ELIAH'S WISH: A PRAYER FOR DEATH. A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Right Honourable Viscount Sudbury, Lord BAYNING. By Ro: WILLAN D. D. Chaplain to his Majesty. Vita vitae mortalis, spes vitae immortalis. Aug. Printed at London for I. S. Hypo Bibliothecary of Zion College, and are to be sold by Rich●rd Royston, at his shop in juie-lane. 1630. To the Right Honourable ANNE, Viscountesse of Sudbury, etc. Right Honourable: THis exiguous Tract belongs unto you by a manifold Right: First, it is a Sermon of Elias, and whither should Elias go for succour but unto the widow of Sareptah? such an one are you, a Noble Patroness of the Prophets; besides you have a sad interest in it, as being preached for him, who when he obtained the Laurel left you the Cypress; not to lament him, (for it is a kind of envy to bewail those in happiness) but your own hard condition under the miserable title of a widow. Last of all, as the Egyptian law made women Recluses, forbidding them to go abroad, so custom barring noble widows from ceremonial and solemn sorrow, confining them to closet mourning (secret grief is most sharp, and tears shed in private as they fall less visible, so less forced) it had been inhumanity in me to deny you reading of what you could not hear. Accept then these lines wherein you may behold so true a Portraiture of your deceased Lord, that those which envied him cannot object flattery, nor such as loved and honoured him, detraction to the Pencil. Thus having full filled your desired wish, I fall to my own wishes, which are, that whether you remain in the disconsolate estate you are as Anna did, or God hath designed you to be a Ruth, the fundatresse of another Noble family, the God of Heaven who hath already given you the blessings at his left hand, Honour, Riches, and all endowments adorning your sex, may add length of days in the practice of Religious duties, and charitable deeds, until he bring you to the blissful vision of himself: so he prays who is Your devoted Beadsman, Ro: WILLAN. To the Reader. Having by much importune labour received from Noble hands, a Copy of this Sermon; out of a confidence that one passage therein, celebrating our first Benefactor Viscount Sudbury, may do good to the Library of Zion College, whereof I am a Keeper, I have adventured without consent of the Author to put it upon thy censure, not doubting if I can procure his pardon, to promerit thy thanks, and so Farewell: From Zion College April 12. 1630. Thine john Spencer. ELIAH'S WISH. 1 KINGS 19 4, It is now enough O Lord, take my soul, for I am no better than my Fathers. THere are no thoughts more wholesome than those of death, not any less frequently possessing the minds of men; we think of death as the Athenians did treat of peace, never but when we are in blacks: As they which adventure to the Indies take not so much into their considerations how many ships have been swallowed in the waves, as what some few have gotten by the voyage: So it is with us, we seldom meditate of the Millions dead before us, but of the small Remainder surviving with us. They report that the birds of Norway fly faster than the fowls of any other Country, not because nature hath given more nimbleness or agility to their wings, but by an instinct they know the days in that Climate to be very short, not above three hours long, and therefore they make more haste unto their nests: Strange that birds should make such use of their observation, and we practically knowing the shortness of our lives, yet make no haste to our home, the house appointed for all living: This job 30. 23. God complaineth of: The Stork knoweth jer. 8. 7. her appointed time, but my people know not the Judgement of the Lord: And by another, he wisheth their understandings were not so deordinate as to forget their last end. Deut. 32. 29. Our eyes behold all things, yet see they not themselves but by reflection in a looking glass. Here are two looking glasses; one upon the Hearse, informing us that neither Wisdom, nor Honour, nor Wealth, nor Strength, nor Friends, nor Physic, nor Prayers, are sufficient Parapets to shelter us from the stroke of death. Here is another looking glass in the Text, expressing the miserable condition of our lives. If all the inventions of hierogliphical learning (which St. Origen Origen. Hom. 7. in Exod. compared to the Jews Manna, falling down in round and little Cakes, yet affording good nourishment) so they in small shadows conveyed excellent wisdoms. If all of them had strained their wits for an Emblem, to decipher the wretched estate of a living man, they could not come near the pattern in the Text. Do but paint Elias sitting under the juniper tree in a forlorn posture with his face between his knees, The Motto, the words of the Text, It is now enough, O Lord, take away my soul, for I am no better than my Fathers, and you have life portrayed to life. Elias was the first man, unto whom God resigned his key of life, and gave him power to raise the dead. Elias was the sole man, whom God honoured with a Chariot for his conveyance into the other world. Elias was the second man elected to represent heavenly glory upon earth, at the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus, and this man whilst he was in this life, was weary of his life, and puts up a Supplication to almighty God to take it from him. The words contain a Prayer; Good is the proper object of prayer, we may deprecate evil, but pray only for that which is good. This prayer is for death, which in itself is neither good nor evil. That we may the better conceive the true scope, it is fit that we should take into our considerations these three particulars. 1 The motives preceding and producing the Prayer. 2 The Arguments enforcing the Prayer. 3 The third and last, The Prayer itself. A question will be asked in the Porch & entrance, is Elias in earnest? would he live or dye? If he would live, why doth he beg death? If die, why did he shun death by flying into the wilder nesse? One Executioner from Jesabell would have given him his longing. The satisfaction is easy: It is some comfort when a man is overcome, that he be conquered by a noble enemy Aeneae magni dextra cadis— David was unwilling to dye by the fury and malice of Saul, contented to receive it by the hands of his friend Jonathan. If there be iniquity found in me, kill me thyself, 1 Sam. 20. 8. but bring me not to tby father. As Moses rod lying upon the Ground had the shape, and poison of a serpent, but in his own hand it lost that affrighting figure, and venomous quality: so death from Jezabell was an ugly serpent in Elias apprehension, but from the hand of God a Caduceus a wand to waft him into a better life: The hands of the spouse are fall of Rings beset with gems, the Berill, and the Hyacinth: God his hands are full of blessings, Cant. 5. 14. full of all goodness, death itself which seems to be a privation of God, from his hand, must needs be good from whom no evil can descend. This may qualify his eschuing death by Jezabell, but being past danger, and out of his Persecutors reach, what were the motives to desire it now? It is now enough. The Expositors do vary, finding not only several but contrary motives: some make it the evaporation of a discontented mind, the weakness of a frail man: others attribute it to the devotion of an holy man, I will strike these several flints, each of them may afford a spark to enlighten our text. Chrysostome in his Rhetorical way demands: Chrysost, ad Olimpiadem. Sermo de Elia & Petro. where is that spirit of Elias? where that terrible countenance that put Achab to silence? where is that tongue the governess of the Elements? why sits he puling under a tree wooing death which will not come at his call? He answers by a similitude: As a strong gale of wind filling the spread sails of a ship hurries it from the intended port: so a violent gust of fear rushing upon the Prophet drove him into this sad melancholy. Eucherius Vnde tam potens, unde tam infirmus? Eucherius super locum. propounds it another way, Whence came his potency to work wonders? whence his weakness to be weary ofhiss life? his power was from God, weakness was his own: God gave him a parcel of his power (mark I pray) his bare word brought a drought upon Palestine, his prayer like a burning Fever entered into the bowels of the earth, and scorched up lakes, Rivers, Springs, fountains, and left no moisture in them; but being left a small while to himself all his courage is dried up to nothing. From hence 2. lessons: First, that no prerogative of greatness, no profession of holiness exempt men from common infirmities: where is that Heretic Pelagius belching out this contagious poison, that a man may attain such perfection as to be free from all weakness, and when he prays for forgiveness of sin, it is rather humiliter then veraciter? Let him look upon Elias and be confounded. As the Courtesan Lais said, Philosophers knocked at her gate as well as others: so the best of men are overtaken: To go no further than our pattern. The seer is fallen blind, the guide hath lost his way, the charmer is stung by the serpent, the man of God becomes a man of passion, failing in the common Rules of ordinary goodness and wisdom, for good and wise men may pray for better times than those they live in; but bear with patience all sinister and sad events; whereas our great Prophet whines and repines, denoyd of hope that any alteration should better his condition, & because the would will not be guided by the Polestarre of his direction, he will stay no longer in it: Oh let the weakness of a Saint be our warning; green wood will warp and shrink, if seasoned timber hold not out, and slender tressells must give way when strong pillars bend under the burden: Especially it behooveth us, which is the next point of instruction, never to be so dejected at the view of our frailty as to forbear our resorting to God in prayer. St. james to encourage Christians to that holy duty brings in this very example, Elias was a man subject to the like passions as we are: Elias body was a clod of earth as ours is, his mind obnoxious to the same perturbations, yet he prayed, so let us: for God is not the God of Elias only, but a God rich in mercy to all that call upon him. So I pass to the second motive as the prayer proceeds from a Zealous devotion. Caietan his Gloss is that he was more Plus timuit honori Dei quavi vita sua. Caietan. super locum. afraid of God's honour, then of his own life, and this is grounded upon the reiterated Apology he makes unto the Angel being in the wilderness, The children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant, thrown ●. 10. ●●. down thy Altar, slain thy Prophets, I, even I am left alone, and they seek to take away my life. By which it is probable his fear and care was chiefly for the honour of God, least in the overthrow of his Person after so signal a victory and noble Conquest and triumph over Idolatry, the Orthodox Religion might suffer some reproach or diminution. Elias was the lively pattern of Heroic Zeal; Chrysostom's opinion is that soon after God took away Elias, lest his Zeal should destroy this inferior Globe: he was so severe against sin that he took no compassion of the sinners; so the God of mercy least fire and stubble should dwell together, he removed him to the Company of blessed and holy spirits where he might see all good & no evil. St. Paul seems to tax Elias & he doth it with a Notandum, ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias, that he Rom. 11. 2. made intercession to God against Israel? Good men pray for sinners not against them: Abraham prayed for the wicked Sodomites, and doth Elias pray against the Idolatrous Jsraelits? jeremy prayed assiduously for his nation till he was forbidden to pray any more; and did Elias pray for the vexation of his country? The Husbandman in the Parable entreateth his Master to spare the unfruitful tree, doth Elias wish the destruction of men? undoubtedly holy men have merciful not cruel bowels, when they call for punishments, they are medicines, not execrations, but predictions either by outward afflictions to procure their conversion, or by death to intercept the progress of sin, or by some wholesome example to terrify others from the like offence. So Elias did, and so he might pray against Jsrael. And it is no marvel he prayed against them, for he bends his Zeal against himself: rather than he would live to see his God dishonoured, he is willing to resign his precious life: This should be the affection of all God's Servants, to hold nothing so dear as the honour of their Master. Let me parallel this story with another like it, of St. Chrysostome. Elias was persecuted by jezabel a Queen, Chrysostome by Eudoxia an Empress, Chrysostomis Epist. ad Ciriacum. both threatened with death: The holy Father taking it into his meditations writing to his friend, thus he Resolves, What if the angry Empress banish me my native soil and sweet country? all the earth is the Lords, and I shall be as near to heaven any where, as at Constantinople: what if I be thrown into the sea? jonah prayed in the whales belly: say I shall be sawn asunder, the noble Prophett Esay underwent that condition. What if my head be taken from my shoulders? Herodias heels tripped off john Baptists head: what if I be stoned to death? Stephen the Proto-martyr passed to heaven through a shower of stones: Suppose my Bishopric be taken away, I will remember Job: Naked came I out of my Mother's womb, and naked I will return. Memorable is that in Josephus, when Titus had taken and josephus' lib. 6. de bello judaie. sacked Jerusalem, the Priests came & beged their lives of him: that merciful Prince and Darling of mankind caused them to be slain as degenerate wretches, that would overlive their Temple and their Religion; he is not worthy of life who will not adventure it for the author of life. To conclude this second motive, let us always have that preparation of mind in the phrase of Tertullian to retaliate blood Crurorem cruore reponere. with blood: our Saviour in great plenty shed his most precious blood for us, be we ready to spend our lives for him, and with Paul and Barnabas to jeopard them for his Gospel: although our lives in respect of his are but stubble to Pearl; yet being the greatest oblation we can offer, it will be most acceptable, most rewardable: The loss of life for his cause is the saving of it. Elias suit for death was never granted, he never died at all, but was conveyed not into Earthly Paradise, the Deluge made that pleasure desolation; nor stayed he in the Aerial Heavens, too unquiet and disconsolate a place amongst Storms and Thunders, Lightnings and Tempests. St. Chrysostome says, it affrighted the Prince of the Air to see him ride so gloriously through his quartér. Nor did he rest among the Spheres to be rapt and whirled about by their diurnal motion; not to the highest heavens, that Prerogative was reserved for the World's Saviour: no Soldier triumphs before his General, but God translated his inflamed Zealot and earthly Seraphin, into a happy and blessed estate, in the bosom of Abraham, with this Privilege, others were there before in soul; he both in soul and body. Now proceed we from the Motives forerunning the Prayer, to the Reasons attending upon it. You have heard of some, as of St. Paul, eloquently pleading without any Advocate to save his life, before Felix, Fesius, and Agrippa, and by an Appeal taking truce with death: But here is one in the Text pleading for death, and finding Reasons why he should live no longer. His Arguments are in number two. The first is drawn from the satiety of life: It is now enough, as if he should say thus in effect: I have lived long enough to myself, long enough to my Country. First, to myself, it pleased thy divine goodness, by making me an instrument of thy glory to advance my own, so as I shall leave an high reputation and a venerable name to all posterity: and for my Country, such thy mercy, by my means they enjoyed much good; spiritual good, I reclaimed them, (although they be now relapsed) from Idolatry to the Service of thee their true and only God: I was the Reformer of their corrupted manners; my rugged Robes and hairy Habit condemned their proud attire; my austere and strict life, taught them to amend their loose and licentious conversations: As a retired Eremite I sequestered myself from humane society, to let them see 'twas less dangerous to dwell among brutes then bestial men. And for good temporal, I turned their drought into Rain, and their famine into Plenty, having in my whole course equalled, nay, transcended the period of Mortality, It is now enough O Lord. His second Argument is drawn from the common law of nature: I am no better than my Fathers, my Ancestors in time, my Predecessors in profession are all arrived at their wished Port; why shouldst thou prolong my days by miracle, sometimes appointing the Ravens (those unclean birds by thy law) and unnatural in their kind, to be my Cators, as at the brook Carith? Sometimes by multiplication of the old store, or by creation of new provision, turn meal barrels into Granaries, and cruets of oil into Fountains, as at the Widows of Sareptah. I desire not the producing of my misery, the preservation of my life by extraordinary ways, let me pass O Lord the common way of all my Fathers, For I am no better than my Fathers. Observe in Elias Arguments, his method, and modesty, how orderly he ranks his Reasons: There goes a sufficit before tolle animam: He doth not ask death of God until he hath performed great service unto the Lord in his life; for it is a preposterous course to demand wages before the work be done: Rest comes after labour, no Soldier looks for a donative until the war be overpast; no Mariner calls for a fair wind until his vessel be full fraught: It is no matter how long or how short our lives be, but how good. The Moral man saw this; Life is long enough if full of good: St. Augustine's similitude expresseth this well, Augustin. Epist 28. As a Musician tarrying long upon one string, little upon another, his lightest touch makes not perhaps so loud a sound, but as sweet an harmony: So in God his Consort, (who, as the Prophet speaks, keeps true time,) they make as good music, that is, glorify God in their calling, unto whom he vouchsafeth a short life, it being both ornatus & ordinatus cursus, as they who enjoy the longest. The Sun and Moon those Fountains of light, and guides of time, fulfil their courses in a short season. The dimmer Planets are a longer while wheeling about. The Scripture compares our life to Herbs and Flowers, A Flower is Res Spectaculi, Spiraculi: Delighting our eyes with various colours, pleasing our sense with sweet savours, but withal of a fading substance: Say they escape the browsing mouth of the beast, the pruning knife, the plucking hand, the nipping air, the violent wind; they will wither of themselves. Of such mettle are we made: Imagine we could be free from Asaes' Gout, Naamans' Leprosy, Jorams Iliaca passio, Jobs unsavoury breath, Hezekiabs botch, Lazarus biles, the woman of Syrophenissa's dysentery, Publius' Fever, and all diseases whereof the body of man is a Lazaretto, and Receptacle; Galen found in one little part of the eye an hundred several infirmities: could all these be avoided, yet our bodies of their own accord would moulder into earth from whence they came. Since they are Flowers, use we them like Flowers, which last long if they be distilled into sweet waters: distil we our lives into holy and virtuous Actions; distil them into the works of Piety; distil them into the works of Charity, this is the way to make a short life last long; no Babylonian Tower, no Egyptian Pyramid, no Rhodian Colossus, no Mausolian Tomb, no Triumphal Arch, no life-counterfeiting Statue, can give such life of memory, as a life itself transacted in worthy designs, for, Glorious (says the Wiseman) is the fruit of Wisd. 3. 15. good labours, perpetual is the memory of the Righteous, one generation proclaiming their virtues unto another. So then have we in our allotted stations served God in uprightness, and sincerity of heart, have we endeavoured in the utmost extent of our ability to do good, to our Religion, our King, our Country, our Brethren? is there a sufficit in our lives? We must hold our life in patience, but we may put death in our prayers: when Paul may say he hath fought a good fight, kept the faith, finished his course, than he may come to his Cupio dissolui: When Hilarion can allege his 70. years' employment in the service of Hieronim. in vita Hilarion. God, than he may say, Egredere anima mea, go out my soul, why shouldst thou fear approaching unto him whom thou hast O vita secura ubi mors expectatur absque formidine, excipitur cum dulcedine, imo exoptatur cum devotione. Bern. served so long? when Elias can plead a sufficit, then tolle animam may come after it. O the secure life of good men, when death is expected without fear, entertained with cheerful welcome; nay prayed and wished for with sweet devotion. In the second Argument take notice of his modesty, he esteems himself (though wonderfully qualified) no better than his Fathers: If some small portion of Elias modesty were left in the world, any blush of virtuous bashfulness, the vile would not, in the Prophet's phrase, presume above the Honourable, nor the upstart so highly disdain their Ancestors, preferring the false and fading beauty of recent opinions, before the amiable wrinkles in the face of aged truth. St. Paul says he served God from his elders and progenitors; 2. Tim. 1. 3. from whom he received his being and existency, from them he took his piety and religion; and he commends the derivative faith of Timothy, descending from his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice; And here Elias making honourable mention of his Predecessors, tells us we owe unto them a double memory; First, of their lives, as Adamants to draw us to the imitating of their virtues: Secondly, of their deaths, as monitors to put us in mind of our own mortality. All virtues Moral and Divine have been by our Ancestors most fully exemplified: when a Poet would encourage a young Spark to noble undertake, he doth it by this very way: Te Pater Aeneas, & awnculus excitet Hector. Virgil. Let thy father Aeneas and thy uncle Hector be thy Guides. Would you learn faith and confidence in God? think upon your Predecessor Abraham the Father of the faithful; Desire you to lead a pure, chaste life? think upon your Predecessor Joseph; Would you meekly sustain afflictions of mind, and tormenting diseases of body? think upon your Predecessor job; would you be zealous in the cause of God, and his Orthodox truth? think upon your Predecessor Elias. The Wisemen of the East had but one Star to guide them unto our Saviour's cradle, but we so many of our Predecessors, as have led holy and Regular lives; so many Stars enlightening our way, so many Lodestones to draw us unto goodness; our Ancestors having run their Race, resigned the torches of their life, and Sicut cursores vitai lampada tradunt. Lucret. withal left us the lamps and lights of their example. 2. It is very good and wholesome for them also, who spend their days in sin and vanity to reflect their eye upon their Predecessors: Let the covetous aiming at wealth, and doing no good with it, think upon his Predecessor Nabal, who ten days together lay as a block without sense, motion, or show of life. Let the Ambitious aspirer think upon his Predecessor Absalon meeting with a tree in the forest, which heard not his father's Caveat for his life, but became the Revenger of his ingratitude, and the fatal instrument of his destruction. Let the Lascivious wanton wallowing in sensual delights, think of his Predecessor Zimri dying in the act of his sin: Let the Capacious Funnel, able to do as much alone, as Zerxes multitudinous Army, dry up an Hellespont, think upon his Predecessor Balthasar perishing in his carousing Bowls: Let the vayneglorious boaster, proud of what is not his own, think of his predecessor wormeaten Herode cut off in the midst of his glorious Harangue. And let all true Repentant sinners think on their Predecessor David, whose bed swam in tears, and of the three syllables reconciling his angry God unto him; of his Predecessor Peter, recovering more grace by weeping, than he lost by sinning; of his Predecessor Mary Magdalen, who became a Lebete Phiala, of a Cauldron seething and boiling in lust, a Crystal vial of pure Chastity. And let all disconsolate souls flying with Elias for shelten to the junipertree, think of their Predecessor Jesus, who died on the tree: under his Cross is the true shade; Oh good, and desirable is the shadow Bona & desiderabilis umbra sub alis tuis, jesu ubi tutum fugtentibus refugium, gratum fessis refrigersum. Bern. Hom. 2. super Missus est. Quantum libet $otis anxietatum pate res vita praesentis. Propinet afflictio, parua toleramus, si recordamur quid biberit ad patibulum qui invitat ad celum. Sid. Apollinar. lib. 9 Epist. 4. under thy wings Lord Jesus; there is the safe Sanctuary to fly unto, the most comfortable refreshing of all sin and sorrow; whatsoever cups of affliction this life propines unto us is nothing to the bitter draughts he drank upon the Cross who invites to heaven: Let us all think of our Predecessor treading the Paths of death before us; we have erred with our Fathers, we are Pilgrims and strangers upon earth as all our Fathers were, we must dye as our Fathers did; For we are no better than our Fathers. The third and last part is, the prayer itself, Tolle animam; out of it there do naturally flow these two Corollaries. The first, that life is no such jewel, but a good man may find time and cause to be weary of it, or else Elias had never been at tolle animam. The second, that there is a more blessed life after this life, or else Elias could not have been so mad as prodigally to cast away his life present. To the first Life may be considered two ways: First, as God at first gave it: Secondly, as we now enjoy it. The life which God gave had five prerogatives; two without man; three within him; without him God and his blessed Angels to protect him; beside, Paradise the pleasing seat of his Habitation: Within him, Knowledge, Righteousness, and Immortality; his knowledge exceeding ours in three particulars. First, in amplitude and extent, reaching to God, the creatures, and himself. Secondly, in the excellent manner, not as we by conjectural probability derived from effects, but by evident demonstration out of the causes. Thirdly, for duration or continuance; ours is gotten with difficulty and easily lost, either by discontinued intermission and cessation, or the brain and fancy may be distempered, as in a Frenzy, or the memory dulled as in a Lethargy. Secondly, man was created Righteous, that Righteousness was the rectitude and integrity of the whole man, whereby his soul was obedient unto God, his body to the soul. This was the Crown and Diadem of man's life. Thou hast Crowned him with glory and worship, adorned him with grace and holiness: An happy life was that, wherein Methusalem living almost a thousand years should not have offended once; whereas now the most righteous man falls seven times, that is, oftentimes a day. Lastly, that was a kind of Immortal life; a thing is said to be incorruptible three ways: First, in respect of the matter, either which it hath not, as the Angels are immortal, those pure and immaterial substances; or in respect of the matter which it hath, as the Heavens, the matter whereof they are made, being insusceptible of any form but one. Secondly, in regard of the form; so the body of Adam was immortal as the widow's oil lasted in the cruse without diminution, so might his body have endured without corruption, and that by the third the efficient cause, not by any inherent quality, or disposition in the body, but by a supernatural dowry of the soul. God endued the first soul with such a powerful virtue, as enabled it to preserve the body whereto it was united, from corruption, as a Candle enlightens the lantern wherein it is contained: So the blessedness of the soul reflecting upon the body should have kept it in perpetual vigour and health. That was a free, noble, innocent, lively life; But man being in Honour, forgot his God, and lost this life. What is the life we now enjoy? take a short view, of the several ages, of the several estates, of the inseparable adjuncts of our life, and you will find merely to live is no great happiness. First, an Infant, that's a life of pity, In the Ages. ten months close prisoner in the dungeon of the womb, not beholding the light, which when he comes into, how sadly he salutes it, presaging his hard welcome, shaming that he is naked, lamenting that he is borne, repining that he is borne to misery: then if his cradle proves not his coffin, he lives a child, that's a life of folly, in his speech, thoughts and actions; youth succeeds, that's a life of sin, reason is weak, passion strong, concupiscence itcheth, lust rageth, sin reigneth: Manhood the flower of all, is a life of vanity, Man in his best estate is altogether vanity. Lastly, an old man, that's a life of death: The Apostles word is of Abraham & Sarah, when they were old, they were as dead; the head is grey, the face withered, the skin wrinkled, the limbs stiff, the stomach weak, the memory frail, the body crooked, the vital powers decayed, the spirits spent; this is the life in ages; what is it in callings? Man lives either single, and that is a free life but uncomfortable, or he takes a In the calling, wife, wedlock is the school of Patience; demure Sarah chid with Abrabam, blear-eyed Leah wrangled with Jacob, scornful Micol scoffed at David, stubborn Vashtai will not come at Ahasshuerus call, and 'tis no better in the men. Discreet Abigail lights upon a churlish Nabal, Pilate was as unkind a husband as an unrighteous judge, denying his wife the life of our blessed Saviour. This life is either private or public, the private is simply the best; Joseph saw it when he advised his brethren rather to continue Shepherds, then to stay with him in Pharoahs' Court: Old Barzillay found it refusing David his courteous offer, and would not exchange his private Roguel for tumultuary Jerusalem. The Oracle accounted him the most happy man of his time, who living until he was purely old; never did see any house but his own. Whether we eat the bread of careful industry, or the sweet unswet-for bread of an unacquired patrimony in the most retired, quiet, plentiful condition, something still falls out verifying that of our Saviour, Sufficient to the day is the sorrow of it. The public life is either in Church or Common wealth: The Churchman whether in Chair or cure leads a laborious, an envious, a dangerous life, his labour never at an end. David tunes his Harp to drive away Saul's Melancholy, and he darts his javelin at him; a lively Emblem of the Pastor & most people. When Elias prayers have procured a blessing from heaven, his best reward is a Cave in the wilderness. St Augustine wept when he took holy Orders, & they were Prognosticating tears forerunning his infinite pains in washing Blackmores, whose souls were more tawny than their hides; His perpetual bicker and encounters with Heretics, for such was God his especial providence, that he and Pelagius should come into the world much about one year, that the Antidote might be contemporall to the poison; His wearisome employment in determining secular causes, for then very good Christians believed their suits, could not be happily ended, unless they came through the clear and sincere hands of upright Churchmen. 'twas a grave witty conceit of one of the Pope Urbans, who putting his Rochet on, wondered that being made of so light stuff it was so ponderous & weighty: Above all, affrighting is that speech of Chrysostome: Of all men (says he) I could wish, there were no day of judgement, Deus donorum promptus auctor, sed importunus exactor. Bern. why so? Others shall answer for themselves alone, but I for my people, as Judah was pledge for Benjamin; so many Talents as God gives, so many torments if they be not well employed. There is but one comfort in that calling, they do cooperate with God in reducing souls unto himself. In the Commonwealth, great places are like Pictures, fairest, furthest off, look upon them at a near distance, and there lies under the thin skin b Nazianzen, in Laudem Cipriani. of Honour and dignity, a vast corpse of trouble and vexation. Let all Histories Inspice & disces sub ista tenui membranae dignitatis quantum mali latet. Sen. Epist. 115. be searched, divine, humane. Moses the first Governor of God's people, so tired with the cumber of his place, as he desires to be rid of his life: Kill me Lord, and I will account it for a favour. Augustus had relinquished his Sovereignty, as soon as he obtained it, but for the pride of his wife Livia. Dioclesian did surrender it, and turning Gardener, found his Plants more pliable than his people: and Charles the fifth, enjoyed more sweet repose in a Monastery then in a Monarchy. As in Supreme, so in subordinate Governors, He that with care and conscience doth execute the duties of his place, although he live upon drowsy Poppies, and stupifying Mandragora's, shall hardly get time for secure rest, but be like the c Livi. Drusus. Roman who in all his life had never leisure to keep Holiday. You d Nehem 11. 24. Pethahiahs' who are at the King's hand in matters concerning the People, did it become modesty to rifle your secret thoughts, you have your share in Elias his prayer, when just commands are more questioned then obeyed, and sincere Actions meet with sinister interpretations; when common and easy burdens are not borne with dutiful cheerfulness, nor public cares sweetened with benign acceptance; nay when all possible endeavour that people may lead godly, quiet, and peaceable lives, is performed, and requited with murmuring instead of blessing, is not this enough to produce Elias Wish? Even the poor beasts when they are weary make haste Quamadmodum pecoribus fatigatis, velocior domum gradus est. Sen. de Clem. home. Thus passeth Man's life in the callings. The Adjuncts of life are two In the adjuncts of life. Sin, Misery. In my private meditations upon this Point, I purposed to describe unto you the Actions wherewith the sinful life of man is distained, but when I surveyed the lives of wicked men, so many sins presented themselves, that I knew not where to rank them, so ugly in shape as I durst not look upon them; and when I considered the lives of the best, and the a Aug veh laudabili. etc. woe denounced unto the most laudable life of men, that the whole life of a deuoutbSaint was but sin and barrenness; I stood amazed until I remembered there Tota me terret aut peccatum aut sterilitas. was a veil to cover them, the Integument of Christ his Righteousness, and a Sponge to blot them out, God his mere Mercy, and man's true Repentance. What a Torment is it to a good Soul to be perpetually struggling with his natural corruptions, never to have truce with Satan's Temptations, and to see and suffer, nay sometimes to be infected with the sins of others? And this is our in evitable condition till with Elias we have cast off the mantle of mortality. As for Misery, as a Centre in a Circle meets with every line in the Circumference: So Man receives punishment from God, from Angels, Devils, and every single creature, the very Gnat having a sting to torment him. Oh blessed Lord, are all our lives in the several Ages so variable, in the Callings so troublesome, in the Companions so intolerable? what remains but with Elias to think of another life, and with Nazianzen to bury the Miseries Narianz, in Funerepatris. of this life in the hope of future Felicity; which is the second Corollary, and last point. It must be so that there is another life, for here they live many times the longest lives who were not worthy to live at all, Here the Israelites make the bricks, and the Egyptians dwell in the houses; David is in want, and Nabal abounds; Zion is Babylon's captive. Hath God nothing in store for Joseph but the stocks? for Esay but a saw? will not Elias adorn the chariot better than the juniper tree? will not john Baptists head become a Crown as well as a Platter? Surely there is great Retribution for the Just, there is fruit for the a Maiora illic accipimus qu●m hi● aut operamur aut patimur. Cyprian. lib. 4. Righteous: God hath Palms for their hands, Coronets for their heads, white Robes for their bodies, he will wipe all tears from their eyes, and show them his goodness in the land of the living. Of the infinite happiness in that celestial life, how should I speak? Earthly jerusalem was portrayed by Ezechiel upon a Tile, so Ezechi. 4. 1. cannot the Heavenly be St Austin wrote two and twenty books of the City of God, how can I bring into the last gasp of an hour, the unity, the plenty, the Beauty, the holiness, the felicity thereof? when he himself confessed after all his endeavour, all that can be said is but a Stilla de Mari, scintilla do foco, a drop to the Sea, and a spark to a fire. This for your comfort: St. John found b Reuel. 21. twelve gates in it, open day and night to entertain departing souls, repairing thither in the true faith, accompanied with an holy conversation: The blessed Angels standing Sentinels for their guard and conduct. A c Corcida Grecian at his death thus cheered up himself, I shall go among Philosophers, to Pythagoras; among Musicians, to Olympus; among Historians, to Hecateus; among Poets, to Homer: a poor Heathenish and Pagan comfort, like Polyphemus whistle hanging about his neck when his eyes were boared out: Mere moral virtue may find great reward on earth, and less torment in hell, but Nihil bonum sine summo tono. Ansel. true good is from Christ; His precious blood opened Heaven for them only which believe in his saving name; And they are sure to go among the Patriarches, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; among the Prophets, to Moses and Elias; among the Kings, to David, Hezekiah, and Josias; among the Apostles, to S. Peter, and S. Paul; amongst the Martyrs, to S. Stephen, and to the innumerable society of Saints, and Angels, whither, as we ought piously to believe, he is transported to whom we perform these sad Obsequies. I hope there is no Auditor in this high Assembly so unequal as to suppose this Text chosen as a just parallel to the Honourable party deceased; for alas, they agree only in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that as Elias, so he was a man subject to many infirmities; of which if any curious ear desire to hear, he will be deceived. I do not remember when David made Saul's Epitaph proclaiming his virtues, that he touched any of his errors, those he washed away with his tears, and the God of mercy hath pardoned; what God hath put out of his memory, ought not to remain in ours: Yet I say confidently because truly, malice itself could fasten no funereous crime upon his life. As when a tree is sallen, you may conjecture what breadth it bore, and how far it spread, by the vacuity & emptiness of the place where it stood: So if we consider him hewn down by death, as a Christian, as a Subject, and as the Father of a Family, he will appear a Cedar and no Shrub. The light of Stars and glittering of Diamonds is borrowed from the Sun, all humane titles are nothing, which receive not their lustre from Piety and Religion. For his Religion he was neither superstitious nor factious, but he served God in that Way which Papists call Heresy, and Novellists formality, a true member of the English Church; he thought of our Church as David of the Tabernacle, that it was very amiable; he embraced her holy doctrine, reverenced her comely Orders, loved her painful Preachers. If due observation of God's Sabath; if frequentation of God's house, attention in hearing, devotion in prayer; if an ear open to Reproof, and a mind willing to Reform what he did amiss; if strong pains in sickness meekly borne, be outward signs to know a good Christian, such was he: I add, if works of Charity and almsdeeds which Daniel held a means to redeem sin, and St. Paul accounted an acceptable Sacrifice, these wanted not. He hath to the bullding of an Hospital in the place of his birth, given competent maintenance for the relief of ten poor people to the world's end. That Noble Act of his I remember with joy. He was the first Benefactor to the Library of Zion College, Samuel his Ramath, where by the pious care and zealous industry of that grave and Reverend Divine, M. John Symson (who, as Camillus was called a second Romulus, merits the title of a second Founder (maugre the opposition of an envious Sanballat) a most Stately room is erected for the benefit of the worthy Preachers of this Honourable City of London, but wants the Furniture of books. Books are the Rivers of Paradise watering the earth: The dew of Vide Sixtum Senens in proem. Bibliothec. Hermon making the valleys fertile; The Ark preserving the Manna pot, and Moses Tables; the Monuments of ancient labours; the Baskets keeping the deposited Relics of time so as nothing ●s lost: The Magazine of Piety and Arts. A Soldier without Arms may be valiant, but not victorious; an Artisan without his instruments may be skilful, but not famous; Archimedes is known by his Sphere and Cylinder. A Preacher without books may have some zeal, but little knowledge to guide it. S. Paul himself although so inspired, found as much want of his books as of his cloak in winter. To aim at Learning without books is with the Danaides to draw water in a siue. Haurit aquam cribris clericus absque libris. What were it for this wealthy City to rear up a Library equal to that of Pisistratus Asidue repetunt quae perdunt Belides undas, Ovid. at Athens, of Eumenes at Pergamus; of Ptolomey, at Alexandria? Were the means of your industrious Preachers answerable to their minds, this good and great work needed no other supply, for they like Plato would give 3000. Grecian pence for three small volumes of Pythagoras, and with Hieronym empty their purses by Nostrum marsupium charia Al●xandrina evacuarunt. Hieronim. purchasing Alexandrian Papers; and with Thomas Aquinas, rather have Chrysostome upon St. Matthew, than the huge City of Paris. O that you knew the sly & cruel Arts of our Adversaries in corrupting books, so as if the ancient Fathers were now alive, they could not know their own elaborate works: you would at any rate purchase true and ancient Copies for your Preachers, that from them you might receive true and ancient doctrine. Remember the loss at Heidelbergh, and seek to repair it by following his Noble example, who in this particular showed what affection he bore to Religion and Learning. As a subject he was exemplary, in this age wherein liberty is made an Idol, and obedience an exile; infinite occasions of State, inevitably requiring private supplies, he was never wanting to his duty: His clear judgement informing him that he must not be a silly Passenger in a storm at sea, who regards more his own trifling farthels, than the preservation of the ship wherein he goes. He knew well that just Princes have power to tame the unruly, and means to guerdon obedient subjects, and he found it. For modestly and humbly carrying his inferior condition, he heard the Governor's voice, Friend sit up higher, and the Honour conferred upon him in his life accompanies him to his hearse: for see a private funeral, but a Privatum funus, fletus publicus. Ambro. in funere Saliri. public mourning; the great Officers of state, and many noble Peers solemnising his farewell. As a father of a family God gave him many felicities, a noble wife, equalling her Parentage by her virtues (for a Generosa semina in ortus exurgunt suos. Sen: Trag: generous seeds rise according to their planting) hopeful children, the pillars of his house, a fair Patrimony increased by his industry (for I will give you no false copy of him.) He was no prodicall Otho knowing how to waste not how to bestow; but a Cato, of whom Plutarch says, he held this Perdere scit donare nescit. Tacit. for a Maxim, 'Twas only for widows and Orphans to suffer any diminution in their estates. He knew that frugality is the pursebearer to bounty, and providence a surer sanctuary against want and debt, than the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and as sure a way to preserve possessions in ancient names, as the Leviticall law against alienations. St Bernard preaching Bernard in obltu Gerardi the funeral Sermon for Gerardus the Steward of his Abbey at Clare vallis, among many commendations gives him this, that he was great even in little matters, Magnus' in minimos his care and circumspection extending to the smallest atom of affairs: The deceased Lord was a Gerardus in his family, and 'tis no mean or petty praise, it being an argument both of an accurate judgement, and a strict conscience, unwilling to suffer; much more to offer any wrong: Happy is he that deserves the title to be fidelis in minimo faithful in a little, he shall be made a Rules over many Cities. Thus he lived, perhaps not wishing death with Elyas before it came, but entertaining it as a Messenger from Heaven to call him to the Supper of the Lamb, whither he is now gone from the valley of tears to the mount of happiness, from the labours of the servant into his Masters joy.. Unto that Blessed place where no Satan shall tempt us, no sin defile us, no sickness annoy us, no death destroy us, God Almighty for his mercy's sake in jesus Christ bring us: To whom be ascribed etc. FJNJS.