A TREATISE UPON DEATH:  
First publicly delivered in a funeral Sermon, anno Dom. 1630.  
And since enlarged By N. C. Preacher of God's word in Scotland at Kilmacolme in the Barony of Renfrew.  
Hebr. 9 27.  
For it is appointed for men once to die, etc.  
EDINBURGH.  
Printed by R. Y. for J. Wilson, Bookseller in Glasgow.  
Anno 6●5.   

Christian Reader,  
IN this changeable vicissitude of decaying time, and continual succession of dying ages, there is nothing more certain than death, which is painted forth in the face of all living creatures, Man not excepted, the noblest of all, who in all sexes, ranks, and conditions must once die, and then enter into judgement. For this radicate moisture must dry up, and this natural heat must grow cold, this soaring breath must fly up, and this surmounting soul must flit out of this earthly tabernacle, that it may return unto its native soil, where it shall rest eternally in these heavenly mansions, stately habitations, and most pleasant paradise of God: Whereunto Christ the spoiler of principalities and powers, our captain, forerunner and perfect Saviour is victoriously and triumphantly gone before us, and now (according to his comfortable promise) is preparing a sure place, a royal palace, for all those, who with a godly sorrow groan under the unsupportable burden of their grievous sins, and with assurance of faith believe in, and long after his saving and glorious appearance. So that we need not sorely and immoderately lament, for the absence of those whom we once dearly loved in this sour valley of tears and wearisome pilgrimage of many stations, every hour whereof is more dangerous than another; Seeing they have joyfully and happily arrived at their journey's end, heaven, and at last are crowned with incomprehensible glory, strengthened with never▪ fading immortality, replenished with exquisite joys of Gods favourable presence, and drowned with overflowing pleasures at his right hand for evermore. These points with many others in that kind I have handled in this subsequent meditation, first publicly delivered by me in a Sermon at the burial of an honourable Baron with his religious Lady both laid in their grave at once, whose names of blessed memory I conceal from thee, for such reasons as I thought good. Which meditation surely I had buried with them, or at least closed up in my study, if not the good opinion of conscionable and zealous hearers had raised it up again from the grave of oblivion, by their diligent search and lecture of manuscripts here and there dispersed far from my expectation & former intention. So that I was forced to review and enlarge the original copy by the advice of my learned and much respected friends; such as reverend prelates, doctors and pastors of our church, who have best skill in such matters of spiritual importance. For I have ever been of that mind, that every wise man should make choice of some entire and trusty friends, who will be so far from flattering and fostering him with a self conceit, that by the contrary they will plainly admonish him of his errors and infirmities, and give him sound and ripe counsel, when there is any business in hand that may especially concern his credit and estimation. Amongst the which the operations which flow from the gifts of the mind have the first place: & seeing none, how capable so ever, is fully adorned with them, he should seek help of others. For God hath not given all gifts to every one; and he who is shorter-sighted than I, may see a spot in my face which I cannot see myself; and it were to be wished that there were more premeditation in this age, so fertile of invention, wits and writs. Did the Greek orators and Poets go to their Athenaeum, and the Latin to their Aedes palatinae, for to consult with the most learned of their time about the divulgating of their monuments; and we who have more divine documents then ever any paganish Writer could dream of, bring forth so abortive fruits? As for myself, I will not answer for others, but if I had had no other to take counsel by, surely this lucubration should never have seen the face of the sun, or come unto the hands of these censuring and critic days: where there is nothing so good, but it hath its own carpers and enviers, nothing so bad, but it hath its own favourers and embracers. In it I meddle not with curious and fruitless questions, new doctrines, dangerous tenants, accompanied with variety of ostentative and sophisticate learning, and farded with the abused colours of prattling and adulterate eloquence, wherewith too many seek their own praise, by disgracing their sincere profession, by venting their lofty presumption, by scandalising their holy mother the church, by defiling the white robe of Christ's righteousness, laid abroad to us in the gravity, integrity, simplicity, and majesty of divine scriptures, which ought to be the only square and rule of our actions, the touchstone of our speculations, and the sovereign judge of all our controversies. Which controversies alas, to the unspeakable grief of the better sort, to the pitiful seduction of some miscarried simple ones from the purity of truth to the impurity of error, to the inevitable destruction of many obdurate ones to fearful and damnable inconveniences, what by sects, schisms and heresies this long time ago, what by oppressions, murders, massacres, as bloody consequences, have troubled the peace of this Christian world. Neither did I suffer this sermon to come to open light, because it was my own brood, and first issue upon that grave purpose, which requireth more years, deeper learning, sounder judgement, longer experience, than I, a youth, can attain to for the present, but because of two reasons which I add to the former: The first is, because there is no meditation more familiar to me then that of death: Out of the country, many thousands did fall on every side of me: and in my country, since my admission to this painful and dreadful cure of souls, one special point of my charge is to visit those good Christians (over whom I watch) at their last farewell to this world, that I may render a joyful and comfortable account of them to my Master the great shepherd of the flock. The second reason is, because of two men, whom I highly honoured during their pilgrimage here; The one was a principal nobleman of my paroch, who in his journey to heaven took such pleasure in reading this meditation, that he himself did dict it to one of his servants a little before his death. And I dare say, without flattery, that his generous and religious soul did even in this life in a singular manner taste of the glory to come. O what divine sentences! O what comfortable speeches did he utter to us who attended on him! O what ravishing contemplations and private soliloquies had his soul with God on his deathbed! These, as so many antidotes, preservatives & corroboratives he used against that last agony: By these, as so many scales he climbed up to the heavens. The other was my dear & honourable father, who before his departure out of this mortal life delighted much in reading, hearing & meditating on this discourse, and hoping that others should get instruction, direction and consolation thereby, commanded me to publish it. So that I could not disobey him, who was God's instrument to bring me unto this world, to train me up in the fear of the Lord, and who both in, and out of the country, did prosecute me with his tender & fatherly affection in my painful travels, and dangerous expeditions for the golden fleece of virtue, & whose life was a clear mirror of Christian charity, yea above his power oftentimes, which he did recommend to his children: for the Lord blessed him with abundance to the end, and in the end crowned his former favours with a pleasant and peaceable death, which he oft craved at God's hands, and which was a matter of greater contentment to me, then if he had left me heir of whole territories, which with the rest of the toys of this perishing world have but transitory joys, like clouds rising in the morning, but dissolving ere night without any memory of them at all. Nevertheless, honourable birth, good education, the pattern of worthy acts, and the immortal fame of renowned ancestors, either in church or policy, communicated to the emulous posterity for imitation, is not the least portion of humane inheritance: and he who follows their famous examples, engraven with letters of gold in chests of cedar, or in tables of marble, in the never-decaying temple of sacred memory; he (I say) is not only in the way to worldly honour and preferment, but also their footsteps lead him from grace to glory, which is the most precious purchase a Christian can acquire. Without the which all is but dung and dross: for one drachma of goodness is better than a whole world of greatness; even as a little pearl is of greater worth, than a big rock of flint; or as the sun is higher esteemed than the whole body of the firmament spangled with stars, every one striving with another in beauty.  
To be short then, it is no inbred opinion of myself, who am conscious of many infirmities in this body of death, that maketh me to acquaint thee (O Christian Reader) with this funeral meditation, which perhaps may live when I am dead. In the mean time I wish it may teach thee, me, and other mortal men, our Christian duty in this point, rest with us familiarly at home, warn us in our journey, remember us of our present mortality, guard us against our last enemy, prepare us for that future immortality and full happiness of soul and body conquered to us by the victorious death, and meritorious passion of the only son of God our only Saviour: In whom I rest ever,  
Thine to power, N. C.   

Ad Lectorem.  

SI procul obscuri tenebris ab inertibus Orci  
Sit tibi propositum succinctae stamina vitae  
‛ Ducere per virtutis iter▪ dum fata diesque  
Suppeditant; animam ne mors inopina labantem  
Auferat incauto, neu formidabile Lethi  
Imperium quod cuncta domat, terrorve sepulchri,  
Vltricesve mali furiae, aut quascunque sinistro  
Nox genuit faetu pestes, quodve horridus Orcus  
Spirat inexhaustum flagranti pectore sulphur,  
Solicitent miseram trepid â formidine mentem:  
Huc ades, en Campbellus opem tibi praebet anhelo  
Ante ferens gressus. Vt quae (velut orba carina  
Remige) Jactatur variis impulsa procellis  
Fortunae instabilis, tandem mens edita coelo  
Assuescat patriam paulatim agnoscere sedem.  
Ille etenim ingenii nixus pernicibus alis,  
Judicioque nitens memori, quae docta vetustas  
Naturae ê tenebris hausit ratione sagaci:  
Et quae sancta cohors patrum (quos inclyta virtus  
Reddidit aeternos) veriquoque fontibus hausta  
Mandavit scriptis; & quae ter maximus orbis  
Conditor indulsit divina oracula terris,  
Hoc except a tulit tenui comprensa libello.  
Ex quibus instructus triplici penetralia Ditis  
Agmine perrupit saevi, mortisque ferocis  
Spicula contundens, vinclis dare colla coêgit.  
Qud tu magnanimo superat â morte volatu  
Aethereas subeas sedes, lautaeque Deorum  
Accumbas mensae, factus novus incola coeli.   
PATRICIUS CAMPBELLUS.   

A preface before the Sermon.  
YE are all here convened this day to perform the last Christian duties to a respected and worthy Baron, with his honourable Lady, who both have lived amongst you in this land, and whose embalmed corpse, both ye now honour with your mourning presence, and happy farewell to their grave. I am here designed to put you all in mind by this premeditate speech, that the next case shall be assuredly ours, and perhaps when we think least of it. Therefore that I may acquaint these who need information in this point with the nature and matter of such exhortations, let them remember with me that there are two sorts of funer all sermons, approved and authorized by our reformed churches in Europe: The first whereof, I call, for order's sake, Encomiastic, or Scholastic, because it is spent in the praise of the defunct, and only used in schools, colleges, academies, and universities, by the most learned; And this is ordinarily enriched with pleasant variety of strange languages, lively lights of powerful or atorie, fertile inventions of alluring poesy, great subtleties of solid Philosophy, grave sentences of venerable fathers, manifold examples of famous histories, ancient customs of memorable peoples and nations; and in a word, with all the ornaments of humane wit, learning, eloquence. Which howbeit I might borrow for a while, yet I lay them down at the feet of Jesus, and being sent hither not by man, but by God, whose interpreter and ambassador I am, I prefer before them the smooth words of Moses, the stately of Esay, the royal of David, the wise of Solomon, the eloquent of saint Paul, and the ravishing of saint John, with the rest of divine writers, Gods penmen, out of whose inexhausted treasury of heavenly consolation, and saving knowledge, I wish to be furnished with the secret preparation of the sanctuary, and to be accompanied with the full power and evidence of the spirit of my God. For there is another second sort of funeral sermons, which I call Ecclesiastic, or popular, viz. when the judicious and religious preacher, only for the instruction and edification of the living, frequently assembled at burials, and earnestly desiring at such doleful spectacles to be rejoiced in the spirit of their minds, taketh some convenient portion of scripture, and handleth it with piety, discretion, moderation, to his private consolation, the edification of his hearers, and the exaltation of the most high name of God. So that having no other ends but these three, and taking God to be my witness that I abhor all religious or rather superstitious worship given to the dead, and being naturally obliged to come here, and oftentimes requested by my near and dear friends, yea abundantly warranted by these who have the priority of place in church government above me, and as it seemeth by your favourable silence, and Christian attention, invited to speak, I have purposed by the special concurrence, and assistance of the spirit of my God, to deliver unto you a brief meditation upon death. Pray ye all to God to engrave it by the finger of his allpearcing spirit in the vive depth of my heart, that again by way of spiritual communication, I may write it upon the tables of your hearts (as it were) with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond, that both preacher and hearer may lay it up in their memories, and practise it in their lives and conversations. And I entreat you all (and most of all these who are of a tender conscience) I entreat you I say, in the tender bowels of mercy, not to misconstruct my coming hither, which ought rather to be a matter of singular comfort, then of prejudged censure; a matter of profitable instruction, rather than of envious emulation; a matter of pious devotion, then of repining contention. I think not shame, with the glorious apostle to preach in season, and out of season, for the converting, winning, and ingathering of souls. I do not say this, That I consent to these who contemn and condemn altogether such meetings; for albeit I would confess unto them, that the time, place, and persons were extraordinary (as indeed they may seem to these who have not travailed out of their paroch churches, or seen foreign countries) yet the customs of the primitive church (see Nazianzen, Ambrose, Jerome, etc.) and of our reformed churches in France, Genevah, Germany, upper and lower, in great Britain, and elsewhere, maketh all three ordinary; and the subject of this present meditation, viz. Death, proveth the same to be common.   

THE SERMON.  Hebr. 9 27. 
For it is appointed for men once to die, etc.  
THis is a short, a memorable, a grave assertion. Short, because few in words, but full of substance. Memorable, because a remembrance of death. Grave, because the vive representation of it before our eyes should teach us our frail and transitory condition in this world. But that I may proceed with a clear method, without the which there is no solid discourse, mark these points: 1 The logic analysis of these words: 2 The grammatical and critical expositions: 3 The doctrines, conform with their several uses inferred upon them: 4 And lastly, the conclusion of this whole action by way of application to these two dead corpse.  

The division.  As for the analysis, I shall not be curious in it. Ye see only the subject of this sentence is, Men once to die. The attribute, Appointed; The sentence itself is general, because the appointment is general, Death general; The subject of death, Man, general; The number of death, Once, if unity can be a number.  

The exposition. The appointment of death.  As for the exposition; There are three words which need to be cleared. The first whereof is appointed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, expounded by worthy Suidas, Laid up as a reward; and so indeed death is the wages of sin. Phavorinus following that most learned Hesychius, turneth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is prepared; and so indeed it is prepared for all men once to die: But our Greek and Latin, ancient and modern writers translate it, ordained, decreed, established for all men once to die. I embrace their orthodox versions; yet they will suffer me to explain this word by others in scripture, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is foreseen; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is foreknown; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is fore-purposed; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is predestinate that all men must once die. I confess all these four words are to man divers, modo percipiendi; yet to God, they are all one; who howbeit he be the first and the last, yet in him there is neither first, no● last. So that the meaning is this; It is the irresistible will, eternal decree, unchangeable purpose, unsearchable counsel of the wise and everliving God, That all men and women living upon the face of the earth, must once die. Obj. But this may be called into question by two or three instances taken out of the old and new testaments: In the old, Genes. 5. we read, That Enoch was no more seen by man, but taken by God. And 2 King. cap. 2. that Elias was caught up in a fiery chariot unto heaven, so that they were both translated not to see death. In the new we read, 1 Thess. 4. That these who shall survive at the day of judgement, they shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and caught up into the clouds for to meet with the Lord in the air, and to be ever with him; so that these also shall not taste of death. I answer first, That some few extraordinary instances do not altogether break the band of ordinary courses once set down by God, who is without shadow of turning or changing. Secondly, I answer, That Enoch and Elias, in so far as they were men, they were mortal, but in so far as they were such men, they were immortal, that is, In so far as they were types of the resurrection and of the prototype Jesus, the immortal, coeternal, coessential Son of God the Father. And as for those, who shall remain alive upon the earth on that great day, their death will not be real, but analogical, not actual, but virtual or equivalent, that is, They shall not die as their predecessors, a natural death; but their extraordinary change shall supply or be in stead of an ordinary death. So that ye may manifestly perceive, the appointment of God is surer than the centre of the earth, or the foundation of the heavens: for these two are grounded upon it, and it upon none, except itself, the centre and fundament of all, whose appointment is himself, in whom there is no composition, no accident; Quicquid enim in Deo, Deus est; that is, whatsoever is in God, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very God, him very self, one and the same; yesterday, to day, and for ever. And thus far of the exposition of the first word, appointed.  
The second word is, Death: Suidas by a periphrase, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, a refuge from evils, and as it were a most safe haven after some storm. Phavo●inus, who wrote after the rest of Greek authors, giveth four short descriptions of death, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
The description of death.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is, A separation of the soul from the body; A disjunction of the four elements, whereof our bodies are made; The losing of the life; The chase away of cares. Scripture calleth it a losing, not a losing, or dissolution, not a destruction. Our Theologues they commonly make three sorts of death: First, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Natural death; not that nature is the cause of it, for it is sui conservatrix, a defender of itself; but that it is made common to all things in nature, and under the sun: things also above (the divine nature only excepted) have their own changes, as well as their influences. Secondly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Violent death, when the course of nature is interrupted, by some strange event; common also to all living creatures: And the Pagan's themselves without any contradiction acknowledged these two sorts. The third is called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The death of deaths, called spiritual death; and it is twofold; either first, when a man is dead in his sins, through desertion, occoecation, obduration, impenitence, or last, when a man because of his continuance in the same is cast away from God's presence and union as a reprobate, and consequently is adjudged to the hells without any recovery, delivery, mercy. God preserve us from this estate, and happy shall we be, if we die, before we die, for so we shall not die, when we die; that is, if we die to sin, before our body die, for so when it dieth, we shall not die spiritually; and he that will live when he is dead, must die while he is alive, that whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord, Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords, Rom. 14. 8. For Christ to us in death and life is advantage, Philip. 1. 21. For Christ therefore died and rose again, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living, Rom. 14. 9 And thus far of the exposition of the second word, Death.  

Man the map of misery.  The third word is Man. I know the naturalists, being blindfolded, intoxicate, and infatuate with self-love, and self-conceipt gave innumerable glorious titles to man; and amongst the rest, they called him the monarch of heaven and earth; the midst betwixt the Creator and the creature; the Lord, compend, and picture of this world, a little world, the delight and miracle of nature, the miracle of miracles, yea, a mortal God, and (as the Stoics say) in one thing less than God. But it is to be remarked, that the most solid Philosophers did call man amongst other disparagements, the pattern of imbecility, the prey of time, the pastime of fortune, the portrait of inconstancy, the subject of envy and calamity: Or (as Diogenes saith) rottenness in his beginning, a beast in his life, the food of worms in his death. But to leave all exotic observations, let us speak of him, in the language of Canaan. There are three words, which in the original signify man; The first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isch, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, noble, strong, worthy, excellent man: for in the estate of innocence and integrity, he was created perfectly holy in body and soul; in which sense Philo Judaeus calleth God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the pattern; and man, God's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, image; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, effigy; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, workmanship. But alas, O man, thou hast made a great change, and hast lost infinite treasures, for earthly toys; of holy thou art become unholy; of perfect, imperfect; and art metamorphosed from the image of God, to the image of Satan. The second word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enosch, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, painful, sorrowful, miserable man: for by his vile apostasy from his Lord and King, from his Master and Father, he hath brought shame and punishment upon himself, and through him to his whole posterity, as water is derived through the channel to the streams; or as the sap of a tree is sent up from the root to the branches. The third word is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam; and this word is almost one with Enosch; for it signifieth weak, feeble, impotent man, and so it is distinguished from Isch: As in greek, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differs from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Psalm 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 been Adam; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 been Isch; that is, the rich, and the poor, the noble, and the ignoble, potent, and impotent. But this third word, Adam, signifieth most especially, the matter whereof we are made, clay, earth, dust. And in this sense Moses, Deut. 32. Jer. 22. 29. say, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord; that is, O man, man, man, earth by constitution, earth by disposition, earth by dissolution; set down in the Latin well; terra quam terimus, terra quam gerimus, terra quam quaerimus. And chrysostom saith more, it is our country, ournurse, our mother, our board, our house, our sepulchre: Augustine terms it, our strange land; and Nazianzen, our stepmother: and this is God's own conference with man in that terrestrial paradise, Gen. 3. 19 Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return; confessed by Abraham, Gen. 18. 27. I am but dust and ashes: and by Job, ch. 10. 9 O Lord thou hast made me as a pot of clay, and wilt bring me unto dust again. And this is amplified by Solomon, Siracides: yea the Turks and Pagans, who affirm, that we were once made of earth, & must return to it again, as waters to the sea. And this is God's own voice to Isaias, ch. 40. 6. repeated in 1. Peter, 1. 24. All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof decayeth. Where first, mark the matter of man, in the word, flesh, that is, a senseless dead lump, till that the Lord, and Prince of life breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, and so he become a living soul. Secondly, the continuance of man, and that very short, represented first by grass, which the mower cutteth, the wind withereth, the frost consumeth: secondly, by a flower, which the hand plucketh, the wind shaketh, the rain walloweth, both of small endurance; for one winter taketh away both. Even so man may in the pleasant flower of his age, bud, flourish, fructify; but when the smiting wind of God's decree bloweth on him, he withereth, decayeth, dieth. And when he is gone, were he ever so glorious in this life, there is no more memory of him, then of a beautiful flower in a mown meadow; his loyal wife, his loving children, his near friends, his dear companions, all forget him: and howbeit in the vanity of their ambitious spirit, and pride of their lofty heart, they would erect sumptuous tombs, speaking trophies, gorgeous monuments (only times prey) upon him, he is not sensible of such things; for, Esay 63. 16. Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knoweth us not: and after this life he must be in one of these two estates without a third, either in hell sempiternally confined; and if he be there, what comfort can he receive of funeral preparations, multitudes of convoy, bearing of branches, and such like superfluities, which reach not beyond the span of this life? or if he be triumphing in heaven, no earthly pomp, no humane magnificence, no worldly pre-eminence can add any thing to that superexcellent weight of glory, no more than a drachma to the weight of the whole earth, or the dust to the balance, or a spark to the bucket, or a bucket to the boundless, bottomless Ocean; or a candle can add to the matchless sun in his pride at the midday. And thus far of the exposition of the third word, Man.  

The assertion, It is appointed, etc.  

General doctrine. All men must die.  NOw I come to the doctrines. The first is general, and it is the pillar whereupon I prop the rest, viz. The demonstration of the invincible truth of this 
Reason 1. Whatsoever hath natural original tendeth to dissolution.  assertion, It is appointed for men, etc. by these strong and forcible reasons.  
The first reason is taken from the mother of all things, and especial handmaid of God, Nature: for it hath appointed that all flowers, from the stinking weed to the fair lily; that all trees, from the Hyssop upon the wall, to the Cedar in the forest; that all herbs, from the green grass, to semperviva; that all minerals, from the iron to the gold; from the rough stone to the precious pearl; that all the fishes, from the greatest Leviathan, to the least minime; that all fowls, from the Eagle to the midge; that all the creeping creatures from the Elephant or Crocodile to the basest worms, have their own beginnings, progresses, ends. Because the very four elements whereof they are made, are naturally subject to their combined transmutations, the earth being subtilised to the water, the water unto the air, the air unto the fire, and these unto their prima materia, their chaos, and it unto nothing. And this nature is so pregnant, sedulous, and wise, that it keepeth its own appointed time, as the wise man saith, Ecles. 3. There is an appointed time for every thing under heaven. If time, then there must be a prius and a posterius, a last as well as a first. As for example, the crane, the swallow, the stork, the woodcock, the cuckoo with her titling, know the seasons of the year, according to the course of sun and moon, from which proceedeth the beauty of the spring, the heat of summer, the fruitfulness of the harvest, and the cold of winter, one following after another; and as one cometh, so the other goeth, by an alternative vicissitude of time, which at the last (seeing now it consumeth all things) must be consumed by itself, when it shall find nothing to feed upon. For now we may say, Where are those ancient works made of brick and stone; yea, of flint, brass, adamant, by the most cunning artificers? are they not redacted unto their original inform, disforme dust? Where is the tower of proud Babel, the church of Ephesian Diana, and that glorious one of Solomon? Where is the Capitol of Rome, and the invincible Byrsa of Carthage? where Thebes, with her hundred ports, spacious Nineve, and beautiful Jerusalem? Hath not time devoured all, and much more, with their builders, indwellers, upholders? And shall not London, Paris, Rome, Constantinople, Cairo, Quinsay go that same way? Yes assuredly: for things artificial, as well as natural have their own periods, which they cannot outreach, otherwise they were infinite; a property, which cannot be attributed to any thing created properly.  
The second reason is taken from experience, 
Reason 2 Experience daily teacheth us the necessity we have to die.  the schoolmistress of fools: for it is the surest that ever man got; and it appointeth and teacheth, that our life is a dying life; and that the first step to it, is the first step to our death; and that the longer we live, the nearer we are to death, and our being here is equally divided between life and death.  


Manil. Statius.  Na scentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet.  
Quidquid habens ortum, finem timet, ibimus omnes.  So that the continual work of our life, is a building of death in us: for we die daily; and if we live but one day, we see all; so all days are alike, it is that same day and night, that same sun and moon, these same elements and heaven which our forebears have seen before us, and there is no new thing under heaven. But to repeat things from the beginning; doth not experience teach us, that where there is one come to fifty years, there are ten not come; but to see a man pass his climacterick, and then 80. years, it is rara avis in terris. Never man yet lived a 1000 years, which are but one day in the sight of God; for one age is the death of another: childhood the death of infancy; youthhood the death of both; manhood the death of these three; old age the death of these four; death the death of all: even so one generation is the death of another. To the Hebrews succeeded Babylonians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Sycionians, Greeks, Romans, and to them we who live in this deficient and vicious age: and as they have transferred the lamps of their lives to us; so we by continual succession of time must lay down the same without any contradiction to our posterity. That sun which ye see setting over your heads, the ebbing and flowing of the sea, which environeth us, that earth whereupon we walk, lately renewed, now growing old; and to come nearer, these graves whereupon ye trod in your entry, this Churchyard, these through stones, that dead bell, that beir, that doleful convoy, these two corpse, and that wide opened sepulchre, telleth us, that we must die. And as Catullus saith, 
— Ostentant omnia lethum.  Death is painted with the net of a fowler: and with this ditto, Devoro omnes, I devour all. All things above us, beneath us, about us, within us, and without us, tell us that we must die. Do not all the creatures summon one another to it? the least is swallowed up by the most; the weakest by the strongest. And such is the gluttony and insatiable appetite of man, that he hath not spared one of them, but from the tame to the wild beasts, from the fowl of the air, to the fish of the sea, his womb is become the tomb, or rather filthy retract of them. So that seeing he is nourished with perishingthings, he cannot according to the maxims of Philosophy but perish himself too, being corruptible in his conception, of frothing sperm; corruptible in his mother's belly, of excrementitious blood; corruptible on her breast, of vaporous milk; corruptible in his whole life, of earthly food; but most of all corruptible in his death, from the which he is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in latin mortalis, that is, subject to death: and this is so experimented by man, that one premonisheth another, our forebears our fathers, and they us, and we our posterity, to our journeys, pilgrimages, warfares' end, Death.  

Reason 3 What God decreeth, nothing can disannul.  The third reason is taken from GOD, whom the Egyptians call Theut; the Persians, Syro; the Arabians, Alla; the Magicians, Orsi; the Latins, Deus; the greek, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the Hebrews, Jehovah, Elohim, Adonai, all in four letters, to let you see that he is the God of all nations, the God of gods, who appointed all things to come to pass according to his good will & pleasure; whose appointment is the Cardinal, supreme, architectonick cause of these two former subordinat appointments; for it is the cause of causes; and without damnable curiosity, we ought not to go further; it is a precipice, and we must not cast ourselves headlong off it; it is a great gulf, too deep for our shallow wits; let us admire, adore it. But to leave the infinite names which Lullists, Rabbins, cabalists, Pagans, Divines give to God, he is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the best deviser; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, goodness itself; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of most free will; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, him very self: and so his appointment must be holy, righteous, perfect, irresistible, whose appointment is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whatsoever God ex voluntate beneplaciti, hath first concluded within himself, or acted in the parliament, or secret counsel of himself before all time, that ex voluntate signi must be execute by nature, and taught by experience in time; seeing these two are his loyal and faithful servants, who must not, nor cannot, nor will not control their masters uncontrollable will, who even trystes with them for the real and effectual accomplishment of all actions. Therefore because it is ratified from all eternity in that supernal throne of God's justice, that for sin all men must once die, then for the execution and exhibition of the same on earth, nature must play its part, and experience its part; for of necessity, the severe sentence of a sovereign and inappellable judge must be reverently obeyed. But so it is, Job 14. 5. All the days of man are determined, and the number of his months is with God, and he hath set him bounds that he cannot pass. And 7. 1. There is an appointed time to man upon earth. The poet saith well, Stat sua cuique dies. Hence it is that Deut. 30. 20. God is called by Moses, the length of the people's days: and David, Ps. 31. 15. saith, that his time is in God's hands; who as he hath begun to spin the thredof man's life, so he is only able to spend it. And this is it which the fabulous Poets forge of their three fatal sisters, Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, the spinster, twister, and cutter of the small thread of man's life. We acknowledge no chaldaic fates, no poetic sisters, no blind fortune, no coactive necessity of destiny: but the wise, just, good, Almighty providence of God, which not only extends itself ad vermiculos in coeno, but also, angelos in coelo, and man who was made a little inferior to the Angels; and alas now by his default he is lower than the worms. Indeed Naturalists may know, that there is a God in nature, forming, reforming, performing, confirming, perfecting all things; without the which they could not stand one moment: & this is only a Theoretic knowledge, and it may be without sanctification. But we who are enlightened with the light of grace, and the sunshine of the Gospel, and taught and inspired by God's Spirit, have a practic and saving knowledge: whereby we not only admire his power in the creation, his wisdom in the administration, his constancy in the conservation, his beauty in the decoration, his bounty in the augmentation of all things; but also are particularly informed, and fully persuaded, Deum esse vitae necisque arbitrum. Vtramque vero (saith Tertullian) disponendo praescivit, & praesciendo disposuit, that God is the commander of life and death, who in disposing foreknew, and in foreknowing, hath disposed of them both. The Lord saith, Deut. 32. 39 I kill and make alive. God is not careless of us, as the Epicures have dreamt, but by his special providence he hath such an extreme fatherly regard to us, that one hair cannot fall out of our head, one cubit cannot be added to our stature, with it; without the which a little sparrow cannot fall to the ground. So that ye may evidently perceive, that nature, experience, and God himself prove the truth of this assertion, It is appointed, etc.   

The uses of this general doctrine are especially these two.  

Use 1 of instruction. When God decreeth, man ought not to repine.  The first use is of instruction, It is appointed, etc.  
Then let not us be so foolish as to fret against nature; so stubborn as to grudge against experience; so profane, as to dispute against God: Why hast thou made us thus? for Esay 45. 9 woe unto him that striveth with his Maker? shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? That threefold appointment is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the bottomless deep of the unsearchable ways of God. It is a labyrinth, we may well find the entry, but never get the outgate of it; it is a steep rock, we may well climb up, but the downfall is great; it is an Ocean, and our boat is too light and shallow for it; not unlike the head of that great river Nilus, which could never be found out. So that seeing our days are short, let us say with Moses, Psal. 90. Lord teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. And with that notable pattern of patience, that excellent doctor upon this point, Job 14. 14. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come: always in much humiliation and reverence, prostrating our souls before the sacred and dreadful Majesty of our God, who rideth upon the heavens, and dwelleth in that inaccessible light, clothed with ravishing glory, armed with innumerable legions of angels, crowned with unspeakable blessedness; at whose presence the Cedars of Lebanon are thrown down, the forests denuded, the earth trembleth, the sea roareth, the mountains melt like wax; and all the inhabitants of the earth are as stubble before the fire; the sun and moon obscured, the stars darkened, the powers of heaven weakened, the Cherubims and Seraphims cover their faces, not able to behold the brightness of him, whom the angels adore, the throne's worship, the devils fear. So that we must confess, whether we lie or stand, we run or walk, we sleep or awake, or whatsoever we do, we can neither by force, subtlety or request recall his irrevocable decree, by whose unsearchable wisdom, and unchangeable providence, and almighty power, all befalleth us, that doth befall us. Is it then God's ordinance to day to deprive our king of a valiant subject, the nobles of a peer, the country▪ of a baron, the house of a head, the obedient son of a dear father, and ourselves of a well-beloved and worthy friend? Let us be taught, that the rarest and highest spirits live shortest, and have the swiftest course, and that these whom God tendereth most, are earliest taken to himself: and let us not be so ignorant as to lay the blame upon second causes, such as the influence of heaven, the air, the diet, the complexion, untimely disease, the company, the mediciner; but let us look higher to the cause of causes, GOD; who is as the first wheel of the horologe, which leadeth the rest: as the primum mobile, which draweth about with it all the inferior spheres. To be plain, what are we but clay in the great potter's hand? GOD make us pitchers of mercy, and not of wrath; vessels of honour, and not of dishonour: What are we? not idle spectators, but real actors in the scene of this world; and God is the great playmaster and ringleader: what ever habit or person he commandeth us to take, that we must play well. Let us enact a comedy, and not a tragedy: for this hath a joyful beginning, but a woeful end: Lord make us wise actors, and not formalists, temporizers, verbalists, hypocrites, that in the last act of our lives (which either is the most joyful, or the most doleful) we may prove good, solid, and persevering Christians, that so we may receive the crown of life.   

The seconduse is of consolation.  

Use 2 of consolation. Death of friends to be entertained with patience.  Is it God's appointment to take from us by death these whom we love in their life, as our other selves; such as a dutiful wife, an obedient child, a kind friend: then let us say with Job, chap. 1. v. 21. The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken, blessed be the name of the Lord. Let us not burst out into womanish complaints, O dear father where art thou! O sweet son where art thou! O loving husband where art thou! shall I see you no more! Nor unto heathenish and comfortless exclamations in cursing the elements, or in blaspheming their false gods, thirty thousand in number: nor unto the excessive, or immoderate lamentations of some Pagans, as these of China, who bury themselves quick with their dead: nor unto the barbarous, & savage custom of Scythia, who bury their dead in their stomaches by eating them; nor unto the vain supper fluities of Indian or Egyptiack lustrations, or denicall festivities, viscerations, funeral plays, and banquets called Silicernia, invented by the old Romans: nor unto the sottish and blockish stupidity, apathy, or indolence of the Stoics, who had no more sense than if they were stocks or stones, and defined man to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, id est, well wrought clay, who with Epictetus thought no more of the death of their trusty and best friend than of a pitcher, fallen & broken upon the ground: but we ought to keep a laudable sobriety, & golden mediocrity, having warrant of God, instinct of nature, practise of Christ, examples of the Saints. 1. Warrant of God, who commands us, mourn with those that mourn, for we shall be comforted, Mat. 5. 4. And if he be moved in the very bowels of his compassion for the sins of his people, how should we be moved for our own sins, which procure our death, and the death of our best beloved? for the Christian heart should not be a marble, but a melting; not a stony, but a fleshy; not a hardened, but a contrite heart; and godly sorrow is one of the passions thereof. 2. Instinct of nature: not only the tender hearted Pelican, but the irony hearted Ostrich will love her young ones: the cruel Lioness, the fierce Tiger, the fiery Dragon, the venomous Serpent, Viper, Basilisk will bring up, and nourish their wicked brood; and shall a reasonable mother forget her child, or when it is dead before her, not let a tear fall? or can the son here present, see his loving father, and compassionate mother lie cold and stiff, and not sigh, sob, groan, weep, to testify his inward, howbeit inutterable grief? in such case where the eyes are dry, the heart must be of stone, flint, adamant. 3. Practise of Christ, who wept over dead Lazarus; he might have quickened him at the first instant, yet to express his natural affection he wept: but we, seeing we cannot restore these two unto life, let us mourn for them, for fear the God of nature think us unnatural, who if we shed moderate tears, he will seal them up in the bottle of mercies, till at length he wipe all tears from our eyes, that we may see clearly these quos praemittimus, non amittimus; quos non absumptura mors, sed aeternitas receptura est: that is, whom we lose not, but send before us; whom death will not consume, but eternity resume, as saith Ambrose. So that we ought to glory in this, that in them as arrha's and pledges, and forerunners, one part of us is already glorified. 4 Examples of the Saints, as of Abraham, Gen. 23. 2. who mourned for his wife Sarah. Of Jacob, Gen. 37. 33. who mourned exceedingly for Joseph, whom he thought a wild beast had rend in pieces. Of Joseph again, Gen. 50. 1. who fell upon Jacob his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. Of David, 2 Sam. 1. who lamented with his lamentation over Saul and Jonathan. Of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jeremy and the singers, who mourned greatly in the death of their good king Josiah, which is called the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. Zech. 12. 11. Object. But ye will say, What? may we not weep exceedingly at funerals, being grounded upon that same public example of the Israelites, 2. Chron. 35. 24? I answer. Indeed all occasions are not alike, by reason of the diverse qualities of the defunct, who being all one to God, to man are not so. Therefore if at any time great lamentation should have place, and if the nobility, ministry, commonalty, should utter their inward grief, with outward gesture-of clothes or speeches; than it should be especially at the death of good, godly, and virtuous princes, who because they are Gods lieutenants, deputies, and vicegerents, and vive representations on earth, God himself calleth them gods, and will have them to die like men. Now as in their lives and reigns we ought them for conscience sake, worldly respect, and civil honour: so in their death we should be affected towards their happy memories as it becometh Christians; because oftentimes by the sins of the people many prince's reign: for our sins, alas, our sins they remove the light of God's favourable countenance with the best men in church and policy; who because we are not worthy of them, such as Heroic kings, well-affected nobles, wise counsellors, great officers of state, inferior judges, religious prelate's, & zealous preachers, who are as so many lamping lights and beautiful stars in the right hand of Christ, fixed by God in the firmament of his militant Church, are often taken from us in judgement; and if they be once eclipsed, like the sun, they breed darkness upon the horizon of this inferior world. Did ye not deeply consider, when that God from the heavens did frown upon us, in taking away the only Solomon of our time, our gracious Sovereign King JAMES of thrice happy memory, two of our special peers, two props of our commonwealth; with two great divines, two pillars of our church, followed a little thereafter, and yet we had greater occasion to mourn for our sins then for them? for they were taken away, that they might not see the judgements to come. But not to digress overmuch upon this discourse, receive these two wholesome instructions. The first is out of Ecclesiasticus, a wise, though not a canonic book, chap. 38. Let tears follow the dead, and cover his body according to the custom, and neglect not his burial, and then comfort yourselves for your heaviness, for it cannot do him good, but hurt you. I remember of the Epitaph of one of the kings of Assyria, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Looking upon me, learn to lead a holy and gody life. And if the dead would speak, they would teach us this, Videte quod sumus, eritis quod sumus, fuimus quod estis; See what we are, ye shall be as we are, we were as ye are. To this effect have two eyes in burial, one cast upon the dead, and so there will be none of us so unnatural, but he will be touched as he who feeleth not the loss, but the absence; not the captivity, but the liberty; not the death, but the change of his friend to a better estate. And if we do so, our carriage cannot but be decent, modest, circumspect, wise, charitable; in a word, Christian, another eye fixed upon God, who is all eye, and not only beholds the things of this great universe, but also the very inward reins, and most latent corners of the hearts of men. And if we do so, there will be none of us but will bridle his natural affections & secret passions in such fashion, that they carry him not beyond the bounds of right, reason, moderation, religion. The second is out of St. Paul, 1 Thess. 4. 13, 14. I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope: for if we believe that Jesus died, & rose again, even so also them who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him, that we may all meet where our last rendezvous, heaven, is; and there be united to God, who is the centre of all, yea all in all. And thus far of that general doctrine with the uses thereof. Now let me come to some special doctrines which are as so many necessary consequences of it.  

Doct. 1. Death's stroke is inevitable.  The first doctrine by way of consequence is this, [It is appointed] Then there is nothing in this world able to save a man from the piercing stroke of death; beauty cannot keep Absalon, nor strength Samson, nor valour Josua, nor wisdom Solomon, nor policy Achitophel, nor court Haman, nor the crown Saul, nor an hundreth and twenty seven provinces Ahasuerus, nor the palace Nabuchadnezzar, nor nine hundred sixty and nine years Methusalem: What? the best things could not keep the godliest from the same. Righteousness could not keep Noah, nor faithfulness Abraham, nor meekness Moses, nor integrity Samuel, nor patience Job, nor a blameless life Zacharias, nor the heart of God David. The bark defendeth the tree, the feather the fowl, the scale the fish, the feet the Hind and the Hare, and armour one man against another. And as saith Epicurus, against all other things we may arm ourselves, but against death there is no armour, for it consumeth armour itself: in which sense Alexander the great said to the Gymnosophists, he could not give them immortality. And the wise man affirmeth this, Prov. 30. 16. The grave, the barren womb, the earth, and the fire, they never say, Enough. As the barren womb cannot be filled with seed, nor the earth with waters, nor the fire with fuel, so the grave is never satisfied with the dead. Death is rigorous, inflexible, inexorable, irrevocable, irreparable. This is verified in the worthy Patriarches, or Genearches, before and after the flood; in the religious judges and kings of Israel, in the divine Prophets, Evangelists, Apostles, in the reverend fathers, doctors and preachers of the primit●● and reform churches, in all the Martyrs, with the rest of Gods elect, two being extraordinarily excepted. Yea, it behoved Christ Jesus, God and man in one person, hypostatically united, albeit he was the prince of life, to lay down his precious life for man, dead in sins and trespasses, and so take away the guilt of sin, and the sting of death. So that unhappy is that man who seeks and sues by all means to flee from death; for wheresoever he go it will meet him, either soon or late, or whosoever places his chief felicity here, where there is nothing but misery, or thinks of a brittle and transitory cottage, to make a sure and permanent city: for as long as we are in the flesh, we are absent from the Lord, debarred and sequestrate from our eldest brother, who even now is preparing a place for us, that shall never be taken from us. And by the contrary, happy is he that prepareth himself timously, that when death's doom is execute upon him, he may be found ready for those heavenly mansions, so glorious by creation, so beautiful in situation, so rich in possession, so commodious for habitation; Where the king is Christ; the law, love; the life, eternity; life without death, light without darkness, mirth without sadness, health without sickness, wealth without poverty, credit without disgrace, beauty without blemish, bounty without measure, felicity without any mixture of misery. O Lord take us from ourselves to thyself there, where thou shalt be life to our souls, health to our bodies, sight to our eyes, music to our ears, honey to our mouths, perfume to our nostrils, meat to our bellies, truth to our wits, good to our wills, peace to our consciences, delight to our affections: in a word, as saith Bernard, where thou shalt be the soul of our souls. We say with Augustine, Fecistinos, domine, ad te: inquietum erit cor nostrum donec requiescat in te. Thou art the centre of our souls, we cannot be at rest till that once we see thee, that in seeing thee, we may know thee; in knowing thee, we may possess thee; in possessing thee, love thee; in loving thee, live with thee and in thee; in living with thee, and by thee become one with thee, receive that palm of victory, the garland of triumph, that crown of immortality from thee. Oh fain would we be at thee! but our sins cloy and clog us, and pull us down by the neck and shoulders. O Jesus who art our valiant and unconquerable captain, take thy al-piercing sword from thy thigh, and cut the fetters of sin, & the bands of Satan, that our souls, like so many soaring Eagles, may flee out of these base and corruptible prisons of our bodies, to those royal palaces of that free, new, supernal Jerusalem, the mother of us all.  

Use of admonition. This life should be a preparation to the other.  Use of admonition: Is death inevitable, and the stroke thereof irreparable? then let us in time think upon it. This is the day of salvation, if this sunshine of grace once set, it will never rise again; and we are either won or lost here; and there is no repentance, no preaching, no conversion, no church in hell. In the mean time, this our natural life is but a broken reed, a cobweb to lean unto, which because of the inconstancy, uncertainty, shortness, naughtiness of it, is justly compared by profane and divine writers, to a passenger, to a walking, to a pilgrimage, to a race, to a post, to a chariot, to a whirligig, to a warfare, to a tabernacle, to the flitting of a tabernacle, to a turning wheel, to a stage-play, to a table-play, to dice, to counters, to a tale, to a tennice-court, to a weaver's shutle, to the days of a hireling, to the months of vanity, to the wing of an eagle, to an eagle in the air, to a span, or hand-breadth, to a smoke, to a blast, to a breath, to wind, to a passing cloud, to a vanishing vapour, to a bell, to a space, to a tide, to an ocean of waters, to a ship sailing through the sea, to a gown soon put off or on, to a sleep, to a night watch, to grass, to hay, to a fading flower, to a leaf, to a thought, to a dream, to a shadow, to the dream of a shadow, to vanity, to vanity of vanities, to nothing, to less than nothing. This Epicharmus alludeth unto, while he calleth man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a blown bag. Aristophanes, and Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, like the flies of Aristotle at the river Hipanis, which appear in the morning, are in their full strength at noon, and die at night; like Jonah his gourd which sprung in one night, and withered in another; we are like a blast, and away with us as ye say in your trivial proverb. And this we shall see more clearly if we look more narrowly to our life; euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This Augustine expoundeth, I know not whether to call this a mortal life, or a vital death: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith one, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our life is a violence or trouble, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our body, a sepulchre: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our beauty and colour, a carrion: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our frame and shape, a band: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, our generation is a casting of us unto earth; & another, funus est fumus, our burial a rieke. So that this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a life not a life. And this shall be more manifest if we take a view of our ages. First, our infancy is full of infirmity and tears; when we are in our mother's bellies, the least fall of her may crush us into pieces, the smoke of a candle may smother us, and she is so ashamed of our birth, that no honest matron desireth to be delivered of us in public; And are we once come to light, we creep in our own filth when other creatures take them to their feet or wings to feed themselves. Secondly, our childhood is full of wantonness and foolishness, we hunt after toys and trifles, not able to govern ourselves; wearisome of the instruction of our parents and masters; and when they have much troubled themselves with us, we are not worthy perhaps the pains taking on. Thirdly, our youth-hood is full of vain, idle, and rash pleasures, leading us to debauchery, lulling us asleep in their bosom for to cut our throat, like so many pillules of gold, which under their outward beauty, keep an inward sourness; like so many Dalila's to betray us to our enemies; or like so many Sirens to devour us; or like so many Judass to kill us with a kiss. Fourthly, our manhood is full of pride, emulation, ambition, with thousands of carking, irking, and pricking cares: so that in this life we walk upon briers, and he who hath the crown on his head, his heart is full of thorns, and neither his purple, nor his precious stones, nor the magnificence of his fare, or his court, can keep him from traitors, flatterers, and assassinate's. So that some princes have thus spoken of their purple, O cloth more glorious than happy! Fifthly, our old age is full of sickness, complaints, miseries; for when a man hath done what he can to make himself honourable, rich, learned, wise, than it cometh to the which few win; many wish to come to it, but they are no sooner arrived, but they would be far from it: for with it are catarrhs, colic, gravel, gout, fever, etc. till that death give the stroke; so that we begin in tears, and end in miseries. Astrologers, such as Proclus, Ptolemee, and Aliben, have more subtly then solidly compared our ages (looking to the perfection of the seventh number) to the seven planets, in this manner: First, our infancy, humid, movable, to the moon, in the which having none, or very little use of reason, we live and grow like plants: and in this only we differ from them (as Philo Judaeus saith) that other plants have their root on earth, but ours is in the heaven. Secondly, our childhood to Mercury, wherein we are taught and instructed. Thirdly, our youth-hood to Venus, the days of love, dalliance, and pleasure. Fourthly, the Zeni of our youth, the prime of our beauty, to the sun in his goodly array. Fifthly, our ripe and full manhood to Mars, when we bend our desires, intentions, determinations towards preferment, honour and glory. Sixthly, our raw old age, to jupiter, when we begin to number our days and to apply our hearts unto wisdom. Seventhly, our rotten and decrepit age to Saturn, when we are overclouded with sorrow, tending to the door of death, which lieth wide open at all times to all persons, when the tide of our days shall have a perpetual ebb, without a full plemmura, & our leaf once fallen, shall never spring up again, till that the world be no more. So that ye see, howbeit the spaces of our short time be compared to the heavens above, yet they make us not immortal. For as they have their own courses, which begin and end according to their proper motions: even so we are wavering and wand'ring planets, till that our first mover God settle us with eternal rest. In the mean time, we may say with Job, ch. 14. 1 Man that is borne of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. And with Jacob, Few and evil are the days of my pilgrimage. Therefore let us live as sojourners, aiming at our journey's end; as runners, looking for the prize; as fighters, sweeting for the crown: for this is a strange land, and this world is a banishment, and heaven is our country, and paradise our native soil, and GOD our Father, and Christ our Brother, and the Spirit our comforter, and the spirits justified our kindred, and the holy angels our companions. Why do we not long for them? But alas, poor miserable wretches that we are, we fix not the eyes of our souls upon that life which is hid in Jesus, otherwise we would be willing to lay down this transitory, uncertain calamitous life, for to regain that permanent, secure, and glorious life. Oh, if we could see with the eyes of faith the things that are not seen by the eyes of a natural man, and which wait for us! then ten thousand worlds would not hold us back from them; for if there were so many, they would not be able to content our illimited desires, and infinite appetites. What is then able to fill them? I answer; the sovereign good, the great GOD, with the superabundant treasures of his free grace, and undeserved favour, and bottomless ocean of the multitude of his medicinal compassions. O Lord, drown us therein, that the deep of our uncurable miseries may be swallowed up, by the deep of thy restaurative, and preservative mercies: for this is the life of thee our everloving, everliving God in Christ Jesus. Sweet hearts, pray that ye may be once inspired by this; and surely heaven shall be your home; God your portion, strength, salvation, with whom if once ye dwell there, ye shall lack nothing. What would ye have? Is there a better than eternal life? it is there. Would ye have a crown? Is there a better than an incorruptible crown of uncomprehensible glory? it is there. Would ye have a kingdom? Is there a better than that which cannot be shaken? it is there. Would ye have an inheritance? Is there a better than an immortal, undefiled, that fadeth not away? it is there. And where? where the poorest beggar of you shall be richer than all the kings of this earth; for putting a way his clouts, he shall put on the glorious robe of Christ's righteousness, and receive that crown of justice, weightier than the whole mass of this earthly globe, because it is the eternal weight of glory, and so is more precious than all the diadem's and sceptres of Alexander, Caesar; with the mightiest princes, who now are turned into muddy dust, filthy stink, dreadful horror, perpetual oblivion: for death is able to make us know ourselves one day. It will tell to the proud, that he is abject; to the rich, that he is a beggar; to the beautiful, that he is evil favoured; to the ambitious, whom now territories, and dominions will not content, than seven foot of ground shall cover him, with these two short words, hic jacet; here he lieth; & quem terra non cepit, urna capit: He whom the universe could not contain, his ashes lie in a little pitcher.  

Doct. 2▪ What must be oncedone necessarily, should be done courageously.  The second doctrine by way of consequence is this; (Is it appointed, & c?) Then man should prepare himself not only for the end of this decrepit world that is come upon us, but also for his own end, with a generous and masculous courage, saluting and inviting that which he cannot shun. The thing that makes us so negligent is our not preparation at all: for the day of our dissolution is assuredly at hand; death is at the door, where it knocks it must enter, no iron or brazen gates are able to resist it; it will take the man whom God hath pointed out with his finger; with its flooked arrow it wounds him to the heart, and like a rigorous sergeant layeth hold upon him, and imprisoneth him, till that his life, which is our debt for sin, be paid. This is the King of kings great taxation, from which there is no redemption, exception, exemption, from Caesar to the cotter. For how think ye death will reason with all and every one of us? whatsoever part of argument we hold it will overcome us, for our obligation is personal or individual, & none can sit the summons. Come O king from thy throne! come O counsellor from thy counselhouse! come O courtier from thine attendance! come Oswaggerer from thy clothes of silver and gold! come O nobles from your pastimes! come O prelates & preachers from your chairs! come O husbands from your wives! come O merchants from your shops! come O craftsmen from your trades! come O beggars from your brats! come Caesar, come cotter, sleep all in the dust! And howsoever ye differ in ranks, qualities, sexes, conditions, there is no distinction of persons; king and subject, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, young and old, all are equal here. Juvenal saith, Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat, Death equals the mace with the mattock. And Horatius, Pallida mors aequo pede pulsat pauperum tabernas Regumque turres,— Pale death leveleth the country cabin and the kingly palace both alike. Ambrose more clearly, Nulla distinctio est inter corpora mortuorum, nisi forte, quia gravius foetent divitum corpora luxuriâ distenta; There is no difference betwixt dead corpse, but that rich menscorps stink worse than others. chrysostom more pathetically, Proficiscamur ad sepulchra; ostend mihi patrem, ostend uxorem tuam; ubi est qui purpuram induebat? nihil video nisi putrida ossa & vermiss, differentiam nullam video: Let us go to the sepulchers; show thy father, show thy wife; where is he who was clothed in purple? I see nothing but rotten bones, and worms; no difference can I perceive. Therefore laying all worldly considerations aside; the king his sceptre, the counsellor his robe of justice, the courtier and swaggerer their roaring shows, the nobles their sword, the scholar his pen, the labourer his spade, the merchant his purse, the tradesman his instruments, the beggar his bag: Every one of them promiscuously and indifferently must conclude thus, O rottenness thou art my father, O worm thou art my mother, and my sister. Believe me saith Augustine, in opened sepulchers have been found in dead men's skulls, earth-toades; in their nerves, serpents; in their bowels, worms. This is a grave meditation, and profitable contemplation to thee, O man; and I pray thee consider it deeply with me. I am assured to die ere it be long, but thou art hewn out of that same rock, thy mother's belly with me; and art made of that same stuff, dust and ashes with me. I am conceived in sin, so art thou; I am born in sin, so art thou; I am fostered in sin, so art thou; I am in the prime of my years, but alas, in the strength of sin; I know not if thou be in the first, I know well thou art in the last and worst estate. God immortal pity us mortal men, and prepare us in time to redeem our misspent time, and to number our days one by one, for fear, when the decretory day of death is come, we have not oil in our lamps, and our loins girded towards our Masters coming. And again we beseech thee, O gracious Father, who delightest not in the death of sinners, prepare us, of all sinners the most: for endless and unspeakable are the torments of an unprepared man before, at, and after death▪ O dissolute and desperate sinner, then make no more delay, and let thy conscience be troubled at this, let thy spirit tremble at it, let thy heart smart for it, and let all the faculties of thy soul be afraid of it, that when it is come, ye need not to fear at all.  

Use of exhortation. Timely preparation surest provision.  Use of exhortation. Therefore let us not be so foolish and sluggish, as those who only learn to die upon their deathbed, as if it were an easy and momentany lesson. Augustine, Sero parantur remedia, cum mortis imminent pericula. It is no time to prepare remedies, against imminent death. Foreseen dangers, harm least. But let us study it in the morning, that the evening of our days may be calm and peaceable. Yea, let us gather ourselves together before the supreme decree of death pass out against us at unawares, that so we may meet it with as much readiness of mind, as it is willing with greediness to receive us, who should not be drifters off of repentance, like Salomon's sluggard; or any more supersede, flatter or foster ourselves with vain and deceitful conceits of the immortality of this melting mortality, or admire this dying carcase, which the worms must feed upon ere it be long, or be ravished with the astonishing fabric of our bodies which are but clay tabernacles, and death at our flitting will dissolve the pins thereof. Therefore O young man, remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. O strong man, go not a whoring from the living God O old man, who haste one foot in the grave already, let death be set before thy eyes! And think not, O beastly drunkard, O devouring glutton, but as thou insultest over thy companions in the excess of meat and drink, so thy liver will fail thee, and the powers of death, and of the grave shall triumph over thee ere it be long! O lecherous man, who sowest where thou darest not reap, deflowering virgins, defiling the honourable bed of marriage; the fiery heat of thy concupiscence shall be quenched in the floods of oblivion ere it be long! O avaricious extortioner! O ambitious worldling, howbeit now thou canst pledge whole monopolies, devour widows houses, eat up the poor, rob the altar, yet thou shalt get one morsel that thou canst not digest ere it be long! O generous man, howbeit thy heart now erected in thy breast inthe form of a restless pyramid be the fountain of thy life, it shall be dried up like a summer stripe, ere it be long! And as it was primum vivens, so it shall be ultimum moriens, ere it be long. O brave man, thy noble and strait face, which now contemplates the heavens, shall be defaced in the slimy valley ere it be long! O wise man, who knowest the estates of kingdoms, the secrets of princes, the mysteries of nature, and hast made up a store-house within thee of all commendable virtues; thou and they shall perish together ere it be long! O eloquent man (whom of all men I think to be most complete) thy tongue which now floweth like milk and honey, and poureth Nectar, and Ambrosia upon the famished and thirsty souls of thy hearers, and drowneth as it were the soil of their hearts with a soft-silver running river, shall lick the dust ere it be long! O thou comely Rachel, beautiful Bethsheba, alluring Dalilah, thy pampered and well covered skin, in the grave shall be like that of a drudge, or vile kitchenmaid ere it belong! O young gallant, who art enamoured with thy beauty, thinking thyself another Adonis, Nereus, Narcissus, thou shall be like Aesop, or Thersites ere it be long! And whatsoever thou be, O man, hear what I say, Thy force once must languish, thy sense fail, thy body droop, thine eyes turn in thine head, thy veins break, thy heart rend, and thy whole frame like an old rotten oak shall fall to the ground, or like a leaking ship, shall sink into the harbour of thy grave. The wise man compares thee to a ruinous house, which decayeth piece and piece; but that comparison is familiar to those who are acquainted with scripture. The certainty whereof should wean and spean our affections from the base things of this earth, and should work in us an ardour of mind, a vehemency of spirit, a serious and sedulous endeavour to be delivered from the prison of this body, the Red sea of the miseries of this life, the captivity of sin, the thraldom of our corruption, the tyranny of Satan. Ye know, if a courageous man be many years in a stinking, solitary, and dark prison, he would be glad to change his infamous life, with a glorious death: But if the judge command the jailor to bring him forth to be set at liberty, I pray you, when he seeth the brightsome light of the sun, and tasteth of his wont joys in meat, drink, apparel, company, is he not ravished within himself? Even so it is with us, while we are in Mesech, in the Egypt of sin, under our spiritual Pharaoh the devil, being compassed about with robbers on the land, pirates on the sea, heretics in the church, few or no godly men, we cannot but be plunged in a deep dungeon of grief and sorrow. But when it will please that unappealable judge, that high possessor of heaven and earth, to command the jailor, Death, to lose us from the prison of this body, than we shall behold the glorious face of the Son of righteousness, and eat and drink of him, who is the bread and fountain of life, and be clad with the robe of his justice, and enjoy the blessed company of Saints and Angels in the highest degree of happiness. This heavenly meditation so possessed many godly ones of old, that long beforehand, not hating their natural, but longing after a supernatural life, welcomed and invited death. This made Moses to prefer the reproach of Christ before the court of Pharaoh. This made Elias to cry out, It is enough, O Lord, take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers. This made David to say, Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, because thou hast redeemed my soul. This made Polycarpus to say, Receive me Lord, and make me partner with thy Saints of the resurrection. This made Ignatius, Paul's disciple, Bishop of Antioch to say, I care not for things visible or invisible, so that I may win Christ. And in another place, fire, gallows, beasts, breaking of my bones, quartering of my members, crucifying of my body, all the torments of the devil together, let them come upon me, so that I may enjoy my Lord Jesus, and his kingdom. This made Hilarion to say, Depart my soul, why fearest thou? why tremblest thou? thou hast served CHRIST now almost seventy years, and art thou afraid to depart? This made Jerome to say, Let us embrace that day (viz. of death) which shall assign every one of us to his house, which shall free us of the snares of this age, and restore us to paradise and the kingdom of heaven. Which made Gregory Nazianzen to say, That that day shall make us partakers of that fruition and contemplation of the sovereign good, and place us in the bosom of Abraham, and shall unite us to the assembly of Saints and congregation of the just: where, saith Epiphanius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, viz. The garners are sealed, and the time fulfilled, and the combat ended, and the field empty, and the crowns are given. This made Augustine to say, I desire to die, that I may see Christ, and I refuse to live, that I may live with Christ. This made Ambrose to say, I am not afraid to die, because I have a good master. This made the Apostle St. Paul to say, I desire to be dissolved, & to be with Christ, for that is the best of all: and, That all otherthings are but dross and dung in respect of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. God work this desire in us, for while we are at home in these bodies, we are absent from the Lord, and ground it upon the assurance of the remission of our sins, and our perfect union, and plenary reconciliation with our God in Christ Jesus. The Lord give us grace to be persuaded with the Apostle, that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. 5. But alas, here is our misery, that every one of our bodies is a remora to hinder the ship of our souls to stretch sail within the saving harborie of Gods crowning mercies. God fasten the anchors of our faith and hope therein, that after the tempest of this life we may enjoy peace, and everlasting happiness.  

Doct. 3. It is bootless to fear what we cannot avoid.  The third doctrine by way of consequence, is this, It is appointed. Then let no man fear death: for it is inevitable, and whether we fly from it, or go to it, it ever followeth us at the heels; it hangeth over our heads, as the rock doth Tantalus his head, which cannot be removed. There are, who desire not to hear tell of it at all, and if the preacher urge this point, he becometh odious. To the old Latins this word was so ominous, that they periphrased it by another▪ for when they should have said in plain terms, Mortuus est, He is dead; they said, Vixit, He lived: Abiit ad plures, He went to more: for there are more dead than living. As for the vulgar sort, they are so besotted with a bruitall stupidity, that they think not on death at all. But a generous heart should make it its object, its butt, acquainting itself with it at all times, representing it before its eyes; even in the least occurrences it may seize upon us. A king of France died of a small skelfe of a spear in the midst of his pastime; An Emperor, of the scratching of a pin; Anacreon, of one grain of a raisin; Aeschylus, of the shell of a snail, which fell from the claws of an Eagle in the air; Milon, with both his hands in the cleft of an oak; Charles of Navarre, of the fire of a candle in aquavitae; Philemon, and Philistion, of laughter; Dionyse Tyrant. Diagoras and others, of joy. O what a feeble creature is man, that the very lest vermin, spider, gnat, doth kill him, and yet feareth death, which the Hart, the Elephant, Phoenix, and longest living creatures must yield to, without any grudging or reluctance. Certainly there is no passion more violent in man then fear, and produces more strange effects; but of all fears the fear of death is the most foolish, mad and desperate, for it may well hasten & aggravate, but never stay or diminish the dint thereof, Multi ad fatum venere suum dum fata timent, Many precipitate their end in fearing it. Seneca in O Edip. Optanda mors est sine metu mortis mori: the most desirable death is to die without fear of death, Idem. Aristotle the chief of Philosophers, calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, most fearful, because as it cannot be eschewed, so it killeth the man. Yet this is a maxim, that no sound naturalists will go from, that good and valiant citizens (such as Pericles praised in his funeral oration) should undergo it, for the defence of their wives, children, friends, city, country, gods. And the Stoics themselves defend their Philosophy to be a continual meditation upon death, because the motion of the soul being ravished out of the body by contemplation, is a prenticeship or resemblance of death. And they deemed him to be the best Philosopher, who gave the surest precepts against the fear of death. So in my opinion, he is the best divine, who teacheth himself and others to do well, to die well. Would we die well, let us first do well. Qualis vita, finis ita: such life, such death. August. Non potest male mori, qui bene vixerit; he cannot die ill, who lived well; for a godly life hath a happy death. The very Pagans of old, the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, who howbeit they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened, Rom. 1. 21. and ignored the resurrection of the dead, yet they might have taught many of us now adays, by a spotless life before the world to die well, because they esteemed, an easy death should follow after a reproachlesse life. But alas, men live now, as if there were no death to follow, no hell to swallow, no count to render, no judgement to be executed, no soul to keep, no God to fear, no devil to torment: or else they lull themselves asleep on the devil's pillow, the cradle of carnal security: And with the Epicure, Sardanapalus, and the rich glutton, they never think upon death till it surprise them, and they either care not, because they conclude, there is no pleasure after this life, or else they despair, casting themselves headlong into horrible agonies, and inextricable perplexities. In the mean time ye may wonder, that Pythagoras, Socrates, Anaxarchus, Codrus, Cleombrotus, Curtius, Seneca, Cato, Cleopatra, died resolvedly, and yet they knew not where they were going. Why then are we pultrons and cowards, seeing we are assured to go upon the wings of angels to the bosom of Abraham. Their natural courage made them to disdain it, Mors non metuenda viris, Manhood is not daunted with death, Lucanus. Shall not then our spiritual knowledge persuade us that our death is nothing but a passage to life, a passport to immortality, a door to paradise, a seizure of heaven, a chartre upon glory; or, as saith Bernard, a passage from labour to rest, from hope to reward, from the combat to the crown, from death to life, from faith to knowledge, from pilgrimage to our long home, from the world to our father. And as another saith, It is a change of the cross, unto the crown; of the prison, to the palace; of captivity, unto liberty. Scripture is more pithy, it calleth it, A sleep, a rest of our flesh in hope, a going to our fathers, a gathering to our people, a recommending of our spirit to God, a rendering up of the ghost, a walking with God and the Lamb. Object. But some may say here; Why should we not fear, seeing worthy persons, yea reverend churchmen who led a godly life, and exhorted sundry not to fear, were mightily troubled at their death, and when they should have had most peace, they were most disquieted? I answer. Their fear was a diligent, not a diffident; a holy, not a hellish; a filial, not a servile; a godly, not a devilish fear; because they feared God as a judge, and they hoped in him as a Saviour; they feared him, and so they sued for him, appealing from the tribunal of his justice, to the throne of his mercy; ab irato Caesare ad placatum, from an offended God in the height of his justice, to a pacified God in the depth of his mercies. And I would have the simple ignorant people to▪ know here, that outward disturbances in fits, of heavy, exasperated, inveterate sickness, are not evident and infallible tokens of a total or final desertion: for the godly patients may have inward joy, glorious and unspeakable, which the standers by see not. And by the contrary, some who have led a lewd life, without any remorse of conscience, or compunction, or contrition of heart, may seem to have a peaceable death, and say that they are ready for their God, when in the mean time their heart giveth their mouth the lie. Others desire to die, because of great poverty, or intolerable pains, or loss of goods, good name, friends, etc. But God make us not to fear death; because we are assured of his favour in the pardon of our huge, and manifold transgressions, and imputation of Christ's righteousness, for that is only the thing which justifieth us before God.  
Use of encouragement. Then why 
Use of encouragement. Death is an enlargement from thraldom, a delivery from troubles.  should we fear death? Agathias calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the mother of tranquillity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the stayer of sickness: Euripides, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: the greatest remedy of evils: Aeschylus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the medicine of incurable diseases: Anacreon, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a delivery from travels; which after trouble, giveth us rest, healeth our sickness, taketh away our poverty, endeth our greatest fears and cares. It is the way of all flesh, and it is common to kings and beggars, as well to die, as to be borne. And one of the seven sages, Thales, saith, that they are both indifferent. But to Christians they are both profitable, for Christ in life and death is advantage: Philip. 1. 21. If it please the Lord we live, let us employ our life well, for it is a talon given to us for the use of our Master; if to die, what need we to fear? for all these who are gone before us cry out, Come, come after us; there is no danger in death; all the hazard we incur, and jeopardy we run into, is in our lives. Is not this life a continual misery, a perpetual tempest, a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a common hostage, and receptacle of all calamities, and our death is an issue of these miseries, the harbrie mouth, leading us to the most sure haven, the heaven of heavens, the bridegroom's chamber? 1 Object. Death is most dangerous, and so most fearful, because it is the way to hell, from the which there is no regress. Answer. To the wicked indeed it is such, but to the godly it is the gate to heaven, and hither you must make your progress. 2 Object. It takes away my life, which is so near and dear unto me. Answer. Upon a condition to give a better which shall never be taken from thee. 3. Object. But my losses are great. Answer. Let me never hear that of thee again, that it is a great loss of such a man's life, or that thou losest any thing in death; that is an idle querimony, to the which Socrates answereth, O dii boni, quantum lucri est emori! O what great gain is it to die! for ye may leave an earthly possession, for an heavenly patrimony; uncertain goods, for a certain treasure; the company of the wicked, for Saints and Angels; earth, for heaven; baseness, for glory; unsufficiency, for all-sufficiency. 4. Object. But there are pains in death. Answer. There is nothing without pains, and the better the thing be, the greater pains: but to speak properly, it is the remnant of thy life that tormenteth thee, and not thy death: for what is it but a not being in this world? for when we are, death is not: and when death is, we are not. Now a not being hath no dolour: for as when we were not at all, we found no dolour, so when we shall not be, we shall find none. Wherefore then fearest thou the day of death? for every day of thy life is a preparation to it; and that last period of days is not properly thy death allenarly, for every day contributeth to it. And as the last drop emptieth not, nor filleth the bottle, and the last path wearieth not, nor the last stroke cutteth down all the trunk of the tree, but every one helpeth another: so every day we go to death, and the last, we arrive at it. So that it boats with us, it rideth behind us, and leaveth us no more than the shadow of our bodies, till at last it cut the thread of our desires and lives, and take us from the world, and from ourselves. So that we die at all hours, and all moments, and if we desire to live long, we enjoy a languishing death victorious in many assaults. So that Epictetus answered well to Hadrian, demanding this question, Which is the best life? he answered, The shortest. And Solomon saith, That the day of our death is better than the day of our nativity: for this is the beginning of our dolours, and that is the end, and our access to supreme happiness: for then this body shall return to the dust, and the spirit to God the giver, with whom we shall enjoy a full life, and our passions shall be buried, and our reason enlarged, and the whole man placed in his own element, the heaven his country, from the which he was banished.  
Furthermore, did not Cicero, Seneca, and before them Theophrastus, Crantor, Xenocrates, leave rare monuments and documents, against immoderate dolour in death, as also against the fear thereof? but thou art better taught then those, that death is the very entry to that eternal day, nunc stans feast, Sabaoth, with the Ancient of days, and that the separation of the soul from this body, is nothing but an union and communion with God. And shall naughty soldiers under their temporary captain, hazard their misspent life at the mouth of the canon in a furious skirmish for the pennie-pay, and thou not lay down this tedious life for the kingdom of heaven, whereunto thou hast undoubted right, by thy triumphing general, the captain of thy salvation, the Lord Jesus, the Lord of Hosts? 5. Object. But the pangs of death are insupportable, who can abide these cruel and deadly wounds? Answer. That same Jesus by his glorious and meritorious death, hath sweetened, seasoned, sanctified them to thee in such fashion, that they shall be unto thee like the launcet of a Chirurgeon, which pricketh and healeth together like wormwood; or the potion of a skilful mediciner, which is sour, but wholesome. 6. Object. But the fear of judgement after death, maketh me afraid. Answer. That same Lord Jesus, judge of judges, thy eldest brother shall be thy judge, in that great day of retribution, and remuneration, and he cannot but look upon thee with compassionate eyes, seeing he is flesh of thy flesh, and bone of thy bones, and thy cause is his cause, for he is thy advocate, and intercessor daily. 7. Object. But the pains of hell, which are unspeakable, universal, eternal, are very fearful, and much affright me. Answ. That same Jesus thy redeemer, as he made the grave his bed, so he keeps the keys of hell, and the gates thereof cannot prevail against thee. To conclude then, let us all resolve courageously to attend death, laying aside all fear, ever hoping that the Lord shall be with us, to the end and in the end.  
Blessed shall we be if we die in him, for so we shall rest from our labours, and in death celebrate three solemnities. First, our birth day: for we shall revive. Secondly, our marriage day, which shall be accomplished with Christ. Thirdly, our triumph day: for through Christ we shall triumph over the world, our own flesh, sin, death, the grave, hell, the devil, principalities and powers whatsoever, and receive that crown of glory. So that through Christ we are more than conquerors, who saith, I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy death: O grave I will be thy destruction, Hosea chap. 13. 14. Are we gods in Christ? let us not fear death. Lethum non omnia finite, Propertius: Death puts not a period to all things. I say more, death maketh us endless. Cicero affirmeth, that after death he shall be immortal. Horace, that the best part of him shall live. Ovid, that the best part of him shall be carried above the stars. The Egyptians, Brachmanes, Indians, Thracians, Persians, Macedonians, Arabians, americans, and all polished nations have consented to the immortality of the soul. But here we surpass them, that after death and resurrection, our bodies shall live for ever. This is an essential and fundamental point of our belief.   

THE SUBJECT.  
Men once to die.  
NOw let me speak of the subject of this assertion, Man once to die. It is not said in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to all men; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to men; because indefinite propositions in matters necessary are universal. The meaning is, All men and women must once die. Ovid, Tendimus huc omnes: we tend all to death, and that once. Horace saith very well, Omnes eodem cogimur: Omnes manet una nox, & calcanda semel via lethi. This is a passage common to all; and let it be so, we should live again, we must run over the same race. Catullus, and Epictetus say, That as our life is but one day: so our death is but one night.  

Doct. Death is certain in uncertainty.  The doctrine upon the subject is this: As there is nothing more certain than death, so there is nothing more uncertain than the time, place, and manner thereof. This doctrine hath two points.  
I prove the first, that there is nothing more certain than death, leaving the former reasons. First, from the word fatum, which expresseth the nature of death; so called, a fando, because the Lord hath spoken it; his word is his work. And seeing he hath uttered this sentence, That all men must once die, it cannot but come to pass. So that there is a fatal, infallible, inexpugnable, necessitant necessity laid upon man, once to die. Man is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the end of all, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nature perfected, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a visible God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a compend of this great world; and as the heavens and earth wax old and perish, so he, the resemblance of both, must follow the pattern. I confess with Zoroaster and Trismegistus, that he is an admirable piece of nature, because both natures, superior and inferior, uncreated and created do meet in him. And if these visible creatures be as so many scales, to climb to that invisible Creator, man must be one of the most curious steps of that ladder. If we look within the intrals of the earth, we may see there rich mines of silver, gold, and precious stones. If we behold the face of it, we shall find there such a variety of herbs, flowers, fruits, trees, creatures, which may breed admiration in the dullest spirits. And is the sea less admirable, by reason of the flux and reflux thereof, the quantity of fishes and monsters therein nourished? And is the air any thing inferior to these two: full of fowls, clouds, reins, snow, hail, lightnings, thunder, and innumerable meteors? But when we lift up our eyes to the astonishing vault of heaven, whose curtains are spread over these, enlightened with the sun and moon, and twinkling stars, with their towers, retowres, aspects, effects, influences, we cannot but be ravished with a more singular and divine contemplation. Yet here is a greater wonder, that all these things are abridged in thee, O man, of seven foot-length? And as the world is a book in the which God may be read in capital letters: so both the world and God, may by the most ignorant, easily be read in thee as in a written table, seen in thee, as in a clear glass. Thy flesh represents the dust; thy bones, the rocks; thy liver, the sea; thy veins, rivers; thy breath, the air; thy natural heat, the fire; thy head, the heavens; thy eyes, the stars; thy joints, moving so actively, sinews stirring so nimbly, senses working so quickly, like the secret resorts of nature, But I pray thee enter within thy inward parts so excellent; thy spirit so supernatural, thy reason so divine, thy appetite so infinite, thy soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the engraven image of God: thou mayst justly say, that thou art ultimus naturae foetus, the last essay and effort of nature, and the theatre whereupon God may be seen with mortal eyes, representing the four corners of the world: thy face, the east; thy back, the west; thy right side, the south; thy left, the north. And whereas other creatures have their countenance downward towards their natural mother the earth, thine are upward, toward thy spiritual father, God; that thou mayest raise thyself from all earthly vanity, to a serious contemplation of the divinity, wherein are placed thy unchangeable comfort, thy unspeakable contentment, thy unconceivable felicity. Whence I infer this; Whatsoever of us is like to the creature, must die; but that which hath received the indelible character of God, is perpetual. So that our souls are immortal, our bodies are vassals and slaves of death, in which respect we are all said to die.  
And that this doctrine may be the more clear, I shall prove it in the second place by way of induction. Look to the virtues; the stout as well as the rash, or the coward; the temperate, as well as the untemperate or stupid; the liberal, as well as the prodigal or avaricious; the magnificent, as well as the niggard or vainglorious; the magnanimous, as well as the proud or pusilanimous; the modest; as well as the ambitious or base minded; the meek as well as the angry, or angerlesse; the courteous, as well as the flatterer, or churlish; the sincere, as well as the dissembler, or bragger; the civilised man, as well as the rustic, or the scoggen, or the officious pleasant; the just as well as the unjust, must all once die. The stout man may fight against death; the temperate man keep a sober diet to prolong his life; the liberal propine it; the magnificent make expenses; the magnanimous disdain it; the modest smile at it; the meek embrace it; the courteous cherish it; the civilised welcome it; the just man execute judgements upon others; but none of them can overcome death. Look to the superior faculties. The religious divine in foro poli; the curious lawyer, in foro soli; the skilful mediciner in his shop, must all once die. The first of these may teach of it; the second may make a testament after it; the third may prescribe a recipe against it, but none of them can cast off its yoke. Look to the arts and sciences; the experimented Grammarian may find out sundry significations of the word Death in diverse languages; the dainty Poet may make an Epitaph or Epicede; the flowing orator, a funeral Sermon; the subtle Logician may dispute pro, & contra; the ingenuous moralist may discourse trimly upon it; but what can these do, but what mortal men can do, after all that they can do, die! Therefore let not the beaten warrior think, that all his stratagems can defend him, or the polished politician dream that all the maxims of Matchiavel, or the counsel of Achitophel can preserve him. Let not the Geometer be so busy, as to search out the place; or the Arithmetician, number the day; or the Astrologue, tell the manner of his death: let not the profound naturalist wade into the deep thereof; nor the transcendent Metaphysician flee from it: for there is no art nor science under heaven which will learn a man not to die. Look to the ages; the embryo in its mother's belly, the babe on its mother's breast, the wanton child, the rash young man, the strong man, the witty man, the old man, the decrepit man; all must once die. Look to the conditions of men: Prince, pastor, and people, all must once die. And to compendize that which I thought to enlarge, both elect and reprobate, all must once die; they for the abolition of their miseries, and position of their happiness: these for the position of their miseries, and remotion of all happiness. They to be glorified in soul and body: these to be damned in both. So that the godly die, that they may live to God, and with God in heaven; the ungodly die, that they may live to the devil, and with the devil in hell. God preserve us from hell, and reserve us to heaven.  
I prove the second point of this doctrine, which is this; There is nothing more uncertain, than the time, place, and manner of death, as a poet saith, Nemo novit mortis tempusve, locumve, modumve: The time, whether in the spring, summer, harvest, winter of the year, or of man's years; whether at the point of the day, morning, midday, evening, night, midnight, it is uncertain. He that dieth early in the morning, is the babe; he that dyeth at the third hour, is the young man; he that dieth at the sixth hour, is the strong man; he that dieth at the ninth hour, is the old man; and he that dieth at the eleventh hour, is the decrepit man. And therefore the Greek poet compareth man to an apple, which is either pulled off before the time, or else in time falleth off on the ground. And Epictetus to a candle, which is exposed to wind; it may shine a little, and then goeth out. The place, whether in thy house, or in the temple; in thy bed, or at the table▪ in the mountain, or in the valley; in the wilderness, or in the fields; on sea, or by land; in or out of thy country, it is uncertain. The manner, whether by sword, famine, pestilence, sickness, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, rack, rope, by peace, or war, by a natural or violent death, it is uncertain. Of all these I might bring both exotic and domestic examples, but I leave them to your daily reading, and hearing of divine and profane histories. Only I infer these uses upon the precedent doctrine, by way of direction from the dead, and consequently from these two dead corpse lying before us.  

Three directions touching the certainty of death. Direct. 1. In life remember death.  Receive first then three directions upon the first point, viz. The certainty of death.  
The first direction is, Vive memor lethi, fugit hora, Persius. In thy life remember of thy death, for thy hour slippeth. Time is precious, but short; and this is a hard lesson, Memento mori. This was accustomed to be said to the Emperors in that great triumph at Rome, Memento mori, homo es, mortalem te esse memineris, Remember to die, man thou art, and remember that thou art mortal. All these did follow Philip, Alexander the greats father, who commanded his chamberlain thrice every day to round the same sentence in his ears. To this effect, when the Egyptians did solemnize their natal days, they had a dead scull upon their table, to put them in mind of their mortality. One Churchyard in Paris, I remarked, hath more sculls, than there are living heads in Scotland. St. Jerome was wont to have in his study before him, a dead man's scull with a running glass. But alas, such is our folly, that scarcely can we remember of death, when we see the same painted upon the mort-cloath: we may lose a leg to day, an arm to morrow, an eye the third day, and these will not teach us to prepare ourselves towards it. Consumption in the lights, a stone in the bladder, the gout in our feet, the palsy in our hands, 2000 known sicknesses in our bodies, (to omit unknown, for every member of our body is subject to divers diseases) will not advertise us. Our house is ruinous, but we cannot flit out of it. Chance telleth us, that death is latent; infirmity, that it is patent; old age, that it is present, as saith Hugo. What? for all this we cannot be enough admonished. And this is it that Jerome findeth fault with, Quotidie morimur, quotidie commutamur, & tamen aeternos esse credimus: We die daily, we are changed daily, yet we think ourselves eternal. In the mean time, in our most lively life we may perceive the very print and footstep of death. For we do see continually, and hear the cries of mothers for their children; of spouses, for their husbands; of servants, for their masters; visitation of sick, mediciners, preachers, in our houses, at our bedheads, all warning us, that we are besieged by death.  

Direct 2. So live as thou wert presently dying.  The second direction is, Fac hodie, quod moriturus agas: so lead thy life as if thou wert even now dying. Every day that we live (complaineth Anselmus) we come from our country to our banishment; from the sight of God, to darkness; from the pleasure of immortality, to the corruption of death. Petrarcha affirmeth, that he had not a morrow to look to; and that to day he was prepared to die. Seneca, a divine Philosopher to this purpose: Dic dormitanti, potes non expergisci; dic experrecto, potes non dormire ampliùs; dic exeunti, potes non reverti; dic redeunti, potes non exire: id est, Tell to him that sleepeth, it may be that he awake not; and to him that is wakened, that perhaps he shall sleep no more; and to him that goeth forth, that he shall not return; and to him that returneth, that perhaps he shall not go back.  

Horace.  Quis scit an adjiciant hodiernae crastina vitae,  
Tempora dii superi. etc.  

Martialis.  Sera nimis vita est crastina, vive hodie.  
Both did borrow it from Euripides, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: It is too late to morrow, live to day. Happy is the man whose way, journey, time, business, breath goeth together, walking before GOD as Abraham, with God as Enoch, in God as Paul. Happy is the man, who is ever ready, like a ship to lose with a fair wind; like a horse for the bell, not standing still as Joshuas sun, or returning back as Ezekias' sun, but running its race as David's sun. Provident is he who maketh this testament aforehand, and calculats this year to be his climacterick year; this day, this hour, this moment, this breath to be his last.  

Horace.  Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum,  
Imagine every day to be thy last day; for this life is a lead, and not a property; a farm, and not an heritage; an hostage, and not an abode; if God warn thee to remove, thou canst not suspend his summons.  

Direct 3▪ Look always to thy end.  The third direction is, Respice finem: Remember thy end (saith the wise man) and whatsoever thou takest in hand shall prosper: thou mayst well propone, God dispones. Thou mayst entitle thyself with Alexander the conqueror, the son of Jupiter Hammon; and with Sapor king of Persia, brother to the sun or moon, copartner with the stars, king of kings: and exalt thyself with the titles of the king of Spain, Prester John, the Turk, the king of China; thou mayst sail over the mountains with Antiochus, dry up the rivers with Sennacherib, and bridle the seas, as the Monarches in their pride have attempted; who with Edom have lift up themselves above the clouds, as the eagle, and builded their nest amongst the stars. But if thou have not builded upon the rock of Zion, thou hast erected but a Babel, a mass of confusion, and death shall cross, crush, and cut all thy designs, and harbour thee in the place of silence, where thou shalt neither see, nor be seen any more. Thou shouldst then meditate on these three: 1. Respice, Look back to that which thou wast, Earth: 2. Aspice, Behold what thou art, Earth. and 3 prospice, Consider what thou must be, Earth. There thy beginning, continuance, end. Lord teach us to begin well, to continue better, to end best of all: for the end crowneth the work.  

3 Directions touching the uncertainty of death.  These are the three directions upon the certainty of death: receive also three other directions, upon the uncertainty of the time, place, manner.  

Direct. 1 Think everyday thy last day.  The first direction is upon the Time. Howbeit it be certain to God, yet to man it is uncertain: yea to Christ as he is the son of man, who cometh as a thief in the night. Therefore let us have oil in our lamps, and our loins girded toward our masters coming: let us watch and pray, not knowing the day nor the hour. The preterite time is gone, the present is a moment; and the future is uncertain. The day is short, the work is great, our Master is at hand, therefore let us be busy, saith Rabbi Simeon. And if Apelles the painter, thought every day lost wherein he drew not a line: So we Christians, with Bernard, should think every moment of time lost, which we have not consecrated to God. Seneca affirmeth that a great part of our life slideth away with evil doing, the most part by nothing doing, the whole by doing that which we should not do; and in the mean time death cometh upon a suddentie. Doth not one complain that he hath left his house half builded; the other that his victory is not crowned; another, that his meditations are not printed; another, that he hath not married his daughter; another, that he hath not paid his debts? And why? because we are improvident, and have not in time thought upon our last time, which God in his wisdom hath not revealed unto us, for fear we be holden in continual inquietude. Augustine saith well, Vnus dies ignoratur, ut multi observentur: which Gregory expoundeth, The last hour is uncertain, that we may suspect it, and hasten to it. David's child died an infant, Eutychus a youth, Samson a strong man, David an old man, Methusalem a decrepit man. God teach us to be ready at all times, for death is a fixed point which we must touch.  

Direct 2 What we expect somewhere, let us wait for every where.  The second direction is upon the place. Because we know not in what place death will seize upon us, let us wait upon it in all places; for there is no corner in nature, but death reigns in it, subduing all things under itself, as an implacable tyrant. The babes in Bethlehem died in their swaddling clouts, Jacob in his bed, Eglon in his summer house, Saul in the field, Sennacherib in the temple, Joab at the horns of the altar, a marquis of Mantua, Speusippus a Philosopher, and one of the Popes of Rome, in the arms of whores. Let us send short and pithy ejaculations to God in all places, that he who is omnipresent, may be powerfully present with us, where death encountereth us, and in what estate we meet it, in that same we shall compear in judgement.  

Direct 3. An uncertain death requires a prepared life.  The third direction is upon the manner. This is a saying repeated by many, ad vitam unus est exitus, ad mortem paenè infiniti: There is one passage to life, viz. our mother's belly, but to death, are almost infinite. Raman hanged Jobs sons, smothered the mothers of Jerusalem, with their younglings starved to death; Herod wormeaten, those of Sodom burnt with fire and brimstone, those of the old world drowned with an uncomparable deluge of waters. Divers are the kinds of the Saints death; Esay was cut through the middle with a saw; Peter, James, Paul and John, beheaded; Steven, Philip of Bethsaida, and Mathias stoned; Bartholomew his skin pulled off him; Thomas thrust through with a spear; Luke hanged; Andrew, Simons brother, and Christ himself crucified: of the Christians under the Emperors of Rome, some pricked, some roasted to death, some devoured by cruel lions, some by ravenous wolves, some by fierce tigers, some with one or other exquisite torment pained to death. Our lesson is, who are here present, to lead a sanctified, and renewed life, serving God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life, that we may obtain a pleasant, easy, and precious death in the eyes of the Lord; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; an happy death is immortality to soul and body: for every manner of death, how execrable soever, shall be sanctified on the tree, whereon Christ was crucified. And thus far of all the points of my text.  

The conclusion.  Now my Noble, Honourable, Reverend, and well beloved Auditors, lest I should omit any circumstance of this action looked for by you, I come to these two dead corpse lying at the lip of the grave, from which ye have received six directions, and if they could speak any more, they would make up the seventh, which is the most perfect number, that is to say, Learn of us to die, for ye must follow after us; and we cannot come back unto you. So their mouths are stopped, and we need not to speak unto them any more, for they will not hear us, therefore we must speak something of them. To pray God for them, we should not, for it will not avail them; to praise them (howbeit praise worthy) I am assured that critics and censurers would take to themselves larger matter, than perhaps were given them, all consenting with one voice and mind, that I a friend were driven by the violent stream of affection, and the tempestuous storm of passion, either upon the Scylla of ostentation, or the Charybdis of assentation. But I hope the sail of my sincerity shall carry the ship of my mind from these two rocks, to the safe harbour of your favourable audience, and sparing censures; and that my mouth shall utter nothing, but that which the carper himself, a framed friend, an impartial judge, a charitable christian ought too say, to wit, That this rare spectacle of one husband and spouse which cannot be severed in death, would seem in the eyes of a natural man pitiful and deplorable, but to us who see with spiritual eyes, joyful and comfortable: for they are with God. And this is remarkable, Their joy was one, their grief one, their love one, their life one, their death one, their burial one, their tomb one, their grave one, their glory one. And great is our union with them, howbeit we be separate for a while: for charity biddeth us say, That our baptism is one, our faith one, our hope one, our love one, our reward one, our pilgrimage one, our race one, our warfare one, our country one, our commonwealth one, our city one, our religion one, our church one, our spirit one, our Christ one, our God one, the father of us all, above us all, in us all, all in all.  
These are straight bands betwixt them and us, for that same golden chain of mercy which hath pulled them unto heaven is fastened to our souls, that we also in our own time may be drawn hither. In the mean time we are banished and strangers, they gone home and citizens; we in Sodom, they in Zoar; we in O Enon, they in Salem; we in a terrestrial cottage, they in a celestial paradise; we in clayie tabernacles, they in glorious pavilions; we are on this border of the sea, they on the other; we drowned in the sea, they in the ark; we in the desert, they upon the top of mount Pisgah; we in Egypt, they in Canaan; we tossed to and fro, they in the harbour mouth. Again, we in a labyrinth, they in the fortunate Isles and Elysian fields; we hunt after shadows, they enjoy the substance; we amongst Bears and Wolves, they with the Lamb; we fight, they triumphing. And what more? we sick, they whole; we blind, they enlightened with that inaccessible light; we see through a glass, they face to face; we know in part, they fully; we poor, they rich; we naked, they clothed; we wear clouts and rags, they bear crowns and sceptres; we hungry, they satisfied; we feed upon the fruits of the earth, they upon that quickening Manna, the bread of Angels; we imprisoned, they set at liberty; and that which the ignorant would think a wonder, we dead, and they living. Why go we then with mourning apparel, seeing they have white robes? Why weep we any more, seeing all tears are wiped from their eyes? Why do we lament, seeing they sing songs of triumph upon golden harps and viols, with the melodious, harmonious sweet-singing-chorestrie of Angels? Surely if it were possible that glorified souls were subject to grief, they have greater occasion to mourn for us, than wefor them, whose bands amongst themselves are so unseparable, that death cannot break them; and greater love we read not of any two then of these: for it is stronger than death. O happy couple above the eloquence of man and angel! Many a loyal husband and chaste spouse would be glad of such an end. And what an end? Let the envious Momus, and injurious backbiter hold their peace, and let me who stand in the presence of God, and in the face of his people, and in the chair of verity, tell the truth: to wit, That honourable Baron whose corpse lieth there in the flower of his years, in the strength of his youth, in the prime of his designs, even when young men use to take up themselves, is fallen, and mown down from amongst us, like a may flower in a green meadow.  
His virtuous Lady who having languished a little after him, howbeit tender in body, yet strong in mind, and full of courage, took her dear husband's death in so good part, that she did not give the least token of hopeless and helpless sorrow. Yet wearying to stay after her love, she posted after him, and slept peaceably in the Lord, as her husband before her.  
This, Noblemen, Gentlemen, and men of account amongst us have assured me. So then, as neither the husband's ancient house, nor his honourable birth, nor his noble ally, nor his able and strong body, nor his kind, stout, liberal mind, nor the rest of the ornaments which were in him alive, and which recommend brave gentlemen to the view of this gazing world, could keep him from a preceding death. So neither the spouses noble race of generous and religious progenitors, nor a wise carriage in a well led life, nor the rest of her womanish perfections, could free her from a subsequent death, both due to them and us for our sins. God hath forgiven theirs; God forgive ours also. They have done in few, all that can be done in many years; They have died well: God give us the like grace. In the mean time, their relics and exuvies, terrae depositum, shall lie there amongst other dead corpse, of their forebears and aftercomers, all attending a general resurrection: And their souls the best part of them, coeli depositum, have surpassed the bounds of this inferior world, and are carried upon the wings of Cherubims and Seraphins, to the bosom of Abraham, for to change servitude with liberty, earth with heaven, misery with felicity, and to be made partakers of that beatific vision, real union, actual fruition of our God, in whose presence is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. How shall we then conclude, but with a hopeful and eternal farewell, till it please God, that we all meet together on that great day, on Zion hill, and go into these everlasting tabernacles of the temple of the most High, in the holy city, supernal Jerusalem, amongst the Hierarchies of that innumerable company of Angels, the general assembly and church of the first borne, written in heaven by the finger of God, and the blood of the Lamb? When and where they with us, and we with them, and the whole multitude of the militant and triumphant Church, reunited under Christ the head, shall be fully and finally glorified.  
O fools that we are, we long with a vehement desire, to see our earthly prince's coronation in this earthly kingdom: I pray you let us wish with an holy impatience, redoubled sighs, unfeigned groans to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, that we may see our own glorious coronations in that kingdom of glory? For, O what solemnities! O what festivities! O what exultations! O what exclamations! O what triumphs shall be there! when the heavens and earth shall clap their hands for joy. Why do these base minds of ours creep any more like worms on earth, and soar not with the wings of heavenly contemplation, that our conversation may be in heaven? Why do we not fly with the golden feathers of faith & hope, to embrace in the arms of our souls our gracious redeemer, who is at hand, & stretcheth forth his powerful hand unto us? O let us lift up our heads, & open the everlasting gates of our souls, that the king of glory may enter in, and find room therein, howbeit the heaven of heavens is not able to contain him; who is the joy of the heavens, the hope of the earth, the light and life of the world, the ease of the oppressed, the comfort of the afflicted, the advocate of sinners, the reward of the just, our only Saviour. O let us set our affections upon him, and behold him, whose love shed abundantly in our hearts, should swallow all other love, who is the wisdom of God, and ours before the world, set as a rose of stars upon our head, when others shall be confounded.  
Therefore bow down the knees of your hearts, with your voices, your hands and eyes unto heaven, saying, O come thou (whom our souls both love and long for) Lord Jesus, yea come quickly, and tie us unto thyself by the band of perfection, the coards of thy unspeakable love. We die, we divine after thee, O sweet life, O dear love! Tarry not while we are ready, but take us to thyself, and cover us with the banner of thy love, and present us holy, harmless, acceptable before thine heavenly father, that we may dwell with thee, and in thee eternally, and through thee possess the things which neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor the heart of man was ever able to conceive.  
Now to this Jesus our redeemer, to the Father our Creator, to the holy Ghost our comforter, one GOD in three persons, let us render from the bottom of our souls, all Honour, all Praise, all Glory, for ever and ever, AMEN.  
AMEN.    

VIRI NOBILIS JOANNIS CRAFORD TWO, D. KILBURNII, aeternae memoriae sacravit hoc epicedium Ninianus Campbellus.  

SIccine Kilburni, florentis stamina vitae,  
Ante diem rupit Parca severa tuae▪  
Attamen exultas, quoniam mens inscia fati,  
Praepetibus pennis caelica templa subit▪  
Haurit ubi puros latices, & Nectaris uvas,  
Caeleftis diâ vivit & Ambrosiâ.  
Ponite luctificos gestamina tristia cultus,  
Ponite funereas vos pia turba faces.  
Vivit quem fletis, votum super omne vigetque  
Despectans oculis inferiora suis.  
Non est mortalis, (quantum mutatur ab illo?)  
Qui colit aetherei culmina celsa poli:  
Atque Dei vitam degit felicibus ausis,  
Humano major nomine, voce, vice.    

Idem hoc nati, patris, & matris, qui uno eodemque mense obierant, Epitaphium.  

POst natum Genitor, post hunc dulcissima Mater;  
Hoc gaudent tumulo corpora trina simul.  
Natus praecessit Genitorem, funera Mater  
Tertia subsequitur, Mensis & unus erat.  
Felices animae! quibus his excedere terris,  
Sic datur, & vitâ jam potiore frui.    

VIRI CONSULTISSIMI SCAEVOLAE SAMMARTHANI Galli memoriae sacravit hoc carmen NINIANUS CAMPBELLUS.  

VMbrosas Heliconis inter oras,  
Pimplaei & nemoris sacros recessus,  
Me jam Pierio calore raptum  
Cerno: dum me ditor polire carmen  
Cultum, nobile, molle, delicatum,  
Indictum ore alio, beatiori  
Venâ progenitum, sinuque Phoebi.  
Quo te prosequar omnibus canendum  
Seclis, magne senex, tuique dotes  
Vrbani genii facetioris,  
Docti judicii politioris,  
Aequem Sceptrigeri polo Tonantis.  
Si fas sit numeris phaleuciorum,  
Te laudare virum disertiorem  
Phoebo, Mercurioque, gratiisque.  
Quem circumvolitat novena turba,  
Longaeva & Themis, & severa Pallas,  
Testes aetherii tui caloris.  
Cujus fama vigens virûm per ora  
Doctorum advolat aureis quadrigis.  
Ast nobis cadis ah tuis ademptum  
Lumen! proh dolor orbi & universo,  
Extinctum jubar aurei nitoris!  
Ni jam stellifero polo micares,  
Despectans humiles soli jacentis  
Tractus, ut simul omnibus renatus,  
Es lux fulgidior priore luce.  
Quâ nostros oculos rapis sequaces,  
Et totos animos sereniori  
Perfundis radio tui decoris,  
Fulgens clarior hespero recenti,  
Multò & pulchrior imminente lunâ:▪  
Vt diam nequeam videre lucem,  
Quam praebes tremulis meis ocellis,  
Et toti patriae tuae decorae,  
Ex quâ nasceris alma fax futuri  
Secli, gloria & orbis universi.  
Cui tu perpetuum diem reducis,  
Aut mentis faculâ benigniori,  
Dicatae sophiâ secretiori,  
Sermone aut nitidam indicante mentem.  
Cui cedunt veneres Catullianae,  
Et limphâ liquidâ suaviores  
Melliti latices Terentiani.  
Cum vis vincier aspero Cothurno,  
Et cedunt lyrici canora plectra,  
Et grandes numeri Maroniani,  
Et fervens genius Lucretianus.  
Quicquid Gallia parturit decori,  
Quicquid Graecia protulit venusti,  
Et quicquid Latium dedit politi,  
Id vincis. Licet invidae Caemaenae  
Certent, ambiguam facis coronam,  
Cunctis vatibus, & stupente Phoebo,  
Cingis tempora Laureâ perenni.  
Vt corpus jaceat licet sepultum,  
Fatali tumulo, O beate vivas,  
Auctor maxime carminis tenelli,  
Limati, sapidi, aurei, politi!  
O quantum tibi nominis paratur!  
Dum cantaberis orbe note toto,  
Nullis Scaevola conticende linguis.  
Sed quò tendimus alta musa? Siste  
Gressum. Quove rapis nouâ tumentem  
Laude? aut insolito furore plenum,  
Sustollis modo vitreo daturum  
Ponto nomina? caetibusque centum,  
Misces Mercurialium virorum?  
Quos mens ardua vexit ad bicornis  
Montis culmina, Pegasique celsos  
Pennis vestiit. Ast apis sagacis  
Jnstar, libo rosas amoeniores,  
Et gratas violas, Thymumque dutce,  
Propter flumina, roscidasque ripas  
Formosi Ligeris, libentiusque  
Fingo carmina manibus litandis,  
O divine senex, tuis dicata!  
Nam nunquam mihi te silere fas est,  
Totam qui meritis tuam beasti  
Dilectam patriam, entheaeque linquis  
Mentis pignora docta, rara, diva,  
Vt te dicere nemo posset unum  
Praeter te, O niveae parens loquelae.   
Parisiis prius edita. Anno, 1629. Cal. Sextileîs.   

IN OBITUM VIRI COLENDISSIMI JACOBI Legii Glascuensis archiepischopi, de civitate, Academiâ & ecclesiâ ibidem meritissimi.  
Ad civitatem Glascuensem.  

ALmaquid incedis funesto Glascua cultu,  
Et faedata modis tristibus ora geris?  
An quod vester amor vitâ jactatus acerbâ,  
Praesul post longae taedia dura morae  
Suspiret potiore frui? qui gaudia laetae  
Carpat, & innocuis concelebratajocis.  
Sentiat ac purum divini numinis haustum,  
Atque nouá multùm luce triumphet ovans,  
Nonquae sublimis transcendit culmina mundi  
Celsa triumphatrix mens modò plena deo  
Tangitur immodico luctu. Quid inania vota  
Fundis? divino vivitur arbitrio.  
Illum flere nefas, cujus pars optima vitae  
Nil aliud docuit quam didic isse mori.  
Si mors dicenda est, per quam prope numenamicum  
Inque serenati degitur arce poli.    

Ad Academiam Glascuensem, & doctos qui ad funus exornandum eò confluxerant.  

AH prima coelicura, virtutum parens,  
Lumen juventae vividum,  
Phoebi supellex, dia nutrix artium  
Sedes honorum splendida,  
Quid nunc jaces afflicta curis acribus  
Et mersa patris funere,  
Praeluxit olim qui tibi? nunc additus  
Caelo jubar fulget novum.  
Lugesne ademptum coetibus mortalium,  
Qui gaudet aulâ caelicá?  
Nec non beatus, totus & plenus Deo,  
Portum salutis appulit?  
Ast heu miselli volvimur nos fluctibus,  
A patriâ ostraprocul.  
Non hic querelis mollibus, non planctibus  
Vrgendus heros amplius.  
Tradux olympi nam soluta ergastulo,  
Mens fessa terrae ponderis,  
Miscetur albo coelitum, qui concinunt  
Laudes dicatas numini.  
Quod gloriosâ luce perfusi vident,  
Mirantur, & fixi stupent.  
Non est quod ergo prosequaris Nenia,  
Manes quietos praesulis,  
O turba vatum, quae pia in fletum fluis,  
Moerente lessu personans.  
Cunctis terenda est haec semel lethivia,  
Nos proximi fato sumus:  
Quos continenter distrahunt moeror, pavor,  
Et mortis atrae vulnera,  
Donec peractâ, fata quam cernent, vice  
Clemens Deus nos uniat;  
Qui gestiamus libero & vero bono,  
Per tota laeti secula.   
Anno 1632. Nonas Novembris.   

IN OBITUM VIRI INTEGERRIMI GULIELMI BLARI, Pastoris vigilantissimi fidissimique apud Britannodunenses.  

POstquam pastores divos tot lumina mundi,  
Condidit obscuro mors inimica peplo,  
Tune etiam, pie Blare, jaces ereptus amicis,  
Et comitom tantis nox dedit atra viris?  
Heu rerum ingenium, probitas, doctrina, pudorque  
Vnius hâc plagâ suneris icta cadunt.  
Nec non pullato squalens ecclesia cultu  
Luget▪ et hoc feretro triste levavit onus.  
En nos, quos sophiae junxit tibi sacra cupid●  
Coelestis, tessu tangimur usque tuo.  
Sed de siderium, lachrymae, gemitusque dolorque  
Nil prosunt, nusquam conspiciendus a●es.  
Hins no●●e●tendi, non tu, qui laeta capessis  
Gaudia, justitiae sole nitente mieans.  
Nam certe in tenebris vitae, vitiique stupore  
Degimus hoc avitur●● misella hominum.    

Aliud in Nobilissima ejus verba suavissimae consolationis plenissima.  

QVale melos cantat sinuoso flumine Cygnus,  
Instantis praeco funeris ipse sui;  
Tale canis nuper, dum coeli gaudia cernis;  
Pendet ab ore pio lecta corona tuo.  
Dumque Deo raptus contendis in aethera nisu,  
Mox novus ex ipso sunere factus olor.  
Laetus ut aeterno moduleris carmina plectro,  
Quéis summi resonant fulgida tecta patris:  
Vtque leves temnens curas, & vota gementûm  
In cassum, vero jam potiare bono.   
Anno 1632. pridie Cal. Decembris.   

Viri Nobilissimi Domini Gulielmi Coninghami, Glencarniae Comitis illustrissimi, apotheosis.  

O Te beatum luce fulgentem nouâ  
Gemmantis instar sideris!  
Vîxti soli lumen, polo nunc adderis  
In templo amaeno, lucido,  
Plenus deo, sublimior multo meae  
Venae faventis numine.  
Quamvis calorem sentiam mox entheum  
Qui pandit alas ingeni,  
Per cuncta rerum, non potest attollier  
Me●s pressa vinclo corporis.  
Quò tu volasti plurimum fretus Deo  
Heros stupendis ausibus,  
Vltrà minaces spes, metus omnes leves,  
Vitae & fugacis toedia:  
Et degis heroum choro mixtus pio,  
Caelesti raptus gloriâ.  
Nec tu jacebis diutius terrae in specu,  
Qui nos egenos excipit.  
Eheu misellos patriá dulci procul  
Quid non piget nos exilî?  
Vt te sequamur qui praeivisti lubens,  
Pars illa nostri nobilis,  
Ast tantulum salve, & vale nostri cape haec  
Desiderî nunc pignora.   
Nonas Novemb. 1631.   

In obitum viri clarissimi Guilielmi Strutheri, Ecclesiae primûm Glascuensis, deinde Edinburgensis Pastoris fidissimi & facundissimi.  

FAcunde praeco melle quovis dulcior,  
Aut melle si quid dulcius;  
Qui me solebas poculis rorantibus  
Suadae potentis me gere,  
Demergis eheu lach ymosi funeris  
Me fluctibus nunc obrutum.  
Quam semper altis imminent virtutibus  
Parcae ferocis vuine a!  
Quaesensit aevi lumen, & noster soli  
Nestor Britanni Bodius.  
O quantus heros (judicet Phoebus licet)  
Toti canendus seculo!  
Nulli secundus Camero aeternùm silet;  
Nec sensa prudens eruet  
Caelestis almi, conspicandi oraculi  
Mirante doctorum choro.  
Succedis illis qui voves morti nihil;  
Nam posthumae laudis satur,  
Transmittis orbi scripta tot vivacia  
Quot nullus expunget dies:  
Struthere claras qui colis diuûm domos,  
Vitâque gaudes caelicâ,  
Felix perenni qui refulges otio,  
Liber caduco tempore.  
Qui terra tanti muneris compos fuit?  
Cui vasta coeli machina  
Arridet ultrò, cuique supremus favor  
Stellantis aulae militat.  
Huc advolasti gloriae actus curribus,  
Et vectus alis ingenî.  
Sic functa fato redditur natalibus  
Mens, nomen in terris manet.  
Dum sol corusca luce diffundet jubar  
Caeleste cunctis, siderum &  
Volventur orbes, laudibus cresces novis,  
O fax futuri seculi.   
Anno 1633. idus Decembr.   

IN OBITUM JOANNIS ROSAE, oratoris, poetae, Philosophi & Theo logi eximii, & Pastoris Mechlimensis facundissimi.  

O Coeligermen, charitum flos, veris ocelle,  
Gloria musarum, dulcis amice Rosa,  
Carperis heu parcae funesto pollice, nunquam  
Culmine Parnassi conspiciende Rosa.  
Cunctis anteferende rosis, quèis gaudet & Hybla,  
Saltus & Idalius, littus & O Ebalium,  
Etpraedives Arabs, & Paestiroscidatempe,  
Atque Paphos Tmolus, Gnosia terra, Cilix.  
Vtlicet aeterno jam decantere triumpho  
Mox vatum numeris concelebrande Rosa,  
Luxerunt obitum Muse, Suadela files●it  
Vocalis, mundae cui labra picta rosae.  
Amissum queritur longê pulchrima Cypris,  
Qui modo vernabat lumina bina, Rosam.  
Nec myrtus placuit divae, nec vitis laccho,  
Nec Pani pinus, nec platanus genio,  
Mellea nec quercus grataest devota Tonanti,  
Nec lauro cinxit tempora Phoebus ovans▪  
Ex quo decideras lethali vulnere carptus  
Ah Rosa jam nobis, raptus & ante-diem,  
AEgide non gestit Pallas, ralaria nedum  
Interpres diuûm nectere vuli pedibus.  
Quippe diique deaeque omnes hoc funere maerent,  
Quod tibi jam faciant debita justa, Rosa.  
Non compus bellus, non flumina viva Lycet,  
Non Jovis aurifluae plurimus imber aquae,  
Non tristes lachrymae, non Castalis unda supernê  
Fonte fluens liquido te refovere queunt;  
Quô minus arescas Pimplaei gratiaruris,  
Nec non Pierii sedula curae soli.  
Numte lacteolo gestabit pectore Musa  
Amplius? aut Phoebus candidiore sin●e  
Excipiet posthac? certê melioribus horis  
Crescis ubi zephyrus lenia flabra movet.  
Nec sentis calidos aestus, nec frigora brumae,  
Neveprocellosi flamina saeva noti.  
O Rosa ter felix, de quo vel Jupiter ipse  
Certet, & ardenti captus amore tui.  
Qui te plantavit cognati semen Olympi,  
Afflat ubi Ely siis aura beata rosis.  
Quid multis? Rosa non intermoriture perennas  
Clara tuae stirpis gloria, rara poli.  
Sit tibi perpetui veris, sit floris origo  
Caelica, sitque liquor dius, odorquetibi.    

EPITAPHIUM ROSAE ad viatorem.  

Quid stupeas qui prata vides defesse viator,  
Quod pereat nostri gratia tanta Rosae?  
Namque rosâ nil est brevius, properantius aevi,  
Nil, ut mane viret, sole cadente perit.  
Pulchralicet durat sugitivo tempore, Nonne  
Nutrit & una dies, tollit & unarosam?  
Haecque tuae formae species, haec lucis imago  
Viva docet vitam sic properare tuam.  
Vt qui pubescis primo nunc flore juventae,  
Moximproviso curva senecta premat,  
Sis niveâ rutilâque rosâter pulchrior, ora  
Inficiet pallor, funereusque color.   
Anno 1634. idus Octobr. NINIANUS CAMPBELLUS.