A PAIR OF SERMONS SUCCESSIVELY PREACHED to a pair of Peerless and succeeding PRINCES.  
THE FORMER AS AN ANTEFUNERALL TO THE LATE PRINCE HENRY, Anno Dom. 1612. October 25. The first day of his last and fatal sickness.  
THE LATTER PREACHED THIS present year 1614 januar. 16. To the now living Prince CHARLES, as a preserver of his life, and life to his Soul.  DEVT. 30.15. Behold I have set before you life and death. 
AT LONDON Imprinted by FELIX KYNGSTON, for William Aspley. 1614   

TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES, the happy reviving of our former hopes.  
TO you (Most excellent) and to no other so properly belongeth the patronage of this fatal pair, whereof the latter was directly for you, former before you, yea they were both preached in your hearing, both fitted for your meditation, and now both published at your appointment.  
I confess myself for late favours exceedingly bound unto your Highness; whereupon bethinking by what means I might best either express or deserve thanks, me thought a tender of these Sermons published might serve to do it, but when I remembered that saying, Doth he thank that servant, because he did what was commanded him, etc. I found that I had lost my thanks, because your Highness had so commanded it; yea and I find this beside, that as he who coming to discharge his debt, and finding the gold in his purse to be copper, doth not only not pay it, but is less able to make payment then before, so find I it with myself, that either I must say with the poor debtor in the Gospel, Have patience with me: or with the woman in the law, not able to bring a Lamb, I must offer a pair of Turtles: And though a pair of Turtles be not a Lamb, nor any action of necessary duty may go for testimony of thanks, yet I am sure it may be so, if your Highness shall so esteem it, for God hath made you a Prince, and Princes are Gods, and it is a part of God's good nature, To call things which are not, as if they were.  
Concerning the funeral part of this pair, I have been questioned with by others, and have a little studied in myself, why in such variety as the Scripture yieldeth, I made such a choice, as to speak of a Text before a living, yea a flourishing Prince, which the Minister by order readeth before a dead corpse: but I have been better able to make use of it since, then to give a reason of it before; for now I find, that even those actions of ours, wherein we least deliberate, yet are directed by God to a special purpose: and I find that God had in this an use of me, which I knew not, as the colt carried Christ, and yet knew not whether: Indeed I might well be questioned with, for bringing Death into the Court, which is welcome no where; but least of all there; where though every day bring forth a new fashion, yet the Mourning garment is so out of fashion, as Mordecai for his garment sake, might not come within the King's gate; but yet Solomon the most magnifical of the Kings, and the flower of all Courtiers said, It is better to go into the house of mourning, etc. Into that house doth the former of these meditations lead you, there to see and consider, how not only inferior persons, but also Kings and Emperors have lain down in the dust, and they which have taxed the whole world have at last paid tribute themselves, and done their due to nature: Every man tells you, that what soever was your Brothers, is now by devolution yours: give me leave also to tell you, that as his fortunes, so his fate also shall one day be yours; and that you are not so sure to succeed your Fathers in their Thrones, as in their Sepulchres: If this pill be too bitter, the latter part will make amends: for it is A preservative to your life, a receipt against death, and Physic to your soul, which if your Highness shall receive, and digest with that mind wherewith it was administered, it shall make you as sound and immortal, as be the Angels and Saints in heaven: And if from my store there hath come any dram or scruple to further that, Oh how happy shall I be! yea how happy shall I be, to add but the least drop of lifeblood to him, for whose life, length of days, and eternal happiness, so many souls and assemblies of men, yea so many kingdoms make daily suit upon their knees: Then shall I style myself a new, like Saint Luke, an Evangelist and a Physician, and shall write, not only, His Majesties ever devoted, and now of late more devinct and obliged Chaplain, but also  
One of your highness Soule-Physicians. Robert Wilkinson.   

A MEDITATION OF MORTALITY PREACHED TO THE LATE PRINCE HENRY, some few days before his death.  JOB. 14.1. Man that is borne of a Woman, Short in continuance, And full of trouble. 
THese words of the Text, though few in number, yet comprehend in a manner half the body of Divinity, for the whole consisting upon the knowledge of God and man, here is in three words so much delivered concerning man, as threescore and ten years, the age of man can express, Man borne of a Woman, Man short in continuance, and Man full of trouble. So Man 〈◊〉 Totum in toto, the life of the text, the general subject of the whole text, and diffused into every part of it: and indeed what should Man study so much to know as man? He which found fault with Man's creation, for that God had made him two eyes looking outward, but had not made him one eye to look into himself, he did lay an unjust blame on God, but did justly tax the curiosity of man: Saint Austin saith, it is a fault in men, Eunt homines mirari alt a montium, etc. Men run out a gadding, or (as we call it) a traveling, to behold the height and vastness of the hills, the immeasurable bounds and limits of the Seas, the customs and strange fashions of all people and Countries, and yet no man truly looks into himself, like Solomon which wrote of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, yea of trees and plants, from the Cedar to the Hyssop, and yet in the mean time foully forgot himself: It is strange to see, what man by his wit hath devised for the world, and yet witless to discern what he is himself; in the first beginning when the world as yet was naked of invention, Jabal found out a way to herd and bring up cattle; but no man's policy yet hath found how to govern and order man: and Jabal devised by art the musical consent of haps and organs, and to produce true unity from variety; but no man knows or cares how to accord the jars and discords of reason and affection in himself: The Artificer by true art hath invented all things, both for necessity and for convenience, which to find, he hath not left so much as the bowels of the earth, or the bottoms of the sea unsearched; but no man yet hath searched or seethe sufficiently into himself; yea look into the schools, where men should be wiseft. The Logician rifleth into matter, form, efficient, all the causes, yet lacks true Logic to define himself: the Orator like Orpheus makes stocks and stones to move, but no man is eloquent enough to persuade himself to the true obedience and fear of God: The Astronomer by art hath gone about, yea and above the Sun, and the Moon; his speculations are transcendent to the first and highest movable, that if ye will believe him, there is scarce a paper wall betwixt him and the Angels, he knoweth each star in his bigness, influence, motion and eclipses, yet senseless to understand the the eclipses of his own understanding, the out-running & extravagancies of his unruly affections, the short and flying periods of this fugitive and transitory life. Nay look into the schools of the Divines, and as S. Paul saith, 
1. Co. ●.  we have all knowledge; One prieth into, & describeth (as he thinks) the unsearchable mystery of the Trinity, and that with as good warranr, as the men of Bethshemesh, when they looked into the Ark: another as if he had peeped in at heaven doors, takes upon him to set down the Hierarchy of heaven, with all the several orders & offices of the Angels, which he telleth as distinctly & soberly, as if he knew what he said: another is much troubled about hell fire, as whether it be a material torment, or a spiritual torment, in which doing (as the devils said to Christ) they torment themselves before the time; and thus we know what God is, and what the Angels are, and we know all things from heaven to hell, and yet we know not ourselves, that we had need of S. Paul still to ring in our ears, Let a man examine himself, or the text to be written in great letters before us, Man that is borne of a woman, etc.  
In which text it is generally first to be considered, that Job speaks not of man, as he was in Paradise, the bright image of God, the commander of sea and land, the wonder of the world: Not as he was when God first made him, the creatures in their kind obeyed him, yea when sorrow, death and sickness were afraid to touch him; but Job speaks here of man as lapped up in figtree leaves, hidden among the bushes, thrown out of Paradise, made a slave to misery and mortality, a scandal to the Angels, and a pray to the devil: Thus in this place doth job speak of man.  
Again, it is spoken generally, by man understanding all mankind, even so many as were begot and borne of Adam and Eve; It mattereth not for your life, how good or evil you be; it mattereth not for your condition, how high or low you be, nor yet for your estate how rich or poor you be; here is nothing respected in man, but only that he be man; and then let him be what he will, even from the King to the beggar, from the Prince to the prisoner, from him that sits upon a throne, to him that hangs upon a tree, yea from the first man Adam, to the babe last borne, all is true of him which here is said, Man borne of a woman, etc. Therefore is any man yet proud of himself? that is, doth any man yet not know himself? then let him come hither, and here he shall learn. And here he shall learn three points of true humiliation, the first his lamentable, entrance or coming into the world, Borne of a woman; the next his swift and speedy passage out of the world, short in continuance: the last his woeful pilgrimage and miserable endurance in the world, full of trouble.  
For the first; it may be said to mankind, as the King said to his evil guest, Quomodo huc intrasti? How came you in hither, By what means or passage got you into the world? you will answer out of the text, Natus de muliere, I was borne of a woman: Well, be it so, yet have you therein confessed two things against yourself; first that you were borne, and then that you were borne of a woman: Were you borne? Exore tuo convincam: You have told a tale against yourself; for whatsoever was borne, had once a beginning, and whatsoever had beginning, there was once a time wherein it had no being in the world; and what were you, or where were you, when you had as yet no being in the world? Here is much ado amongst us about eldership and antiquity, for every man will be like God: 
Dan. 7. Esa 19 Mat. 3.  Antiquus dierum: The ancient of days; and Pharaoh was the son of ancient Kings: and the jews had Abraham to their father, and he is no man now that is not a kin to so many Kings, & came not in before the Conquest; and he is much better borne than he; and she is of an elder house than she; O vanity of vanities; is not this a mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a field pitched of frogs and mice, when vanity hath such place in haroldrie, and we which were borne but yesterday, yet go to law for eldership? The jews had Abraham, to their father: Abraham was but late and low, they might have gone far higher, they might have fetched themselves from Adam, if they would; but yet still remembering, that the beasts of the field, even horse and hogs were made before their father Adam. And if it should now be asked of one of us, as sometimes it was of Job, 
job 38.  Where wast thou when God laid the foundations of the earth? He would think himself mocked, because he was not borne as yet: Or if he should be asked yet lower; Where waste mould thou when Noah and his company were floating in the Ark? Or if yet lower, where wast thou when God gave the Law to Moses on the Mount? he would answer strait, Nondum natus, he was not yet borne: yea examine him yet lower; Where wast thou, when Christ and his twelve Apostles walked upon the earth? yea ask him but of four score years ago, or but of threescore and ten, and he (alas) was not yet borne; now sure this is late and young indeed.  
Well, yet at last this Mirror of antiquity is borne; but what hath he to boast of by his birth? You will say, you were borne; I could answer again, Poteras & non nasci: you might have died unborn, you might have died in the birth, or you might have died so soon as you were borne: for so saith Job in the pangs of his impatience, 
job 3.  Why hast thou brought me out of the womb, or wherefore died I not in the birth? Many are the perils which yet unborn, and in our birth we pass, in which notwithstanding we are not only helpless, but also senseless of the per ill; this is all we can do; as he that hath passed over a dangerous bridge, turns back and quakes to look upon the danger; so we when we look back to our birth, and think on the dangers in it, only we can say with David, Thou O God (and not ourselves) thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb. 
Psal. 22.  When we are borne, what then? we fall, (if not hand hold us) to the feet of her that bore us, that is, we fall from the womb to the ground, from one earth to another; So naturally at the first, do we find the way to o r last home, even as God said to Adam at the first, Out of earth wast thou taken, and to earth thou shalt return. 
Gen. 3.  And oh that we might see, or could we but remember with what pomp and glory we are borne into the world, Naked as worms, crawling like snakes, that there is not amongst the creatures so weak and helpless a creature as man: the mother (a misery to think) the mother that hath newly borne us, lieth by us indeed, but half slain by our birth, and least able to help us; so we are borne like Benjamin, with hazard of her life that gave us life, and we seem half murderers so soon as we are borne; when we are taken up, what then? we fall a crying, as either repenting of our change, or wishing ourselves unborn again; or as if we did foresee the sequel of the text, the troubles which ensue. In the midst of this our moaning, we are, as Ezechiel speaks, chap. 16. of his prophecy, we are washed, and bathed, and swaddled in clouts; No doubt goodly gallants, and great cause to be proud, if we thought of ourselves in our first pollution; when we are thus swadle and pranked up like puppets, a dainty lump of living earth: What pleasure feel we? nay what feel we? what sense or feeling have we, save now and then of weakness and sickness, the pangs and smart of the parents sin: We are then brought to the mother, to look upon, and she, as a thief when he is pardoned looks back to the gallows, or to the halter that had like to hanged him, so looks she on her son; on her son, as on her death, if God in great mercy had not prevented it: when the mother hath looked and kissed, we are brought to the father too, and to look upon too; and while the father looks, every one cries out, Behold the father, look upon the child, see see, and behold, how like they look, while indeed they look more like than they should, and it were well for the child, if it were not so fatherlike, or mother-like as it is: and what get both father and mother by looking, but to look; as Solomon saith of the rich man and his money, 
Eccles. 5.  What good comes to the owners thereof, but the beholding of it with their eyes? So look the careful parents on a woeful child, sometime laughing with hope of that it may be, sometime distressed with fear of that it may be, watching in the day, waking in the night, sometime merry, sometime sorry, sometime angry, that it were not possible for them to pass through so much patience, if God had not infused animpregnable affection of love to overcome it; thus are we borne in tears and sorrow to ourselves, in peril and sorrow to her that bears us, in nakedness and shame to all that look upon us: here is nothing yet to boast on.  
But is our case amended, or is our birth magnified by her that bore us? Man that is borne, of what? of a woman, as much as to say, like nest, like bird; like mother, like child; but why not as well, Man begot of a man, as Man borne of a woman? perhaps, because the woman is the weaker vessel, and the meaning chief was, to abase man in his own might; or perhaps because sin was first invested in the woman, and since we stand so much upon our antiquity, we are only sinners by antiquity, rebels by prescription, and rebellion rooted in our first blood; sinners by the father, but first by the mother, as by the surer side; or perhaps it is because sin hath more universally prevailed over women, 
Eccles. 7.  for Solomon counting a thousand women one by one, by that account to find one good one, found one good man indeed, but that man was Christ, but not one good woman among them all. And whether by the woman we understand the first woman, the mother of mankind, or else the mother of every several man, it comes all to one end, 
job 25.  for how can he be clean (saith Bildad) which is borne of a woman? If we look to Eve, our great grandmother, what have we to plead for her? Adam was called Pater viventium, the father of all men living, and Abraham was called Pater credentium, the father of the faithful, or of all the believing, but Eve might as well be called Mater peccantium, the mother of all sinners, and what receive we by right of such a mother, but blushing at her pride, and fear of her confusion? If we look back to her that last bore us, the rock whereout we are hewn, oh how little are we amended by her? for In iniquity was I borne (saith David) and in sin hath my mother conceived me. 
Psal. 51.  Sin came from Eve, A long, the date is so old, as we have forgot how we came by it; but the mother that last bore us, she hath stamped it anew with her own hands, she hath powered it out into us more naturally than milk out of her paps, yea even as a poison new tapped and fresh out of the vessel; so by our grandmother we have sin translated, and given as at the second hand, but by our mother we have sin revived and newly incarnate in us; and have we not great cause then to be proud of her that bore us: every man thinks deeply what good he hath received by his parents, what inheritance, what countenance, what blood he hath by them, yea the very name of our ancestors seemeth precious to us, but yet no man considereth that all this is poisoned with sin, and that the whole sum of the good doth not countervail the least part of the evil which cometh by them. You will say, you were borne of a woman, but what had you by her? you received life by her; true, a temporal life, but you received withal the reward of sin, eternal death; and it were better never to be borne, then to be borne to such a death; you sucked and received your food from her, so did you your poison too: you received your wrapping, your clothes, and raiment by her; so did you your nakedness, your shame, and sin too: sum up your get with your loss, and see upon the account what clearly you have gained: therefore vainly said the jews, we have Abraham to our father: and idly say you, you have a princess, a Countess, or a Lady to your mother: Sons of men in Scripture are never spoken of but with reproach, The sons of men are vanity, the chief of men are liars, Psal. 62. and the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil, Eccles. 8. Thus we glory in our shame; yea if we consider well, what sinners our parents were, we shall be as much ashamed of them, as Adam and Eve were a shamed of themselves: we have nothing to boast of, but the grace of God, By the grace of God (saith Saint Paul) I am that I am, 1. Cor. 15. though otherwise of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, etc. Though he had fought with beasts at Ephesus, and was rapt up into the third heavens, yet he was nothing of himself, but all by the grace of God: yea as he that finds a young Serpent, kills it for his very kind, though it have done yet no harm, so may we fear damnation even by our parents, though we had done yet no actual sin of our own, even as the sons of the wicked Saul were hanged for the cruelty of their father upon the Gibeonites, 
2. Sam. 21.  albeit they were not guilty of it,  
Well, here is our sickness, that we are borne of a woman: what is the remedy? that we be borne anew by Christ; for as the woman with the bloody issue, being ill handled by her Physicians, came unto Christ to be physiqued anew, so we who be ill borne, and base borne at the first, must come unto Christ to be borne anew. Naturally saith Saint John, we are borne of blood, supernaturally therefore we must be borne of water; ordinarily we are borne of flesh, extraordinarily therefore we must be borne of the spirit; 
john 3.  for except a man be borne of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Where by new birth, we must not grossly fancy a retiring into our mother's womb again, as Nicodemus did: our mother's womb gave the matter of our first impurity, but we must become new men, Ephes. 4. that is, we must have new affections, another spirit, a better will, a loathing of the world, and a love to God; but this we have only by the work of God, and nothing at all from our mother's womb.  
After our lamentable entrance & coming into the world, the next thing noted, is our speedy passage and going out, Short in continuance, or as it is originally, Short in days: In which three words four things are to be considered; first that the days of our life are short: secondly how they come to be so short: thirdly, how being short, yet they seem by error to be so long; and four what use is to be made of the shortness of our days. The life of man is short, whether by the life of man we mean he life of nature, the age of every particular man, or whether we mean the life of fame, that life whereby we live, even when we are dead; or whether else we mean the life of all mankind, which is the age of the world: If we speak of the life of nature, it is not here measured out unto us by years, nor by months, nor yet by weeks or Sabbaths, but only by days, Short in days: lest with the rich man Luk. 12. we take our measure too long, and make account to live out many years, when the reckoning is, Hac nocte, no longer to live, but to make an end at night. Every man can tell, how many months go to a year, how many weeks to a month, and how many days to a week, but no man knoweth justly, how few or how many be the dates of his life; My days are but a span (saith David) yea my days are nothing in respect of thee: 
Psal. 39  yet let us go to it by years, and imagine from God a lease of the longest date, and see how we are deceived in that; 
Psal. 90.  The time of our life is threescore years and ten (saith Moses) or set it upon the tenters, and rack it to fourscore, though not one in every fourscore arrive to that account, yet can we not be said to live so long: for take out first ten years for infancy & childhood, which Solomon calls the time of wantonness and vanity, Eccles. 11. wherein we scarce remember what we did, or whether we lived or no, and how short is it then? Take out of the remainder a third part for sleep, short in days, saith Job, he speaks not of the night, the time of sleep, wherein not like beasts, but like blocks, we lie senseless, if not lifeless, and how short is it then? Take out yet besides the time of our carking and worldly care, wherein we seem both dead and buried in the affairs of the world, and how short is it then? And take out yet beside, which must not have the least allowance, our times of wilful sinning and rebellion, for while we sin, we live not, but we are dead in sin, 
Ephes. 2.  and what remaineth of that? yea how short is it then? so short is that life which nature allows, and yet we sleep away part, and play away part, and the cares of the world have a great part, and sin the greatest part, that the true spiritual, and Christian life hath a thing of nothing in the end.  
If we speak of the life of fame, the Memorial life, whereby even dead men are said to live, fame hath her wings, not only to fly about the world, but suddenly to vanish and fly clean away: for how many have there been of wonderful note in their times, yet now not remembered so much as by name? that no man now can say, here was their trace, here have they trod, or set a foot. Where are they now that led the world in a string, they at whose beck both men and beasts, both sea & land did bow? they that subdued kingdom after kingdom, and set one crown upon another: they that pitched up their Pyramyds and Images of fame upon the earth, and set up for perpetual memory their brazen pillars in the sea: they who while they lived were adored as God, and thought when they were dead, to be Calendred among the Gods, yet time and envy hath eaten out their very names, and where are they now? This is it we call eternal, and everliving honour, yet how soon doth it die, and we are gone: nay let worldly fame go, and let us be sought but in the mouths and thoughts of our best, and dearest seeming friends, and (good God) how soon are we forgotten, when we are once gone, that even they who seemed while we lived to love and honour us, yet now have buried their love with our bodies: while you live, oh how wise, how worthy, how wonderful are you! yea it is your matchless wisdom, your incomparable valour, your equity, piety, and Princely Majesty, your excellence and immortal honour; but when the Lion once is dead, than every Hare dare dance upon his carcase, and dogs dare bark, and Poets than dare rail and rhyme with pen and tongue, and then this immortal honour dies, and is as mortal as yourselves.  
But come we to the life of mankind, the age of the world: Indeed of all the rest, that may seem the longest; but as to the longest day at last comes night, so is the world bounded within the terms of Creation and dissolution; it had a beginning, though we began not with it, and it shall have an end, though we live not to see it; and all time is short, when it cometh to his end. We are borne into the world, as some come to a play, yea rather as many come to a Sermon, which came not to the beginning, and happily stayed not the end, yet had it both beginning and end, and so hath the world to us: yea the world itself is but A sea of glass: 
Revel. 4.  and glass is no metal of long endurance; but a time shall come, when the Almighty shall but blow upon it, and it shall break in pieces and as Saint Peter saith, itself and all therein shall be consumed with fire 2. Pet.  
Now if any man ask the causes of this short life, sure it is that life and death are in the hands of God, and have their date and destiny set by him, yet instrumentally this vanity and shortness of our days proceedeth from ourselves, our life being not only short in nature, but also shortened by ourselves. Indeed we are not made of the lasting metals, there is found in our mixture no ingredience of iron, brass, or steel, but we are made of flesh, which is as grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of grass; so soon it fades, and we are gone: but as if nature of itself were not frail enough, we post on to death by disorder of our life; for sometime wrath and envy fret & gnaws us, that while we seek to kill other men, we kill ourselves: sometime drunkenness and gluttony consume and devour us body and goods, yea our very meats eat up our strength, as we ourselves eat up our meats; and sometime incontinence and fleshly lusts do waste and rot the bodies of men, that as Martha said of Lazarus, Lord he stinks, 
joh. 1 ●.  for he hath been four days dead: so it may be said of some, that they stink and putrefy half their days, & yet they live not half their days: And thus as Babylon made herself a lease of eternity, A Lady sure for ever, Esa. 47.7. and did eat and drink in the cups of the Temple, and with her concubines, even to the night of their destruction, Dan. 5. ●. 30. So do we glory in vanity, and triumph in intemperance, and do not only suffer mortality, but also hasten it upon us by our sin.  
Now, for the causes of this error: How comes it to pass, that our days being so short and so few, yet they seem to us to be so many? much like to him who standing in his gallery, takes a perspective glass, and looketh down into his garden, & there sees alleys and walks, which seem so many miles in length, as they are scarce discerned at their length, and yet when he comes down to walk, those many seeming miles make but short turns, and are measured by a few paces. Sure the causes of this error in the computation of our life are chief two: first for that we never think how the time goes, till we see it be gone; but as the Sun, though it move most swiftly, yet because we see not how it moves, it seemeth to stand still; so our days though they pass away speedily, yet because we mark them not in the passage, they seem to continue still: therefore happy is that man which every night can say to himself, A day is gone, a part is cut off, so much less have I left of a short and miserable life; we are in the world as Merchants in a ship, who whether they stand, or sit, or lie, or sleep, yet are carried on by the motion of the ship; so we, whether we eat or drink, or wake or sleep, yet grow on in age and wax old before we be aware, and when our time is once gone, than every man can say to himself, oh how short is this life, how soon is it gone? and than it is all one to him who hath lived out his full fourscore, as to him who hath lived but fourteen; only this is the odds, as Saint Hierome saith, Quod senior peccatis onustior decedat, That the elder man, and the longer liver hath still more sins to answer to God. The other cause of this error is, for that men consider the time only in itself, and not compared with eternity, which the devil himself is not so foolish to do, for the devil knoweth saith Saint John, that he hath but a short time, Revel. 12.12. A strange point of wisdom in the devil, and of folly in us: sixteen hundred years ago, the devil thought that he had but a short time, and we think a lease of three lives to be a matter of eternity. Now what is the reason of this? because we think of no other life, then that which is present, whereas the devil hath an eye to the world to come, the life that shall be, in respect whereof a thousand years is as nothing, yea what is ten thousand to eternity? The world passeth away saith Saint John, and the lusts thereof, 1. john 2.17. The world itself passeth, the very frame of heaven and earth shall turn to vanity, and therefore the lust of it, that is, whatsoever is desired, admired, or loved in it, shall pass away with it, and happy is he that hath not perished in these vain desires.  
Now as the perfection of wisdom is to draw good out of evil, so shall we come at last to be immortal, if we can make true use of our mortality. We see here a short time limited, and yet we have a long way to go, even as far as it is from earth to heaven, and had we not then need to pray, to have our life in some measure prolonged? It is an old and a true saying, Vita brevis, ars longa: we have a short time to live, and a long Art to learn, even the Art of repentance, and a few days wherein to learn it. The basest Art hath full seven years, the tithe or tenth part of our life allowed to learn it, wherein the Master takes great pains to teach, the Apprentice takes great pains to learn, and yet happily after much instructing, often beating, early rising, and late down lying, he proves a Non proficient too; and are not we ashamed to think that where seven years are devoted to a mechanical craft or trade, we of all our life time put together, can scarce account of so many days to learn Repentance, which is of such necessity, of so much difficulty and so much better? or do we think repentance to be but the work of an hour, faith but a fancy, and all religion to be of no art or labour? even Paul himself who so many years had laboured himself to God, yet complains and cries out, as if he had done nothing, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? 
Rom. 7.  and yet we who have done nothing, make ourselves secure against sin and Satan, as if one hour were enough to conquer all: unto this had the righteous respect, when they complained of the shortness of their lives, and prayed to have their days prolonged, not for that they feared to die, or loved this frail life for itself, wherein they saw nothing but misery and vanity, but because they feared lest death should prevent them before they were prepared, as thinking all their days too few, to learn repentance in perfection. Unto this had S. Paul respect, when he exhorted the Corinthians not to drown themselves too deep in the affairs of this life; this I say, because the time is short 
1. Cor. 7.  that they which have wives be as if they had none, and they which buy as if they possessed not, and they which use the world, as if they used it not, and all this he exhorted, because the time is short. It is a wonder to see, how men plant and build, and buy and sell, as if there were no other life but here. It is fearful to consider how prodigal men are of the time, and lose these golden days, which they ought to redeem, while in the mean time heaven flies away, and hell hastens on them. Sed sicut capillus de capite, sic nec momentum peribit de tempore, saith Bernard, God is so merciful to us, as to keep us to a hair of our heads, he shall also be so just with us, as to press our account to a moment of time, misemployed by us.  
The last point general of the text is our miserable pilgrimage and endurance in the world, we come in poorly, we go out quickly, and while we continue, we continue carefully: it is not short and sweet, neither only short and swift, but it is short and sharp: Full of trouble. Some translate and carry it thus, Satur ira, Man short in days, full of wrath or anger, which may be meant either passively, by reason of the wrath of God upon us for our sins: for as it is Psal. 90. We are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath we are troubled: and what are all the plagues of this life, but the execution of God's wrath upon us for our sins? or or else it may be understood more actively by reason of the troubles which man himself, being a turbulent creature, moveth in the world, for we rage at God himself, when he doth but a little punish us, we are still at wars and at law one with another, and as Balaams' Ass could tell, the very beasts are not free from our madness and cruelty; and therefore Tremellius translateth it, Satur commotione, Man borne of a woman, short in days, and full of commotion, as if all mankind were in a tumult and up in arms: and so we are indeed, at wars with God, 
Esa. 9  and at wars with one another, Ephraim against Manasses, and Manasses against Ephraim, and both against Judah. We are not quiet in the womb, but as Jacob and Esau, we spurn and kick at one another: we are not borne into the world, but with a cry and exclamation, and when we come into it, we stamp and stare like Furies on the stage, and with the King of Babylon, we make the earth to tremble, Esa. 14.16. and if there were no outward thing to trouble us, yet we have a pitched field in ourselves, still vexed and pained with our own unruly passions.  
Look into the several sexes of men and women, and see if either of them be free from trouble. In sorrow shalt thou bring firth, in subjection shalt thou live, and thy husband shall rude over thee, saith God to the woman; and then he turneth to the man, Because thou hast eaten where I forbade thee, In sorrow shalt thoa eat thy bread, the earth is accursed, thorns and thistles are multiplied, etc. He must labour in weariness, both he and she must die at last, and have their fill of sorrows in the mean time; she to sorrow at home, and in the house, he to sorrow abroad, and in the furrows of the field; she to sorrow in bringing forth of children, he to sorrow in bringing up of children; she to sorrow in her subjection to him, and he to sorrow, yea a great deal of sorrow, in passing his time with her, that lest they should lack trouble, they should be a cause of mutual trouble to themselves, and sorrow in their very comforts, as Lot was plagued in Sodom, which he chose out for his pleasure.  
Again, is there any time or age free from trouble? surely none, for in sorrow shalt thou eat thy bread (saith God) All the dates of thy life, Gen. 3.17. Begin with childhood, and can any misery or trouble be there? yes sure, the things which are most necessary, are miserable to a child; the mastering and breaking of his will seems oppression to him, but the shaking of the rod is flat persecution: light sorrows (you will say) in respect of the greater troubles which ensue: It is true, they are so; yet a little trouble is great, where there is neither reason to conceive the necessity, nor patience at all to bear it. But than comes on youth, heady, adventurous, voluptuous, passionate, and prodigal youth, wherein all our actions and courses, whether good or evil, yet minister matter of vexation to us; For, labour we? indeed our youth is the time of our labour; yet our very labours spend up our strength, that had we not a seventh day to rest from the sorrows of the sixth, we should faint and die. Again, study we? an easy trade, an idle kind of life: The world saith to us, 
Exod. 5.  as Pharaoh to the Jsraelites, Ye are too much idle; yet Solomon said, that Much reading was a weariness to the flesh, Eccles. 12. Again, resist we (as young men ought to do) our evil lusts and desires? 1. joh. 2.14. Oh how sweet are the lusts of youth? how strong are the temptations, and what a pain it is to resist the things which are pleasing to us? But play we, or follow we our pleasures? indeed that is the natural trade of youth, as Eccles. 11.9. Rejoice O young man in thy youth, etc. yet are we no way more vexed and plagued then by our pleasures: for as a thief robs in fear, and an adulterer (though the doors be fast locked) yet is afraid still; so is there a check of conscience which bites the most riotous in the midst of their riot. Again, if our pleasure be in prodigality, our end must be beggary, that sin being peculiarly a scourge to itself; and many times before the Prodigal can spend up all, the prison, the press, or the halter do spend up him, & miserable is the end of a voluptuous life at last; which made Solomon to say, I have said of laughter, thou art mad, and of joy, that is, of wanton joy, Oh what is it that thou dost, Eccles. 2.  
But live we to be aged? then live we to be diseased, them live we to be despised, them live we to blindness, lameness, deafness, to palsies, aches, agues, all that ever Christ came to cure; we are never thoroughly troubled till then. The fore part of our life had yet some show of pleasure, but these are (saith Solomon) the evil days, the dates wherein thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Eccles. 12. These are the days wherein Barzillai eats, and knows not what he eats; his taste is gone: these are the days wherein old Jsaac gropes and feels who art thou? come near me, let me feel thee: his sight is gone: these are the days wherein Jacob halts & limps, and must have a staff to lean on; his strength is gone; and David must have Abishag to warm his blood, and to cherish him, because his natural heat is gone; so as now we are not only miserable men, but we are scarce men, for we have (like images) eyes and see not, ears and hear not, we have hands and feel not, feet and go not, and scarce make we any sound in our throats; that it may truly be said of us, that in our youth we sin, but in age we receive the punishment of our sin, and the nearer our end, the more is still our trouble and misery.  
But look again; Is there any state or condition free from trouble? surely none; for is a man poor, God send him patience, he shall never need to pray for trouble to exercise it; he shall have trouble enough; hunger, cold, and nakedness in his body, and in his mind such discontent, as few of that condition have wisdom to moderate: he seethe himself forsaken of his friends, scorned of his enemies, and neglected of all: he rails on him that gives him not, he grudgeth and envieth at him which hath to give him, yea and he is angry even at God himself, because he did not equally divide the things of the world. But is any man rich? rich men have sure no trouble at all; yes they have labour and trouble to get, and care and trouble to keep, and fear and trouble to lose; which S. Gregory well describes, Sipotentiorem videt timet raptorem; si inferiorem, suspicatur furem, etc. If he see a mightier man than himself, he thinks he comes to oppress him; if he spy a poorer man, he is presently in doubt that he comes to steal from him; and every little noise is the breaking of his doors, every mouse is a man, every man is a thief, & every thief points at him, Et tanta patitur infoelix quanta patit timet; It comes with a fear, he dreams it, and he feels it; beside, he oft times gets it sinfully, and spends it sinfully, and sometimes keeps it sinfully, that Christ saith such men can hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven: beside, whereas there is almost no sin, but a man hath some pleasure in the execution of it; for stolen bread is sweet to the thief, and stolen waters are pleasant to the adulterer: 
Prou. 9.17  many rich men are miserable not only in the getting, but even in the abundance of their riches; for though they have much, yet they cannot find in their hearts to use it, but as Solomon saith, they defraud their souls of pleasure, Eccles. 4.8. for they neither far daintily, nor are clothed softly, but live and die and do all things miserably, and yet go to the devil when they have done.  
Again, if a man live in the state of a servant, that state is his trouble; for if thou mayst be free (saith S. Paul) use it rather, 
Exod. 20.  1. Cor. 7.21. God in the law did yoke and put close together, His man servant, and his maid servant, his ox, and his ass: as if a servant for his stripes and labour were next in degree to an ox and an ass; yea and the more faithful and the better a servant is, the worse many times he fares, for even his virtue, which should be a crown of reward unto him, it proves but a chain of bondage, more inseparably to fetter him to his master; so as that which was first but observed in the Court, is now an observation even in the country too, Fidelis servus perpetuus asinus, that a faithful servant is an everlasting ass. Yea and though a man live in state of a master, yet he hath Miseriam in imperio, he hath command, and authority, and sovereignty, and trouble enough too; for if he be meek and gentle, familiarity breeds him contempt, and he is despised; but if he be strict and severe, he is hated: and as the master enricheth himself by the bondage of his servant; so the servant sometime payeth himself with the goods of his master.  
But we have clean forgot one thing, and what is that? 
2. Sam. 15.  Oh (saith Absalon) that I were King in the land: and what of that? why, wheresoever a King is, there is peace, and ease, and honour, there is no trouble there. A King wears a Crown; a Crown is set with pearls, and pearls are exceeding precious: A King hath a Sceptre which commands all; and is commanded by none: A King hath a royal Throne, he may sit when other men stand, and if sitting be not ease enough, he may lean, or lie down to sleep, where other wake; he may eat and drink, and dice and card, and worse than all that, and yet when he hath done his worst, it is well done, and who dare say, why hast thou done it? Such is the error of men, to impute least trouble there, where God hath placed most. But is not for Kings O Lemuel, 
Prou. 31.  it is not for Kings to drink wine, nor for Princes strong drink, Yea rather the vine must leave his wine, the Olive his fatness, and the figtree his sweetness, if they went to advance themselves above the trees, judg. 9 and why is it, that none of these said unto the trees, Come, make me king, but the trees went a begging to them and said, Come and be thou King over us? but to show that if men respected only quietness and worldly ease, a kingdom were not worth the ask. Valerius reports of a heathen King, who when the Crown was offered him, stood first and looked upon it, and talked to it, before he would accept and take it, Oh if men knew the misery that comes with thee, there is no man would stoop to the ground to take thee up. For Ex quo regnare cepi, nunquam pavere destiti, saith the Tragical King, he was ever in fear, & never at rest, since first he took the regiment upon him. For when a King looks up to God, he thinks first of the account which he must make to him, because all the sins of the people lie upon the King, Rex non modò peccat, sed & peccare facit, a King doth not only sin himself, but also makes the people to sin, either by sufferance, as Aaron did, or by example, as Solomon did, or by tyrannous compulsion, as Jeroboam did, of whom it is said seventeen times in the books of the Kings, that he sinned and made Jsrael to sin: & how then? why then, as when the people first began the making of the golden Calf, yet Aaron was first called in question about it, Exod. 32.21. Why hast thou brought so great a sin upon the people? so Kings & Princes must account to God, not only for their own sins, but also for the sins of the people: and were there no other trouble then this, yet this very point of accounting to God is a troublesome and fearful thing to think of.  
Besides, what art and great labour have Kings in the very act of government: It is an art of all arts (saith Gregory Nazianzen) to govern man, who is so wild a beast, and untamed of himself. 
Exod. 18.  Moses sat from morning to evening, to hear and determine causes, that Jethro pitied much to see him so weary and so tired: and it was truly said of Maximinus, one of the Roman Emperors, Quo maior fuero, eo magis laborabo: The greater I am the greater labours, I see, will still befall and lie upon me; and the Lion, which is king of the beasts, is said to sleep with his eyes open, to show that it is no sleepy life to be a king. Besides, what perturbations of fear are in the minds of Kings, more than of other men, who may fear every cup, and every bit, and every gift; who fear their enemies, and fear their friends, because they know not their enemies from their friends; for neither the habit, be it never so religious, nor behaviour of men, be it never so humble, can promise security to Princes, witness the last but one of France, 
Henry 3.  slain by a Friar jacobine, even crouching and kneeling on his knee: yea, are not Kings more subject to violent death than the common sort of men? Of the Kings of Judah, from Rehoboam down to Zedekiah, there were in number twenty, and six of them, that is, almost a third part slain. Again, of the Kings of Israel, from Jeroboam down to Oshea, there were also in number twenty, and ten of them, that is, a just half slain: Yea look into our own stories, and our English Chronicles are all bloody; from the Conquest downward (which is better known) of three and twenty deceased Princes, eight, that is, more than a third part slain, besides the Tragical reports of France & other countries. Now sure it were a most fearful thing amongst the common sort of men, if one in every three were subject to violent death. And whether shall a man turn, but the higher, still the more troublesome. and more infortunate. Oh therefore value nothing too high which death doth abolish: dote not too much on death, and troubles, and golden misery. Let not men set their hearts on that which cannot profit them; or if it please a little, yet it will not long stand by them. If here we seek for peace, it will be answered, as the Angels said of Christ, Resurrexit, non est hic. Indeed it is often promised here, the world & the flesh make promise of it, and we like false Prophets cry Peace, peace, and promise it to ourselves, but the true peace is gone up with Christ, and is not here: 
Mat. 28.  and Saint John was commanded to write it for assurance, Write● from hence forth blessed are the dead, for they rest from their labours, Revel. 14.13. they rest hence forth, but they rest not here; and therefore since we have no rest, but sorrows, and wars, and troubles here, let us not seek our rest here, lest if we spend our time in seeking where it is not, we fail to find it where it is. God of his mercy draw our minds from the deceit of this vain, miserable, and sinful world, and lift up both our hearts unto the hope, and our endeavours unto the pursuit of eternity, even for jesus Christ his sake: To whom with the father, etc.   

THE KING'S HIGH WAY TO Immortality.  
A SERMON PREACHED this present year, Ann. Do. 1614 jan. 16.  
TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY Prince CHARLES, at his house and Chapel of S. james.  PRO. 4.3.4. 

For I was my father's son,  
Tender and dear in the sight of my mother.   

When he taught me, and said unto me,  
Let thy heart hold fast my words,  
Keep my Commandments, and live.   
MOst renowned and excellent; But that sorrows make short times seem long, it is not long, since at unawares, and not knowing what I did, I made unto your deceased and now immortal brother a Sermon of Mortality or of death: It is now fallen out by God's providence, and which (God himself being witness) I did not think of, when I chose the text, that I must make unto your Highness a Sermon of life: but as I had then no special illumination or prophecy, that death was so near to him, so have I now no absolute promise of life to you, but upon the conditions here annexed, Let thy heart hold fast my words, Keep my Commandments, and thou shalt am, which are the words of David, the speech of a King, and therefore of weight and moment; and it is a speech made to Solomon, the son of a King, and therefore pertinent; and it is a speech taken from the mouth of the King the father, by the pen of the King his son, and therefore not lost, or let fall to the ground, (as good counsel oft times is) but recorded as a thing for ever permanent. And we may distinguish in it two things, which divide it into two parts; for first Solomon showeth, what tender love his parents bare unto him, He was his father's son, Tender and dear in the sight of his mother, and then he showeth next by what testimony they expressed their love unto him, They taught him and said unto him, Let thy heart hold fast, etc.  
For the first, that Solomon was to his father thus, and to his mother thus and thus, it is a tale undoubtedly true; but how agreeth it with salomon's wisdom to tell it? They say, a chief point of wisdom is to keep counsel, especialiy to conceal the secrets of a King, but most especially to keep secret what Kings and Queens do in their chambers, and among their children. It may be that David loved Solomon exceeding much, how then? It may be likewise that his mother loved him exceedingly more; and what of that? perhaps when he was swaddled in clouts, and leapt up in a mantle, she might take him in her arms, and talk like a mother to him; perhaps when he was able to go upon his feet, yet she might set him on her knee and dance him, yea and it may be too, that when he was able to dance and leap about himself, yet she, as her own pretty, apt, and active child, might take him to her, and kiss him; and what of all this? was there no other way, but to take a pen and write a book of these things? To which I answer with the Apostle generally, that whatsoever things are written, they are written for our instruction, Rom. 15.4. And that as the things which the holy Ghost hath concealed, are therefore not fit to be known; so the most secret things (as the drunkenness, yea the nakedness of Noah) when they any way make for public edification, they are justly published, and needfully made known.  
The occasion of this report, I take to be thus: Solomon would persuade children, or young men to learn, what is the true wisdom or understanding; for so it appears, vers. 1. of the chapter: Hear O ye children the instruction of a father, and give ear to learn understanding. And to persuade that, he brings in himself for an instance, For I was my father's son, etc. As much as to say, Thus was I taught, thus did I learn when I was a child; the tenderness of my years did not excuse me, neither the love of my parents, nor yet my royal birth did privilege me to neglect these things; therefore Hear ye children also, and give ear to learn understanding: That other men's children should learn by example of the Kings: the consequence is very reasonable: If the King's son did learn and study these things, then much more the sons of meaner men; but the Antecedent, that the King's son did learn these things, it is the very point of the text, and it is a point of Princely consideration. The strength of the reason lieth in salomon's own person, For I was; Hear ye, and learn ye, For I was thus, and yet learned thus. Solomon here speaketh like a King, and teacheth Kings likewise how to speak: that is, if they will persuade the people any thing, to show the experience of it first in themselves; or if they will command the people any thing, to show the same thing first done by themselves, For I was thus, and yet learned thus, that is to say, he layeth no other burden on the people, than he had first borne himself. Kings and Priests in a common sense are both said to be shepherds, but the good shepherd goeth before (saith Christ) and then the sheep follow after, john 10. It is said in the praise of Moses, that he was a man mighty both in word and deed, Acts 7. Mighty in word, as many governors are, to command strongly, but mighty also in deed to do it accordingly. Tully reports of Julius Caesar, that he was never heard saying to his soldiers, Jteilluc, Go ye thither, as if they should go forth upon service and he to tarry behind in his tent, but Venite huc, Come ye hither, as if he had said, Come on my hearts, let us give the adventure, and adventure ourselves together, for Participatus cum duce labor persuadetur militibus minor, it shall be an easy thing for the common soldiers to follow, when they see the Captain go before; but if a Magistrate shall exact of the people one thing, and do himself another, they will say he is like a waterman which rows one way, and looks another. Philip King of Macedon was very curious and inquisitive about the agreement of the Grecians among themselves, and yet living in an horrible division with his own wife: such a man, though never so high, yet is looked at, like one upon a stage; yea how can a King or Magistrate punish sin in another man, when he is noted to be guilty, yea and notorious in the same sin himself? Alexander the great conqueror took one Dyonides a Pirate upon the sea, and asked of him, Quid sibi videretur, ut mare infestum faceret, what he meant in that manner to trouble the sea? the Pirate answers him boldly and truly again, yea rather, what mean you thus to trouble the whole world? but because I rob and steal in a poor pinnace, which you do in a great and royal Navy, I go for a Pirate, and you go for an Emperor: and when it is thus with the Magistrates in a kingdom, though no man dare speak, yet every man will mutter, and Socrates will laugh, Quia video magnes latrones ducentes parvum latronem ad suspendium, because he saw the great thieves leading the little thieves to hanging. And so much for the personal point, For I was.  
Well, what was he? I was my father's son, Tender and dear in the sight of my mother: that is to say, he was his fathers, and he was his mothers, begotten of the one, and born of the other; and as the male and female of the doves do hatch and feed their young by course, even so was he divided to them both. But first, Altera pars patri, one piece goes to the father; He was his father's son: his father's son? that must needs be true in reason, and yet it seems trivial to write, for every child in Logic knows the Relative predication, Filius est patris filius, and how can a man but be his father's son? yet the Scripture useth this phrase of speech, either when the child doth much resemble the father, as Ezech. 16. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that is, like mother, like daughter, an ill whelp of an ill store; and in that sense Christ denieth the Jews to be the sons, because they did not the works of Abraham, Ioh. 8.39. Or else the son is said to be the fathers, when he is so respected, and so accounted of the father, and that is the meaning or Solomon here, I was my father's son, that is, my father begat me, and owned me, and loved me, and saw himself in me. It is said of the Ostrich, that she is cruel to her young, as if the were not hers, job 39 Such an Ostrich was Athaliah, 2. King. 11. that catched up her grandchildren, and killed them as she catched them, as if they had not been the sons of her son. And Augustus Caesar said of Herod, that he had rather be Herod's swine, than his son, for that being in part a jew, he forbore to kill swine, and yet upon a bare conceit he killed two of his own sons: But Solomon was his father's son, and David was to Solomon a kind and loving father, & yet not taxed here with indulgence neither; nor do we any where teach, that natural love is a sin, or that religion doth forbid it, but only bridle and govern it: yea it came first from the Trinity, and with a voice from heaven, for the father to love his son, This is my beloved son, saith God the father of Christ his son, Mat. 3. And the best men were thus affected to their sons. Take now thy son, thy son whom thou lovest, saith God to Abraham, Gen. 22. And so were the worst men affected to their sons, for even they which were evil, yet gave good gifts unto their children, Mat. 7. Yea the cruel beasts do love their own, The Dragons draw out their breasts and give suck to their young, Lament. 4. and 2. Tim. 3. It is reckoned for one of the signs of the latter day, that men shall be without natural affection. Now the reason why men do naturally love their children, is not, because they be witty, or fair, or forward, (though these things may increase their love) but because they be theirs. The reason why good men love their children is, not only because they be theirs, but because (as they think) they be heirs begotten unto God. But the reasons why Kings do love their children are many more, and more peculiar. First because they see all the people love them, which Saul saw in Jonathan, when they rescued him out of his father's hands, and delivered him from death, 1. Sam. 14. Secondly, because the royal seed and name is preserved in them, which was promised to David in this Solomon, 2. Sam. 7. Thirdly, because Kings of all men being subject to plots and practices while they live, and also to ill fame and censure when they are gone: their sons stand up, not only as heirs to inherit their crowns and kingdoms, but as Champions to maintain their honours, and to avenge their quarrels, whereof the former was performed by Jotham the son of Gideon: judg. 9.17. The latter by Amaziah the son of Joash, 2. King. 14.5. Fourthly, the King loveth his son the more for a divine mystery high him; for as Kings themselves are Gods, so is the son of the King as the son of God: God ruleth he world by Christ his son. john 3.35. So did David yet living set Solomon upon his own Mule, yea upon his own Throne, 1. Kin. 1. God pronounceth his son the only mediator to himself, 1. Tim. 2.5. He in whom he is well pleased, Matth. 3.17. So did David work himself peace with Saul a while, by the mediation of Jonathan his son. 1. Sam. 19 6. and as the son of God is the wisdom of the father, 1. Cor. 1.24. So saith Solomon here, that his father taught him, that is, put wisdom to him, and he did not only teach him, but also prayed for him in that behalf, Give thy judgements to the king, O God, and thy righteousness to the king's son, Psalm. 72. and thus was Solomon his father's son.  
But to his mother, what? Tender and dear, or as some translate it, Tender and only in the sight of his mother. To his father a son, barely and without addition, His father's son, but to his mother her tender son, her dear, her only son: So the father setteth down the Substantive, but Tender and only, the adjectives or Epithets come from the mother: and why so? because Solomon should show that his father loved him, but his mother loved him more; even as commonly we say, that men abound in reason, but women in affection: Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women: said David to Jonathan, 2. Sam. 1. A wonderful love, (no doubt) which passeth the love of women. Or else Solomon would show, that his father's love was in discretion hid, as in the text it is but understood; but his mother's love was Tender, and dear, and only, flaming out like fire, which hath no power to hide itself: for Can a mother forget her child (saith Esay) yea can a mother hide her affection from her child? yes, just as salomon's mother hideth hers; What my son, and what the son of my womb, and what O son of my desires, Prou. 31. See, how she hides her love, Her son, and the son of her womb, and the son of her desires, as if she had said, O thou my son, whom once I bare in my womb, and whom I ever bear in my heart, borne of my body by course of nature, but still unborn by strength of love, the father saith, Son, thou art ever with me, Luk. 15. The mother saith Son, thou art ever within me; and so is it here, Tender and only in the sight of his mother. Tender in respect of his age, as Chron. 1.29. Salomen my son, young and tender, but more in respect of her affection, as mothers are ever tender, that is, fearful and careful of their children. Samuel was not in his mother's keeping, but in the custody of the high Priest, much better sure then in his mother's keeping: yet see how mother's nature works; for though he wanted neither meat nor clothes, yet she makes him, and brings him every year a little coat, 1. Sam. 2.19. lest too much wind should blow upon him: and when the Shunamites son was sick, she set him on her knees till he died, 2. King. 4.20. but when Jeroboams' son was sick, the Queen herself runs out to the Prophet for him, 1. King. 14.4. Again, Solomon was his mother's Only son: not only begotten, for she had three sons, beside, 1. Chron. 3.5. but only beloved: or if not the only beloved, yet the only beloved in that degree; for though she loved them all well, yet she wished and procured the kingdom to him; and when she heard that Adonijah was usurping it, she steps in to David, 
1. King. 1.  and makes sure work for him. And all this In her sight, or before her. Tender and only in her sight: for Vbi amor, ibi oculus, Love is ever looking, samuel's mother went up every year to Shiloh, 1. Sam. 2. Yea true, she did so, but that was to offer sacrifice, yea and withal to sacrifice a little to her eyes, that is, to see Samuel too: for if the son be but a little missing, or out of sight, sisera's mother looks, and looks out at a window, and why tarry the wheels of his Chariots, and why is his Chariot so long a coming? jud. 5. But if the son be dead or gone, A voice is heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children, and will not be comforted, jer. 31. Now Lord that we were but half so tender of our souls, as our mothers are of our bodies. But salomon's mother was tender of his soul too; for she was a Prophet to teach him, for so is the chapter 31. styled, The prophesy which his mother taught him. She tells him what a King should do, To judge righteously, to judge the afflicted and the poor: and she tells him what a King should not do, Not give his strength to women, not give himself to wine: even as Monica the mother of Austin, Toties parturiens filios, etc. So oft as she saw her son to do amiss, so oft she was in pains of travel with them. And thus to love, is the tender, dear, and only love.  
But this appeareth better in the next part of the text. He taught me and said unto me, etc. Which follows out of the former, not (as oft in this book of Proverbs) after a lose and independent manner, but it follows with a special force, as if he had said, Though I was my father's son, tender and dear unto my mother, yet they did not coker me, but taught me, and said unto me. There is a love in parents, a doting love which teacheth nothing; and there is a government in parents which looseneth all the rains, and suffereth to riot, and for biddeth nothing; and there is a pity in parents, a foolish pity, which pardoneth all, and punisheth nothing, till God come with the sword, as he did to the sons of Eli, and kill where the father leaves uncorrected: a strange love in parents, to kill their children with too much kindness: but salomon's father loved him, & to prove his love, he taught him, as thinking him much better unborn then untaught. If it be demanded here, how David taught his son, the text itself showeth, that sometime he spoke unto him himself, He taught me and said unto me: he taught him by word of mouth, as the Eagle teacheth her young to fly, Deut. 32.10.11. And as Plutarch saith, the Nightingale teacheth her young to sing: and God knew that Abraham would teach his sons, Genes. 18. And careful parents are ever whetting the law upon their children. Beside, it is also like that David taught him by an instructor, by Abiathar, by Zadok, by Nathan, or some other; and it is a chief prerogative of Kings, that they may choose their Tutors and instructors throughout their kingdoms. The father of the great Alexander professed, that he was not more glad, that he had a son, then that he had such a schoolmaster, as Aristotle, to teach him. And Alexander himself confessed, that he had his natural life from his father; but to live well and virtuously, he had it from his master And it is strange to tell, what honour Theodosius the Emperor gave to Arsenius his sons schoolmaster: And thus did David teach.  
And consider on the passive part, that as none is so careful to teach the son, as the father, so hath none of the sons so much need of teaching, as he who succecdeth in the kingdom of the father: Be wise ye Kings (saith David) and be learnedye that be Judges of the earth, Psalm. 2. It is true that Kings are Gods anointed, yet not anointed only with oil, but with special graces; but what grace before wisdom and learning, which leads the way to all other grace, as Kings are leaders to all other men. Let the Lord appoint a man over the congregation, who may lead them out and in (saith Moses) Numb. 27. But it was never intended by God, that they should be blind and ignorant themselves, who were appointed as leaders and lights to other men. And what was Solomon admired for, but chief for his learning, and for his wisdom? The Queen of Sheba came of purpose to hear and prove his wisdom. And 1. King. 4.34. There came of all people to hear his wisdom: as commonly when the people inquire after the King, they do not listen so much whether he be rich, for they think he may be too rich, as Julian the Emperor said, that a covetous king was like the Splen in a man's body, which when it swelleth and groweth great, all the rest of the members are in a consumption by it. Nor do they listen so much if he be a man of war; they like it well, that he be martially minded, and ready to encounter when the enemy gives cause; but they like it not, that he have Animum aversum a pace▪ A mind hating peace, or delighting in war; 
Psal ●8 30  yea cursed are the people which delight in war, saith David himself, even one of the greatest soldiers that ever was in the world: but the chief thing inquired of the subjects is, if the King be learned or wise, for than they know that he will carry himself & the state well: in war, in peace, in want, in abundance, in all conditions safely and well.  
And that Solomon was thus wise, it was not only his father's teaching, for men can but plant and water, but first he had helps from nature, which had exceedingly fitted him: beside, he was studious and industrious of himself: for as it is Eccles. 1. He gave his heart to search out wisdom: and which is more than all human helps, when God appeared unto him, & gave him leave to ask what he would, 
1. King. 3.  he asked not riches, long life, nor honour, but he asked wisdom, and God gave it him in great abundance; for he was seen in all wisdom, yea he had considered all the works that were done under the sun, Eccles. 1. even as Moses the governor of Israel was seen in all he wisdom of the Egyptians: 
Act. 7.  He spoke three thousand Sentences or Proverbs; his ethics or moral Philosophy: he wrote Songs, Psalms, or Poems; a Poet among other learning: He spoke of trees & plants even from the Cedar to the Hyssop; his Physic's or natural Philosophy; yea he spoke even of the beasts and creeping things; A wonder to see a King come from his Throne, an ivory Throne, overlaid with gold, mounted upon steps for Majesty, and every step with Lions on each side, a wonder (I say) to see a King to come from thence, to look into the bowels & veins of a beast, yea of a vermin, the lowest steps of natural learning: what thought he of learning which sought it thus? And therefore they are deceived which think, learning to be but a mere ornament to a King: It is true, there is faculty of ornament, as playing, singing, dancing; for as this learned Solomon saith, There is a time to dance, Eccles 3. and there is faculty of good use, as tilting, running, riding, promised to the Kings of Judah, jerem. 22. If ye do these things, ye shall ride upon Chariots and horses: but learning and wisdom are essential to government: he was no mere scholar, nor vulgar man, but he was a King which said it, that Rex illiteratus est asinus coronatus; 
Henry 1. King of England.  that a King without learning was an ass with a Crown; for to what end sits he upon the judgement seat, which when he comes there, may sit, and see, and hear, but hath no wit to judge? This Solomon himself sat in judgement upon the two harlots. 1. King. 3. and gave such a sentence, as all the kingdom applauded to hear it: beside, for knowledge of religion, he was Ecclesiastes, a professed Preacher, as Eccl. 1. I the Preacher have been King over Jsrael, etc. and that knowledge is also needful for a King: for if a schism or schismatical fellow arise in the Church, he is a kind of persecutor, that only punisheth him, it is more kind and kingly, first, by learning to control him. Constantine sat oft himself in judgement, and gave sentence in causes Ecclesiastical, especially in the faction and quarrels of the Donatists. And I could speak of a King now upon the stage, which speaks, and disputes, and writes, that Rome itself is enraged to read it: for the Roman Clergy do with their kings, as the late Queen mother of France did with Henry 3. her unlucky son; she bids him play, and follow his pleasure, and not trouble himself with the stirs in the Church, that she and her Holy league in the mean time might set both Church & kingdom on fire. In like manner do they muffle their kings in blindness, and suffer them not to look into the causes of religion, that themselves in the mean time might frame a religion to their own lust: But when God laid it upon the King, that he should write himself the copy of the Law in a book, that it should be with him, and that he should read in it all the days of his life, Deut 17.18.19. his meaning was sure, that Kings should be understanding men, able to judge and discern of the law themselves, and not altogether to go on trust for their religion.  
It followeth in the text. Let thy heart holdfast my words, keep my Commandments and thou shalt live: whereby it appears that David did not only teach his son, but also catechize him, and teach him religion; for he taught him to hold fast his words, and his words were the words of life. Just as Deut. 8. the Commandments which if a man do, he shall live in them: and there is no learning but religion which brings eternal life. And David doth here two things; first he giveth his son a charge, that he do thus and thus; and than if he do these things, he makes him a promise, that he shall live. He chargeth him most strongly, for first he speaks to his hear tor inward man, Let thy heart hold fast, etc. and then he frameth his conversation or outward man, that he keep his Commandments. The matter which he committeth to him is Words, and words howsoever they are but wind in the ears of the scorners, yet the words of the wise are like goads and like nails, Eccles. 12. like goads to prick forward, and like nails to hold fast. And Christ saith, joh. 6. The words which I speak are spirit and life. And joh. 12. The word which I have spoken shall judge you at the last. Again he is commanded, not to attain them, for that he did by his father's teaching, but when he was taught to retain, or hold them fast; and all this said to his heart, Let thy heart hold fast, etc. For though it be said universally to all, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all all thy heart, Deut. 6. yet it belongeth especially to Kings; and God upon this very occasion of anointing David to the kingome, said, The Lord respecteth the heart, 1. Sam. 16. So David's own heart made him fit for a kingdom; and therefore now he calls for the heart of his son, whom he knew God had destinate to be King. Let thy heart hold fast, etc.  
Now of an instructed heart there be three testimonies: First, sincerity, that what a man see me to do, he do it indeed and truly, against the fashion of hypocrites: Secondly zeal, that what he doth, he do it fervently, against the fashion of cold professors: and thirdly perseverance, that what he begin to do, he do it to the end and constantly, against the custom of backsliders. The first thing is sincerity, which still draws in the heart; as Saint Paul said of servants, Not with eye service, but as the servants of Christ from the heart, Ephes. 6. David doth not teach his son, as Machiavelli taught Kings: Regi ante omnia optandum, ut pius videatur, etiamsinonsit: that a king above all things must seem religious, though indeed he be not: even as Saul which set up an altar, consulted with the Priests, offered sacrifice, killed the enemies of God, and at every word had God in his mouth, when all was but a flash: But Ablolon was more devout than he, for he must go to Hebron, and there pay his vows, and offer peace offerings to God, for bringing him back to jerusalem, and reconciling him to his father again; a mere Machiavellian practice; for at the very same time he plotted how to win the people's hearts, and to depose his father▪ 2. Sam. 15. But Herod more devout than he: Go, search for the the babe, and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and worship him, Matth. 2.8. May come and worship him, when he went to destroy him: Monster of mankind: did Adoro signify to kill; or Occido to worship? Is it not enough to murder, and do mischief, but to make religion the cloak? And thus did Julian the Apostata, though he hated the Christians, and their religion deadly, yet he comes at times into their Churches, and falls down on his knees, and prays devoutly with them, but all for a further purpose. But as it never goes well with the government, where the governors are mere Politicians: so is it worst with themselves; for where God hath lift up to the highest, he looketh for the best, and if men serve him only with a hood, where he requires the heart, is not this to mock God; but God is not mocked, witness that Saul, and Absalon, Herod, and Julian, whom we named before. Again, the heart importeth a zeal to that we are taught, as jerem. 20.9. His word was in my heart like a burning fire. And as a man cannot sit still which carries fire in his bosom, so he which is inwardly taught, is inwardly touched, and cannot keep silence, nor cannot forbear, but is driven with a spirit, & marcheth like Jehu the son of Nimshi, furiously: And it was spoken of that Jehu kingly, 
2 King. 9  if it had been spoken perfectly, Come, see the zeal that I have for the Lord of hosts, 2. King. 10. For he put down the idolatrous king; he killed his mother, he killed his children, his kin dread, confederates, & familiars; and when he had trained the Priests of Baal into the temple of Baal, he burned up temple, Priests, and Idol, and made one bonfire of them all. Not like Rehoboam which suffered sin to grow, even to the male stews in Judah, 1. King. 14.24. and made the holy land like Sodom: Nor like King Ahab, which suffered the enemy of God to escape out of his hands, & showed him mercy, even to his own confusion, 1. King. 20. judah the kingly tribe had his blessing from Jacob, to be like a Lion, Gen. 49.9. Not like a sheep, to walk up and down in a warm fleece, and eat, and drink, and sleep, and sit, and see, and do nothing; but like a Lion, and like a Lion's whelp, which carrieth fire in his heart, and a flame in his eyes, and a sceptre in one hand, and a sword in another, to forbid sin, and to punish sin, and to punish it in the proudest: and he that doth not thus, he is like the Church at Laodicea, Revel. 3. Neither hot, nor cold, and the Lord shall spew him out of his mouth. The third testimony of the heart is Perseverance, to begin well, and to continue in it; for what a man doth from the heart, he is never weary of doing it, but goes on with Saint Paul, Through honour and dishonour, through good report and ill report, etc. Yea with Christ, through anguish of mind, and tortures of body, through spitting, whipping, scoffing, and saith not Consummatumest, till he bow his head, and give up the Ghost. Saint Paul said to all men, It is good to love earnestly in a good thing, 
Gal. 4.  but especially should such a man as Nehemtah fly? Neh. 6.11. No saith King David, I have not swerved from thy law, Psalm. 119. He had not yet; no nor ever meant to serve hereafter, but I will praise the Lord, while I have any being, Psal. 146. It is no wonder to see the continual waxing & waning of the Moon, nor yet the ebbs & flow of the sea; but it is wonderful to see how men, made in the image of the unchangeable God, yet change with the times, that where we see the best beginnings and hope of goodness, yet no man can tell what the end will be. King Joash at seven years old did what was good in the sight of the Lord: 
1. King. 12.  but at forty years old, he did what was hateful to God and man. And it is said of Nero, in the beginning of his reign, that he was so soft and tender hearted, as when he should set his hand to sign bills and sentences of death, he wished to God he had not so much learning, as to write his name: but he fell from that apace; for afterward he killed men, as men kill dogs in a plague; he killed men for sport, as children kill frogs and flies; yea he killed without cause or colour his familiar friends, his master, and his own mother. But let this Solomon (whose heart is here stirred up to hold fast) let him be to all men a fearful pattern of Apostasy or back sliding: but as himself let slip what he was commanded to hold, so God sent him a fool to his son, by whom he lost, what he desired to hold; the kingdom being brought from twelve tribes to two.  
Now the reasons why men are thus weak in their retentive faculties, that they cannot hold fast, they are in the parable of the sour revealed to be three: for sometime the seed falls into stony ground, where is no depth of earth, and how can the heart hold that fast which takes no root at the heart? Such a scholar was King Herod to John Baptist, who knew him to be a holy man, referenced him, heard him, and did many things at his admonition, and yet killed him at the last; for his conscience was but an upper skin, his heart still hardened underneath, whereby for lack of moistening with the heavenly grace, all withered when the temptation came. Sometime the seed falls by the high way side, and that the fowls pick up, and those fowls are either idle and wandering thoughts, stirred up in the heart when the seed is a sowing, or ill companions in men's cares, which do more hurt in Prince's Courts, than the Caterpillars did in the land of Egypt: And such were in the days of Jeroboam, which did all they could to make the King merry, Osea. 7.3. and as if they feared his heart should hold too fast, prevented him happily with vanity, and bawdry, and unsavoury mirth, and made him to laugh when it was more fit to weep: and such were the young Councillors and companions of Rehoboam, gallants, & hot spurs indeed, but men that had more spirit than wit, more fit to ride a horse, then to to rule a kingdom, and the King by listening to them, brought (clean a cross to his own account) his father's loins to a little finger. Sometimes again the seed is choked with thorns, which are expounded the temptations of riches and a voluptuous life; for as fire cannot burn in water, no more can the heart take hold of repentance, which wallows in wealth and ease: and this was thought the cause why salomon's heart took no better hold, for he had gold and silver like stones, and all the delights of the sons of men, Eccles. 2. Et ideò forsitan corruit (saith Bernard) whereupon many men have doubted of his salvation; and therefore because the hearts of all men, especially Corregis in manu dei, The heart of the King is in the hand of God, both Prince and people must pray devoutly, that God would prepare and direct their hearts.  
But every man hath a heart to goodness; or if any man have not, yet every man thinks he hath this privilege, that none can challenge his heart, but God who is the searcher of hearts; and therefore to prove the affection of the heart, there is required the obedience of the outward man, Let thy heart hold fast my words, and then it followeth, Keep my Commandments, etc. the same in effect with Saint James, Show me your heart by your works, and with Christ, john 14. If ye love me keep my Commandments. Wherein Solomon is given thus much to understand, that though he was borne the son of a King, and by God himself pointed out to a kingdom, yet he is at command. And as David who commanded him, was to him a father, a king, and a figure of Christ, so is he here commanded three ways: first as by a father, Keep my Commandments; and if so, the command of the father binds the son strongly: Honour thy father and mother saith the Law; but what honour without obedience? yea how shall he keep subjects in due obedience, who hath not first learned the obedience of a son? It was a worthy saying of Decius the son of Decius the Emperor, when his father yet living would have set the imperial Crown upon his head; No (saich he refusing it) vereor ne si fiam Jmperator, dediscam esse filius: He feared that it he took upon himself the dignity of an Emperor, he should soon forget the duty of a son: clean contrary to the course of the world, for men commonly covet to take honour, but he thought it more honourable to give honour, where it was by nature due. And what meaneth that Jch dien, the word or Imprease of the English Prince, but I serve, A Prince, and yet serves; yea & he shakes up his feathers, & flourisheth when he speaks it, as if it were his glory as yet to serve. Again, if David spoke this, Keep my Commandments, in the person of a King, that command is so much heavier, as the power of a King exceedeth the authority of a father. Fear God and the king (saith Solomon) Prou. 24. God and the King are yoked in our fear together: yea and Saint Paul required obedience to Kings, even when Kings were enemies to religion, and separate from God. But if David spoke this in the person of Christ, or in the name of God, it is that which binds heaven, and binds earth, and binds even Kings as with cords, and Nobles as with links of iron; for as it is true, that Kings are Gods, so is it as true, that God is a King: The Lord reigneth, Psalm. 97. and Omne sub regno graviore regnum est: All kingdoms are but provinces, and Kings but deputies to do justice for God; and without justice, Quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia, saith Austin, when Kings shall do what they list, and shake of their subjection to God; what are Kings but great thieves, as great thieves in their kind are said to be little kings; yea and this is sure, that the errors and irregularities of great men are extended and grow great by their greatness: for, it is an abomination to Kings to commit wickedness, Prou. 16. That which is but sin in another man is abomination in a King: and why so? first because Kings in sinning abuse the sword of God, which was put into their hands to cut down sin: secondly, because they defile the very place, the seat of God, which is maintained by justice, and overthrown by sin: and thirdly, because their actions being for the most part exemplare, they seduce the people of God, and do more hurt by their ill example, then by their own sin. And be it true, that Kings here may sin without impunity, as being subject to no correction of man, but only to the hand of God, yet they are subject to God, and must account to him for the keeping of his Commandments, and must fall into his hands at last, where to fall (as the Apostle saith) it is a fearful thing, Hebr. 10.31. And in the mean time they shall be sure of this, that though they scape open outcry, yet here shall resound from every hill, and every wall a murmur of ill fame, which shall answer instantly, as Echoes to their evil, yet they know not whence. For though no man dare say, To a King, thou art wicked, or to Princes ye are ungodly, job 34. yet reeds will whisper, and owls will cry in the night, and the sons of darkness will rail, and write in corners, & than what they think they have done in secret (as David is adultery) it shall be painted like Belshazzars' destiny upon the walls. And which is yet a more singular punishment upon the faults of Kings and Princes, that whereas while they live, they find flatterers which soothe them in their sin, and tell them they do well, when they do exceeding ill, yet when they are once dead and gone, than every Chronicler, (which passeth over the faults of meaner men) yet when he comes to write of Kings, he reporteth freely how one was prodigal, another was covetous, one was an adulterer, another a coward and basely timorous; and writes it up as boldly, as every year Prognosticators writ the eclipses of the Sun, and the Moon; so as where meaner men do oft amiss, and carry it away in silence with them, yet their offences shall stand upon record; that if a man would not forbear to break the Commandments of a conscience to God, yet fear of perpetual infamy should be a bridle to him.  
But what is the conclusion of all? David concludeth with reward: Keep my Commandments, and thou shalt. live. The greatest blessing which the father can give, the greatest reward which the son can receive? And indeed to what do parents beget their children, but to live? to live by union of soul and body, which is by natural generation, but chief to live by union of the soul with God, which is by spiritual regeneration: in which sense S. Paul said to the Corinthians, I have begotten you in Christ: 
1. Cor. 4.  and what do parents for their children, if they do not this? The life which is by nature, it is conceived in sin, borne in sin, and proceeds in sin; and the reward of sin is death: so nature promiseth life to her children, and performeth death: Is not this a mockery to mankind? and are not natural father's mere mockers to their children, if they be no more then merely natural? But keep my Commandments, and thou shalt live, saith the law; And this is life eternal, that they know thee, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ, joh. 17.3. the life of the Gospel; and thus is life proposed to all: But to David and to Solomon, that is, to the King, and to the King's son, it was a popular and peculiar acclamation as they passed by the streets, Vivat Rex, God save the King, or life be to the King: Now under life which is the ground of all our good, the jews do commonly wish and pray for all other happiness, health, and prosperity.  
And we may here first understand the life that is by nature; Keep my Commandments, and live: that is, live here: for though the natural life be not the height of our hope, yet the honour of a King dependeth much upon the present life, for while he lives sin is punished, religion is promoted, God's Church is built, and God himself is glorified by him; but when he hath served his time, these services also are ended with him. Again, while he lives, every man praises him, and admires, and adores him; and he is the light of Israel, and my Lord the King is as an Angel of God: but when he is once dead, his honour oft dies with him, and his light put out in darkness, so Kings are Kings but for term of life; that as this Solomon said It is better to be a live dog, than a dead Lion, Eccles. 9.4.  
Or it may be that life is promised here respectively, against hazard of death; not that Solomon should not die, but that he should not die a violent death. Amongst the Kings of Israel and Iudah how many perished, some by conspiracy at home, and some by the sword of the enemy? And S. Austin observeth, that of all the Roman Kings, two only, that is, Numa Pompilius, and Ancus Martius, came to their graves in peace; yea Kings are maliced whether they do well, or do ill; if not for their vices, yet for their places, for envy shoots always at the fairest mark; especially where a quarrel grows for right of a kingdom, who knoweth not that such trials are made with hazard of life? But Thou thou shalt live saith David to Solomon, and Solomon found it true; for when Adonijah his elder brother rose up to usurp the kingdom, the usurper soon miscarried, but Solomon escaped, and reigned, and lived: and so shall it be with all them which extend their authority, to maintain the honour of God: They shall flourish but their enemies shall perish: Moses shall march through the sea, as on the land, when Pharaoh and his host shall sink to the bottom, as a stone: and as our eyes have seen the great Armadas, and invincible fleets, part flying home with shame, and part or them drowned in the depth of the sea, so let your heart hold fast the words, etc. and your Highness shall live, and feel the power of God in your preservation, when all Machivellian, Italian, Spanish, and Popish conspirators shall fall before you in the field, or die by the sword of justice, and when they are dead, shall leave nothing to hurt, but their heads upon poles, and their rotten bones for relics.  
Or it may be that David in promising life to Solomon, did intend him life in his posterity, for men which are dead, yet are said to live in their posterity; and when God was well pleased with the Kings of Israel, his promise was still, that he would build them a sure house, and that they should not want a man to sit upon the throne; but when he was offended with them, he would bring evil upon that house, and cut off every one that made water against a wall; and he would sweep away the remnant as filth, and one should die in the city, and another in the fields, and one the dogs should eat, and another the fowls: And as it is said of all the wicked in general, that their names shall rot: 
job 20.  so is it especially the curse of a tyrant, that he shall write himself the last of his name: as for example, In the degenerate kingdom of Israel, in a succession of twenty Kings, the line ten times broken and interrupted; to show that all tyranny is of short endurance. But thou shalt live, saith David to Solomon: and from Solomon to Jehoahaz, (which is seldom found in course of history) the son for seventeen generations still succeeding the father: so immortal is not only the righteous, but also his seed and propagation.  
Or it may be that the life here promised to Solomon was meant of a spiritual life, opposed to that, 1. Tim. 5.6. She that liveth in pleasure is dead: for a man may be said so long to live, as he hath lived to glorify God: vixit dum vixit bene; but all the rest of his life is a mere trance or image of death, as Ephes. 5.14. Awake thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead: and when the prodigal child ran riot and spent his father's goods with harlots, Filius meus mortuus est, Luk. 15. the father pronounced, that his son was dead, but especially he that shall riot in the government, that shall suppress religion, oppress the innocent, and rage & revel in the kingdom, Mortuus est, he is dead to God, though otherwise alive in the world. And it is worthy observation, that whereas all the Kings of Israel had both their ages & years of their reign recorded. Saul the first King, because he seasoned the kingdom with tyranny and impiety, had no such computation made for for him; for God knoweth not the way of the wicked, but the short reign of the righteous is upon record with God, and the one and thirty of Josiah is of longer account with him, than the five and fifty of Manasses, for of a good King it is said, that his years shall be as many ages. Psal. 61.6.  
And lastly in this promise of life here is meant to Solomon the mystery of eternal life: 
1. King. 1.  as when David was ready to die, Bathsheba bowed herself and said, Let my Lord King David live for ever: Now the life which is for ever, must needs be meant of eternal life; and this is indeed the very edge and point of David's promise: for what is this mortal life with all her pomp and pride, were it not a passage to immortal? yea and what is a kingdom here, where all kingdoms were shown in the twinkling of an eye, were there not in hope a better kingdom? a better kingdom where all shall be Kings, and reign with Christ eternally. And they which here have reigned as Kings upon the earth, shall lose nothing, but gain immeasurably by the change: yea kings and Queens when they come thither, shall cast away their crowns, as Elias when he went to heaven, let his cloak fall from him, and they shall repent nothing there, save that they came no sooner thither: and when they shall compare their earthly and their heavenly kingdoms together, they shall say, as S. Peter said of the mount, Bonum est esse hic, It is good to be in heaven, but for the earth, they shall be as loath to look back to it, as Moses to go back into the land of Egypt; for their Palaces shall then seem prisons, their golden chains but golden fetters, their Crowns shall be but crosses, and all their honours, but burdens and vexations: but when they shall look into the face of God, they shall say to him with triumph, With thee is the well of life, in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.  
FJNJS.