Christian Tranquillity, OR, The Government of the Passions OF JOY and GRIEF. IN A SERMON PREACHED At SHENTON in Leicestershire, upon the occasion of the much lamented Death of that hopeful young Gentleman, Mr. FRANCIS WOLLATSON, an only Son and Heir to a very fair Estate. By JOHN CAVE, Rector of NAILSTON, in the same County, sometimes Fellow of Lincoln College in Oxford, and now Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Durham. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian in Epict. Amittant filios viri boni; quidni cum & ipsi sunt mortales? Sen de provide. Moris' quondam fuit, ut super cadavera Parentum defunctorum, in concione pro rostris. laudes Liberi dicerent, & instar lugubrium carminum, ad stetus & gemitus audientium pectora concitarent; En rerum in nobis ordo mutatus est, & in calamitate nostra perdidit sua jura natura. Quod exhibere senibus Juvenis debuit, hoc Juveni exhibemus senes, Hieron. Ep. 3tia ad Heliodor His soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked, Wisd. 4. LONDON: Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard. MDCLXXXV. To the Right Worshipful, WILLIAM WOLLATSON, Esq; And his Virtuous Lady, Madam ELIZABETH WOLLATSON. THE wisest among the Heathen Writers have laboured much by their most Refined Discourses, to settle a Tranquillity of Mind, an Evenness of Spirit in the inequalities, the ebbings and flow of Fortune: But the Christian Philosophy only can effect what they have endeavoured, by setting before us an immutable Eternity, Heavenly Joys and Glories, sufficient to abate our esteem of the most pleasing and splendid things here below; and to keep us from sinking under the heaviest troubles of this Life. By this Philosophy our great Apostle, St. Paul, 2 Cor. 4.16. Chap. 12.10. was strong; at , fainted not when he was weak; and though his outward man perished, his inward man was renewed day by day; he being assured, that these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, in comparison, would work for him, and all his fellow-sufferers, a far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory; whilst they, with him, look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen by any eye but that of Faith. The same Philosophy enabled the Hebrews to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, Heb. 10.34. knowing that they had in heaven a better, and an enduring substance. And it instructs us all to lay up our treasures there, where they will be safe from corruption and stealth. Mat. 6.19, 20. Yea, because God hath laid up for us a Crown of immortal Life, and provided so well hereafter for his dutiful children, we are obliged to be less solicitous about our earthly portions, and to bear all his fatherly chastisements, the sufferings of short time, with patience and contentment; especially considering that they are prudent exercises and methods of discipline, to prepare us for heavenly Tranquillity and blessedness. For those dismal Providences which draw clouds and darkness over Religious Families, do but make them fit to be presented to God, and to partake of the inheritance with the Saints in light. Col. 1.12. The Rod of God is to them a Staff, and a comfort too; if like the branch of a Figtree, it be bitter and sharp, it is like it, fruitful too. No Calamity comes as a Curse to a good House, whose Stock is pious, and whose Branches are holiness to the Lord. If any Leaf, or any Bough shall fall untimely, God shall gather it, and bind it up in the bundle of Life. There is no worldly evil in which a religiously disposed mind may not find matter of some content and comfort. And truly, as disconsolate as your Case appears, it hath its lightsome mixtures, and many refreshing mitigations. Tho God took your beloved Son when he was just ripe for the world (for he was come to Manhood at Sixteen), when you, and all that had a more remote interest in him, promised yourselves all the happy fruits of an excellent natural temper, and of the accomplishment of an ingenious and religious Education: yet he took him too, in a time of great Peril and Temptation, when his age was most inclined to vicious Compliances. Because he pleased God, Wisd. 4. and was beloved of him, when he lived among Sinners, he was Translated; lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his Soul. And I may here seasonably remind you, that when a little before his last Sickness, he was treated with some lose Atheistical Discourse, too much in the mode of our times; He spoke his abhorence of it, and his utter dislike of such conversation; however the endearments of kindred or kindness, did otherwise commend it to him. And I am told, that at the approach of his Death, which is usually most terrible to young men, He prayed that you might be but as willing to part with him, as he was to die. God hath taken your only Son, yet he hath left you two Virtuous and Dutiful Daughters, who I pray and hope, may be lasting and teeming blessings to you. Scaliger and Lipsius, two incomparable Persons, were the last of their Family and Name; and I never read, that they were at all concerned for it: And surely it need not be so great a trouble to us, if it should please God to make the case our own: Seeing our Name could not have lasted much longer in a short-lived World; and seeing further, that God hath promised to the barren, and will make it good to the bereft, That if they choose the things that please him, Isa. 56.4, 5. he will give them a Place, and a Name, better than that of Sons and Daughters. God grant, that by patiented continuance in well-doing, and suffering, you may daily seek for Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, for that everlasting Name which shall not be cut off: And that you may be effectually instructed by the Doctrine of this plain Sermon (which was Preached, and is Printed at your desire, and wholly for your Service) how to make the best of the worst that hath, or can befall you; and to defend against those two great Fountains of Temptation, Pleasure and Pain, that you may so happily govern the ruling Passions of Joy and Grief, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. 1. Eth. l. 2. c. 3. which have the nearest Influence upon our practices. That after your Troubles and Trials, you may be in Heaven, before your Translation, by a Christian Tranquillity, an unshaken constancy of mind, and a blessed Peace of Conscience; and that you and yours may long prosper, and be in Health ever, as your Souls prosper, is the hearty Prayer of Your Most Affectionate Kinsman, And Faithful Servant, JOHN CAVE. CHRISTIAN TRANQUILLITY. 1 COR. VII. 30. And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not— THESE words are part of an Inference from a Proposition foregoing, at the beginning of the 29th Verse. This I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not, etc. I shall consider my Text in its dependence, and speak first of the Proposition from which it is inferred. This I say, brethren, the time is short. And in it I shall observe, 1. The Preface; This I say, brethren. 2. The Matter, or Doctrine; The time is short. This I say, brethren. It is such an Introduction as frequently occurs in Scripture: And here in our Text it seems to carry in it a Threefold Emphasis: 1. It is a word of Authority: This I say; i. e. I require you to mark well, and observe what I say; for I say it in God's Name; not by permission only, but by Warrant and Command from him. And when we deliver our Messages, as the Ambassadors of Heaven, we may do it with confidence and assurance, because we do it with Commission and Authority. Philem. 8. We may be bold in Christ, as our Apostle speaks in another place. 2. This I say, brethren. It is an expression of kindness, and Pastoral Affection. I say it out of my true love, tenderness and bowels towards you: I say it with an unfeigned desire that you may edify and receive good, direction and comfort by it: That you may number your days, and moderate your affections in all temporal concernments: That your desires may not be long when your time is short: That all your delights and sorrows may bear an equal proportion to their respective Objects: And because, as the Wiseman saith, there is a time to mourn, and a time to laugh, you may do neither out of time and measure. It was a tender affectionate Address, as the Compellation implies: This I say, brethren. 3. It is a word of comprehension, or recapitulation, wherein the Apostle sums up all in effect which he had said before. Having treated of Virginity, of Marriage, of Callings, and directed how we should stand affected to them, and behave ourselves in them, as becomes our Relation and Circumstances: In the Text he gives them the sum of all, by persuading to moderation in all estates and conditions of life, with respect to the mutability and short continuance of them. This I say, as the Upshot and Epitome of my whole discourse; as the Royal Preacher, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Eccles. 12.13. etc. So here in the Text. It stands indeed in the middle, and so may more properly be said to be the Substance, or, if you will, the Centre of the whole matter. This I say, and this I would have you take notice of, as the sum of all my other say and advices, both before and after. Thus much for the Preface, or Form of Address, and the importance thereof. The Saying itself; the Matter or Doctrine follows. The time is short: it remaineth, that they that weep, be as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not. The words together contain a Doctrine; and Two proper Uses we are to make of it. The Doctrine is, The time is short. The Uses are; therefore not to enlarge our affections; either, 1. By over-grieving at our sufferings: Or, 2. By over joying at our prosperity. The time is short. 1. The time of Life. 2. The time of the coming of the Lord. 3. The time of Joy and Prosperity. 4. The time of Persecution and Trouble is short. 1. The time of this present Life is very short. Man that is born of a woman, is but of a few days: If he lives to the utmost extent of Nature, and becomes wondrous old: What is Fourscore years to Eternity? It is but a minute in comparison; rather a cipher than a Figure, in David's account: Mine age is as nothing before thee. Seneca. Punctum est quod vivimus, & adhuc puncto minus; It is but a point that we live; yea, less, if it may be. It is the Language not only of Philosophers, but of the Holy Ghost, concerning all the Nations of men, that they are as nothing, less than nothing, Isa. 40. De die tecum loquitur, atque hoc ipso fugiente. Sen. de brevitate vitae. Job 4.20. and vanity. Our Life in Scripture is termed but a day, for the most part: And in this day, saith Eliphaz in Job, We are destroyed from morning until evening; from the morning of our birth, or coming into the world, till the evening of our death, or going out of the world; we are declining and wasting, and shall be so till we come to the dust of death. Childhood and Youth are vanity, and many a man dies when he seems to be in his full strength; when his breasts are full of milk, Job 21.23. and his bones moistened with marrow. A thousand Accidents lie in ambush to surprise us in our most sound and secure state: And I might present you with many famous instances of great persons falling by little and unlikely instruments; but shall only in compliance with my Text, observe, That some have died with excess of grief, as Homer, Rutilius, and Pomperanus; And others have been carried off with sudden joy, Plutarch Val. Max. A. Gellius. as Polycritta, Philippida, and Diagoras. Alas! what a vain and defenceless creature is man! Even in the pride of his strength, the most contemptible accident can destroy him, the smallest chance affright him; every possibility of evil can loosen and dissinew the courage of his mind; and his own imagination, without any real stroke, frequently proves his Executioner. Therefore as the time of every man's Life is short, so the time of many men's is contracted, or made short, and that sometimes by the justice, and sometimes by the mercy of the Divine Providence. 1. The days of the wicked are often shortened, for the glorifying of God's Justice, in their exemplary punishment. God shall shoot at them with an arrow, suddenly shall they be wounded. And this Job calls a putting out of their candle, Psal. 64.7. before it burns out of itself. Ungodly men are thrust out of the World many times, that they may do no more mischief in it. But 2. The righteous are mercifully taken out of it, that they may suffer no more. They are taken away from the evil to come; not only from the evil of Sin, which is a blessed Deliverance indeed; but from the evil of Sorrow, from the Diseases of Nature, and all the misfortunes of Life. Upon which consideration, that saying of Pliny the elder (one of the wisest Naturalists) seems to be grounded. Brevitate vitae natura nihil praestitit melius. It is one of the greatest blessings God bestows, to take us betimes out of this miserable World. They that think otherwise, and imagine there is no happiness beyond, or besides this Life, cannot by taking thought, protract their stay here; as they cannot add a Cubit to their Stature, so neither can they add a minute to their days. Much more might easily, if not seasonably be spoken upon this fruitful Subject. But sure we need not labour about the Proof or Illustration of a Point, which neither Infidelity, nor Scepticism ever disbelieved, or doubted, which every days experience attests, which the Mourners publish in the Streets, the Tombs and Grave-Stones, the Escutcheons and Garlands in the Church, Preach without a voice. And indeed, this Truth, that the time of Life is short, and of Death certain; is written indelibly even in the dust. But O vain, twice vain man, who will be still drawing lines in this dust, and spinning out a thread, which shall last as long as Methusalems', if not as Melchizedeches, without end of days. But as man's time, so the World's time, Time it self is short; yet a little while, and the Heavens shall pass away, and the Stars shall fall to the Earth, like untimely Figs, or withered Leaves from their Trees, For In the second place, The time of the coming of the Lord is short. The Apostles spoke of it then, as nigh at hand, and of the Judge as standing before the door: And therefore it cannot be far from us, after so many Successions of time. However we may be sure, the time to come is short, in respect of that which is already past, and that we are fallen into the last Act of the World's Tragedy: And let me note this by the way, that St. James Exhorts to Patience under Afflictions, by this very Argument, Be patiented therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Jam. 5.7, 8. 3. The time of ease and delight is short. Prosperity is not entailed, it passes not after the manner of Inheritance, from Generation to Generation; we have here no abiding City, no durable Riches, no Honours, or Pleasures, which we can bequeath to Posterity. Nay none which we can secure to ourselves for the short term of our own Life. Omnia ista quae vos tumidos & supra humana elatos oblivisci cogunt vestrae fragilitatis, etc. non sunt vestra, in depositi causa sunt, jamjamque ad alium dominum spectantia. Sen. de benef. l. 7. Our Sun is often overcast, sometimes Eclipsed, before our day is done. Riches, when we think we have them in safe custody, take to themselves wings, and fly away from us, Prov. 23. or else are consumed by the Moth, or purloined by the Thief. Again, Men that are in honour abide not, their beauty shall consume away from their dwellings. Health is a harmony of humours, which is soon discomposed, and put out of Tune. Credit is a Crystal Glass, quickly broken, and cannot be repaired again. What little assurance have we of beloved Wives, or delightsome Children? We please ourselves with them to day, and to morrow bury them out of our sight. Three hundred of the Fabii in Rome, were slain in one day, and but one man of the Family left alive; Babo Comes. and we read of a Count in the time of Henry the second Emperor, who had thirty Sons, beside eight Daughters, who followed him to Court, and were all placed, and preferred to good Offices by him; but all died and left him in a very short space of time. And so in Scripture, we find all gideon's Children slain at once, except one. Our portion is among the Flowers, which to day spring, and look like Health, and Beauty, and in the Evening they are Sick, and at Night are dead, and buried in the Oven. Ostenduntur haec omnia, & dum placent transeunt. Worldly men indeed, Card. Bon. opera. p. 10. do very much value themselves upon the account of their worldly Accommodations, and presume upon the long continuance thereof to them and theirs. The Psalmist tells us, that their inward thought is (though happily they are ashamed to publish it) that their houses shall endure for ever, Psal. 49.11. and their dwelling places to all Generations. They think all their days, be they short or long, must be Summer and Sunshine without a Storm, a Tempest, a Cloud to cover any part of their Sky, or to interrupt the gaiety of any hour of their time; they think their stock will never waste, the provision of their Lusts will never fail, that they shall always have their fill; yea, that their sensual delights will grow, and improve upon them, and that to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. But as the Day cometh, so also the Night; and when men thus say, The bitterness of Death or Sorrow is past, or else will be long in coming; when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travel upon a Woman with child. 1 Thes. 5.3. When the Atheistical Fool Eat, Drank, and took his Pleasure, as if he had goods laid up for many Years, one Night put a Period both to his Enjoyment and his Projects. The Ambitious man promiseth himself all the Advantages of Honour and Power, and seems in his aspiring thoughts to be ascending into Heaven, and exalting his Throne above the Stars of God; but God, who is above him and his Stars, above all his rising Glories, soon takes down his swelling Sail, and degrades him from his proud heights. Tho thou build thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down. Obad. 4. Phot. Epl. 234. p. 349. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. The Princes and Potentates of the World, who talk and look as if they were immortal, die like other men. Alas, we find it so; and their Glory doth not descend after them. Yea, many times their Crowns fall before them, and their Honour is laid in the Dust, while they walk above ground. The greatest or the best of men, have no sure hold of any earthly Felicity; even their Summer days are short, and the most flourishing Estate fading, ready to die, and whither, when it makes the fairest show, and promiseth the fullest satisfaction. The Rabbins have observed of Adam himself, that he did not dwell one Night in Paradise, but was poisoned with his Prosperity, with the ravishing Charms of a fair Wife, and the pleasant fruit of a fair Tree. 4. The time of Adversity and Trouble is short. Man indeed is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5.7. Our Lilies grow among Thorns; our very Roses are wrapped up in Prickles; our sweetest comforts have their sorrowful mixtures, and the voice of mourning is heard among the daughters of Music. Yea, sorrow and trouble are not only an Entail upon our Nature, as Men; but a Legacy bequeathed to us by the blessed Founder of our Religion, as Christians; and so they become as well our badge as our burden, our mark of honour, and relation to our Lord, the man of sorrows. The Cross shows whose Disciples we are; and through manifold tribulations we enter into the kingdom of heaven. But where we read in the Old or New Testament, of the number, or the sharpness of good men's troubles, we read of their shortness too. We read in Psal. 34.19. that the afflictions of the righteous are many: And we read in the same verse, that they are not lasting; The Lord delivereth him out of them all: Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Psal 30.5 And both these were remarkably exemplified in good Job: His afflictions were sore and numerous: The sudden unhappy death of ten children, the perverseness of his wife, the loss of all his great stock, plagues on his body, and terror in his mind; the scorn of vile persons, the contempt of his servants, the censures and reproaches of his Friends; yet time blew over all those clouds: the Lord delivered him out of all these troubles, and blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. Jonah outlived the withering of his Gourd. In the New Testament our Saviour makes the afflicted of the number, whom he pronounceth happy, and that because they are passing into a better state: Blessed are they that mourn now; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they, though they mourn, because they only mourn now in this short point of time. 1 Pet. 1.6. St. Peter comforts the sufferers he wrote unto, upon this very consideration: Ye have reason to rejoice, because it is but now, for a season that ye are in heaviness. 2 Cor. 4.15. And St. Paul reckons the heaviest afflictions of the first Christians but light, because momentary. To sense and natural apprehension, our sufferings seem long, and our refreshments late. But the Reason of an Heathen made a wiser judgement; Dabit Deus his quoque sinem: And the Faith of a Christian thinks any thing short in comparison, which hath an end. Death, if nothing else, puts us out of our pain and sorrow: and in the grave the weary are at rest. No Torments are intolerably long, but those of Hell, which are eternal. Nay, the Christians sufferings are not only short, because they have an end; but I may add, they are salutiferous too, because they have a good, an happy end. Omnes paenae non exterminantes sunt medicinales: All punishments that do not end us, end well; like the lancings of a wound, which let out the ulcerated matter; they are intended to heal and save us. Our heavenly Father chastens us not after his own pleasure, to show his Sovereignty; but for our profit, to impart his Holiness. He designs our quiet by our trouble, the peaceable fruits of righteousness by the afflictions which are most grievous to Nature. After God had wrestled with Jacob, he blessed him: And he usually comforts his servants according to the days that he hath afflicted them, and according to the years that they have seen evil. Psal. 90.15. Many sad accidents, in men's account, have proved the means or occasions of singular temporal benefits, and great worldly prosperity. The case of Joseph is upon famous Record in Scripture. And in Church-History we read of one Eudoxia, who was unkindly thrust out of her Father's house, by her unnatural Brethren; and making her complaint to the Emperor Theodosius the younger, she found love as well as pity; he received her into his Palace, and made her his Queen, when she wanted house and Harbour, the ordinary necessaries and comforts of Life. And it was a strange Observation which Cardan made of himself, That never any good befell him, In his Life written by himself. but what was occasioned by some foregoing evil. Indeed the Sun evermore shines most pleasantly, after a Storm; and it is the usual method of the Divine Providence, to usher in his mercies with the black Rod, thereby enhansing and endearing our subsequent refreshments. O quid solutis est beatius curis? We are a great deal more happy in a deliverance out of misery, than if we had never been in it. But if our seeming evils are not in this respect, real blessings; yet with St. Hierom, Brevia mala putemus, Epist. ad Paulam sup. obit. Blesilloe filiae. quae finis melior subsequetur. We may well account all those sufferings short, which end happily; as ours will, if we bear them patiently, and penitently. 1 Pet. 5.6. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. But this minds me to pass from the Proposition, or Doctrine of my Text, The time is short, to the Applicatory part of it; the practical inferences in these words, It remains, that those that weep, be as if they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not. The Devil hath two general ways, or means of working our ruin, per blanda, aut per aspera; by Pleasure, or Pain, Prosperity, or Adversity; and our Apostle, who was not ignorant of his devices, endeavours here to arm and secure us against the dangers of both; by making this general use of the shortness of our lives, and the vicissitude of our Fortunes, to persuade us to Equanimity and Moderation, to an even temper of Spirit in every Condition, whether comfortable, or calamitous. To instruct us both how to be abased, and how to abound, how to bear Prosperity without Insolence, and Adversity without Impatience; and in all our projects and defeats, in all the changes of worldly things, to keep a mind unchanged, neither elevated, nor depressed above measure, in the difference of Conditions, nor in the greatest contrarieties of Events. As it was observed of Aristippus, he scarce ever changed Countenance in any Alteration of his Affairs; if at any time he sought to mend his Circumstances, yet he never seemed discontented with them. And Cicero notes it of Pythagoras, that his looks never discovered the least inconstancy in his mind, that no one ever saw him rejoice or weep; if he did so indeed, it was as our Apostle would have us do, as if he did not. In the Text, there seems to be an allusion to that of the Prophet Ezekiel, The time is come, the day draweth near, let not the buyer rejoice, Chap. 7.7.12. or the seller mourn. For thus he proceeds in the following words, They that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the fashion of this world passeth away. Seneca (who perhaps was not altogether a Stranger to our St. Paul) hath somewhat like this, in his 78 Ep. to Lucilius, Interim tene hoc mordicus, adversis non succumbere, laetis non credere. Keep close to this rule, not to despond in adversity, or confide in prosperity: And he gives the reason in another place, why we ought to be so indifferent in our Affections, viz. because the things or states are of an indifferent nature, nec bona, nec mala, neither good nor evil in themselves, but may become either to us, as we use or abuse them. A continued course of intense passion, seems very incongruous towards such discontinuing, such indifferent things. It best becomes us so to govern our Desires, our Sorrows and Delights, that they may be propotionate to the nature and value of their Objects. Haec quidem philosophia nemini non est in ore, sed paucorum animis vere serioque insidet, as one observes upon the place. Every one is ready to Preach this Philosophy, but very few feel the true effects of it in their minds, or express them in their Practices. Tho the Heathen Orators, Poets, and Philosophers, spoke many excellent and acute Things of this kind, and persuaded to Moderation and Patience, from the mutability of Fortune, the shortness, and uncertainty of humane life; Yet our great Apostle saw it needful to press Christians with the same consideration; to be their serious Remembrancers, to put them in mind of what they knew before; to reconcile to their Affections a Truth which their understandings had already admitted, and to incline their practice, to follow their Judgements. In imitation of this Divine author, I am about to exhort, beseech, persuade you, to consider well, and lay to heart what you know, to yield to the Authority of your own reason, to do that which you cannot but be partly convinced is best to be done, and which it is your Duty to do, viz. to be moderate in your Enjoyments, and your Sufferings; not to murmur or repine at your losses, nor to set your hearts too much upon your remaining Comforts, Wife, Children, Houses, Lands, etc. Because, how dear and delight some soever they are to you, they are at best but Treasures in earthen Vessels, subject to a thousand Casualties. If there were nothing else to abate their worth, this alone doth it, Their time is short. In my Text we are advised, First to assuage our Grief in occasions of trouble; and then to temper and bond our joy, when our Affairs succeed best. But in my Discourse, I shall alter the method; and because I design to say least of the Affection of Joy, I shall speak of it first, and in a way introductory to what I have to say upon the mournful Subject. — And they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not. The Fathers have made this observation on these words, that the Joys of this World are but Quasi, as if they were Joys, not such indeed, but rather Shadows or Images: As when a hungry man eateth in his dream, but when he awaketh, Isa. 29.8. his soul is empty. The Pomps and Profits of the World, are but Vanities to a Christian; and when they appeared to our Saviour in the best Attire, and Representation the Devil could give them, he despised them all. We are allowed a delight and comfort in temporal blessings, but with such Qualifications and Restraints, as rather becalm, than advance our Affections; rather wipe away our Tears, and prevent Sighing, than cheer our minds, or maintain Mirth. It was a seasonable hint, that of Caenus the Macedonian, to the conquering Alexander, that nothing did better become him, than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Arrian. Moderation of mind in his glorious Success and Prosperity. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his might, nor the rich man glory in his riches. He may be pleased with them, and the like blessings, and take comfort of them, but he must not glory in them, he must not be too much conceited of them, or vainly puffed up with them. He must not promise himself too much from them, as if they were substantial, lasting, and abiding Goods. Solomon the wisest of men, adviseth us to cease from our own Wisdom (not to lay too much stress upon our worldly Policies) Prov. 23.4. for it will otherwise cease from us: There is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, whither we are all going, Eccles 9.10. Again, 1 Sam. 2.9. by strength shall no man prevail long; and Riches will fail us when we most need them; Prov. 11.4. They profit not in the day of wrath. If these things, and others of the like Nature, wherein we are most apt to overjoy, to glory and pride ourselves, do not in a short time fail us, it will not be long before we leave them: They and we are of a sickly kind, declining and decaying daily. Accipimus peritura perituri. Our fairest and sweetest earthly delights are but a withering Posy in a dying man's hand. How then in Reason can we be overfond of them? Why should we set our hearts and affections upon things which are not? upon things which perish in the enjoyment, which are passing away from us, and from which we are passing daily? If any thing here could justify a transport of joy, one would think it should be an agreeable yoke-fellow, an indulgent husband, or a complaisant wife, or else hopeful children, in whom we behold our fading drooping Age, as it were, budding and blossoming anew, from whom we promise an Heir to our Estate, to our Family a strong support when we fail, and to ourselves a surviving Name, and a lasting Memory. But our Apostle puts in his Caveat here especially, because here we most need it: Let them that are married, be as if they were not married; because death will soon make a divorce between us and our beloved companions: And our children are often laid to bed before us in the grave. Therefore St. Chrysostom, to season our Nuptial and Childbirth Festivities, minds us how death runs through the Marriage-books. If I die first, or you, or the child of us both; how it is woven into every line, and closeth up every Period, to put a quasi non, even into those rejoices; a bitter, though a medicinal infusion into our most pleasant enjoyments and expectations. Our time and theirs is short. This consideration, That all our comforts here are but temporary, and must die with, if not before us, methinks should, if any thing, moderate and sanctify our Affections to them. Frequent serious thoughts, That all we have, or can desire here, will last us but to the grave, should make us look upon them effectually but as the two sticks which the Widow of Zarephath gathered to dress an handful of meal, and a little oil, that we may eat it, and die. But because we are unwilling, and averse to think of any thing which should interrupt our present delights; therefore our Apostle frequently inculcates Sobriety, and Moderation in, yea, Mortification to our outward good things. Let your moderation be known unto all men; Phil. 4.5. Col. 3.2. the Lord is at hand: Set your affections on things above; for they are eternal; not on things of the earth, for they are mortal and perishing. And in this St. Peter differs not from his beloved brother Paul; 1 Pet. 4.7. The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober: take heed of inebriating, or making yourselves drunk with the things of this World: Suffer not your hearts to run out too much after them, or to be affected inordinately with them, lest the day of the Lord overtake you unawares. And there is a great deal of need of these counsels and cautions one upon another, because, as the Heathen Historian observes, Raro quisquam erga sua bona satis cautus. Curtius. few are so cautious as they should be of the danger, I may say, the evil of their good things. The Scripture presents us with many instances of this deficiency in good men. How strangely did Hezekiah forget himself, sa 39 2. as soon as ever he was recovered from his sickness? When he had his Treasury and his Cabinets filled with precious store, what vanity and presumption doth he presently derive from it? Job 29.18. Job confesseth he grew secure before his afflictions: I said, I shall die in my nest, and shall multiply my days as the sand. Psal. 30.6. And holy David was puffed up with a vain confidence, when he said in his prosperity he should never be moved. Beloved, such is our folly for the most part; when the Sun shines we think not of a dark night; and when the morning is fair we fear not a storm; And therefore we are sometimes taken without our coat, as it were, without our shelter and defence. We are apt to put the evil day far from us; to rejoice as if we were exempted from the common Calamities of mankind; and therefore conclude with Babel, though others be widows, fatherless, childless, comfortless, yet we shall see no soorow. We over-prise these outward things, and promise ourselves that from them which never any found in them. Hence it is that we are over-grieved when they are taken from us. When the Judgement makes too great a report of these things to the Affections, the Affections make too great a do about them. We love our children but too well; therefore when we lose them, we grieve too much. Quem res plus nimio delectavere secundae, Mutatae quatient— No man suffers Affliction with less patience than he who over joys his Comforts. If Jonah had not been exceeding glad of his Gourd, he had not fretted so unreasonably when it withered. If we are not too fond of the Sunshine, we shall better abide a cloudy weeping Sky: if we rejoice as if we rejoiced not, in the most agreeable society of our dearest Friends, we shall be the better prepared to mourn as if we mourned not, when the black day of separation comes. And this leads me to the other part of the Apostles inference, which was first in my thoughts, and which, alas! is the word now most in season: And therefore with your patiented and devout attention, I shall enlarge most upon it. And they that weep, as if they wept not. That is, They that are in heaviness by the sad mischances which Marriage brings with it, by the death of husband, wife, children, or the like troubles. The Apostle doth not recommend a Stoical Apathy, a senselessness or stupidity of disposition. Job. 6.12 Our strength is not the strength of stones, nor our flesh of brass. We have sense and feeling in us, as men and women; and therefore cannot but grieve at that which is offensive thereunto. Yea, it is noted as an evil temper of mind, not to melt in the fire, not to cry under the Rod, but to be insensible of the smart, and the end of our sufferings. Thou hast smitten them, Jer. 5.3. but they have not sorrowed. To weep upon just occasions, is not always an humane frailty; It is sometimes a Christian Virtue: Our blessed Saviour himself was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. We never read that he laughed, but he sighed over Jerusalem, and he wept over Lazarus. And next to our own and other men's sins, nothing hath a better title to our Tears than the death of men or women useful to the world, and dear to ourselves; especially when they are taken off in the blossom of their hopes, and promises of being common as well as private blessings. God denounceth it as a Judgement against King Jehojachim; They shall not lament for him, Jer. 22.18. saying, Ah my brother, or ah his glory. Sapient Veterum p. 22. It was the observation of the immortal Verulam: Adolescentium summae spei mortem infinita commiseratio sequi solet; nihil enim inter fata mortalium, tam flebile est, tamque potens ad misericordiam commovendam, quàm virtutis flos immaturo exitu praecisus: An infinite commiseration is wont to attend the Funerals of very hopeful Youths: For no destiny is so lamentable, so powerful to move, or rather to command compassion, as an untimely cropping of the flower of Virtue; especially when it is our own, by the nearest interest: A plant of our own garden, an off set of our own stock, a branch of our Family; yea, of ourselves; when these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as the Ancients styled them); these pieces of their parents are divided from them, it makes a wide an a bleeding wound, which needs an healing hand, a word in season, a word like precious Oil, or sovereign Balsam, to assuage and supple it. It needs a skilful and authoritative, as well as a compassionate Physician. And seeing such an one was our Apostle, attend, I beseech you, not to me, but to him; admit his Advice, follow his Directions, and apply to yourselves what he prescribes to his beloved Thessalonians; For it will fit your case exactly: 1 Thes. 4.13. I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. As in the Text, so here, brethren: And what a charm of kindness and pity is there in that expression? Think that he speaks to you, not only as to children of the same earthly and heavenly extraction, but as to fellow-sufferers, and his brethren in afflictions: And that he is endeavouring to comfort you with the same consolation wherewith he himself hath been often comforted. Be advised by him, to think of your dear child, not as dead, but only as asleep; not as gone from you for ever, but only as gone before you to a sweet repose from labour and sorrow: Lament over your dead you may, as he is worthy, but not with a passion unworthy of yourselves, unbeseeming your holy Faith: Sorrow you may, but as Christians, not as Heathens, who look not beyond this present state of being; who have no commerce with the invisible world, and no hope of a better life. Weep, but within the bounds of Reason and Religion, which he calls a weeping as if you wept not: That is, no otherwise than beseems the occasion of your trouble. Our sorrow ought to keep the Mean between neglect and excess, not despising the chastning of the Lord, nor on the other hand fainting, much less murmuring when we are rebuked of him. Sarah was the first that we find mourned for in Scripture, and Abraham the first Mourner. His Remains. And Bishop Hall hath set down an Observation of the Hebrew Doctors, upon Gen. 23.2. where this mourning is specified; viz. That the Letter which is in the midst of the Original word, which signifies Mourning, is in all their Bible's written less than his fellows; which they who are wont to make some extraordinary discoveries in every point or tittle of Moses his writing, interpret to imply the moderate mourning of that holy Patriarch. That expression likewise is taken notice of by some, which follows in the next verse: He stood up from before his dead; as if it signified that he turned his eyes from her, that so he might not be overcome with grief. Sapiens sentit incommoda sed vincit. Seneca; To bear Afflictions decently, hath been ever accounted so great a Virtue and Honour, that some of the Ancient Heathens have too extravagantly thought it equalled men to God himself. Vere magnum est habere in uno fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This is a great perfection indeed, to havein one the frailties of a man, and the security of a God; to have a strong, firm, invulnerable temper of mind in our much yielding flesh. It is by all true Philosophy deemed to proceed from the greatest strength of Nature; by all true Christianity from the highest degree of Grace. The best and the wisest Persons, have always been the most moderate Mourners. It is observed of Augustus, though he lost all his Children, and Nephews, and was fain to adopt an Heir; yet he was so little moved at their Death, Hieron. Ep. 3. ad Heliodorum. that he constantly went to the Senate, and neglected no public Affairs. Pericles likewise, having lost two Sons of great hopes within the compass of eight days, put on notwithstanding a white Garment, and with a great constancy of mind went to deliberate about the necessities of the Commonwealth. And the most excellent Dr. Patrick, In his consolatory Discourses, etc. hath further noted, That the Egyptians mourned ten times as long, as the Children of Israel; seven days ordinarily contented the People of God, for their Grief; Gen. 50.3. whereas they that were strangers to the God of Israel, extended their mourning seventy days. Yea, the greatest Mourning that the Israelites used for their two famous leaders, Moses and Aaron, was prolonged but to thirty days, not half the time that those Heathens allowed. And St. Hierom writes of one Melenia, a holy and good Woman of his time, who lost two Sons at once, Ep. ad Paulam. when her Husband lay unburied by her; yet scarce shed a Tear for them, but threw herself at the feet of Christ her Saviour, saying, I shall serve thee now O Lord, with more ease and freedom, because thou hast delivered me from the burden of my other cares. That we may follow the best examples, and under all our Calamities, may mourn wisely, temperately, and religiously: I shall show you briefly, 1. When our Grief is intemperate, or inordinate; when we weep beyond our Apostles stint or limitation. 2. I shall endeavour to prescribe the most proper means for the qualifying, and moderation of our Passions, under our greatest and dearest losses. As to the first of these, our Grief may be immoderate and unreasonable, either in respect, 1. Of the Measure. 2. Of the Manner. 3. Of the Effects and Consequents thereof. 1. In respect of the measure of it, when it overflows its bounds, and exceeds the nature and quality of its object. Thus was Jacob affected with the apprehension of his Son's Death, Gen. 37.35. 2 Kings 18.33. Jer. 31.15. I will go down to the grave to my Son mourning. Thus was David unreasonably moved for his Absolom. And Rachel for her Children, when she refused to be comforted. 2. For the manner of it. Grief is excessive, and very sinful, when it is attended with distrustfulness, despair, and a questioning of God's Attributes, his Justice, Wisdom, Goodness, Power, etc. We must so bewail our Losses as 1. To acknowledge God's Justice. That he doth in faithfulness and righteousness afflict us, not without sufficient cause and provocations on our part: Ezra 9.13. After all that is come upon us, thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities. The Heathen wise man, called the Adversities of the World, but tributa vivendi, the taxes of Life. The Christian wise man ought to know and bear them, as the tributes of offending; and why should a man complain, a living man for the punishment of his sins? Lam. 3.39. God may according to his absolute Dominion and Sovereignty, lay sore Afflictions upon the best of his Servants. Behold he taketh away, and who can hinder him? Who shall say unto him, Job 9.12. Quos Deus amat, indurat & exercet, non in delitiis, sed in castris, Sen. Ep. 67. what dost thou? And in chastening his people, he doth not always levelly his Arrows against their sins; but designs them for trials, and exercises of their graces, for tokens and Testimonies of his Fatherly love towards them; yea, when he passeth by a thousand faults in others, he is wont to whip his Children, if they do but tread awry. You only have I known of all the families of the earth, Amos 3.2. therefore will I visit you for all your iniquities. Wherefore we are by no means to censure others hardly as Jobs Friends did him; it is a plain case, the greatest Sufferers are not always the greatest Sinners. Judgement often gins at the house of God, and he chastens every son whom he receives. Heb. 12.6. Outward crosses, like Hail and Snow, light upon the best Gardens, as well as on the wild Waste; yet it is always some vapour below that breeds the storm, which comes from above. And there is sin enough in the best, to justify all God's severities towards them. Therefore though we must not speak or think the worse of others, for their Calamities, Psal. 73.15. lest we offend against the generation of God's children; yet we must endeavour to see our own sins in our sufferings, so far as to humble ourselves under Gods correcting hand, and still to acknowkedg that he is righteous in all his ways; that he in Justice puniseth those remnants of sin, which are in good men, with those Temporal Afflictions, for whom yet in Mercy he reserveth eternal Salvation. 2. As we must give God the Glory of his Justice, so of his Wisdom, in his most severe deal, owning that he knows what is best, and most expedient for us in every condition. That he corrects us in Judgement, as a prudent, not as a passionate Father. 3. We must acknowledge his Goodness and Love, so far as it is consistent with his Justice and Wisdom; that as he knows our Frame, so he pities our Frailties. As we ought to take notice of God's hand, and his just Indignation against us, when he striketh us; for he is righteous, and will not correct us but for our sin; in like manner we must so resent his displeasure, as not to doubt of his Favour upon our repentance and amendment; for he is faithful and gracious, and evermore corrects us for our good. We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Lastly, We must rest upon the power of God, to support and secure us, in our most dejected and disconsolate Estate. He is my strength, and my defence, therefore I shall not greatly be moved, Psal. 37.24. said David. We must trust and hope that he can, and will bring light out of the thickest darkness: Give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That he hath not only the goodness of a Father, but the ability; yea, the Alsufficiency of a heavenly Father, and is able to do more abundantly for us, than we are able to conceive or hope. This was our Apostle's stay and comfort in his most acute trouble; He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, 1 Cor 12.8, 9, for my power is made perfect through weakness; therefore instead of sinking under my infirmities, very gladly will I rejoice in them, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. But, 3. This inordinacy of Trouble is considerable in its consequents or effects, as 1. When it makes us impatient, and fretful under our Afflictions, as it did Jehoram. Behold this evil is of the Lord, why then should I wait on the Lord any longer? 2 Kings 6.33. Hieremy and Jonah, though good men for the main, and holy Prophets; yet were very much to blame in this particular. It was part of Jabez his Prayer, and we would do well to put it into ours, 1. Chron. 4.10. Lord keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me, i. e. that I may not be fretful under it, or offensive by it; that it may not so grieve me, as to occasion my grieving of thee, of thy holy and good Spirit. 2. When it makes us insensible of, and unthankful for those mercies, which God is pleased to continue to us. Our sorrow must not draw such a thick veil over our Hearts and Faces, that we cannot see through it to contemplate, or take notice of God's manifold blessings, which we still enjoy. They are froward Children, who if they may not have what they would, throw away what they have; and this often provokes their Parents to renew and sharpen their Corrections, that they may cry for somewhat indeed. If our behaviour be such towards our heavenly Father; we provoke him to add to our present Afflictions, the removal of our remaining Mercies. Wherefore amongst a great deal of excellent consolatory advice, which Photius, the renowned Patriarch of Constantinople, gave Patritius upon the Death of his beloved Daughter, we find this agreeable to our occasion. Photii Ep. 234. The Almighty Creator hath taken to himself a piece of his own work; but he hath given, or left more than he took; and I pray God they may long be left and live to their Parent's increasing joy. ' You are grieved for what you have lost; take comfort in those that are still with you. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Let us give thanks to God, for what he hath taken from us, that we may have a more sure hold of those he continues to us, and that they may daily prove greater blessings and comforts. 3. Our Sorrow hath an inordinate effect, when it makes us unuseful in the Duties of our general and particular Callings; when it renders us unserviceable to God, to the King, the Church, to our Country, and our Families. But I must content myself (as I hope by God's Grace I have in some measure satisfied you) to show you only thus briefly, when the tide of our Sorrow swells, and rises too high, either in the measure, the manner, or the effects thereof. I shall only add a few words more in this dying part of my Discourse (And I hope you will most regard what I say last) to allay, or abate your Trouble, and that by persuading you 1. To the exercise of some proper Graces. 2. To the practice of some seasonable Duties. 1. To the exercise of some proper, suitable Graces, such as these following: 1. Meekness and Humility, a Sense of your own Unworthiness; of your own, if not ill, yet undeservings. Meekness meets an Affliction half way, and Humility stoops, as it were, to take up the burden. 2. Faith or dependence upon God: This is a settling and a quieting Grace. I had fainted, unless I had believed, said David. Psal. 27.13. Wait on the Lord, and he shall strengthen thy heart. Nothing gives such ease and relief under the Afflictions of this Life, as a firm belief of the Joys of another. A belief of Consolations hereafter proportionable to our patiented Sufferings here. 3. Repentance. If we turn our Sorrow upon our Sins, which most justly deserve it; Godly sorrow will wash the wound clean, and eat out the Venom and malignity of worldly grief, as spiritual joy corrects the flatulency of carnal mirth. 4. Charity. Which as it covers Sin, so it cures Sorrow; the work of Righteousness, (which frequently in Holy Scripture is but another word for Charity, or Bounty) is peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever. Isa. 32.17. He that soweth righteousness, shall reap a sure reward; though he sow in tears, he shall reap in joy. Tho we cannot profit the dead, as some have imagined we may by our Alms and Oblations, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Damascen. de defunctis; yet we may much benefit and comfort ourselves thereby: When we come to die, the remembrance of our bounty and charity, the good deeds we have done for the house and the servants of our God, will minister more comfort to our minds than all the Treasures we leave behind us upon Earth. These are the Graces which especially I would advise you to exercise. 2. The Duties I would recommend to you in short, are, 1. A diligent reading and hearing of the Word of God. 2. Serious and seasonable Meditation. 3. Fervent and devout Prayer. 1. A diligent Attention to the Word read or preached: This is my comfort in my affliction (said David, Psal. 119.5 the King), thy word hath quickened me: And again, Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Scripturarum lectio, Vita est, saith St. Ambrose: There is comfort, nay, Life in reading the holy Scriptures. Wherefore St. Basil styles them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the common Refectory or Apothecary's Shop for fainting sick Souls: There is a Salve for every Wound, a Cure for every Malady. And particularly, the great Athanasius counselled his Friend, when any sore Trouble seized him, to betake himself to the reading of the 42d Psalm. 2. Serious Religious Meditation is an excellent help to digest trouble: And in such trouble as ours, it concerns us especially to meditate upon the shortness of life, and upon the certainty and unavoidableness of death; or rather (because I have spoke of this already) of the shortness of death, and the certainty of Resurrection. That the dead bodies of our dear Relations are not lost, but lodged in the grave; That it will not be long before that which is sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption, and that part which is sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory. When we stick our Hearses with flowers, and go forth to the grave with Rosemary, it naturally suggests this meditation, That the bones of our friends shall flourish again like an herb, in the Prophet Isaiah's comparison. In this sense, Sunt & sua fata sepulchris. Death itself dies, and Mortality is swallowed up of Life. 3. The last duty and instrument of peace and comfort which I shall recommend to you, is fervent and devout prayer; and it is the Apostle James his Recipe, Is any man afflicted? let him pray; as if this alone would effect the cure. To be sure it is the most magisterial and sovereign Remedy; it vents the tumour, and breaths out the anguish of a throbbing Malady. Pray then, and pray again, that God would sanctify your Affliction so unto you, that you may serve him cheerfully here, and that in his good time, you may be happily gathered to your son, and, you to your brother, as he is already gathered to his fathers and yours; that when you rest stom your labour, you may rest from your cares and vexations, from all the sad accidents of short time, from pain and sickness, sorrow and sympathy, weeping for yourselves, weeping with and for your beloved Friends; that you may get above the Clouds and the Rain, above the changeable Regions, and enter into pure and eternal Joys; that when you leave your Estates and Honours here, you may be made partakers of a glorious inheritance with the Saints in light, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the rest of the spirits of just men made perfect in the kingdom of heaven: That when you see this Sun no more, which sets as well as riseth, you may behold everlasting day: That you may enjoy a clear and an uninterrupted Tranquillity; a Rest not only without sorrow, but without sleeping too, without so much as a still interruption of your waking active delights. If you thus cry to God out of your Bochim, your Valley, your depths of Tears and Trouble, this, and the other parts of holy devotion, if they do not set you upon dry ground, will keep your heads above water; yea, Comfort shall come riding to you upon the wings of your Clouds: your loss shall be your gain, and this lamented death your living and lasting advantage. If you bury your worldly Affections with your dear deceased, and blow up a fire of heavenly desire out of his ashes, you yourselves rise to a new life, and do in a sense put off Mortality on this side the grave. You have a part in the first Resurrection, and shall have in the second: Death, that black, that bloody King of terrors shall not have dominion over you. The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the Law: But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord: To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, one immortal and only wise God, be all Honour and Glory, Power and Praise, now and for ever. Amen. Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning, grant we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. FINIS.