare something before men ; ) yet did he very wisely to number his dayes , shrinking the account beneath the least article of time , that he might be nothing before God . Mine age is as nothing before thee , Psal . 39.5 . Before God! nay nothing before us . For the son of David that sifted vanity even to the husks , Eccles . 3.2 . sayes , there is a time to be borne , and a time to dye , none it seemes to live , for that which is past of our age , is dead in transaction , and will not be recalled because it cannot return . Quicquid aetatis retrò est mors tenet , that which is to come , is dead in uncertainty : so that nothing but the very pres●n● is life , & that present is so near to nothing , that it will not stay with us whilst we can say it is . It is gone before we can say it is here . Well said that Oracle of God , Surely every man walketh in a vaine shadow ; Psal . 39.6 . but nearer home to our frailty spo●e that miracle of men , He shall flie away as a dreame , Job 20.8 . the slow pace of Walking is improved into Flying , and the Shadow emptied into a Dream . Two Nothings , which can never make any one thing ; though they have been long since married together by Pindar , who calls life the dream of a shadow . Good God! what vainer than a shadow ? which is nothing in it self , being but a privation of light framed by the opposition of a thick body to a luminous . Is any thing so empty as a Dream , which hath no subsistence , but in the hollownesse of a sleepy brain ? A Fairy-round of Chimericall Semblances , a dance of Phantasies Antiques , neither of them having any reality or true being in nature .

So vain , so frivolous a thing is man — is she — that in the strength of youth may fall to dust , whose very Noon may be eclipsed into a shadow , nay so highly uncertain , so slippery our station , that we cannot assure our selves from falling , that short while we can say we stand ; nor can I tell whiles I am speaking , whether I shall have breath enough to end this period .

But grant our lives to be Digitis à morte remotae quatuor aut septem , a span long , Juvenal . Psal . 39.5 . yet is that life but as a span forced from a gouty hand , the farther it reacheth , the more it torments the owner . Spinne we this thred of life to eighty , yet is it but labour and sorrow , we are but as she is in the next consideration .

A woman ( that is ) a miserable creature , Sexus . She the Ocean where misery is in its originall , and still at home the Channell , through which it is conveyed , and walks abroad ; sorrow was not onely invested on her person , Gen. 3.16 but generally intail'd on her posterity , Job 14.1 . Every birth is heire to a new calamity , Job 5.7 . the sorrowes of women are so many , so comprehensive , as that when they who speak as m●ved by the holy Ghost , would expresse the multitude and grievance of those calamities which war , and ruine , and finall desolation leave upon a people , they wrap up all in this , The sorrowes of a travailing w●man shall come upon him , Hos . 13.13 .

Christ about to describe that prodigy of vengeance on the Jewes , that irresistible subversion of their state , burying their Temple in its own ashes ; {αβγδ} . Josephus de ex cid . l. 5. c . 28. Mat . 24. crucifying their persons , till there were no Crosses left to beare Bodies , nor ground left to beare Crosses ; burning a thousand in one fire , and scattering the remainder into the state of Slaves and Vagabonds upon the face of the earth by Titus , encompassing Jerusalem with Armies . The prologue to this wofull Tragedy , he calls {αβγδ} , the beginning of throwes and pangs of a woman in travaile .

Titus having taken it ( to pay the Jewes in their own coyn ) impressed on his Medalls ( made for the celebration of this Conquest ) a woman leaning her back to a Palm , with this Inscription on the reverse , Judaea capta .

But the sorrowes of Woman , it seems , exceed the calamities of a single Nations ruine ; for when S. Paul would expresse the universall suffering of the whole Creation from Adams first groan to the last sigh of the last creature he sayes but {αβγδ} , Rom. 8.22 . it travaileth in pains together .

Not onely the suffering of the Creation but of the Creator , those unparalell'd and unexpressible pains of Christ on the Crosse to redeem us from paines under the Crosse . St. Peter having no word of heavier or bitterer signification , sayes {αβγδ} Act . 2.24 . the paines , or pangs , or travaile of death , indeed the sorrows first threatned to woman for her first being in transgression . Gen. 3.16 .

Now tell me , Beloved , is not she a fit emblem of misery , who is so fruitfull a mother of it ? Must she not have a mighty spawn of misery at home , who brings forth such numerous sholes of sorrows every day and every where ? De venenis obser . 1. schol . Or is woman in general like her in Forestus , healthfull in her self and poysonous to all others ? Shall the whole Creation groan , Est. 4.13 . and she only sing ? Shall Esther think to escape more than all the Jews ? No : but as Mary weeping at Christs Sepulchre , did represent the state of mankind , so is woman here not only the occasion but figure of all humane misery . Ecclus . 25.24 . 1 Tim . 2.14 . Psal . 16.11 . Of the woman came the beginning of sin , and through her we all die . Quemcunque miserum videas hominem scias . Misery is the proper heraldry of mankinde , man is no longer man , than whiles he is calamitable ; advance him above woe , Wisd . 7 3. and you shall seat him in heaven , There onely is pleasure for evermore . The world is a sea , into which we lanch upon the water of our own teares ; the first voice is crying , as do all ; and the first salutation the Mexicanes give their Infants is , Thou art come into the world to suffer ; endure , suffer and hold thy peace . Et vita nostra naviganti similis , we faile through our lives in sorrow for others , Greg . and sufferance for our selves , in a valley of teares ; and at death , drawing nigh the port , they that follow us , land us in the grave with their teares . So the circle of life is made up , beginning and ending in teares , as the old world , Gen. 1.2 . begun , and Gen. 7.24 . ended in waters .

Moreover , we have an unhappy kind of thrift to improve this stock of sorrow , by study , memory , and anticipation . Eccl. 1. ult . In much wisdome is much grief , and he that increaseth knowledge inc●easeth sorrow , by searching into possible evils , which the unthinking man avoids ; the memory of neglected opportunities , and the fear of accidentall evills torment us ; whatsoever the mis-conceit presents to the phantasie , straight we are posse●sed with it , the smallest probability arising from any omen that may forespeak an ill , distracts our minds with an excesse of feare , so we torture our selves with that which may be a long time coming , and perhaps not light at all .

Not to grieve you with farther consideration of our griefs , be it enough to say , That the misery of our body is the body of misery ; but the misery of our soul is the very soul of misery . Job 14.1 . And as man that is born of a woman is of few dayes , and full of trouble , so woman that is begotten by man , is not of long time , nor empty of trouble . Certainly — She is not .

Thus have ye the Chronicle and Map of our life , the time and state , short in number , deep in sorrow ; a consideration able to batter downe all imaginary palaces wheresoever erected , either to Eternity or Felicity , in this world . Non sumus hujus mundi incolae , sed advenae ; A lapi● Dan. 2. an Indian Prince told Alexander . We have here no abiding City , no city for pleasure , nor abiding for duration : But few and evil have the dayes of my life been , is the summe of all ; Ex una disce omnes , Here she was , ●●g . but is not .

Is not dead . Her Condition Negative : Her soul is absent from her body , yet I cannot say it carried away all life , since the body is as it were animated with hope ; for where hope is there is some life ; Hope is lively , 1 Pet . 1.3 which is something more than living : Hope hath a reviving faculty , Gen. 45 7. Jacobs hope to see Joseph revived his spirit : And David ●●balmes his body with this hope of resurrection , Psal ●6 9 My flesh shall rest in hope . So dye we may say she did , but de●d she is not .

Neither Mortalis mortua , nor m rti obnoxia , as the Schooles interpret , Rev. 14.13 . not actually depriv●d or all life , so are not the righteous that die in the Lord , who are bego●ten to a lively hope , by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from ●he dead ; 1 Pet . 1.3 . whence the Jewes called their Church-yard Domus viventium : nor liable and subject to death , as a condemned malefactor ; no , death hath no power over them , either way — She is not dead .

But what ? Exclusively ; some others are as if Death and Love had really changed quivers ; the arrow is aimed at our breast , they who die in the Lord are not dead , but we who live in the flesh ; Revelat . 3.1 . Paulus in somnio . Scip . Tul . We have a name that we live , but we are dead , a life falsely so called , Vestra verò quae dicitur vita mors est , said the dead to the living , our life is but imaginative and suppository , Esay 29.8 . Custome more than Reason , makes us believe we live . Stand not our feet in the gates of Death ? Psal . 9.13 . Is not our walk in the shadow of Death ? Psal . 23.4 . Do not we dwell in the body of death ? Sen Ep. 98. Rom. 72.4 . mortale est omne mortalium bonum , said Metrodorus to his sister , all things about us die ; the yeare dies piece-meal , the Spring dies into the Summer , and in Funerall pomp is deck'd with flowers ; the Summer dies into Autumn , Concreto riguit vinct● repentu gelu . Mart . l. 4. Ep. 95. Heraclitus . and is cut down by the sithe and sickle ; the Autumne dies and is buried ( as Martialls viper ) in the frozen grave of Winter . Each day is shrowded in its evening , and covered over with the black of night , as a departed thing . So die the Elements ; the Fire is buried ( as Mahumet ) in the Aire ; the Aire ( as the old world is buried in Water ; Sen. Ep. 24 : Quotidiè mori●ur , we that are made of them die as fast : our life but a frequent dying , our severall ages so many funerall dayes ; our Infancy dies into our Youth ; our Youth is dead and buried in the wrinkles of old age , and Age is soon interr'd in dust and ashes ; for where death hath entred his plough to furrow up our cheeks , he means ere long there to bring his sithe , Quomodo dicitur vita tot generans mortes ? A Kempis de imitatione Christi . lib . 3. c . 20. to mow down the stalk ; Cum crescimus vita decrescit , the taller we grow , the shorter our lives ; how dare we then call that life which is but the variety of the severall Stages and Scenes of Death ?

Again , if ( Non est vivere sed valere vita ) Health be the character of life , consider the multitude and frequencies of Diseases , the ill disposure of the In medio Tibure Sardinia est . Mart . l. 4. Epig . 60. Aire , the arrests of the Gout , and earthquakes of the Ague , an haire in the Throat , or the errour of a Crumb in its passage down : consider those killing Griefs , those piercing Sorrowes , these wounding Cares , which continually annoy us ; from these calamities we may confesse we die daily ; 1 Cor . 15.31 . Sen : ep . 15. and from others calumny we are killed all the day long . Once more , if valere be Philosophari , and to live in sin is to be dead , the Egyptians cry will fill all our mouths , Exo . 12.33 . we are all but dead men .

Who sits not down apposed with S. Austin ( nescio utrum ) I know not whether best to call the time we spend here , a dying life , or a living death ; but for the faithfull departed , they — She is not dead but sleepeth .

Exclusively again , as much as to say , we shall not all sleep ; or , But . 1 Cor . 15.51 . but , As for the ungodly it is not so with them , Psal . 1.5 . the act of the soul's relinquishing the body is the same in all , though it may differ in some circumstance according to the person : yet the condition of all after death is not the same . Some are truly dead , not losing their {αβγδ} , but {αβγδ} , not ceasing to be , Hierocles . but continuing to be miserable , others are not dead but sleep . The death of the righteous is but for the moment wherein he is changed , & begins his sleep ; but of a sinner that expires his soul in guilt , it is for ever : his death I may call immortall , a death without death , of whose death Christ is not the death , as he hath promised the pious , Hos . 13.14 . ero mors tua ô mors .

How can ye think they shall sleep , whose damnation sleeps not ? A Worm alwayes gnawing within them ; a Fire perpetuall flashing about them ; Mark 9.44 : and the fury and scourge of Vengeance still upon them ; their Sorrowes and Woes ever awaking ; their Conscience eternally pricking and wounding , every Sin printing a particular Plague on them , their souls thus afflicted in a place of restlesse torment , their body an accursed thing , which even a Devil can assume ; and though it want a soul , yet is it strangely animated with confounding horrour , that it must be the vessel whereinto God will poure endlesse and everlasting wrath . Can such sleep ( think ye ) who lodge in beds of flaming Brimstone , & in sheets of boyling Lead ? Those forlorn expressions which Scripture delivers their departure in , denies us all such hopes . They are dead , they shall not live , they are fallen , they shal not rise , Esay 26.14 . Mark , dead from this life , and shall not live in the other ; fallen now , and shall not rise then , or if rise , but as Pharaoh's Baker , Gen. 40.20 . and 22. Psal . 1.5 . from the prison to the gibbet , for they shall not be able to stand in judgement , Psal . 1.5 . I am sure not stand to what they have done . Sad Strapado ! to be hoys'd into the clouds to fall into the bottomlesse pit ! miserable advance of a shell fish by a bird into the aire , to receive his death by a fall !

Consider this all ye that forget God , lest he take you away suddenly , and there be none to help : consider that Gods wayes are not as Mans ; the guilty and innocent doe lie in like custody till the great Assize and Gaol-delivery ; through one gate a Citizen may walk to his recreation , and a thief be led to his execution ; the Sheep & Goat may feed together during life , but the Sheepherd of our souls separates them by death : the Wheat and Chaff may lye together in the floor , But he whose fan it i● his hand , Mat . 3.13 . will throughly purge his floor , and gather his wheat i●●● his garner , but will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire . Death as the red Sea , divides the Israelite from the Egyptian , Exod . 14.13 . they shall see each other no more for ever . Recept●● est pauper , Aug. tract . in Joh . 46. receptus dives ; Lazarus into Abrahams bosome , where is fulnesse of joy ; Dives into Hell , where is the complement of misery ; misery so extreme , it stupifies our thoughts , excee●● our commiseration ; for how can we lament what we cannot apprehend , what we cannot remedy , unlesse we weep 〈◇〉 Solon for his Sonne's death , because weeping could n●● help ?

On the other side , could our sickly faith but apprehend the transcendent happinesse of those that sleep , could we confide that they who serve at the Altar on earth , Rev. 6.3 . lie under the Altar in heaven , safer far from condemnation than those that flee to the Altar here ; that they who leaned on Christs bosom here , and sucked the sincere milk of his Word to their spirituall growth , now lie in Abrahams bosome , that is in the familiarity and society of God ; that the servants of God do presently from death enter into their Masters joy ; We should be ravished with joy , Dear friends are in the bosome , Ioh . 1.18 not a teare should fall unlesse for private respects ; not weep for them , but for our selves ; not that they are absent from us , but that we are not present with them ; indeed not weep at all , but for joy that one is gone , whose good life and our charity suggests her translatted into a state of rest and sleep . Weep not , She is not dead but sleepeth . Sleepeth .

— Her Affirmative Condition .

The journey of an Israelite indeed towards the heavenly Canaan , is like that of the Israelites in name toward the earthly : much hindered by the many evil reports that are brought up of the way to this good Land . Iob 18.14 . Numb . 13.32 . Death they say is the King of terrours ; the Grave a Sarcophagus , a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof , a land of darknesse and oblivion , Psal 88.12 . Now that we may not fear where no fear is , God is pleased to pull out this sting of Death , and shew us our dissolution in the most pleasant representation of sleep , — Not dead but sleepeth .

So well was Nature's Secretary instructed , Lib . 3. cap . 6. Lib . 5. cap . 1. that although in his Ethicks he startles at Death as the most terrible , yet in his De Generatione he tells us , the interval of living and not living , is sleep , and his reason is , because Nature proceedeth but gradatim , from one extreme to another , as if he knew the onely medium to bring the evening of Life to the dawn of the Resurrection , were the night of Death . Some of their own Poets say much like it ; Sleep in Seneca is Frater durus languidae mortis , in Ovid , Herc . sur . Nihil morti e●● tam simile quam som●us . Cic . de Senec . Ecclus 34.3 . mortis Imag● , Death's younger Brother and resemblance . Awaken your attention to some Analogies which passe betwixt them , we shall conclude as Siracides of the visions of Dreames , That sleep and death are the resemblance of one another , as the likenesse of face to face .

Sleep and Death like two irresistible Conquerours agree first in their generall invasion .

Sleep with his poppy Scepter seizeth the universall World ▪ all ages , sexes and degrees , submit their eyes to the captivation and victory of Sleep .

And is not Death as Catholique a King ? Doth not he invade us as David did the Geshurites ? He smote the land , and left neither man nor woman alive , 1 Sam . 27.9 . as Tacitus observes in the confusion of Antonius war , Nec dignitas nec aetas protegebat . So Death reverenceth not the gravity of age , not pities the tendernesse of youth ; the softnesse of sex he spareth not ; the meanest escape not through poverty , nor doth dignity protect the highest , but without distinction destoyes all . {αβγδ} — Death is bold as Caesar to tax the whole world , Theog pag . 19. line ●07 . Luke 2.1 . The grave is without any order , Job 10.22 . for there are small and great , Job 3.19 . Goliah and David , the Giant not too big , the Dwarf not too little to fill a Tomb ; Sculls of all sizes in Golgotha : The wise men die as well as the fool , Psal . 49 10. Solomon and Rehoboam , Old and Young , Methusalem and Jeroboams child . 1 King . 16.12 .

Hor. car . 1. od . 28. Mista senum ac juvenum densantur funera , nullum — Saeva caput Proserpina fugit .

Good and Bad , Cain and Abel ; Rich and Poore , Dives and Lazarus , Luke 16.22 . The nimblenesse of Asahel could not outrun it ; the beauty of Absalom could not charm it ; nor could Sampsons strength wrestle with it without receiving a fall . 2 Sam . 2.18 , 29. Epist. 12. A reason you may have from Seneca , Non enim citamur ex cens● , Death examines not the Register-book for our Age , nor the Rate-book for our Estates , nor the Heraulds-book for our Honours : But death passeth upon all , for that all have sinned , Rom. 5.12 . Nay Death found a passage where Sin had made none , even the most holy Jesus was dead and buried . Nec potuit ali●● habere exitus , Aug. Acts 17.3 . It behoved Christ to suffer , Luke 24. saith Christ himself ; being born he lay not under a possibility , but necessity of dying . Psal . 89.48 . What man is he then that liveth and shall not f●● death ? since the Prince of life did die , since God himself did not , would not , indeed could not escape it . Thus Death's invasion is a generall rule without any exception , or exception of any .

Well then ( beloved ) since all we that live must die , let us all die whilst we live ; there is no countermine against the death of the body without us , but by killing the body of death within us ; to die daily is the onely way to live for ever ; Mortification is Immortality ; pluck out the sting of death , and there will be no smart in it , but Death and Sleep will be alike . A mortified man is not dead but sleepeth .

2. Their second agreement is in the manner of their invasion , which is by surprizall .

The Septuagint relates the drunken sleep of Lot in the Masculine , He perceived not when he lay down . Gen. 19.33 . The same is affirmable of the most sober , No man can tell how or when he falls asleep .

Nor can any man tell me after what manner , or at what time he shall die . That we cannot live long , is most infallibly certain ; how long we shall live as highly uncertain . Rupertus observes when God pronounced the sentence of death on Adam , ( a blacker Theta was never fixed on any forehead ) Dixit indefinitè , till thou return unto the ground ; Gen. 3.19 . Prudens futuri temporis exitum caliginosa nocte premit Deus . Hor. l 3. od . 29. he said not till thou hast filled so many set yeares , or dayes , but indeterminately — Till the time come — come it when it will . His wisdome hid that knowledge in that thick darknesse which clouds him from mortall eyes ; So that day and hour knoweth no man . What wise Prognosticator ( that dares bespeak the event of Battails , and the periods of Kingdomes ) can tell whether he shall die on his bed or on a tree ? Alas ! Death comes in an hour when ye think not , Luke 12.40 . in a day he looketh not for him , v. 46. When they shall say peace , peace , then sudden destruction cometh upon them , 1 Thes . 5.3 .

— Dum bibimus , dum serta , unguenta , Juvenal . Sat. 9. puellas Poscimus , obrepit non intellecta senectas .

In the midst of life we are in death , and in a moment goe downe to the grave , Job . 21.13 . Sometimes the Wombe becometh the Tombe , 1 Sam . 4.20 . and preposterously we die before we are born ; sometimes the Child-bed proves the Death bed , as to Eli's daughter-in-law ; and so are we Parricides in the birth , and Murtherers from the beginning . Sometimes the Wedding-sheets serve for the Winding-sheets , as to Raguells seven sons-in-law , Tobit 3 ▪ 8. and to Sophonisba , who tasted the bitternesse of Death in the sweets of the Marriage-bed . 2 Sam . 13.28 . Sometimes Death meets us at the table ; Ammon is kill'd when his heart was merry with Wine : and not seldome do men poure in others healths , till they are forced to vomit up their own lives . Lotus nobiscum est , hilaris caenavit , & inventus mane est mortuus Andragoras . Mart . l. 6. Epist. 53. S●e Iob 21. v. 23 , 24 , 25. He that conquered the world , was overthrown with a Goblet of Wine . Andragoras bathes , and sups , and sports it with his friends at night , and is dead in the morning . So Holofernes being sunk with Wine , is drowned in Blood : Death may seize us in the treachery of a Salutation , so Joab complements with Abner , and Judas betrayes our Jesus with a Kisse . Nay Death may meet you at the Sanctuary of life , for the same Joab was slain at the Altar , and an Emperour was poysoned in the Sacrament : Herod , Acts 12. Adrian the 4th . Let's Wife looked back , and never more looked forward : a King was killed by a Louse , and a Pope choked with a Fly . The accidents of every day discover the certainty of this uncertainty , — That man knoweth not his time , Eccles . 9.12 .

De Trinit . l. 3. The use of this S. Bernard and Rupertus give us , Ut semper solicitum reddat , the uncertainty of Sleep by Death should beget a certain watchfulnesse in Life : a Watch more jealous than besieged Cities keep , when they have their eares open to all alarmes , and eye open to each approach and single motion of the enemy . Parmenio greatly wondred to see Alexander sleep when Darius was in view with Rawl . Hist . l. 4. c . 2. ss . 9. 14 hundred thousand men in armes , all ready to dispute a title to the Persian Empire in Arbela's battail . How much more of amazement may it raise in us , to see the drowsie world so sleepy in the very jawes of more , and more cruell spirituall enemies ? When not our estate , but souls are on the hazard ; When the Kingdome ( not of Persia ) but of Heaven , 1 Tim . 6.11 . depends upon the welfare of this present . Can we see our Neighbours taken and beaten by Death , even before the Judgement Seat of God , as unconcern'd , as Gallio look'd on Sosthenes , and cared for none of those things , Acts 18 17 Shall the Harbingers of death , Aches , Infirmities , and Changes , seize on us , yet we not hear the sound of their Masters feet behinde them , 2 Kings 6.32 . 't was Ephraim's fault to have gray haires here and there , and know it not , H●s . 7.9 . But it was Jacob's wisdome by the fall of his leaf , to judge the approach of his winter . Shall the second coming of Christ to Judgement in Fire , find the world as s●cure as his first coming to judgement in Water ? Luke 17.27 . forbid it Religion ; since Death waits every day to change us , let us as Job , Iob . 14.14 . Mark 13.33 . All the dayes of our appointed time wait till our change come . Let us not sleep as do others ; but watch and pray for ye know not when the time is . Death as a Basilisk kills with his sight , but if foreseen by man , he dies himself : If we aprehend Death before it apprehend us , we kill Death by dying ; For a man prepared for death , is not dead but sleepeth .

3. Hippoc . Somnum à deo factum non solum ad corporis recreationem , sed ●●iam ad animae libertatem . Scal . exer . 286. Their third Parallel is in their advance and extent of their invasion , which is no farther than the body . Corpore dormiente anima insomnis agit . Sleep captives the body only , & makes no conquest on the soul . The Body fetter'd by sleep upon the bed , the Soul in her imaginative chariot is transported in an unbounded liberty , conversing with the far remote , the dead , Angels , and not seldome with God himself .

Thus Death in any shape conveyed , if in the close insinuation of a penetrative Poyson , or in the open violence of a clamorous Canon , or by what instrument soever the wit of Cruelty did ever invent , yet can it but kill the body , Luke 12.4 . but not able to kill the soul ; Mat . 10. ●8 . that is an immortall substance , breathed by God into man to make him a living soul , Gen. 2.7 . and when man becomes a dead body breathed out again to God , Eccl. 12.7 . The dust shall return to the earth as it was , and the spirit to God that gave it . Sathan's commission terminated in the body , Job 2.6 . and the soul is not left in the grave , Psal 16 10. Si anima ignis est , in caelum debet eniti ne extinguatur , hoc est ad immo●talitatem Lact . l. 2. Luke 23.46 . Acts 7.56 . Upon this account Death in the ancient stile is called a Sacrifice , wherein the earthy part falls down to ashes on the earth , and the spirituall climbs heaven-ward in the active flame . Why e se did wise and pious men commend their souls into the hands of God as a faithfull Creator , as the blessed Jesus ; and the leader of the Army of Martyrs , but that they are in a safe & centrall life ? For he is not the God of the dead , but of the living , Matth . 23.32 . Have ye not seen the Sun dart forth a beam ( a little ●hild of Light ) and anon to suck it in again ? And is not that beam as safe and lively in the body of the Sun , as when it was display'd in the aire ? So when God sends forth a soul into us , and again calls back that soul to himself , is not that soul as safe in the hand of God as it was in the body of Man ? He must have forfeited both Faith and Reason that dares deny it . David implyes no mean danger of death , when he sayes , My soul is in my hand , Psal . 119.109 . but when he commends his soul into the hands of God , Psal . 31 5. he is safe as the eternall life : which certainty of eternall life after death , S. Paul hath confirmed by affix●ng it to the condition of Christs soul after the Resurrection . Christ died for us , 1 Thes . 5.13 . that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him . Not sleep , but live , that is , doe the acts of a living spirit . Tell me , was Abel's soul slain with his body ? whence then the voice of his blood , Gen. ● . 10 . which is the receptacle of a spirit ? were they ( as the Italian threatned his enemy ) run through body and soul , who were slain for the Word of God ? Rev. 6 9. sure then they could never have cryed with a loud voyce for vengeance , ver . 10. If S. Paul upon his dissolution could not have been with Christ , it had been far better not to have been dissolved , Phil . 1.23 . And if in this life onely we have hope , we are of all men most miserable . The Miser and the Epicure ( who have their portion in this life , 1 Cor . 15.19 . Psal . 17.14 . ) are not onely the wiser , but the happier people : But ridendi sunt , saith Jerom , they are to be derided , I think rather much to be lamented , who to continue a beastly life , think they shall end in the death of a beast , soul all and body at once . No ; {αβγδ} life and soul are inseparable ; and though the soul may for a time be absent from , yet never extinguished with the body : but when Christ calls , all our spirits ( as hers in the text ) shall return , Her spirit was living , it came again , v. 55.

See Causins H●ly Court . Maxim 16. If yet there be any soul so brutish , so swinish , that after satisfaction he may receive from the writings of Heathens , the dictates of Reason , and authority of Scripture , will ye● wilfully deny the deathlesnesse of the Soul ; I confesse with Pineda — Cum hoc non verbis sed fuste agendum — the best confutation of such a one is to put him to death , in Eccles c . 12. that he may in h●ll confesse with horrour , what on earth he denied with plaisance But if there be any spark of Ingenuity within us , let me kind●e it into an assent by that art which Alamandurus a King of the Saracens , used to confute the Eutychean Heresie . This Heres●● held that the Divine Nature of Christ suffered Death upon the Crosse together with his Humane ; and this Heresie much pestred his Court . He to suppresse it , gave free liberty to a publick Dispute ; but before hand appointed a Post to be dispatched to him with a packet : in the midst of the disputation breaking the Letters , and reading himself into a sadnesse the Courtfaction that were Hereticks desired the reason ; he sadly tels them , this packet came from heaven , with the heaviest newes could fall on his nation ; for , said he , Michael the Archangel and our Prince is dead . The Hereticks tell him that one or other had imposed on him : for say they , Michael is an Angel , and Angels are Spirits , and Spirits are immortall , they never die . Oh! replyed the King , if Angels cannot die , sure God who is a Spirit cannot die , and so surprized them into an acknowledgement of the truth . So say I , Souls are Spirits , and therefore cannot die .

Awake therefore thou that sleepest , and dream not whilst thou livest , that thy soul shall die when thou art dead : for as soon as she departs the prison of the body , either she ascends an active sphere of joy , and pleasure , and glory , or descends into a passive hell of horrour and torment , as unexpressible as it is unavoidable : the soul is either a Brand in hell , or a Star in heaven immediately upon her expiration , and that for ever . Lazarus staid not for his comfort , nor Dives for his torment till the last day . — But now , saith Abraham as soon as they were dead , but now he is comforted , and thou art tormented . Luke 16.25 .

Seeing therefore such a diverse entertainment waits us at the gates of death , 2 Pet . 3 . 1● . What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse ? How should your Charity make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousnesse , Luke 16.9 . that when ye fail , they may receive you into everlasting habitations . What spirituall prov●dence to ●et Oyl into our lamps , and a Wedding garment on our backs , that we be not left either in nakednesse or darknesse ? When S. Austin would open the fountain of all disturbances in this world , and miseries ●n the next , he sayes it is because men do uti datis tanquam innatis . the mis-placing of immortality is all ; the volup●uous removes it from the soul , and the covetous place it on the body , or goods , or both , though they speak it not out , yet their inward thoughts are , that their houses shall continue for ever , Psal . 49 11. Hence proceed those cares and labours , Nil non mortale tenemus , Pectoris ex●●ptis ingenii que bonis . those frauds and violences in the world to secure our interests here . But ( beloved ) the soul onely is immortall ; the world may leave us whilst we live , but we must leave it when we die : be it our care to use all holy arts , to lay out our dayes in all devout preparations , to secure our eternall interests . John 6.27 . Labour not for the meat that pe isheth , lest you perish for your labour , but for that which endureth unto everlasting life ; for it is the body onely , not the soul , which is not dead but sleepeth .

4. A fourth proportion is in their government , which is like that of Solomon — in rest on every side , 1 Kings 5.4 . Ovid met . 11. {αβγδ} , O●phem . h●mno in ●omnum . T●que o donicor somne laborum , &c. Sen. Here . fu● Eccles . 9 ▪ Iam 4 1● Somnus quies reru● , {αβγδ} , the toyles and cares of the day are slumbered all in the quiet of sleep at night . Our life is a day of travail and vexation : Death is the night wherein are buried all our cares and labours . Man is ( as I have said ) Misery , then Death which is the end of man , must be the end of Misery . Al their love , and their hatred , and their envy , is now perished , said Solomon of the dead . Those wars and fightings arising from those lusts , have not onely a cessation , but an oblivion and finall peace in the grave . The ratling murmur of the drummes , and trumpets surly noyse , fright not the dead ; the artificial lightning and mimick thunder of the gun nothing disturbs the quiet of the grave . Chrysost . {αβγδ} , dead men do not bite ; oppression , revenge , and cruelty , are not the businesse of our carkasses ; There ( saith Job , pointing to the grave ) the wicked cease from troubling ; Job 3.17 . There the prisoners rest together , they hear not the voice of the oppressour , and the servant is free from his master , the labourer complaines not of the heat and burden of the day , nor the fisherman of toyling all night to catch nothing , for there the ●●a● are at rest , Luke 5.5 . as Job affirms . Nay that Christian duell , those unextinguishable skirmishes in the breasts of Saints , between the flesh and the spirit whilst we live , are determined into a cessation by the hand of the grave . Could I present you an inventory of all those sins and sorrowes , those anxieties and cares , that swe●t and labour , those troublesome attendants on the heirs of Adam's curse , through this vale of misery : we should easily confesse with Rupertus , that it was not Iratae justitiae , Pater misericors illis mertaelia faciebat vincula . Plato in Timaeo . but miserantis gratiae , an act not of Judgement , but Grace , that sinful man was made mortal : And with Pl●tinus say — pater misericors , — the Lord was great in mercy when he made our dayes few in misery : Of Issachers judgement all , who saw that rest was good , Gen. 49.15 . We should flie to S Paul's cupio dissolvi , and desire to be dissolved with higher appetite than Misers court gold , or the embossed Hart the springs , the sweaty Labourer the shadow , or the wearied sleep , which to the labourer is sweet . Since here we not onely rest from our labours , Rev. 14.13 . as oxen unyoak'd , but in all most eminent and sweet advantage , we rest in hope , Psal . 16.9 . that is , in hope to rise again , which is another agreement 'twixt Sleep and Death .

5. The next agreement is in the expectation of rising again . This admits three observations .

1. Men lye down at night with design to awake on the morrow : so we make the beds of the dead in the dark , & lay them down — in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life . — Christ was the first-born from the d●ad , and my flesh shall rest in hope , that he will daign me the priviledge of a younger brother , to rise after him . Cur desperabo quod poterit in me , quod demonstravit in se , Aug. propter me ? If Christ when he was dead could raise himself , I doubt not but being alive he can draw me to him . It is an Article of my Creed , and needs no other explanation to invite belief , than what our Church saith , It may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scriptures : yet to satisfie the curious questionist , S. Paul descends to a naturall illustrat●on of the anniversary resurrection of a Corn-field , 1 Cor . ●5 36 , 37. and befools him that can see each field bring forth the grain sown in it , yet think the Church yard is the onely barren ground , as if those bodyes which are sown in the Faith , and water'd with the teares of the Church , shall not flourish as an Herb , as Esay affirmes , Esay 66.14 . and that herbs may be awakened from their ashes to their former flourishing state , Quoted by Mr Gregory . is now no great secret in the Chymical Art , sayes Gaffarell .

This hope then may revive our fainting spirits , that after a long silence in the grave we shall awake , Psal . 17.15 . shake off the shackles of the tyrant Death , and rise in triumph . We have a sure word of prophesy for it , Hosea 13.14 . I will ransome them from the power of the grave , I will redeem them from death , O death I will be thy plague , O grave I will be thy destruction . Let not the length of time afright you , for in death is no difference betwixt this young woman of twelve years old , and Moses old man of threescore and ten ; all corn is not sown at one season , yet it is all ripe at harvest : so also is the resurrection of the dead , they shall arise both small and great .

Tertull . 2. Secondly , Somnus est redintegrator virium . Sleep doth not onely give rest to bodyes , but refreshment : the same body indeed that slept doth awake , but not such as it was ; it lay down a worn , wearied , spiritless trunk , but it awakes a fresh , active , and sprightly body .

So a●so is the resurrection of the dead , as S. Paul most mysteriously discourseth , 1 Cor . 15.42.43 , 44. it is sown in Corruption , it is raised in Incorruption ; it is sown in Dishonour , it is raised in Glory ; it is sown in Weakness , it is raised in Power ; it is sown a Natural body , it is raised a Spiritual body . In these words the Apostle remarks those four cumbersome defects which lessen the nobleness of this mortal life , and to each defect applies a gracious date , which glorifies the life immortall .

1. The first is Corrup●ion , which subjects the body to Diseases , the Gout , the Stone , and even to Death it selfe , and to all those punishments which God layes on sinfull bodyes .

Against , this is Incorruption , which is a state free from all defectiveness or dissolution ; no sicknesse , no death in heaven , no crying out or complaining in the streets of the new Jerusalem .

Beza . 2. The second is Dishonour , that is , Decoris expers , uglinesse and deformity , a gate so unsupportable , that many have shortned their dayes to hide their dishonours in the grave .

To this is opposed Glory , a state of transcendent beauty ; The righteous shall shine as the Sun in the firmament , Mat . 13.43 . nay ( when that gorgeous body of l●ght shall be a Cinder ) glorified bodies shall exceed that splendour seven-fold , Isa . 30.26 . What an exact symmetry and proportion shall glorified bodyes have , Ephes . 4.13 . when they arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ! what an outward smoothnesse beyond the face of mirrours ! what an inward light shining through a body of chrystall , when it shall be raised in the clarity of glory !

3. The third defect accompanies the body is Weakness , a state of such infirmity , that men move slowly from place to place and waxe faint and weary : as Christ himselfe to shew the weight of a mortall body , was wearied with his journey , John 4 6.

To confute this , it is raised in Power , both of agility and celerity ; a glorified body treads light as an Angel , and can walk on the Sea , and climb to heaven in the foot-steps of a cloud , and move nimbler then thought , and penetrate solid bodies , and all without pain or faintness .

4. Whiles the body is here , it is a naturall body , that is , a body that must be maintained by eating and drinking , and preserved by propagation and generation ; or else hunger , and thirst , and weariness will destroy it .

But in Heaven it is a Spiritual body ; the Inhabitants there hunger no more , nor thirst no more , Rev. 7.16 . and in the Resurrection they neither marry , nor are given in marriage ( to propagate their like ) but are as Angels , Mat . 22.30 . The inhabitants shall not say I am sick , Esay 33.24 . No weariness there — and all teares wiped away .

These are the glorious improvements , to which the sleep of death translates ●ur vile bodies , Phil . 3.21 . making them like his glorious body : the privative blessings are inestimable Jewels , freedome from Diseases : What would they give for it , who ( as that woman ) spend all on Physitians ?

A delivery from Ugliness : how precious were it to those , that like Elephants loath to see their own face ; or as Jesabel , use sinful arts to mend them ?

Ease from Weariness is o● great price to a Traveller . Plin . in Lycurg . Lysimichus gave himselfe , his Army , and his Kin●dome , for one draught of water , to free himself from the tyranny of thirst . If to be unclothed of these m●series be so valuable , how inestimable a blessing is it to be cloathed upon with these felicities ? 2 Cor . 5.4 . When mortality is swallowed up of life , and corruption hath put o● in●orruption ; that we possess for Sickness Health , Beauty for Ashes , Agility for Weariness , and Spirit for Nature ; M●●●● caelo non potest jungi genus , Sen. in Her . fur . 1 Cor . 15.50 . Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God ; not such as is layen in the grave , yet the same , and such as it is raised thence .

Had I now shewd a child a new gay coat , how cheerfully wo●ld his childish wit have put off his old rags to be new clad I H●d● but told him to morrow should be holy day , how willingly had he gone to bed ! yet notwithstanding this precious vestu●●● shewn you , how loth do ●e divest our sinfull habits ! how unwillingly put off our corruptions ! And though we hear of th● state of freedome and jubilee in Heaven , yet , like the degenero●● slave , Exod . 21.5 . we too plainly say we will not go out free ▪ nay , as he we bring our ear to be bored , endure any hardship — Facito debilem pede , manu , hand-gout , feet-gout , Dum 〈◇〉 superest bene est , so as they live it matters not , though as 〈◇〉 for ever . Death I confesse is t●rrible , Quis enim vult ●●il prorsus nemo , Aug. de verb . Apost . ser . 33. the man Christ was very sad at the approach of ● ; 't is a going whither Nature would not , John 21.18 . But look beyond Death , draw by this black curtain , and see what 〈◇〉 ●●hind it . Thus the same holy Christ , for the joy that was set befor● him , endured the crosse , and despised the shame . So the Martyrs cared not to be delivered , that they might obtain a better resurrection , Heb . 11.35 . So would a man enter into the chambers of Death , and lye down willingly in the bed of the Grave , if 〈◇〉 considered , that then he is not dead but sleepeth .

3. As a sleeping person is easily awaked by the summon● of ● Cock , the rising of the Sun , or some sudden noyse ; Dem●●● tanta facilitate excitabit de sepulchro quantâ tu non excita●●●mientem à lecto : The rising of the Sun of righteousnesse will 〈…〉 the dead bodyes , as we have an essay , Mat . 27.52 , 53. A● t●● are in the grave shall hear his voice , and shall come forth Job . 5 . ●suddenly , and easily , in a moment , in the twinkling of an 〈◇〉 the l●st trump ; for the trumpet shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible , 1 Cor . 15.52 . What should hinder it ? ●o● length of dayes ; whether the body sleep longer than E●●mie● , or lesse while then Adam while Eve was forming , is not considerable to an agent that works not by time . Not the multitude , since the Nations are but as the drop of a Bucket to him : Esay 40.15 . he that rose out of his sealed Sepulchre , without so much noise as to waken the Watch , will unlock our marble Tombes , and call our bodies thence as easily and indiscernably , as he made them in the Wombe , though our bodies were buried in the Sea , coffined in the maw of Fishes , consumed in flames to ashes , though a Leg were lost here , and an Arm in Tartary ; yet resolutio sit in elementa , thou dost but returne to the dust from whence thou camest ; from whence he may as easily say , Psal . 90.3 . Come again ye children of men , as at first he did in the Creation . Nay , couldst thou sink to nothing , the Almighty Arm can as easily make thee something , as at first it made all things of nothing . Thus shall we at last as insensibly awake , as at first we sl●pt , for how dead soever a Corps appears to the judgement of Man , yet in the judgement of God it is not dead , but onely sleepeth .

Collect all this , that Life is short and miserable , that Death is universall , uncertaine , yet reacheth but to the body , that it is quiet , easie and peacefull ; that the body shall awake to a state of high advantage , of eternall health , beauty , strength , and Angelicall perfection ; thas this arising shall not be as a Mandrake , shreeking and painfull , but gentle , at the noise of a Musicall instrument , a Trumpet ; consider this , and there needs no screw to draw in the next part , Weep not .

Weep not . This ( I said ) is the mourners comfort , to improve it into practice , thereby to lessen the number , or to lighten the weight of their mourning . I professe my self unfurnished of any other Argument , then the numberlesse felicities and weight of glory , which crown those that are not Dead but Sleep .

David upon news of his innocent childs death , and well pers●●ded that of such is the Kingdome of Heaven ; declines the act of weeping , and the posture of sadnesse , and arose from the earth , and washed and anoynted himself , and changed his Apparell and passion too , 2 Sam . 12.20 . his Courtiers who admire this alteration , he satisfies with two Authentick reasons , v. 23. first the vanity of tears for the dead , can I hring him back again ? the voice of we●ping recalls not departed Souls . Secondly , a joyfull apprehension of their glorious state , reflecting a confidence on his Soul to enjoy the like , I shall goe to him ; I see Heaven open , and after death ● shall be as happy as he that is gone before , therefore I weep n●● .

Yet because whilst we live in this valley of Tears , naturall affection will so far prevaile upon ●ur Reason , that even the Father of the Faithfu l , when he was to sow his nearest relative in the Earth , cou●d not but water it with a showr from his eyes . For Abraham came to mourn for Sarah , and to weep for her . Gen. 23.2 . And because relations in Nature are like Members in the Body , the remaining Member weeps carnation teares for that which is cut off ; and good men adjudge it their duty to pickle up the memory of their departed friends in the brine of their own eyes , 1 Thes . 4.13 . so to pres●rve it ; That therefore ye sorrow not as others that have no hope . Observe that Antheme which Esay hath set , for a Christian parentation to be sung at the grave , Isa 26 19. Isa . 26.19 . Thy dead men shall live , ( that is the leading voice by the Prophet ) together with my dead body shall they arise , ( that is the Counter tenor sung by Christ ) ; Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust ( that is the Chorus song by the whole Qui●e in Heaven ) there is not a word in it , but if seriously weighed , will turn our sorrow into joy . 1. That Men shall be dead , not alwaies lye under the pressures and miseries of this life . 2. That they are Thy Dead , Dabit deus his qu●que-finem . that is , God owns them . 3. They shall not st●ll continue in the d●shonours of the grave , but shall live againe . 4. That we have so good security for it as to rise with Christ ; w●th him , though not in time , yet with him in power , and with him in glory : the man hath no sense , no relish of Heaven , that sings not upon these appr●hensions , at least sayes not to himself ▪ Weep not .

Attend the fi●st wo●d● Christ spake to a Woman after his Resurrection , Joh . 20.15 . was it not , Why weepest thou ? Joh . 20.15 . Indeed before ●hrist had opened the ●●tes of Death , Mary , nay the whole world ( which say the F●thers was representative in her ) had cause enough to w●ep . ●ut now Chr●st th● head was rise● and had made way for all h●s Members to follow ; now Jes●● had beaten Death at his own weapon , and kill'd it by dying since he hath changed the Grave into a Bed , Death into Sleep , and made the Land of Darknesse the ready way to the place where Light dwelleth . Teares are b●th unreasonable and unseasonable , Why weepest thou ? is as much as weep not .

Considerable are the Syren and the Swan , Aelian . Var . Hist . l. 2. c . 32. whose different fate is thus : the Syren sings away her life in wanton ayres , and charms of Lust , the treacherous inticements to destruction , Et lug●bunt quasi filiae Sir●num . Hieron . in Mich . c . 1. Tom . 5. p. 331. but when she dyes , she breaths out her soul in howlings , sighs and sobs , in pangs and horror . The Swan who spends her dayes in innocence as white as her livery , in pensive notes of sadnesse , mournfull and black as her feet , when she dyes she expires in joyfull Anthemes , the voice of joy and gladnesse .

Sic ubi fata vocant , udis abjectus in herbis , Ovid . Epist. 7. Ad vada Maeandri , concinit albus Olor . So when Death cals the aged Swan from streams ; She dying , sings her own glad Requiems .

A wanton life ushers in a wailfull death , but an innocent life ends in a joyfull death ; they who laugh all their life , may weep at their death , but who weep in their Lives , at their Deaths weep not .

Good people , had you the Reversion of a rich Living ,

Hic fletus non habet pietatem . Hieron . ad Tyras .

Improbius nihil his fletibus esse potest . Mart . l. 10. Ep. 71. Luk . 23.2 .

or Office , would you weep because it is faln into your possession ? Invidi non amantis , 't were more of Envy then Love to bewaile an earthly happinesse . I close , as Jesus to the Daughters of Jerusalem , Weep not for me , but weep for your selves , not for me that am dying , but for your selves that are living ; for your selves that have refused my Doctrine , despised your Saviour , condemned your innocent and righteous Prince ; for your selves , over whose heads a cloud is teeming with the heaviest wrath that ever fell upon a Nation ; for your selves who will not own your God on Earth , and therefore shortly not to be own'd by your God in Heaven ; and he that would now have bought you with his blood , will shortly sell you to an utter and irreversible desolation . For the sins and sufferings of the living , I confesse , there is weeping work enough for him who hath Jeremies wish , His head a fountain of teares to weep day and night : But for the d●ad that dye in the Lord weep not . Weep not , she is not dead but sleepeth .

The Application ,

Being already partly discharged in parcels , the remaining summe which we will put to use , that you may have Interest in it , and profit by it , is onely this humble advice w●ich I have borrowed from Plato . Sic ad somnum proficisci corporibus affectis ut nihil sit quod arimo perturbationem aff rat ; Since the fate of Rest in the state of Separation , and happ●nesse , at meeting again of Soul and Body , depends upon the holinesse at parting : let us be composed in both , that neither the disorder of the Body , nor multitude of businesse , either ill done , or undone , may disturbe the quiet of the Soul , and give her occasion to say to the Body , as the discontented Lover to his affected . In me nostra Ven●s noctes exercet amaras ; Properi l. 1. eleg . 1. Thou searchest me with Dreams , and terrifiest me with Vision , Job . 7.14 . Iob 7.14 . For the memory of every unrepented sinne ( though the Body sleep in the Grave ) lodges the Soul in a bed of Scorpions , which sting her with plagues as incessant , as invisible , and as insufferable as either .

To procure rest , the Physitian may apply Mandragora and Opium , may administer a cup of slumber to stupifie his Patient , but the Divine must give more active and stirring potions . Therefore ,

First know , that he who will sleep well at night , must not sleep much in the day . Sleep not the sleep of Death , i.e. sloth and security in your life , that you may sl●ep the sleep of life in Death . 2 ●am . 11.2 . Davids once sl●eping by day , disquieted many of his nights rests afterward . Watch whilst y●u live , and you shall sleep when you dye . Sleep is a shutting up the s●nses of the Soul , and watching a freedome of the r exercise upon their proper objects : Now that no other obj ct might claim any sence , observe how ●he blessed Jesus hath apted himself to each ; to the Eye he is Ioh 10.8 . Light , to the Eare the ● . 1 Word , to the Smel his name is Cant . 1.3 . Oyntment , to the Taste oh . 6.35 . Manna , to the Touch he hath a Heb . 10.5 . Body : Thus unlesse your Soul doth wilfully lock up her Cinque-ports , she may see , or hear , or smell , or taste , or touch a Jesus ; let your Soul exercise her sense on her Saviour , and her Saviour will suffer no sinne to exercise its sense on the Soul .

2. Before men goe to Bed they put off their Cloaths , or else they sleep both unhandsomely and uneasily . So let your Souls divest those habits which sinne and custome hath too long made fashionable . Habits of the Body are 1. Garments , 2. Arms , Vestes , aerma , Infulae . Ps. 109.18 . Iude 23. Isa . 9.5 3. Ornaments . Hath any one cloathed himself with cursing ? or worn the Garment spotted with the fl●sh in Saint Jude ? or that rolled in Bloud in Esay . 9.5 ? or the poor mans taken to pledge , or made Aprons of excuses as Adam ? unstript , and that early too ! Caesar the Praetor dyed whilst he was putting off his Shoos ; 't is forgetfulnesse to goe to Bed with any Garment of the day about you .

For armes , Rom. 6.13 . if any one hath made the Members of his Body the weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin , Cap 3. or us'd his tongue as a sharp sword , that hath wounded the honour of God , or his Neighbour . Put off those Hostilities , 1 Pet 2. yea and those Lusts which war against the Soul : Then Ornaments , which are the Pomps and Vanities of this sinfull world . If any one hath as Tamar , put on whorish attire to draw in the passenger , they must , as she , Gen. 38.19 . Gen. 38.19 . Arise and depart , and lay by her vail from her . Nemo enatat cum sarcinis ; Encumbred people cannot sleep .

3. Lastly , good men before they goe to bed they alwaies pray . Saint Paul adviseth , Pray alwayes , 1 Thes . 5.17 . though not with the Lip , yet with the Life ; for as Prayer is a good work , so every good work is a Prayer . Set Prayer is condemned by some as Lip-labour . Extemporary Prayer is blamed by others as Brain-labour , but Life-prayer is praised by all as heart-labour : In manu opera in ore locutio folet intelligi . Greg . Mor . The lifting up the hands ( that is , our works ) which at once pleaseth God , and perfumes the company . When survivors see a Soul that hath lived long in this Region of holy Duty , to ascend to Heaven as the Angel , Iudg . 13.20 . In the flames of the Altar , their Charity and hopes are sufficiently instructed to say , Nolite flere . Weep not , she is not dead but sleepeth .

The Character .

I have done with the Text that I brought hither to you , and now apply my self and discourse , to that Text that brought you hither to me ; from that I presented to your Eares , to that presented to your Eyes : I close the book of Life , and now open the book of Death .

So Saint Ambrose interr'd Theodosius ; Nazianzen , the immortall Athanasius ; and Saint Hierome , the excellent Lady Marcella : nay , Saint Iohn hath taken short notes of a Sermon made by Christ at the Funeral of Lazarus , Ioh . 11.12 , 13 , &c. wherein are discourses of Faith , resurrection and Glory , ●●ised from the Dead , and applyed to the Living , I need no other , be cause I can follow no better precedent . Therefore hear me , or rather hear her speak , for the Dead can speak , He● . 11.4 .

This Consideration speak● Caution to our Conversation● since our Actions dye not with our Persons , but are recorded in the Leaves , and published by the Lips of Fame , it should provoke as to walk circumspectly , as Wise , not as Fools , the our Survivors track us not in irregular strayings , that there be no great blots in our history . Plutarch reports a strange wantonnesse in some Milesian Women , who in a corrupt prodigality of their lives , would , without any reason or provoc●tion , be their own Executioners , and made it a fashion to ha●● themselves against Reason , Counsel , and Nature , untill , the Milesians decreed their naked bodies , Ut eae omnes nudae cum eodem ●aqueo quo essent prae victae ●ff●rentur . Aul . Gellius l. 15. 10. with the same halter they ended their lives in , to lye unburied on Dunghils , exposed to the scorne of men , and the sepulture of Beasts . This unhandsome usage of their bodies after death , converted that wilde humor of self-killing , into a carefull self preservation : truly , respect●● our reputation after death , is a great obligation to an holy conversation whilst we live : the care of the living ( no doubt ) b●●● to live and dye well , Eccl. Poli . l. sect . 75. must needs be somewhat increased , wh●● they know that their departure shall not be folded up ● silence .

Our dead Sister speaks first in the dignity of her extraction , Si quid est in nobilitate bonum , id esse arbitror solum ut imposita nob libu● necessitudo videatur , ne à maj●ram virtute degenerens ▪ Boeth . de cons . phil . l. 3 pro . 6. fairly proclaim'd to you by the Herauldry of her Hearse , but fairer for in the suitable Character of her life ; the worthinesse of her bir●h had no other influence on her , but to engage her to wo●thiness of action , which she so nobly improved , that the vertue of her life dignified the honour of her descent ; so the glory she received from her father on earth , by the acts of humility and charity she enhansed to the glorifying her father which is i● heaven .

Her Beauty , which was a depositary from heaven , she beautified with so much Piety , and adorned with so much Religion , as if she had been intrusted to preserve both the lustre and the vertues of the celestial bodies in her Epitome .

But the beauty of her soul was a sun to this taper , from whence her starry actions received a mighty splendour .

When she spake , wisdome dictated and wit delivered , she hung her language at your ear as Jewels , much of worth in a smal bulk ; and as jewels her speech Speech . was rich , both in lustre and in medicine ; the conceits of her mirth would raise a smile , but the gravity of her conveyance commanded reverence .

Her Reproofs , like lightning , quick , but short , such as would melt the blade , yet not singe the scabbard ; kill the sin , but preserve the sinner .

Her Promises were made in her head , but kept in her hand ; as a naile fastned in a sure place , driven by Understanding , and clenched by Affection .

Her Attire Her Attire . neither sordid nor curious , not too early in , nor too late out of fashion ; not like those Mushrome gentry , who declare their late rise from peasantry and poverty by the her aul●●y of the dirt and rags o● their back .

Her Table Table . was both wholsome and handsome enough to satisfie the stomach of the hungry , and well enough to fancy the palate of the curious : yea when the sword had carved her meat to the fifth part , her good cheer was as much as ever .

Her Visits Visits . were like the Sun's , beneficial where ere she came , and treading in her Saviours steps , She went up and downe doing g●od .

Her Accesse was free but not loose , her door , as her heart , Neighbourhood . was open to all friends , Neighbourhood . so that without much shifting the Sce●● she would easily m●ke her Ho●se a Court , an Almes-house , a School , and an Hospital all in a day .

She had treatments for the greatest , who came as Agrippa and Bernice with great pomp . She had Relief for the poore●● , who as Lazarus , Acts 25.23 . lay at the gate ; Instructions for the ignorant , and Charitable remedies for the sick ; Christian applications for all , feeding the Hungry , cooling the ●h●rsty , cloathing the Naked , visit●ng the Sick , and h●●bouring the Travailer ; what God requires in acts of Neig●bour-hood h●re , Mat 25.35 , 36. and reward hereafter , the whole Voyzenage can witness with me , and for her , that she was a great parallel to Dorcas , Acts 9.36 . This woman was sa● of good works and almes-deeds which she did .

Phil . 4.8 . Finally bre●hren , whatsoever things are true , whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just , whatsoever things are pure , whatsoever things are lovely , whatsoever things are of good report , she did them , therefore if there be any vertue or any praise , let her have it .

Her Relation as a Wife , shewes her , without disparagement , a rare example and standard to her Sex .

Society is the most precious comfort in Nature , the riche●● jewel in her Cabinet . Adam not in perfect Paradise , not happy without it : of all societies with Man , that of a Wife is neerest , being made of his own rib ; and dearest , lying in his own bosome●

Her Aff●ction was great as Jonathans , wonderfull and passing the love of women . 2 Sam . 2.26 .

Marriage made her husband and her one flesh , but love made them one soul . She married not onely his person , but his interests and concernments , loved his loves , wished his desire , as inseparable as Ruth and her mother-in law , Ruth 1.16 , 17. not to be parted but by death . She owed him an affection equ●l to her life , being often ready to lay it down for his preservation , as appeares by her swouning at any newes might threaten ill to him , as if her soul conceived it but duty to be bayle for her husband .

The head of the woman is the man , 1 Cor . 11.3 . so her husband wore the principality , she received influence from him , and g●●● conformity to him : But a vertuous woman is a crown to ●●r head , Prov. 12.14 . so she gave safety , plenty , Prov. 31.11 , 12. and honour to her head , as Crown may signifie . The heart ●f her husband did ●afely trust in her , she did do him good and not ill all the dayes of her life . Longer she is not obliged ; — Till dea●h us depa●t — was their agreement : Death ends her natural relation , a●d enters her into a Divine ; which she began here by her Religion . Religion .

Her Religion was not as her Sex , Female ; that is , all face and tongue , but pure and solid , not despising the form , but delighting in the power of godliness . She attired n●t her devotion as the Lacedemonians did their Gods , according to the severall fashions of each city , so to gain reputation from man ; but she persevered in the constant substantials of Religion , so to gain grace and favour from God . Holiness and righteousness are the summe and tenour of the Covenant 'twixt God and Man ; holiness to God , and righteousness and just dealing tow●rds Man . These two dutyes she had so learned from her two Husbands ( the first being a Civilian , this last a D●vine ) that she proved a very perfect proficient in both . Thus she ha●ing done her duty on earth , let us do our duty to her laid under it : which I leave with you n the command of Christ for his Spouse ; Can● 8.4 . I charge you ô ye daughters of Jerusalem , that ye stir not up , nor awake her . Ye daughters ! for your tongues are most busie , and most aspersive , you soonest both make faults and find f●ults , do not you awake her with loud and l●bellous d●famat●ons , nor with close and corner-whisperings : let your silence suffer her errors ( for who can say be is pure ? ) to sleep with her ashes . And if you will be st●rring , rouze & awake your own drousie souls fr●m the sleep o● sin , that when you dy you may rest in Christ , as our h● e is this our S●ster doth : ●●at we with her and the rest departed in the true faith & fear of Gods most holy name , may at the last be awakened to p●ssess the consumm●te bliss both of body & soul , in that state of an eternal and everlasting co●junction in glory , which was purchased by the B●ood , and is promised by the Spirit of the L●rd Jesus Christ . To whom with th● Father and holy Ghost , be glory and honour , now and for ever .

FINIS .