Domus ordinata. A FUNERAL SERMON, Preached in the City of Bristol, the five and twentieth day of june, 1618. at the burial of his kinswoman, Mistress Needs, wife to Mr. Arthur Needs, and sister to Mr. Robert Rogers of Bristol. By john Warren, Minister of God's word at Much-Clacton in Essex. IN DOMINO CONFIDO printer's device of Nicholas Okes LONDON, Printed by Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by john Harison, dwelling in Pater-noster-row, at the sign of the Unicorn. 1618. To the Right Honourable, my very good Lord, Richard, Lord Dacres of the South: grace and peace. RIght Honourable, That which unwilling I was to offer unto the view of the world, until it was wrested from me, by the earnest desires of my good friends, am I now willing to send forth as a remembrance of my dutiful affection to you. Thus I satisfy their desires in publishing this Sermon: and mine own, in dedicating the same unto your Lordship. For howsoever distance of place is large between us, yet neither is my affection to your Lordship, so long since begun, now diminished: neither have I found your Lordship unmindful of me, whom you have prosecuted with good favours. It may be I shall be condemned for sending to one in the prime of his age, a discourse of death. But this well perused will make you die not the sooner, but the happier. Old age is already come to death: this Sermon teacheth how to meet with death before it cometh. The same spirit of God which said, Eccles. 12.1. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth: doth know that it is fit in young years also to remember our end. Oh that they were wise, Deut. 32.29 than they would understand this, they would consider their latter end: was the wish of God for the Israelites. It is the way to be wise, to number our days. Psalm. 90.12 Amongst the Nobles of Egypt whiles they banquited, was carried the picture of death, and these words spoken: Look upon this, Herodot. in Euterpe. and so eat and rejoice, as that you remember yourself shall once be such. The train of birds guideth their flight: and the remembrance of our ends may direct our life. Even in young years then, let this book be as Philip of Macedon his boy, saying, Memento Philippe, quod homo es, Remember, you are mortal. And my earnest prayer is, that as it may be accepted as a token of my dutiful respect to your Lordship, and to your honourable Lady, so it may be some little furtherance, that you both may still and still live honourably, and in a good age die Christianly: All which your good beginnings do largely promise. Much-Clacton. july the 26. 1618. Your Lordships in all duty to be commanded, john Warren. To the Christian Reader. IT is not for any excellency, which I esteeeme to be in this my work, that I thus publishit. Such hath been the respect which I have always borne unto my loving and kind Uncle Mr. Matthew Warren, at this time one of the Sheriffs of Bristol: and such have the courtesies been which I found at his hands, at the hands of my cozen Mr. Robert Rogers, brother to this diseased Gentlewoman, at the hands of both their wives, and also of many citizens in that famous City: that I cannot to satisfy them in divulging this, which by no small number of them, with more than ordinary importunity hath been requested. They earnestly protested to have received much fruit at the hearing. That it may now bring forth fruit in thee (Reader,) let it be in thy hands, as a Death's head, to remember thy end: take it as the clock striketh, as thou thinkest upon thy worldly store, and as thou remember'st thy conscience; apply it line by line: and then as David stood triumphing with the head of dead Goliath in his hand: so when the time of thy dissolution cometh, (although others at the like time, are either senseless, or else yell & howl; thou shalt die as joyfully, as if death had no venom; crying out triumphantly in the midst of the pangs of death, 1. Cor. 15 O death where is thy sting? When the servants in the city of tire, had slain their Lords and Masters, they agreed to choose him amongst them to be king, who should first espy the Sun rising the next morning: justin. lib. 18. when they were all assembled to this purpose, whiles all the rest stood with their faces looking into the East, only Strato looked upon the high mountains westward: for doing whereof although he were at the first derided, yet when by this means he first destroyed the reflection of the Sunbeams, than was this face of his judged, not to be Seruilis ingenij ratio, from a speculation of a servile brain, but of some more noble spirit. Malac. 4. So whiles some look for Christ the Sun of righteousness, in the wilderness, some in the markets, some in other places, if you look religiously to the Sunsetting of your life, towards your death, it may be a means for you with great joy, first, to discern the Sun of righteousness favourably shining upon you. These things, if thou hast any furtherance to obtain by this samll work; thou wilt first thank God for his gifts, next those citizens of Bristol, who were the means that it came to thy view: and lastly, thou wilt pray for me, that the dew of heaven may descend upon my labours to thy further good, and in this hope I commend thee to God, and this small work to thy good usage. Thine in Christ: john Warren. The Preface before the reading of the Text. THat the name of the just might be had in remembrance, it is the laudable custom of our Church, at funeral meetings to recite the virtues of the deceased, as the widows showed the coats and garments which Dorcas made whiles she was with them: Act. 9.89. yet are there two things which will make me very sparing at this time, in the performance of this duty: first, lest our consanguinity, and dearness in blood and kindred should make any think I speak more out of partiality, than out of judgement. Secondly, because how near soever I was unto her in blood, yet in respect of conversation, I was a stranger. Yet thus much may I truly say, that she is generally reported to have been towards her neighbours full of courtesy, towards her husband full of such love as himself witnessed to me, that although they lived together many years, she never sought for any thing towards him, but love and peace towards God, religious: insomuch, that I visiting her but the day before her death, when she could scarcely speak to man, she was very desirous to speak unto God by prayer: and comforted herself, saying, I know that he who was the God of Daniel, is my God: not doubting but the same God will deliver her from all pains and sorrows: which we all with joy remembering, leave her in the hands of God, and that we may thither also come at the last, let us hear what the spirit saith for us. A FUNERAL SERMON. ESA. 38.1. Put thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Sickness (a Sergeant belonging to the Mayrolty of death,) had seized upon the body of King Hezechiah, to urge him to pay Nature her debt. And whiles he was under this arrest, the Prophet Esay was sent unto him from God, to preach that in his ears, that sickness preached in every part of his body, to wit, that he should now presently die: and withal to give him this admonition to prepare himself for death, Put thy house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. In which words there are these two parts to be observed: first, an exhortation, Put thy house in order: secondly, a commination or menacing, for thou shalt die and not live. But because the force of the exhortation dependeth upon the commination, and as the manners of men are now a days, few prepare themselves for death, until they begin to have some feeling of it: therefore in the handling of these parts, the first shall be last, and the last shall be first, and I will first speak of the commination, and secondly of the exhortation. 1. Thou shalt die, and not live. Brevi moriturus es, & non vives, saith Tremelius, Thou shalt speedily die, and not live long; not denying but he should live in the next world, but doubling the sense in variety of words, to express the certainty of his message, Thou shalt speedily die, and not live here any longer time. In this commination, I observe three things for our admonition, first, something common to Hezekiah with us; secondly, there are here somethings peculiar to Hezekiah, not common to us; thirdly, we must consider the event of this prediction. First, here is one thing in this commination or prediction, which is common to Hezekiah and to all flesh, and is therefore called the way of all flesh or of all the world. joshu 23.14. that is, death. For what man liveth, and shall not see death? Psal. 89.48. statutum est hominibus, etc. It is appointed to men, that they shall once die: Heb. 9.27. there is a statute law enacted in heaven for it, which cannot be disannulled. We read in the fift of Genesis, of many men that lived many hundreds of years, yet none of them but died at the last. At the command of joshua, the Sun stood still for a while in Gibea and the Moon in the valley of Aialon, yet not for ever, but they found their going down: so may some man's life stand for a while, longer than others, but yet at the last death catcheth them. To Princes and Magistrates God speaketh, I said ye are Gods, but ye shall die like men: Psal. 82. The life of man being preserved by a calidum humidum, never yet could the searchers of nature find means to preserve it always. When any malefactor is condemned to death and speedy execution, the Magistrate may pardon him, and give him his life to warrant him against the executioner, but not against death: yea when death cometh to the Magistrate himself, he cannot reprieve himself, die he must. Glass is brittle and cannot last long, it is subject to so many knocks: yet if it be set in some safe place from knocks, it may endure many ages. It is not so with man, who though he escape all outward violence, yet is borne with sin and consequently with corruption to breed his death, one Henoch, one Helias, might be translated, that they should not see death, so to confirm our hope of the resurrection by the mighty power of God: but never any more. Death is gone over all men. Rom. 5. I need not longer to amplify this point: ye are not now as Adam and Abel once were, whiles they never saw a man to die; every Churchyard, every age, every sickness, preacheth this mortality: and ye will also say this thing we all acknowledge. But yet I wish we did so acknowledge it, as that we would lay it to our hearts. We scarcely live as if we should die, no not when we follow others to the grave. In a good pasture where many fat oxen are, the Butcher entereth and fetcheth away one and killeth it: next day he fetcheth another, and still those which he leaveth behind, feed and fat themselves until they are fetched to the slaughter: not considering either what is become of their fellows, or shall be of themselves. So when death cometh amongst a multitude of us, here taking one, and there another, being presently ready to fetch us we pamper up ourselves without ceasing till death take us. Did we consider our own ends, we would alter this course, the hand writing upon the wall made Balthasar tremble in every joint, Daniel the fift. Oh let the hand-writing of God whereby the number of our days is determined make us so to live, as that we remember we shall not always live here, for this sentence is passed on us, ye shall die, and not live. Secondly, observe in these words to Hezekiah, that there are three things peculiar to Hezekiah: whereof we are destitute. 1. That herein he was foretold of the time of his death, for so the words import: thou shalt presently die. But to you I can say, you shall die, but when I cannot say, no not when Physicians have given you over unto death. Man knoweth not his time, Eccles. 9 we know the Sun shall set in the evening, and we perceive how, & when: we can say, now the Sun is four hours high, or two hours, or one hour high: we cannot say so of our life: but when we think it is many hours, it may presently cease; when we think the Sun of our life is ready to set, it may have far to run. To him that dreamt of many years, it was said, Thou fool, this night shall they fetch away thy soul, Luk. 12. It is not for you to know the times and seasons, which the Father hath kept in his own power (said our Saviour to his Disciples, in the first of the Acts.) It is not for you; and for our good: If he that hath now lived threescore years, should from his infancy be assured that he should have lived so long, Oh how secure would he have been in his sins, whom yet this uncertainty of the time of his death could not awake? Vtiliter voluit Deus latere illum diem, ut semper paratum sit cer, ad expectandum quod esse venturum sit et quando venturum sit nescit, said S. Austen of the day of judgement. So I, of the day of death: It was for our profit, that God would not have us to know that day, to the intent, that every day we should prepare for that which may come upon us any day, and we are sure shall come upon us one day, which we know not. Oh be careful this day, which may be thy last, thrice happy is that servant, whom his Master when he cometh shall find well doing. Let your loins be girded about, and yourselves like unto men that wait for their Master, when he shall return from the wedding, Luk. 12.35. All we can say unto you is, your Master will come, but when, we know not. When ye shall die, whether to day, or to morrow, whether this month or next, whether this year or next, we cannot tell; but this we are sure of, die ye shall, and not live. 2. In these words it was foretold to Hezekiah, in what place he should die: for, so much they intent, thou shalt presently in this place, without time to change often thy place, in this place thou shalt die. As for us, we know where we were borne, but in what place we shall die, until we die we know not: whether in the shop, or in the chamber, or in the field, or in the Church, or in a journey; no place so good, as death will not enter, none so vile a place, as will disdain. Moses had appointed some cities of refuge, and we have had sanctuaries and privileged places for men oppressed: were there any place in this world a sanctuary where death might not enter, I doubt not but it would be thronged unto: but there is no place freed here from death, pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, regumque turres, country cottages and Kings courts feel death alike. The Sun is introduced in the Poets speaking thus of itself, Omnia qui video, per quem videt omnia mundus: I see all places and things, and by me are all things and places seen, the Wiseman saith, The sun that shineth looketh upon all things, Eccleasticus 42.16. yet are there some places from whence the light of the sun may be kept; so is there not any place from whence death may be kept. look for it in every place: In omni loco te mors expectat, tu illam omni loco expecta: it may be, it runneth by thy horse side as thou ride, to take thee down, it may be it walketh into the fields, to make thee for ever seeing thy home again. In any case take heed of going into any places of sin and wickedness; it may be death standeth there, even there to take thee to thy eternal shame. For as for the place of thy death we cannot tell thee: all I can say, is only this, thou shalt die and not live. 3. Herein is another thing wherein we differ from Hezekiah, he is foretold the disease he shall die of: for so the words import, thou shalt not recover of this sickness: as for us we know not the disease shall work our death, until our end: no not when we are subject to some grievous disease, for some other means may prevent it. unus nascendi modus, moriendi mill; there is but one way for us all to be born into the world, but a thousand several ways to die, as a broken ship receiveth in water at a thousand places, so we leak, and take in death in every part of our body. Marry Magdalen had seven devils, one man had one, and another had a legion: one man hath one disease, another hath seven, another hath a whole legion of diseases to bring him to his end. Him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael, shall jehuslay, and him that escapeth from the sword of jehu, shall Elishah slay, 1. King. 19 so him that escapeth one means of death, another will slay. Pharaoh escapeth the fire, and perisheth in the Sea, Sodom is free from the Sea, and is consumed with fire, Corah avoideth the fire, and the earth devoureth him, Herod is free from all these, and the worms eat him, Ioh his children eschew all these, and die by the fall of a house, the houses of the Samaritans stand, and they perish with famine, the Shunamites child is free from these, and he crieth out, Oh my head, my head, Antiochus his head is well, and he complaineth, Oh my bowels, my bowels, Asa his bowels are well, and he exclaimeth, Oh my feet, my feet; and what every one of us shall complain of, at our last and sorest sickness, it is to us vacertaine. Only thrice happy is that person, who though he be uncertain with what disease his body shall be distempered, at the time of his death, shall so look to himself, as that he may be assured that his soul shall not waver, nor be distuned from God. Thus are we unlike to Hezekiah, in this prediction, Thou shalt die and not live. It may be some man here may object, that many of the heathen men have beeneforewarned of the time of their death, as also of the place: as was Alexander of Macedonia, told that Babylon should be fatal to him. Quintus Cart. It may be some will object what Saint Paul said, I know ye shall see my face no more, Act. 20.25. It may be they will likewise object what was told unto Saul at the house of the witch at Endor, 1. Sam. 28.19. And from these things some will think, that either by the stars, or some other natural courses, a man may know both the time and place of his death long before. But first, as for heathen men, who can deny but God by extrtordinary means revealed further things to them, as to Pharaoh, and Nabuchadonosor, in their dreams, and might by some extraordinary means let some of them know these thigns we speak of. Secondly, to think that such particular things may be known by the stars, is a mere vanity, for though I deny not but that they may have some power over the sensual inclination, yet neither so much as that man is subject thereto upon necessity, according to the old saying in the Schools, Astra inclinant, Dr. Andre. epist. Cic estrens. ad M. W. librum. respon pa. 108. non necessitant: neither yet in casual actions, so far as to direct particular journeys, whereon these things depend, as Saint Austin showeth by his instance, Aug. de civit. Dei. li. 5 ca 2 Tacit. Annal. li. 6. ca 5. which for brevities sake I do but name: and as for the famous prediction of Trasullus unto Tiberius, (which is so much admired by Tacitus, as also by Xiphiline: Xiphilin. li. 54. in Aug. Caesar. Lips. monit & exempl. polit. li. 1. ca 5 Basil. in hexem. homil. 1. ) Lipsius hath well observed that it might well be done, not by Astronomy, but by chance. So might it be to Alexander, and others, that the place of their death by chance is thus foretold: for if any man shall think to use the stars to such end, I must for this time briefly bonclude with Basil, Astrologia iudiciaria, negotiosissima vanitas, This judicious Astrology, is a most busy vanity. As for that of Saint Paul, it was extraordinary, as was his other revelations. But for Saul his doings by the witch at Endor, I say no more at this time, but that if it were not an imposture and spoken by chance, yet surely it was then extraordinary. So, that still by any natural means we are not assured until our death, either of the time, place, or means of our death, only this we are sure of, we shall die, and not live. Now as we have propounded, we must come to the third point observable, before we leave these words: and that is the event of this prediction. Hezekiah is here told from God, when, where, and how he shall die: doth it so come to pass? dieth he presently of this sickness, and in this place? we find it otherwise. For in the third verse of this chapter, presently upon this message, Hezekiah turned his face unto the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord answereth in the fift verse, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears, behold I will add to thy days fifteen years. How will he add to his days? The days of man are determined, thou hast appointed him bounds which he cannot pass, job. 14. Shall Hezekiah then live fifteen years longer than God had determined? God forbidden: but God will add to the time passed of his life fifteen years, yet to come. It may be, that the time passed of his life, was the longest time that he could have lived according to the course of nature. A candle burneth so long as the tallow thereof doth endure, when the tallow is consumed than it goeth out: yet if to the last wick of the candle you put a little oil, it will burn a little longer than otherwise it would: So the life of man endureth as long as that calidum humidum, or moist heat, is duly preserved in the body of man; but when that moist heat, or hot moisture is corrupted wholly, then is the life of man naturally extinguished, as it may be, it was in Hezekiah; then God addeth olem potentiae, the oil of his power to prolong his life, fifteen years beyond the natural period of his time. But yet this question remaineth unsatisfied concerning the event of this prediction. God foretold to Hezekiah, that he should speedily die in this place, of this disease. Hezekiah now hath his life prolonged for fifteen years. How is God true then in the prediction? or how doth God alter his determinations? For the answering whereof: true it is which God himself doth say, I am God, and I am not changed, Malak. 3.6. For he is not as man that he should repent, 1. Sam. 15.29. But briefly to satisfy this perplexed question, Gregory the great, hath an excellent speech, Novit Deus mutare sententiam, sed nunquam novit mutare decretum, God knoweth how to change his sentence, but not his decree. The decree of God was that Hezekiah by praying should obtain the continuance of his life, for fifteen years. To make Hezekiah fall to his prayers, God sendeth the Prophet with this menacing message; yet as in all menaces of God, is there a secret exception: unless Hezekiah earnestly pray. So that there was an exception to be understood, although not expressed. Ye may see the dealing of God with King Abimelech: God threatened him because he had taken from Abraham his wife: Behold, thou art but dead, Gen. 20. Ye see the sentence in show is resolute: yet was there a secret condition to be understood, for you shall find it expressed in the seventh verse of the same chapter thus, If thou deliver her not again, thou shalt die the death. Thus must we understand the message sent to Niniveh, yet forty days, and Niniveh shall be destroyed, jona. 3. understand, sinful Niniveh shall be destroyed: Niniveh shallbe destroyed if it do not repent, but the sins of Niniveh, shall be forgiven if it do repent. So although God himself in thine own conscience tell thee, that for thy horrible sins, thou shalt be eternally tormented: yet if thou shalt seriously repent, God for Christ his sake will change his sentence, that so he may bring to pass his decree of saving thee. And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the first part of my text, I come now to the second, the exhortation. 2. Put thy house in order. Seeing God hath sent to Hezekiah the message of death, 1. There must be a preparation for death. he sendeth also unto him the advice to prepare himself for death. An admonition necessary for us all. Plerique inter mortis metum, & vitae tormenta miseri fluctuant; ut vivere nolint, & mori nesciunt, saith Seneca; Many miserable men waver between the sorrows of life, and the fear of death: to live they are unwilling, yet how to die they know not. We undertake no very long journey, without long preparation of things necessary: death is our longest journey, and in that voyage the soul will need much preparation a forehand. No great and dangerous war is undertaken without great and long preparation of arms and victuals. In death there is a sorer conflict. David lamenting Abner, said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? 2. Sam. 3.33. And many notable men die as fools, because they prepare not themselves for death. You may not come to receive Christ in the blessed Sacrament of the Lords supper, without good preparation: and can ye think that ye shall be admitted to the presence of the glory of jesus Christ, to the multitude of Angels, to the innumerable society of the blessed Saints, without due preparing of yourselves against the time of death, the time of your entrance? 2. There must be then a preparation against death: but how? surely, Order is the best preparation. In the general Chaos of all things, there was confusion: But to bring all things to perfection, God took order for Order, and of all things since, Ordinatione tua perseverant, They continue even to this day by thy ordinances, said David to God, Psalm. 119.91. The Church of God, is acies ordinata, as an army with banners, Cant. 6.9. In the Church of God, it is Saint Paul his rule, Let all things be done honestly, and in order, 1. Cor. 14.40. (which that it may be observed, he saith) other things will I set in order when I come, 1. Cor. 11.34. For, Order conserveth all things, confusion is but disorder. To prepare a man therefore against death, he must set all things in order: as jacob set all things carefully in order, when he was to meet his brother Esau, Gen. 32. And though job say, that in the shadow of death, is no order, job. 10.22. yet if before death, all things be set in order, all will be comfortable; therefore to prevent the miseries of death saith Esay, to Hezekiah, Put thy house in order. 3. Not a corner of thy field, or a part of thy house, but put thy house in order. I and my house will serve the Lord, said joshua, joshu 24.15. That thou mayst be in order, Put thy house in order. But what house? or how to be put in order? Men in their dwelling houses furnish some chief rooms, and the other rooms will need the less decking. There be three especial rooms in this house of man, which being put in order, the whole house of man's life will be the better ordered. 1. The clockhouse. 2. The storehouse. 3. The closset-house. First, the clockhouse, whereby the time of man is ordered: for if the time be not observed, but that the clock give an uncertain sound, how then shall business be disposed? this made the Psalmist thus to petition unto God, Teach us, O Lord, so to number our days, as that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, Psal. 90.12. This numbering of our days, is the well ordering of the clockhouse: and that they may be well numbered, we must take heed of multiplication, that we be not like unto that rich man, Luke. 12. who dreamt of many years, when he had not one night to live. We must rather number them by substraction first, and then by division. First, by substraction set down all the time ye have lived, suppose thou art forty or fifty years old, out of those years first substarct the time spent in sleeping, & out of forty years, ten will be the least that can be taken; Humanae vitae publicanus somnus, sleep taketh a large toll out of the life of man: then subtract the time spent in idleness, Magna pars vitae nobis perit dum nihil agimus, said Seneca, out of the other thirty years will be deducted a very great portion: thirdly, subtract the time spent in things unprofitable, which might as well have been left undone as done, and this alone will cut off the very greatest part of many men's lives: for multó maxima pars vitae dum inutilia agimus: far greatest part of life perisheth, while we do those things which are unprofitable. And last of all, deduct the time spent in sinful actions, remembering that The just man falleth senen times a day, Pro. 24.16. let all these be deducted, and then if ye will judge what remaineth of all the time of our life to prayer, and meditation, and other holy exercises, ye shall find a poor pittance in most of us. Then number we our days again by division, and that in such order, as Merchants divide their debts, some desperate, some doubtful, some few perhaps certain: your days are your debts, for which God will call you to account. The days past, not well spent, are desperate debts, the future days are altogether uncertain: and therefore the Psalmist maketh but a suppose of it, Snppose a man live fourscore years, etc. Psalm. 90. The present time is only certain, and to be relied upon. Maximum impedimentum boni est, quod dependit a crastino, the greatest impediment of being good, is the deferring of it until to morrow; the heathen man would have us think, every day to be our last day: the Scripture willeth us to pray but for panem quotidianum, our daily bread, and wisheth us, to day if we will hear his voice, Heb. 3.7. behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation. 2. Cor. 6.2. Many poor souls now lie in endless torments, which made not good use of the present time, but deferred their amendment for a time, of which they were disappointed by death. Thus then if we number our days first by substraction, secondly, by division: we put our clockhouse or the house of our time in order. The next house to be put in order, is the storehouse, or the house of our wealth and worldly estate: this no dying man carrieth with him out of this world. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither again, said job, in the second chapter of job. Peter took a fish in the Sea with money in the mouth of it: we come not out of our mother's womb with money in our mouths, neither do we carry our wealth with us. Wealth may accompany us to the grave, afterwards it serveth for no use to us: and therefore to prepare us for death, this our storehouse must be put in order; that from thence may arise no confusion when we leave it. Of dying Abraham it is said, Abraham gave all his goods to Isaac; And unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, Gen. 25.5.6. Thus dying jacob disposed of his blessings, Gen. 49. I know that Heliogabalus wished to be heir to himself, and to see the ending and dying of all things with his own person. And I make no question, but many a miserable earthworm grieveth infinitely to leave his wealth, and that he cannot still live always to be his own heir. But as travailers that walk a journey on foot, use their staves in their hands while they walk, but when they come home they set them behind the door, or in some corner: so is man to use the staff of bread, and of his wealth, during the time he walketh in this world, and when he is by death entering into his long home, he is to order it in such a convenient place, that it may stand fit for others, who shall need it. The storehouse then of our worldly estate must be put in order against death: For first, no man can always keep it: secondly, others shall need it: and thirdly, unless it be put in order, discord and confusion ensueth amongst the living. But now for the manner how this storehouse should be put in order: that he who maketh his will may observe the will of God, that so the testament of man may agree with the testament of God, these things following must be observed. First, that a man leave not the grievous curse of God upon his storehouse, and them to whom he shall leave it, let a man be sure, that if he have ill gotten goods, he restore them again to the owners, or their heirs, as Zacheus did, Luk. 18. If I have deceived any man by forged cavillation, I restore unto him four fold. This duty, as of all others it is most neglected, so is there none more necessary, unless a man carry with him an anathema from God out of this world, and leave to the rest of his goods rottenness and corruption. Consider why God threateneth the Israelites so sorely, The spoil of the poor is in your houses, Esay. 3.14 mark what the Prophet Habakkuk saith, The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it: Woe unto him that buildeth a town with blood, and erecteth a city with iniquity, Hab. 2.11.12. observe what Saint james saith, Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped your fields (which is of you kept back by fraud) crieth and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts, jam. 5.4. What a lamentable case is here to be observed; thou liest sick upon thy bed, every hour expecting to be carried unto the tribunal of God: thou through hope and fear criest unto God for mercy. In the mean time, in every corner of thy house, is one thing or other, yea perhaps thy very bed thou liest upon, gotten by unjustice and oppression, all crying unto God for vengeance against thee & thine heir: and that with a louder note, than thy sick heart or voice is able to reach unto. Oh remember Samuel, how he would clear himself with all care, Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? 1. Sam. 12, 13. remember what Abraham said to the King of Sodom, that he would not take of his so much as a shoe latchet, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich, Gen. 14.23. Secondly, to order this storehouse, whosoever will be helped by God in sickness, and in time of need, must be open handed to the poor: to such is God a help in sickness, mark the Psalmist, Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needr, Psalm. 41.1. How is he blessed? The Lord shall visit him when he lieth sick upon his bed, in the third verse of the same Psal. When one lieth sick upon his bed, it is a comfort to be visited by his friends: yet of some may it be said, as job said to his friends: Miserable comforters are ye, and Physicians of no value, job. 16.2. one cometh and talketh of your old mad pranks with a mad mind, another cometh, and he is full of contention with you; a third cometh, and he is all for the world with you; a fourth cometh, and he is all in the passion of those to whom Saint Paul saith, What do ye weeping and breaking my heart? Act. 21.13. all miserable comforters, but when God cometh to visit thee in thy sickness: Oh the grace and peace that he shall speak unto thy soul, never man spoke as he will speak. Put thy storehouse then in order, so as they that are in need, may by thee be remembered, and God will remember thee, and visit thee in time of need. The spaniel that cometh to some deep or large ditch or river, over which he cannot get unless he swim, will use the benefit of the water to swim over; but assoon as he hath passed to the dry shore, he will shake off the superfluous water, and so moisten the dry ground. You have a great Sea of this world to pass over, when you come from your mother's womb, ere you come to your grave: you use your wealth as the water, by help whereof you may swim over, when you are upon the shore, Oh shake off from your abundance that which may refresh the weary and needy soul: Make you friends with the riches of iniquity, that when ye shall want, they may receive you into everlasting habitations, Luk. 16.9. Thirdly, in disposing of the other part of the storehouse, to give all to strangers, and not to wife and children, or the nearest in blood of the same family, seemeth to be contrary to the law of nature, and the rule of Saint Paul, If there be any that provideth not for his own, and namely for them of his household, he denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidel, 1. Tim. 5.8. Abraham gave all his goods that he had to Isaac, to the sons of his concubines he gave gifts. Gen. 25.5.6. In the family, then there is respect to be had, who is to have more, who less. And by the speech of old jacob to his eldest son Reuben, it seemeth to be grounded upon the law of nature, that the eldest son should be most regarded: Reuben, mine eldest son, thou art my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of my dignity, and the excellency of my power, Gen. 49.3. although for some especial causes it hath otherways come to pass, as that Ephraim is preferred before Manasses, Gen. 48. and the elder shall serve the younger, Rom. 9 and as for that lex salica, whereby women are debarred from inheriting, it seemeth contrary to the course which God took for the daughters of Zelophehad, Num. 27.7. I will not say more but this, that it seemeth unreasonable to leave one amongst many children a coach to ride in, and the other scarcely a pair of shoes to walk with: one all, and the other none: and ungodly it is to leave all well without an earnest prayer of the blessing of God upon all. Thus must the storehouse be set in order. 3. And now I come to the closset-house, to show how that must be put in order: and by this closset-house, I mean the close house of a man's soul and conscience: close as yet from the world, but to God only open and to a man's self. And indeed although a man put all the rest in order, if he do not put this house in order; how much better is he then Achitophel? of whom the Scripture saith, that he put his household in order, and hanged himself, 2. Sam. 17.23. for such a man ordereth his wealth, and utterly overthroweth himself. How this more private closset-house must be set in order, if we well consider, we find that as the souls internal operations, are either in knowledge, or in the more particular working of the affections and of the will; so the means to put the house of the soul in order against death, are either in meditation, or in action. And first in meditation, there must be diverse things ordered: by keeping the soul in often meditating upon these three things; first, to meditate of death: secondly, of this life: and thirdly, of the great change which will happen to diverse men presently after death. First by meditation of death, and often thinking thereof before it cometh; I know that to many worldly-minded men, whiles they are in health and wealth, it is even as death but to think of death, Oh death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions, Ecclesiast. 41.1. better thoughts for him, he judgeth to be the remembrance of his neighbour's misery, his own worldly felicity, his full bags, his great storehouse of costly buildings: Is not this great Babel which I have built, Daniel. 4.27. and thus, they spend their days in wealth, and suddenly they go down to the grave, job. 21.13. I know that the Emperor Otho did judge it to be the part of a cowardly and weak mind, often to speak and think of death. But our blessed Saviour (who is far greater than the greatest of the sons of men) did very many times both think and speak of his death, to his disciples: to leave us an example, that whosoever will prepare himself for death, must think of it many times in his life. But what should a man think of death? That a man may well meditate of death, so as he may thereby put the house of his soul in order for death, there are three things to be meditated on. First, let a man remember what death is to all men by nature: and there he shall find that death never came into the world but by sin: By sin came death, 1. Cor. 15.21. The wages of sin is death, Rom. 6.23. and by that means entering with an enemy, itself also is an enemy to the nature of man: so is it called by the Apostle, The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death. 1. Cor. 15.26. Life of itself is a great blessing of God to every living thing: and no living creature, but will strive to preserve the life of itself, and to shun death: the poor worm, or bird, tam vivit vitâ quám Angelos, said Saint Austin, and is desirous to preserve its life, as the Angels would preserve theirs. And that they may do so, God hath given to every living creature some pleasure or lustre whiles they live; and ordered things so, that few or no living creatures die without pangs; yea even very herbs & trees when they die, lose their lustre and beauty, every living creature therefore, even from the highest Angel, to the meanest plant, either by reason, sense, or natural instinct, shuneth death as an enemy. Yet this enemy which when it cometh bringeth pangs, when it is come, spoileth the natural lustre in all things, must we meditate to yield ourselves, Put the house of thy soul in order, with this meditation. Secondly, meditate what death is to evil men; beasts die, and after the few pangs of death, they feel no more: a wicked man dieth, and when he is here dead, yet he is not all dead: but with an endless lingering death is always dying in endless torments, so that he cannot be altogether dead: the soul perisheth, Non it a, ut non sit, sed ut male sit: & essentialiter vivere, non amittit, sed beate vivere perdit, said Gregory, in the fourth of his morals; The soul perisheth not so that it dieth, but so that it liveth most miserably, if it felt no more after this death, there would be an end of pains: but after this bodily death, by reason of their pains, men shall seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them, Revel. 9.6. Here in some sore sickness, great losses, heavy crosses, men wish for death, what are all the troubles of this life, to those after bodily death? we may well here take up the words of the heathen man, who said that death was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all fearful things the most fearful. How may a guilty man who hath spent his days in jollity, at the hour of, his death cry to his trembling soul, as the Emperor Adrian did, Animula, vagula, blandula, Hospes comesque corporis, Quo nunc abibis in loco, Pallida, rigida, nudula, Nec ut soles, dabis iocos? Oh my wandering, flattering, little soul, the guest and companion of my body, into what places art thou now to go, pale, affrighted, naked, neither as thou wert wont shalt thou henceforth make me merry? By this meditation of death, Put thy house, thy closet-house in order, that thou mayest shun this evil in death. Thirdly, meditate what death is to good men. In the greatest pangs of death, they feel joy; after death they lose not their lustre, but get a far greater than ever they had: true it is, that even of the Saints Saint Paul saith, to them death is an enemy, 1. Cor. 15.26. But such a one, as being now conquered, serveth but for the glory of the conquerors: The natural man shuneth death, the sanctified man although he stay till death come, yet he desireth to be dissolved, Philip. 1.23. death is to me advantage, Phil. 1.21. Vsurparis ad laetitiam, matter maeroris, usurparis ad gloriam, gloriae inimica, usurparis ad introitum regni, porta inferni: Bern. in cant. ser. 26. Thou art now used to mirth, O mother of sorrows: thou serveth us to glory, O enemy of glory, thou helpest our passage to the kingdom, which wert the gate of hell: it bringeth us to the joyful presence of the Trinity, where all the Angels and blessed Saints, will joyfully embrace us, after all our labours ended. Oh let this meditation of this happy estate after death, serve for us to help to put thy house, thy closset-house in order. I will be, and have been very brief in these things; the time compelleth me. Secondly, let a man meditate what this life is: men are fond of it, That skin for skin, and all that ever a man hath, will he give for his life: job. 2.4. & therefore it should seem to be a most matchless thing. God forbidden that I should by words or thought debase so glorious a work of the living God, as life is. Yet what our life in sin hath made life to be, let me speak a little. First, when we consider some in their wealth, beauty, honour and strength, it appeareth I must needs say, a beautiful life: but yet even as it is then, it is but as that mare vitreum, the Sea of God's Glass, Revel. 4.6. a Sea full of surges, troubles, waves of discontent, and enmity; and beside, brittle as glass: whiles riches take them the wings of an Eagle, and speedily forsake their owners: so to honour, beauty, strength, the most glorious life therefore is but brittle, and troublesome. Secondly, consider a man plagued for his offences, with many crosses, not one amongst many, but taketh up the complaint of job, crying out, Wherefore is the light given to him that is in misery? and life unto them that have heavy hearts? which long for death, and if it come not, they would even search it more than treasure? job. 3.20.21. But thirdly, consider a good Christian, who in his estate outwardly is content & satisfied: he, no doubt, desireth earnestly to serve God sincerely, yet the best are diverse times overtaken by sin, that they sin, and then repent, and by and by sin again, and then repent again, & then sin again, and repent again: so that they are forced by sin creeping on so fast, to cry out, O miserable men that we are, who shall deliver us from the body of this death, Rom. 7.24. Oh how blessed a thing is it to live but such a life, in such a place, as not only all tears shall be wiped from our eyes, but all sin from our souls, where we shall be sure, we shall never sin more. In this life we cannot but sin. Thus meditating what this life is to all sorts, thou wile be helped to prepare thyself the more willingly to embrace death, and to put thy house, thy closet-house in order. Thirdly, that we may have our souls the better prepared for death, let us consider the great change which shall happen to divers men after death: many which have seemed happy in this life, in the next life shall be most miserable, many which in this life have seemed contemptible, in the next world should truly be most glorious: As appeareth by Lazarus, in this life most miserable, in the next life most happy: as the Rich man after his costly raiment and delicious fare in this life, beggeth miserably, and is denied utterly a cup of water to cool his tongue. joseph did place Manasseth to the right hand of jacob, and Ephraim to his left hand: but jacob blessed Ephraim with his right hand, and Manasseth with his left, Gen. 48. So many a one which in this life seemeth to be at the right hand of God, by his many external blessings, shall after death be turned to the left hand of the vengeance of God: and contrarily, many that seem now by their many calamities, to be at the left hand of the curse of God, shall there be brought unto the right hand of his unspeakable glory. There are the prisoners at rest, and hear not the voice of the oppressor, There are the small and the great, and the servant is free from his master, job. 3.18.19. Some few shall be so happy, as both here and there to be at the right hand of God. Think now what thou art, think what change will follow and let this meditation help thee, to prepare thyself for death, to put thy house, thy closet-house in order. And thus much for those things, which help forward the closset-house to be well ordered by meditation. Now to those things which help it forward, and consist in action. And those I will reduce to four heads, of which I will very briefly speak. The first is, that whosoever will have the house of his soul prepared against death, suffer in his soul no such traitors or weapons as may help death against him, those traitors, those weapons are our sins, The sting of death is sin, 1. Cor. 15.56. as it appeareth in many a dying man and woman, dying with great impatience, not so much because they must die, as that they are nettled with the remembrance of such and such horrible sins, for which as yet their peace is not made: then they curse the time, not that they die in, but wherein they ever knew such a man, or such a woman, that hereby it easily appeareth where the sting of death lieth: and is felt either before death, or after death: this maketh the devil so busy, now and then every day to crowd one sin or other into our souls & consciences, as if he were now setting in a staff, now a dagger, now a sword, now a gun, now one weapon, now another, which he might have ready in our own souls to wound ourselves withal. If therefore we will order ourselves aright, let us look into the house of our souls, and see what weapons stand which may help the devil and not us, as all unrepented sins do, and let us cast them out: take out blasphemy, cursing, oppression, impatience, hypocrisy, fling them from you, that so you may put your house, your closet house in order, and thrice miserable are they who give the devil leave every day, to crowd what weapons of sin he list into their souls. Secondly, in the house of the soul and conscience, there must be gotten a true and living faith, whereby not only the weapons of the devil must be cast out, but that Christ may enter, and dwell and keep possession in the soul, until it shall be brought to glory. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, Revel. 14.13. All these died in the faith, Heb. 11 13. Dying jacob out of faith could say, Lord I wait for thy salvation, Gen. 49. As he that was stung by the fiery serpents, was to look unto the brazen serpent, and so recover: so he that is stung by sin and death, must have a living faith to behold jesus Christ withal, and he shall be cured, john. 3. Miserable worldlings, when wealth and Physicians fail, their hope faileth: A Christian always getteth faith, that thereby Christ may dwell with him here; that by Christ his sins may be covered, that by the touch (not of the hem of Christ his garment) but of Christ himself, all the bloody issues of his sins may be dried up: that when the eyes of his body grow dim by approaching death, he may yet by the eyes of faith, see Christ jefus at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for him, labour therefore that thou mayest be faithful, that so by faith, thy house, thy closet-house may be put in order. Thirdly, the third action of the soul, to put it in order against death, is, that it be always willing to open the door to God, to yield itself into the hands of God when God calleth. I know there was a time when David prayed against death, saying, What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit, Psalm. 30.9. I know jonah prayed earnestly against it, Io. 3. and so did this good King Hezekiah, of whom we speak. There may be some secret cause, for the quieting of the conscience after some great sin, or recovering the glory of God, by the sin of his servant impeached, or some such like, Nollen me hae in vest, ut videat Thais, loath I am to die before my conscience be fully settled, or I have again satisfied the Church of God after such a sin: or at such a time as the Church hath most need of me, so as it cannot be well without me. Yet for all this, the Saints of God have always opened to God most willingly, when the time hath come that God would have them: so old Simeon, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, Luk. 2.29. On the contrary, a wicked man's soul must be fetched & twitched from him, This night shall they fetch away thy soul from thee, Lu. 12. Malus est miles qui imperatore gemens sequitur, He is a bad soldier who followeth his General with sighs & sobs. When one cometh & knocketh at your doors to speak with you, if you perceive him as he is coming, and know him to be a friend you must use, you open the doors before he can well knock; but if it be one you desire not to speak with, then though you are within, yet will you answer not, & beside, your doors shall be fast barred or locked. So when God cometh to some man and knocketh at his door by sickness, & calleth, Thou soul of man come forth, and I must talk with you: away skuds the soul, bars the door with violent desires to prolong life, with impatience at God his knocking, & by no means will open, till God breaketh in upon it: but when he cometh to another man full of grace, and knocketh at his body by sickness, calling, such a soul come forth, the Lord will speak with thee: presently answer is cheerfully made, Lord jesus receive my spirit, Act. 7.59. Hilarion (that holy Saint, as Saint Jerome writeth) when he was about to die, and felt in his soul an unwillingness to die, he thus spoke to his soul: Egredere anima, quid times? nonaginta tribus annis seruivisti Christo, & mori times? Go forth my soul, why fearest thou ●ninty & three years hast thou served Christ, and art thou afraid to die? Thus must the soul be prepared willingly to die, that so the closset-house may be put i● order against death. Fourthly, as the bird flieth to heavenward, not without wings, and the mariner passeth not the Sea without sails: so that the house of our souls may be put in order against death, must we always pray, that (if it may be, when God shall close our mouths, he may close them, not cursing, or altogether busied about the world, but even praying and calling upon the name of the Lord. Thus the good converted these dieth praying, Lord remember me, when thou camest into thy kingdom, Luke. 23.42. Thus out blessed Saviour, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit, Luk. 23.46. Thus they stoned Steven, who called upon God, and said, Lord jesus receive my spirit, Act. 7.59. Thus as Eliah was taken into heaven with a fiery chariot: so much we, so must our souls ascend in the midst of denout prayers; Thus most thou order thy closset-house. Conclusion. Thus then have we seen the sentence of death to have been irrevocable against us all, and that we ought therefore to put our house in order, and how: now in a word to conclude. When any of us was in our mother's womb, that she began to look big with her burden, there was made preparation for v● before we were borne, there were cloves provided, a midwife and other wives bespoken, & other things prepared against our birth into this world. The day of our death in this world, is but the day of our birth into another world. We come out of the narrow compass of our mother's womb, into this more spacious room, fuller of brightness: we go into another, which yieldeth us as many more pleasing objects than the womb of this world yieldeth, as this world's womb yieldeth more than our mother's womb. In the mother's womb we somewhat (although but a little God wots) help ourselves by drawing nourishment to ourselves with our vegetative faculty, before we come into this world, to the midwife and other wives. Behold, the spirit of God will be as the midwife, the blessed Angels will be as the helping wives, the bundle of life eternal is instead of other clouts provided to wrap up our souls in, in, in the time of our coming unto the other world: only now whiles we are in the womb of the world, or rather of the Church of God, let us by faith and charity, our believing and charitable powers, suck such moisture of grace, as that afterwards we may joyfully be received, as a child borne into heaven, when we shall have put our houses in order, for we shall die, one not live. Laus Deo. FINIS.