〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Planctus Unigeniti: ET SPES RESUSCITANDI. OR, The bitter sorrows for a Firstborn, sweetened with the hopes, of a Better RESURRECTION. WITH Consolations, MORAL, and DIVINE, against the Death of Friends, suited to the present Occasion. DELIVERED, In a FUNERAL SERMON, at FELSTED in ESSEX, MAY, 23. 1664. At the Solemn Interment of the Right Honourable, CHARLES Lord RICH, the Only Child, of the Right Honourable the Earl of WARWICK. By A. WALKER, D. D. Rector of Fyfield, in the same County, and one of His MAJESTY'S CHAPLAINS.  
Jer. 6.26. Fac tibi Planctum unigeniti, Luctum amarum.  
St. Luke 8.52. Weep not, She is not dead, but sleepeth.  
Contristamur nos, in nostrorum mortibus, necessitate amittendi, sed cum Spe Recipiendi; Ind tristamur hinc consolamur, inde infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit, inde dolet humana conditio, hinc sanat Divina promissio; Sanctus Augustinus.  
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Mabb, for Samuel Ferris, at his Shop, in Cannon Street, over against London Stone, 1664.   

To the Right Honourable, CHARLES Earl of WARWICK, Baron of Leez; And his Eminently Religious Consort, MARY, Countess of WARWICK; And the most Virtuous, and Excellent Lady, the Lady AND RICH, Dowager.  
Right Honourable;  
THough I find my present Attempt, not unlike the great Instance of Difficulties in Philosophy, to divide an Atom, and make two of the least, and last, Unite in Nature; To distribute amongst You, a Trifle, so Infinitely less, than the whole should be, for every of Your Honours: Yet am I pleased the better with it, by how much the more it Corresponds, with this dark Providence; which is a compendious heap of Intricacies: and seems designed, as an Experiment, what Hardships, Great, and Noble minds, supported with Virtue, and Religion, can conflict with, and Conquer.  
To Extricate myself out of this straight, I am Constrained, to beg Your Honours, (By the prevailing Argument of His Dear Urn) to accept this hasty Monument, (which My Zeal to His Memory, first Offered at, by Your Commands, and by the same Influence, hath now made Public) to be to You, (in that Respect,) as His Sweet Lordship was; Who was so Singly, and Entirely, Every of Your Honours, as if You had had no Joint, or Common Interests in Him.  
And may I, my Lord, be blameless, in assuming the Confidence, to speak in the Great Apostles Language; Now I rejoice, not that You are made sorry, but that You sorrow after a Godly manner; and that this deep Channel, now made in Your Soul, is so happily filled, with the Waters of the Sanctuary.  
And if I be Rude in Speech, I am not so in Design; though I whisper so loud in Your Lordship's Ears, that the World overhear me; that nothing can more rejoice Your Soul-Friends, and Servants, then to behold Your Christian Submission, to so smart a stroke, without other Indenting with the Almighty; Then that this Heart-breaking blow, may End in a broken heart; and in Your own Significant, though short Expression, that if this DO, it will be the Happiest Loss, that ever Man had.  
All which, (without presumption;) I may Vouch, the Lord takes not amiss, to have imposed upon Him; the very Errand of His Judgements being, to bring His Children nearer to Himself, and such a Frame.  
My Lord, sad Providences do then prove sad indeed; when we are forced to taste the bitter Rind, and Huske; or break our teeth upon the harder Shell; but feed not upon the sweeter Kernel: Partake not the Blessing, God intends us by them. But then are they sweet, and solid mercies, when God doth teach us, with, and by his chastning: that this may be such, I know no surer means, then that Your Lordship, Humbly Remember the Vows of God which are upon You, which You made while the Wound was fresh; and that You Awefully regard, the Resolutions of Your own Heart, and Mouth: And My Confidence You will do so, Incourages Me to this Boldness, which Your Lordship's Goodness will not call Rudeness; but Accept, as a Testimony of My Duty, and Faithfulness.  
And You Great Madam, whose Modest and Retired Goodness, cannot Abscond itself, but all the English-World, Sees, and Reveers it.  
Go on, to Raise the Eternal Glories of the Son of God, upon the Temporary Ruins, of a Dearest Son; And make the Incredulous, to See, and Know, what Wonders, Solid, and Sincere, Christianity can Work.  
What the Wise Moralist Observed so long ago; that, A good Man, contending with bad Fortune, is a sight worth Gods own looking on; I never understood so fully, as since I had the Honour to behold, with what Masculine, Composed, Grave, and which is more than all, what Christian Fortitude, Your Ladyship boar up, above these Swelling, Boisterous, Waves.  
Those who have any measures of a Mother's heart, may guests at Yours; But We that have the Honour, and Happiness, to be Acquainted, with the Sweetness of Your Temper, and the Fervours of Your Tenderness, in Others Sorrows; how Inexpressibly You were concerned, when first Your Noble Son fell Sick; How You Attended him, in all his Illness, and warmed his very Linens on Your Heart! What Agonies of Soul You Suffered for Him! and how You Wept, and Prayed, and Watched, and could not bear, the supposition of His loss; are put to the Wonder of David's Servants, when the Child was dead.  
What is this thing that thou hast done?— And plainly see, it was the Strength of david's God, which helped You, as well as his Wisdom, that instructed You, to bear his hand.  
My Only Solicitude, for Your Ladyship, is, lest Your Sorrow worsted in the open Field, and plainly vanquished, by Grace and Reason; should Lie in Ambush, and Surprise You afterward, with greater danger: To prevent it, watch it: Still keep Your Eye on Heaven, and that will keep You safe; 'Tis not easy, to benight a Christians heart, with any very dark cloud, while there is brightness, and serenity, in the face of Christ; But if it swell, and flow to an excess, and will not be staunched; then breathe a vein, and give it some diversion, take an advantage of it, and turn it into Godly sorrow, and all shall be well.  
And You Sweet Madam; whose loss of so Dear, and Kind a Lord, had been Invaluable, had it been never so late (who was so good in all Relations, and whose endearing Excellencies, in that He bore to You, were Eminent, as that Relation is, above all others:) Yet is it aggravated now, beyond expression, by its early, and unseasonable, surprising of You, in so tender years, not yet acquainted with, nor trained up in the School of sorrow; Will, I hope, therefore accept the Cordials I bring, because You so much need them.  
It were an Unpardonable Rudeness, to Request, that he may ever live, in Your Ladyship's best thoughts, and have Your Noble breast, His Dearest Monument; For how can He ever be forgotten by Her; who was not his Bargain; but his Choice? Not his content and satisfaction only; but his Souls most raised, and lasting, Ravishments; from whom, He was never well, whose Absence was his constant sickness, and the parting with whom, 〈…〉  
No Madam, I do not beg You to Remember Him, You will do that unasked; But that You would Remember Him to Spiritual Advantages.  
Wean Your Affections, and forget Him, in all those regards, in which, henceforth, You shall know Him no more; and Remember Him in those may not perplex, or hurt You, but help, and do You good.  
When Husbands die in debt, their Widows should discharge and pay it. He hath not left You under other Encumbrances; Only He made Himself God's debtor, on his Deathbed (a Note of which Debts, Your Ladyship may find, in the following Sermon) And if You will Administer, and take these Debts upon You, and discharge them; were I worthy to be Your Countersecurity, I would be bound, in all I have, or am, You would be Eternally the Richer for it; and bless, and hug his Memory, for this choice Legacy, more than for all, His, more than Noble, Presents.  
And Madam, to help You pay these Debts, He hath left Your Ladyship, (beside Your Honourable Dowry) such a Jointure, as you could have had by none, but him; an Interest in that Real, and Solid Idea, of all that's Excellent, with Men, and Christians; His, and by Him, your Ladyships Dear Mother; whom if you voluntarily lose, as you have done him necessarily, you double your Misery; and leave Charity itself not excuse to make for the Error; But that your first loss, hath not only bereft you, of the Object of your Affections; but by its greatness, hath amazed your Judgement too.  
Now let me join your Honours once again, to Beseech your Joint Patronage, of this imperfect Copy, of so rare a piece. The better is the face, the hardlier doth the Painter hit it; One deforming mark, (which is seldom missed by a rude Pencil) makes all the rest, seem like. I had no such unhappy Advantage here; (though I complain not of that want.) And my haste was such, I had scarce time to prime my Canvas, and to let it dry; to bear the Impressions of a leaden Pencil: you are my witnesses beyond exception; that your Consternation was not off enough, in half the week, to give me my summons, for the following Monday. Such pieces do require the second, and third sitting; beside the finishing strokes, unless, Immature Sermons best suit with Immature Funerals.  
Involuntary slips, have their pardon of course, and the flatter touches of an hasty Pencil, all Ingenuity Indulges. The rest must endure its fate, in an unkind World, which still is such, that I truly reckon it among your Comforts, that our Noble Lord is got well out on't. His now secure Hearse, must be my Shrine; and if your Honours accept it, (which is the Only Boon I Crave) you then Engage your Greatness, and your Goodness for my Protection: The Confidence of which, shall be the Security, and Ease, of  
My very Good Lord, and Ladies, Your Honours Most Devoted Orator, and Lowest Servant ANTHONY WALKER.   

Planctus Unigeniti.  St. Luke, Chap. the 7th. Verses 12, 13. 
— Behold there was a Dead Man Carried out, the only Son of his Mother, and she was a Widow, and much People of the City was with her.  
And when the Lord saw her, he had Compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.  

IF it were but a Venial Solicisme, to Preface that Sermon with Sighs, and Tears; the Text of which forbids our Weeping, or less Ominous to my Design of Comforting others, than some men fancy stumbling at the Threshold. My Preaching (without a Parable) should be a Mourning to you; 
Luke 7.32. We have mourned to you, and you have not wept.  And just astonishment should strike me dumb, which were the only Eloquence on this occasion. And by a meet Metathesis my Lips, and Eyes should change their Offices, and these should be your Orators (for tears are very Vocal) and in the Prophet's Phrase, should Drop my Words; (though soft and silent, 
Ezech. 20.40.  yet warm and melting ones) and my Doctrine (not in a metaphour) Should distil like the Rain, 
Deut. 32.2.  and descend upon You as the Dew.  
Neither should I despair of drops enough, if not to soften, yet to smooth the stoniest, and most unnatural breast; And to be pledged abundantly by those, To whom the Lord hath given tears to drink in so great Plenty, Psal. 80.5.  
But this were, at once, to be both Rude and Cruel; and to Vpbraid your Humanity, & hazard your safety. The one as little needing Provocation to more sorrows, as the other can bear it, after such Floods of grief, 
Oculi mei reforbebant fontem suum usque ad siccitatem. Aug. Confess. Lib. 9 Cap. 12.  whose eyes have drained their very Fountains dry; as St. Augustin of himself upon his Mother's Death.  
Yet if there be any eye so strangely Anomolous to all the Laws of Nature and Civility, like gideon's Fleece (which yet was not without a Miracle) to continue dry, while all about is bedewed and drenched in tears. I'll try his Obstinacy, and tempt his Stoicism with the Dark and Cloudy side of my Text;— Behold a dead man was carried out, the only Son of his Mother, and she was a Widow. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saith St. Gregory Nyscene, 
Cap. 25. De opificio hominis.  The mere Narration is a great and manifest Lamentation; what sayest thou Friend, canst thou hear this and not Lament? Hath the Holy Spirit set so mournful an Asterick upon it, and canst thou read it, unmoved, and unconcerned? Where are thy Bowels? What Ostrich hast thou changed them with? Or from what Tiger were they derived to thee?  
But if thy Ear will not affect thy Heart, thy Eye will doubtless: and that thine Eye again. See then before thee, in that solemn Hearse the Killing Resurrection of this Mournful Story, the darker Scene of this black Tragedy. Behold here a Dead Man, a young Man, in the blossom of his Manhood, scarce in the Flower of his Youth, and not arrived at the Zenith of his Age or Honour, and the only Son, Yea, 
Sauciabatur anima mea, & quasi dilaniabatur vita quae una facta fuerat ex mea & illius. Aug. Conf. Lib. 9 Cap. 12.  the only one of his Right Honourable Parents, whose very Lives were bound up in his; being inexpressibly Dear to them in numberless regards. Snatched from the closest Embraces of a Dearest Consort, and rend from the tenderest bosom, yea, from the very Soul, of the best of Mothers, who Loved him, with a Love, Better, and Greater, than the Love of Women; If thou beholdest this with dry Eyes, surely thou art somewhat more than Man, an Angel; or rather somewhat, yea much less, a Brute, a Stock.  
You easily see, there lie two mournful Texts before us, the one in the Volume of God's Book, the other in the Book of Providence; And the Second, alas, too full a Counterpane of'th First, and too too sad an Exemplification of it. I shall touch them both in Order, and Order Commands me, and Invites you first, to the words I have Read; which are parcel of a very Remarkable History of one of the most Signal Works of Christ, which stand upon Record in the Sacred Registers. The raising of the Widow's Son of Naim, and worthily are they ushered in with that quickening incitement of our attention, Behold. For if single wonders command our readiest notice, then much more this, which is like Ezekiel's Vision, 
Ezek. 1.16.  a Wheel in a Wheel, a Miracle in a Miracle, a miracle of Compassion in a Miracle of Power, a miracle of Greatness in a miracle of Goodness, Relieving Pity, meeting despairing Necessity, and preventing even requests, as much as exceeding hopes of help.  

Omnia adeo minute narrantur, ut fidem augerent Historiae Maldon.  Many Circumstances offer, and almost force themselves upon us, tending to the Verifying, and Magnifying of the work; to manifest both how True, and how Great it was; but I must resist their importunity in my present haste, and fixing this fourfold remark upon the Whole, single out the Branch I am engaged to pursue.  
Observe first the kind of Christ's Miracles; Healing, Inlivening, the sweetest Emblems of that Grace and Gospel which they were wrought for Confirmation of; Moses, the Law, was a Minister of death, the Letter killeth, so did his Miracles, Blood and Storms, 
Exod. 7, 19.9.22.10.21.12.29.  Fire, Darkness, Desolation, Death, were those he wrought.  
He made but one Dead thing Alive, which was a Rod before, but then became a Serpent; In cujus morsu mors, 
Exod. 7.9, 10.  grew from a Smart Instrument of Correction to a more Nocent one of Destruction as Rehoboams Scorpions were more cruel than the Rods of Solomon, 
Exod. 7.9, 10.  2 Kings 12.11.  
2. This Miracle exemplifies the Strength and Greatness of his Grace, as well as the Sweetness and Goodness of it; A dead man is the lively Picture of a Sinner; Sin is the greatest death, 
Amplius est resascitare semper victurum, quam suscitare iterum moriturum. Aug. Ser. 4. dever. Domi. Initio Tom. 10.  it kills the Nobler part, the Soul, and a dead man carried out, is the Copy of a Sinner, not newly such, but a good while lying in it, ready to stink above ground in his noy some Lusts; Yet such can Christ raise up, as here; Yea, them who are Entombed in the customs of Sin, and rot and stink with Lazarus; 
Augustinus ubi supra.  Liberat enim & de mala Consuetudine Dominus quatriduanos mortuos  
3. This Miracle proclaims the superlative preventing Goodness of him who is found of them who seek him not, 
Isa. 65.1.  
Rom. 10.20.  and made manifest to them who inquire not after him, Non Rogatus adest. 
Mal. 〈◊〉.   
Those whom Christ helped while he was on Earth, are ranked into this threefold Order.  
1. Some upon their own importunate, and earnest Prayers, as blind Bartimeus, Crying, 
Mark 10.47.  Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me; And the Leper, 
Mark 1.40.  who beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, said; Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean. Blind Sinners! let the first be your Litany, and the last your daily Collect your unclean ones.  
2. Some upon the Requests and Intercession of others, as him sick of the Palsy, 
Mark 2, 3.  brought by his Friends; 
St. Luke 7.2. 8.41.  the Centurion's Servant for whom his Master and the Jews interceded, and Jarus' Daughter whom he raised at the humble Importunity of her distressed Father. Learn hence you that have Servants, Friends, Children to go to Christ for them with Faith and Prayer for Spiritual Health and Life, and engage Good Christians with you, as he did the Jews, and be full of good works, that they may not want Arguments to plead before the Lord in your behalf, as they— Lord he loveth our Nation, and hath built us a Synagogue. 
St. Luke 7.5.   
3. Some without other motions made to him then the silent Oratory of their own deep Misery, which cried prevailingly in the ears of his Mercy, 
Ipsa pro miseris miseria, vociseratur.  as this Woman whom he saw and Pitied, and Comforted, and Helped, and all unasked; and how much more will he relieve those who Cry unto him Day and Night? 
Luke 18.7, 8.  And whose Condition is as sad as hers? I tell you, he will assuredly relieve them.  
Lastly, This Miracle declares the exact watchfulness of Divine Benignity, which comes so pat, so seasonable, just when the Corpse was carrying out. This never comes too soon, this never stays too late, but is always ready where and when 'tis necessary, stays till there's need, that help may be the sweeter, but never stays longer than 'tis fit and safe; Therefore you that wait for help, give not over looking, nor say Complainingly, Mine eyes fail while I wait for thy Salvation; 
Psal. 69.3.  But, though it tarry, wait for it, 
Habb. 2, 3.  for it will come, and will not tarry (longer than is meet) and it will speak, and will not lie; and that in so apposite, so sweet, so fit a manner, time and place, that it will make thee cry out with wonder; Behold what hath the Lord wrought; as the Holy Penman ushers in this Narrative; Behold— Que particula Ecce, temporis unitatem & loci propinquitatem significat. He cannot express it without holy admiration, that Christ should come so seasonably, so pat, as we use to speak; just then, in the very Nick and Article of time, When the dead man was carried out, who was the only Son of his Mother, and she a Widow, and much People of the City was with her, And when the Lord saw her, he had Compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.  
Which words are Chequerwork of Black and White, like Moses Pillar, party per pale Darkness and Light, as David's Song of Judgement and Mercy, 
Exod. 14.20.  and we may use St. Paul's Language whilst we view them, 
Psal. 101.1.  behold the Severity and Goodness of God. 
Rom. 11.22.  So that my Text is a Tragicomedy gins with a mournful Prologue, but ends with a joyful Epilogue; a rainy, lowering day, breaking up into a bright and pleasant Evening.  
She comes forth weeping and bearing Precious Seed, 
Corpora sanctorum Semen laetae resurrectionis. Psal. 126.5, 6.  the seed of the Resurrection, and she hath an early, sudden, unexpected Harvest, and carries home a Sheaf in her Bosom, which she reaped with ravishments, and ecstasies of joy.  
The whole of the Text may genuinely be reduced to these two heads.  

1. Man's Misery.  
2. Christ's Mercy.   
Humane Passion, Divine Compassion.  
The First, in Verse the 12. which presents us with a sad and doleful Object.  
The Second, ver. the 13. which gives us an account what impression that object made on Christ, who came so seasonably to behold and help.  
Or if you will; Observe, 

1. A Solemn and Mournful Funeral.  
2. A seasonable and Comfortable Cordial.    
In the First, the Funeral, are presented to us.  

1. The Hearse; a dead man carried out.  
2. The Mourners; his Mother the chief, and much People with her.  
3. The process of the whole, they carry him forth.   
In the second, the Cordial.  

1. The Cordial itself, Weep not.  
2. The Holy Lymbeck, from whence 'tis distilled, the tender bowels of Jesus Christ; He was moved with Compassion;—  
3. The fire that gives it operation; the seeing of this pitiful object; a Desolate, Disconsolate Mother When he saw her;— Then he was moved with Compassi n, and when he was so moved, than he said, Weep not.   
I begin with the First; the Funeral, and in that, 1. The Hearse, 2. Then the Mourners, and this order, Custom approves, Nature Compels, Ceremony appoints, and Necessity constrains; the Hearse leads, the Mourners follow; Our Noble Lord is gone before, we must go after.  
1. The Hearse, And that as harsh and dark as if the Pall, were of the Coursest Hair-Cloath, and made more black and Heavy, with these six sable Escutcheons, which are its load and burden, rather than its Ornament.  

1. A Man dead.  
2. He a Young Man.  
3. That young man, a Great man.  
4 That Great man, an Only Son.  
5. That only Son, as Childless at his death, as his decease did leave his Mother.  
6. That Mother a Widow, like to continue Childless, Heirless, concluded and shut up under despair of having more to comfort, and relieve her Solitude.   
Each circumstance calls for an heavy accent, and needs a mournful circumflex, let's drop them with our tears in Order, that every Escutcheon may be Guttee, only suppose those drops of Pearl and Argent, to charge the despairing Sable Field of Death, with brighter hopes of an approaching Resurrection. 
1 Tim. 2.7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preco Caduceator, predicator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 predicare publice laudare.  Excuse this phrase; a Preacher is properly an Herald: but chief so, at such a time. Each word, like a slip of Cyprus, sprouts up into a mournful Stem, the Blazon of each Escutcheon is a doleful Sentence, in Order thus,  
1. Man is Mortal.  
2. Even Young men may die, and often do.  
3. Great Men must fall as well as others.  
4. Onely-childrens cannot escape.  
5. Whole Families may fail in Childless Heirs.  
6. Former Sorrows do not excuse us from Succeeding Ones; She that was made a Widow by her Husband's death, may yet be rendered more desolate by the loss of Children. One comfort gone secures not the rest.  
By the glimmering light which these six dim and lowering Tapers cast about the Hearse, you may distinctly read, the Impress of each Shield.  
1. Man's Mortal. This truth's so obvious, we cannot suppose the Ecce prefixed to it. The wonder is greater that any man outlives his Mother's travel, then that he dies so soon.  
The many witty Emblems of our frailty, devised and used by gravest Sages, Ethnic and Christian are abundantly excused from all suspicion of Hyperboles, by what the holy spirit speaks so frequently in the same Argument; 
Isa. 40.6, 7. Psal. 103.15. Job. 13.25. 1 Pet. 1.24. Jam. 4.14. Job. 7.7. Psal. 144.4. Isa. 40.17.  comparing man to Grass, to Flowers, to dried Leaves, and Stubble, to Dust, to Vapours, to Wind, to Vanity, to less than vanity and nothing.  
And no truth is written in God's Book, with more Indelible, and larger Characters, then that It is appointed unto all men once to die; A time to be born, a time to die; Mark how close they stand together, nothing parts them. 
Jos. 23.14. 1 Kings 2.2.  'Tis the way of all the Earth, an universal Rule that doth admit of no Exception, 
Gen. 5.5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20,  the constant conclusion of all men's History:— And he died. So that the challenge was very safe; What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death, 
Psal. 89.48.  and shall he deliver himself from the hand of the Grave? And the determination as warily made, No man can give to God a Ransom for himself, or Brother, 
Psal. 49.9.  that he should still live for ever, and not see Corruption.  
2. And 'tis as obvious to common notice, we need not Revelation to persuade our Credence, they give assent, who never saw the Bible, and 'tis become a Proverb, nothing so sure as death; where seeing is believing, there need no other Topics, to make a demonstration.  
3. And Natural Reason gives its perfect suffrage, that must decay, whose foundation is i'th' dust, as ours is, who are but the sub-divisions of Adam's red Clod, crumbled into multiplied Atoms; the stream cannot ascend beyond the Altitude of the Fountain's Situation. From Corruptible Principles no Product can proceed, Incorruptible; Man that is born of a Woman, is of few days, it carries its own Evidence, because he is so born.  
A Tabernacle patched together of sappy sticks, 
Job. 14.1.  and rotten straw, and mouldering dirt cannot stand long, especially exposed to Storms without, and Fire from within; and such is man's body, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.— Greg. Nyss. Orat. de Mortuis.  tossed and consumed with daily strife, of hot and cold, moist and dry, and which soever Conquers, leads life itself a Captive to its Victory, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— Greg. Nyss. ubi supra. — And Dust returns to dust.  
4. And there is a Moral cause i'th' Soul, as mortal as any Natural one i'th' Body, 
Eze. 18.20. Gen. 2.17. Rom. 6.23.5.12.  the Soul that sinneth it shall die, In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death, death is the wages of sin, which shall be surely paid. By one man Sin entered into the World, 
1 Kin. 8.46.  and death by sin. And in as much as no man liveth and sinneth not, you may conclude that no man liveth, 
Mors interficit omnes quos natura presentem perducit ad vitam; ducit Reges, trahit Populos, gentes impellit, non divitiis redimi non flecti precibus, non lachrimis molliri, non viribus potuit illa unquam superari, Chrysologus Serm. 118.  and dyeth not.  
With what words then shall we bewail, or upbraid rather, the Atheistical security, and stupid madness of those men, who will not be persuaded of this truth? or, which is ten times worse, under convictions and confessions of it, live here, as if, they should live here for ever; and tempt us to believe they judge their Souls are Mortal, they take so little care to save them; and their Bodies Immortal, they heap up so long provisions for them.  
2. Even young men may die, and often do. Ours in the Text is expressly called so, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ver. next following, your common saying is, Old men must die, and Young men may, Senibus mors in januis, Juvenibus in obsidiis, saith St. Bernard. 'tis very remarkable how the Scripture Records the Death of Haran, And Haran died before his Father Tera, 
Gen. 11.21.  in the Land of his Nativity. Most Children die before their Parents, not one of an hundred that are born, lives to be old, and consequently, far the greatest part of men die young. Death passeth upon them who have not sinned, after the similitude of Adam's Transgression; 
Rom. 5.  that is actually, and therefore die whilst young. rachel's Children are not, while she remains to bewail them, because they are not. Death keeps no turns, observes no order, that they should go first, who came so, but in this 'tis often, The last shall be first, and the first last. Not only man, but man in his best Estate is altogether vanity; 'tis an Arabian Proverb, 
Psal. 39.5.  the old Camel often carries the young Camels Skin to Market; And the Jewish Scholar told his Master, as an Argument, to urge him, to teach him betimes the Art of dying well; that there were little graves in Golgotha. When Jonahs' gourd was fresh and green, 
Jon. 4.  fullest of sap and verdure, than the worm smites it, and 'tis gone. And no wonder, for their less confirmed constitution, is sooner discomposed, and out of temper; Their fresher blood is more susceptive of Infection, their warmer and agile spirits more easily blown up into a Feverish heat and flame, and in a word, are so much less safe from death, by how much they are the fairer marks for him to Level at.  
Awake then presumptuous Youths! Sleep not so sound in the Lap of Dalilah, without the thoughts and care of rest in Abraham's bosom; Put not the evil day far from you, upon such slight and slender grounds, Make no agreements with the Grave, nor covenants with death and Hell, 
Isa. 28.18.  lest he forbidden the banes, and disannul it, in whose hands your breath is; but Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, 
Eccl. 12.1.  and learn to live betimes, yea and die too, (for you may die betimes) and seek God early, while he may be found, knowing they are most welcome who come soon, and remembering the young Disciple, was the best beloved Disciple. Put not off, no not a day, 
Nescis quid serus vesper trabat Adag.  a work of such concernment, because thou knowest not what a day may bring forth, lest thou be put to worse complaints than his, who bitterly bewailed his stay, Too late O Lord did I begin to Love thee; Nimis sero te amare caepi, and least if thou think the Morn and Flower of thy age too good to give, God judge the dregs and twigh-light of it too bad to be accepted, and take no pleasure in those days, Of which thyself shalt say, I have no pleasure in them, Eccl 12.1. O know in this thy day, the things that concern thy peace; 
Vide Gr. Nyss. Contra Bap. delat. Sed dices tu qui es Juvenis, nondum consenui. Noli ergo decipi, non definitur mors certo tempore aetatis, neque timet eos qui sunt in ipso flore aetatis in solos autem senes obtinet dominium. Hujus enim accipe magistrum quotidianam experientiam. Vides enim quo mortui efferuntur feretrum quam in aequaliter & ut contingit omnem effertae tatem hodie senem cras florentem & elegantem adolescentem paulo post cui caeperat lanugo apparere, russus virum robustum valentem viribus & russus vetulam simul & virginem.  Si non nunc, quando?  
3. Great Men must fall as well as others, this in our Text was such an one; his Mother is termed Primaria Civitatis Matrona, one of the Chief Ladies in the City where she dwelled. We die, as Men, as Sinners, and what makes them greatest, makes them not more than men, nor less than sinners. Therefore he who calls them Gods, yet saith that they must die like men; 
Psal. 82.6, 7.  The lofty Cedars of Lebanon, and goodliest Oaks in Bashan, must down as sure as the Sycamores in the Valley, or Willows by the Water-Brookes.  
Job told us long ago, 
Job 34.19, 20  that God accepteth not the Persons of Princes, nor regardeth the Rich more than the Poor, for they are all the work of his hands; In a moment they shall die, and the Mighty shall be taken away without hand.  
Man though in Honour abideth not; 
Psal. 49.12.  when God takes away the breath of Princes, even they return unto their dust, and their thoughts perish. Though the Rich Man's Wealth be his Tower, 
Pro. 10.15.  and a strong hold in his conceit, yet Death can scale his Walls, and storm his Fort, or pick his Locks, and creep in at his Windows, or slide in at a Loophole; and Riches cannot bribe him, nor a Golden Shield bear off his darts. That Rich Fool in the Gospel, who blessed himself with Barnes-full, as if nothing would destroy but starving, was confuted with a vengeance when the summons came, Stulte hac nocte, Thou Fool, 
Luke 12.21▪  this night thy Soul shall be required of thee. Solomon and Croesus, Alexander and Caesar, Constantine and Charles, and all the Magni & Maximi, are such loud Instances of this, it were superfluous to weary you with more.  
Be wise now therefore O Ye Kings, 
Psal. 2.20.  be Instructed Ye Judges of the Earth, Serve the Lord with Fear, Kiss the Sun lest he be angry, and when you die, (as die you must,) you die again, and perish Everlastingly. Know ere it be too late, 
Prov. 11.4.  that Riches will not profit in the day of wrath, or be accepted as your Ransom, and therefore trust not in them, 
Psal. 62.10.  and when they increase, set not your hearts upon them. I shall shut up this with those Golden Words of St. Augustin, which conclude the third Tome of his Works.  
Thou pridest thyself in thy Riches, and the Nobility of thy Ancestors, thou boastest of thy Country, and the Beauty of thy Body, and the Honours conferred upon thee; But consider thyself, that thou art Mortal, that thou art Dust, and must return to dust; Look upon them, who before thee, glisteren with like gaieties; Where now are those who were encircled with a train of Citizens? Where the Inconquerable Emperors? Where those who called, and could appoint Public Assemblies, and Solemn Meetings? Now all is Dust, all's Ashes. Now a few Verses comprehend their story. Look now into their Graves, and see which was the Servant, which the Lord, which the Poor Man, which the Rich, distinguish if thou canst, the Captive from the King, 
Divitiis, floribus & majorum Nobilitate te jactas, & exultas de Patria, & pucritudine corporis, & Honoribus qui tibi ab hominibus deferuntur: respice te quia mortalis es, & Terra es, & in terram ibis. Circumspice eos qui ante te similibus spendoribus fulsere. Ubi sunt quos ambiebant Civium Potentatus? Ubi in Superabiles Imperatores? Ubi qui conventus dishonebant & Festa? Ubi equorum spendidi invectores? Ubi exercicituum deuces? Ubi Satrapae Tyrannici; Nunc omnia pulvis, nunc omnia favillaes, nunc in paucis versibus eorum vitae memoria; Respice Sepulchra, & vide quis Servus, quis Dominus, quis Pauper, quis Dives, Discern si potes Vinctuma Rege, Fortem a Debili Pulchrum a Deformi; Memor sis itaque ne extollaris aliquando. Memor autem eris, si te ipsum respexeris.  the Strong from the Weak, the Comly from the Deformed; think of this, and it will keep thee humble, and thou canst not but remember it, unless thou forget thyself.  
4. Only Children cannot escape; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnigenitus, Quod plus est quam unicus, quem solum genuerat, The only begotten on her that bore him; these are our Darlings, as we translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnicam meam. 
Psal. 22.20.  No Argument moves pity more, than when those are taken from us; yet Death knows none to spare them to us; the Widow of Sarepta's Only Son dies, 
1 King 17.17.  and so doth Jarus' Only Daughter; 
St. Luke 7.42.  and Abraham must Offer up his Only Son Isaac whom he Loved, 
Gen. 22.  and Jephtha his Only Daughter. 
Jud. 11.39   
Death aims so right, he'll hit a single mark, and needs not shoot at Herds; and God often guides his Darts this way:  
1. Because they are Over-loved, and stand so full betwixt their Parent's heart, and Him, He cannot be Loved Himself, till they are Removed out of'th way.  
2. To Try their Obedience, Faith and Patience, 
Gen. 22.1.  as He Tempted Abraham.  
3. To Honour them before the World, and make it known how quietly they'll part with any thing He pleases to call for, though never so dear.  
Lastly, to fit them by so deep a sorrow for some more Excellent and lasting Good, and Joy, He hath in readiness to give them in Exchange; It being Gods usual Method, as Luther Observes, when He hath some Eminent Comforts to bestow, or some Signal Service to employ us in, to Usher them in with some great Trial, and Temptation.  
Oh therefore let not those, whose Store is so Compendious, too fond hug those dearest Pledges, lest God grow jealous, and be forced to deal with them, as he is used to do with his Rivals; and those who stand in Competition with Himself.  
5. Whole Families may fail in Childless Heirs. Death takes root and branch, and doth not only deal by Retale, 
Tota cum Regibus regna populique cum gentious tulere satum futum, Sen.  but slays by Wholesale, and with compendious and stupendous strokes, mows down a Family at one blow, and sweeps away the hopes of all Posterity, as if he gaped for the Inheritance and all, and had resolved with those bloody Rebels, 
St. Mat. 21.38.  Come, this is the Heir, let us slay him, that the Inheritance may be ours.  
Thus failed the two Young Sons of Greatest Alexander, Heirs of their Father's Conquests, all the World; Thus half the Provinces Escheated into the hands of the People of Rome when they were Lords-Paramount of the Earth; 
Vespasian, Antoninus Philosophus, Severus, Valerian. Domitian Commodus, Bassianus, Gallienus.  and of Forty Emperors, from Julius Caesar to Constantine the Great; but four, left Heirs of Lineal Descent, and all of them the Worst, which ever wore the Roman Purple; Their Fathers Vomicae & Carcinomita, Soars and Ulcers, as Augustus called his Daughters, 
Faelix Infortunio qui caret liberis, Sen.  three of whom had been happy unto Envy, had they died Childless, as Augustus wished he had Lived.  
Oh! therefore let not your Inward thoughts be, that your Families shall continue for ever, and your Dwelling-Places bear your Names to all Generations; Their way, is their folly who do so, Psal. 49.13. But know that Riches are not for ever, neither doth the Crown Endure to all Generations. 
Prov. 27.24.  And let not such blows too much deject those on whom they Light, because nothing is befallen them, but what is common to Man, 1 Cor. 10.13.  
6. Former sorrows do not excuse us from succeeding griefs. The poor Mother in the Text, whom the last Funeral made a Widow, is made Childless too by this. All thy Waves and Billows are gone over me, 
Psal. 42.7.  one in the neck, or on the back of another; troubles are often born out of the Womb of Providence, as Esau and Jacob came from Rebecca, linked together, and holding each other by the heel.  
Take we heed than we flatter not ourselves, nor say with Agag, The bitterness is past, nor listen to a Desperate and Blasphemous suggestion, now let him do his Worst, 
Not wickedly, as the Poet wittily. Nil quod istic agat tertia tussis habet, Mar. Mich. 6.9.  I have no more Marks left for his angry Arrows, nor other Blots to hit; but with Submiss and Humble Reverence, let's hear the Rod at present, and fear it for the Future, and by the first lash, be warned to prepare for, or to prevent the second, and so to stand in awe, that we sin not, 
Psal. 4.4. John. 5.14.  lest a worse thing come upon us, and what we judge the worst, prove but the beginning of our sorrows.  
I might have added (and the rather because, the case is Parallel.  
7. That this Great, Young Man died not i'th' Country in some Remote Obscure Ville, the Relatives of them who die so, 
2 Chron. 16.12.  being ready with Asa's Spirit, to say to some Great Physician, as Martha did to Christ; Sir, 
John 11 21.  If thou hadst been here, my Brother had not died. But in the City, Inter Turbam Medicorum, where probably no Aid was wanting, which Able, Skilful Physicians could afford.  
And 8. In his Mother's House, and Bosom, who now was his Nurse, the second time herself; and therefore he wanted not most Careful looking too, 'tis not for want of Physic, or good Nurses, that Men are cast away, or lost, as some too often speak; but where ever they be, and whatever help they do enjoy, whom Death comes for, he will not go without them; but will force them out of the most Skilful, Faithful, Painful, Careful, Loving and Tender hands, and all the Strongest Guards which those can set about them.  
Thus have you seen the Hearse pass by, and heard its Scutcheons Blazoned; we'll view the train of mourners with a quicker glance. And that deep mourner following next-the- Beir, is his Distressed Mother, close-hooded, with a Cloud, of thick, and blackest sorrow; and over that, a veil of Love, of Woman's Love, of Mother's Love, of Mother's Love unto an Only Son, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? Nyss. in func▪ Palch.  the truest Mourning dress; and over all, a dark Umbrella, made of the Shadow of Death, supported by the fatal Sisters. She's the Chief Mourner, not in Pomp and Ceremony, but in deep Anguish, and bitterness of Soul. She brings him forth;— And this is the second time she Travels of him (and no Travels so difficult as of dead Children) he came from her Womb before, but now, and never until now he comes from her Inmost Bowels, 
St Luke 2.35. A Sword shall pierce through thy own Soul.  her former Pangs might rend her Flesh, these smarter throws do Rack and Tear her very Heart and Soul; and as before, he was born for her Ease, though with her Pain, so now doth she bring him forth for her Safety, though with great Danger; she is in danger to weep to death at parting, yet must they part; If she'll not send out him, he'll sent out her; one House cannot hold them now, such is our sad necessity, 
Gen. 2.34.  We must bury our dead out of our sight and smelling; but she's resolved to see him Housed and Lodged, in his Long home; and while he passes thither, the Mourners go about the Streets. Much People of the City was with her.  
'tis a Custom without date, and might have urged prescription many Ages since, 
Antiquorum p●…storum 〈◊〉 curati sunt, & exequiae celebratae, & sepultura provisa. Aug. de cura pro murt.  for Friends to give attendance at the Obsequys of their disceased Worthies; this we read practised, and approved, both, in Sacred and Common Story; thus, at the death of Abraham, his Sons are said to bury him, so Isaac, so Jacob, of whom it is Recorded, 
Gen. 25.9.25.29, 50, 7, 8.  that Joseph went up to bury his Father, and with him went up all the Servants of Pharaoh, and the Elders of his House, and all the Elders of the Land of Egypt; And all the House of Joseph, and his Brethren and his Father's House; and they went up with Chariots, and with Horsemen, and it was a very great Company, and they Mourned with a very great and sore Lamentation.  

2 Sam. 25.1. 1 Kings 14.13. 2 Chron. 24, 15, 16. Acts 8.2.  So all Israel Lamented Samuel, and buried him, so David and Jeroboams Young Son, and Jehojada, and Josiah, 2 Chron. 35.25.  
So St. Stephen in the New Testament, Whom devout men buried, and made great Lamentation for him. Not that this avails them any thing as to their state in the other World; For Corpori humano quicquid impenditur, non est presidium salutis, sed humanitatis officium.  
But 1. Is for their Honour here, being a decent Respect we pay to their Name and Memory, it being a favour to live Desired, and die Lamented, and a Curse, and Reproach to be buried, 
Jer. 22.19.  with the burial of an Ass, as was threatened against Jehojakim, and others, They shall not be lamented nor buried, 
Jer. 6.4.  but be as dung upon the face of the Earth, which is an Earnest that their Names shall Rot.  
2. Charitatis ergò, In Charity to the Living for their Comfort, and alleviating of their sorrow, while their burden is made lighter, by many helping them to bear it, as the Jews came lovingly to Comfort Martha and Mary because of their Brother Lazarus. Curatio funeris, 
John 11.31.  conditio Sepulturae, pompa exequiarum, magis vivorum solatia sunt, quam subsidia mortuorum. 
August. Ubi Sup●ra.   
3. Pietatis ergò, For their own advantage, and increase of piety; 'tis good to go to the House of Mourning, 
Eccl. 7.3.  for by the sadness of the Countenance, the heart is made better, while the living lay it to their heart. The House of Mourning is the School of Wisdom, the Grave hath a Teaching, as well as a Devouring mouth, and the Coffin is a Pulpit from whence the Dead yet speak, and warn us to behold our mortality in their frailty, and to prepare to follow them, to die to this uncertain World, to mortify our sins that they may die before us, and to make sure of the first Resurrection, that as we must die once, we may die but once.  
4. Fidei testisicandae ergò, 
Propter fidem resurrectionis Astruendam.  to testify our Faith in that great Article of the Resurrection of the dead, which is the Basis of a Christians Comforts, Tota spes Christianorum Resurrectio mortuorum; For, 
1 Cor. 1●.  if in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most Miserable.  
Now in this Solemn Equipage these Mournful Friends bring forth this Corpse, 
Hinc coll●ge ●…deos Sepulch●… sua habuisse non in Urbe sed extra Urbem idque tum obnitorem tum ob●…n● cada●era s●…o foetore & pu●…dine a●…●…cerent 〈◊〉 Lap.  are carrying him out of the City, both as the Jews and Romans used to bury; Ob nitorem, sanitatem, legalem munditiem.  
1. For Decency and Splendour that the Graves and Sepulchers might not deface the comeliness and beauty of their Cities.  
2. For Safety and Health, that the fetent exhalations, and noisome and noxious vapours of the Graves might not infect the air, and hazard the health of the Living.  
3. For legal purity and cleanness, that neither themselves nor habitations might be defiled by the dead; and our present custom of burying in or about our Churches and places of our Solemn Assemblies for God's Worship, was brought in upon Opinion that it would advantage the dead to be buried near some holy Martyr, over whose Graves usually those Basilicae, Stately Edifices were Erected; and the answering of that case, propounded to him by Paulinus Bishop of Nola, Vtrum prosit alicui pest mortem, quod corpus ejus apud sancti alicujus memoriam sepelitur, gave occasion to St. Augustin to Write that Book, De Cura pro Mortuis gerenda, in the 4th Tome of his Works, where he resolves it in the Negative.  
Thus have you past the cloudy side of the Text, which hath besprinkled you with showers of sorrow, whilst you were viewing of the Hearse, the Mourners, and their Solemn March, while they attend deaths Chariot, that's carrying home his prisoner to the house of darkness.  
And now we have compassed it so long, until the brighter side gins to glimmer and appear, for Behold, yea behold and wonder at the seasonable mercy, the Lord of Life and Death most unexpectedly appears; 
Jansenius in Loc.  Christ, Cujus occursus & obtutus, semper faelix est & faustus, Comes and meets them at the very Gate, and brings relief and rescue, and gives a cordial to the fainting Mother,— Weep not.  
The Order is thus,  
1. He meets the Object seasonably, both the Course, and Mourners,— He saw her.  
2. That moves his heart effectually,— He was moved with compassion.  
3. That commands his tongue to speak good words and Comfortable;— Weep not. Observe. 
Affectum cordis, affatem oris effectum operis commitatur. Bonivent.   
1. The Lord is near, and ready, in our greatest straits.  
2. Christ was exceeding full of tenderest humanty and Bowels.  
3. Christ's compassions are active and relieving, full of help, He pities, than He speaks.  
1. The Lord is near,— not in his essence only in which respect he's never far from any; 
Acts 17.  For in him we live and move and have our being, but in his gracious compassions, willing to meet us, in our moans and plaints. Yea, ready to prevent us, and before we call, to answer. Our straits are often such they cannot bear those tarda molimina, those succours which are slow, though sure. He knows, that hope deferred, destroys, therefore will not defer, but comes on eagle's wings, and often doth unasked, what we are taught to ask him; O God make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us. He that hath charged us, Not to with hold good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of our hand to do it, 
Prov. 3.27, 28.  nor to say to our Neighbour, go, and come again, and to morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee; will not do so himself.  
2. Christ was exceeding full of tenderest bowels; He wept over Lazarus, and He wept over Jerusalem,— Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that thou hadst known the things which do concern thy peace; 
Mat. 9.36.14.14. — His Bowels yearned here, and He was moved with Compassion often towards others.  
Christ in the Flesh, is the Visible Image of the Invisible God, 
Psal. 111.4.112.4.  and to our sense and sweetest experience he makes it manifest, that the Lord is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all his works; that the Lord is full of Compassion and Gracious; and while he sees the Mother weeping, and not able to forget her Son, it minds him of his promise, 
Isa. 49.15.  Can a Woman forget her Child, that she should not have compassion on the Son of her Womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. 
Leo, ut fortissimus, ita clementissimus, Saith the Naturalist.  He is the Lamb, the Dove, the Lion, (which is as kind as strong) Emblems all of Clemency.  
It argued great sweetness to vouchsafe to look on mournful objects, when he met them, and more to go and find them out, as here. Casu & fortuito si causas secundas spectes occurrit Christo sunus, sed Christo hic occursus erat previsus, provisus & destinatus ut mortuum sanaret. He came not by chance, but on design to help.  
Oh then, let us not despond in any of our sorrows; 'tis well worth while to be distressed, to have the Lord Compassionate us; and doubtless he is as ready now to do it, 
As St. August. Of his Mother.  as when he was on Earth. Absit ut vita faeliciori factus sit credelis, God forbidden we should suppose him less kind by being more Glorious and Happy; though he be in Heaven; from Heaven he beholds the Children of Men, and considers not our sins only, but our Sorrows also; We have him still, such an High Priest, As can be touched with our Infirmities, though he be Passed into the Heavens, As the Apostle expressly Speaks, Heb. 4.14, 15.  
And Let the same mind be in us which was, 
Phil. 2.5.  and is also, in Christ Jesus; Let us not turn away our eyes with Cruel, Proud, or Coy disdain from the sorrowful objects which meet us in every Street; Turn not thine eye away from thine own Flesh.  
Let our eye affect our hearts with Sympathy, 
Lam. 3.51.  and let us have compassion on one another, 
1. Pet. 3.9.  and Love as Brethren, and be Pitiful and courteous.  
3. Christ's compassions are Active and R lieving.  
First, He Pities, than He Comforts, than He Helps.  
His Office is to comfort them that mourn in Zion, to bind up the , 
Isa. 61.1, ●, 3.  and to give the Oil of gladness for mourning, and he is faithful, and will discharge his Trust, and his Title is, He that comforteth them who are cast down? He hath not only a Bag for our Iniquities, to seal up them, but a Bottle for our tears to put them up. He doth not delight to grieve us, and when he is constrained to do it, In all our Affliction he is Afflicted, and Sympathizeth with us, and the wounds he makes, he heals, and bindeth up, and causeth the bones which he hath broken to rejoice. 
Prov. 12.25.   
And because a good word makes glad the heart, which stoops with heaviness, and is the earnest of farther help, therefore he speaks good words, and comfortable words: Woman, why weepest thou? be of good cheer, 
Desist mortuum fl●re, qu●m mo● vivum ●surg●re videbis, A Lap. — Weep not,— and many more like these. He dry es her eyes with his Word, whose heart shall be relieved by his work: these words, weep not, do not forbid Natural Affection, but inordinate passion, not tears simply, but their excess, (for all excess is sin) not tears of Sympathy and parental tenderness, and pious Bowels, for he wept for Lazarus himself; but repining tears, despairing tears, the tears of them who sorrow as Men without hope; and he that said unto her, Weep not, was resolved to give her Cause, to take his Council, and to sluice up effectually those griefs, he there endeavours to assuage.  
And although from this particular and special case and Miracle we cannot argue that we may expect the same or like in kind; yet, in it may we read his heart and hand, and be assured both of his Ability and Willingness to help in greatest straits; yea of his Wisdom too, that he knows how and when to do it, so as shall be best; and that he will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear, but will fit our burdens to our backs, or else our back to our burden, and will counterpoise our sorrows, with some equivalent joys, or will so strengthen our Faith, increase our patience, and calm and sedate our minds with silent Acquiescence, and through Resignation, that all the uneasiness, and discomposing Molestation of our heaviest burdens, shall be removed. 
Quia hoc auxilium est extraordinarium miraculum nos sane non habemus specialem promissionem quod Deus tali extraordinario modo nos velit sublevare. Sed hoc miraculo confirmatur generalis promissio & fides quod habemus talem pontificem qui conspectu nostrarum calamitatum ad sympathiam commovetur, quique licet differat tamen fidelis est, nec sinit nos tentari ultra quam possumus, 1 Cor. 10.13. Sed vel liberat, vel mitigat, vel cor consolatione perfundit, patientia confirmat, fide erigit, & sustentat & haec est vera explicatio istius, beati qui lugent quia consolationem accipient.   
GUARD TA FOY.   engraving of an effigy on a tomb, with coats of arms JÁY GARDÉ LA FOY. 2. Tim: 4: 7. 
Ex Hoc momento Aeternitas. 1664   

I now come to my other Text, a Text indeed, dark and most intricate; Though all the Texts of Providence are hardly commented, yet some are more abstruse; and needs must th●s be such, which is an entangled complicated heap of difficulties; a Text that is written in Text Letters (the blackest of all Characters) in the Volume of God's works. You have heard One Sermon, and if your Ears be tired, let your Eyes relieve them; (but I must confess 'tis sad relief) come see another; and, As, we have heard, so have we seen, 
St. Luke 4.21.  t●is day is this Scripture fulfulled in your cares, and eyes. Lo, here is an heavier Comment on our heavy Text alas, but too exact a Counterpayne of that sad Narrative! the Sermon translated into such a Language, as your eyes can understand. A Sacrament added to the Word, to convince you, and confirm your Faith, of Man's Mortality, beyond recoil or hesitancy; En magnum fragilitatis humanae Sacramentum, the word confirmed by visible signs. My Text of Death so painted to the Life, that he, that runs may read it; If e'er 'ttwere true, 'tis now, that, Pictures are Idiots Books; Look on that doleful Picture of fading Youth and Greatness; and you that can never a Letter in the Book, may spell the whole Story, word for word, without Instructor.  
Oh you Ingenious, but Fruitless, and so unhappy searchers, for an universal character, which may with still and silent glances, convey and whisper to our Intilect, the natures and notices of things. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, we find alas too soon, what you have sought too long. Though I were dumb, or had forgot my Text, one glance repeats it unto them, recalls it unto me.  

In paucis verbis quantae calamitates & miseriae?  In that visible Sermon; Behold, 

A Dead Man.  
A Young Man.  
A Great, a Noble Man.  
An Only begotten Son.  
An Heir without an Heir.— Each w●rd's a wound.   Here are all the mournful circumstances but one, 
Quot verba, tot vulnera;  and blessed be God that we meet a full stop, before we read to the end of the line.— And she was a Widow, let us lay hold on't as a better Omen, there may be yet a blessing in it; Let this a while sustain you till I can run, and fetch you some more Cordials; which you must stay a little for, because my way lies round the Hearse again, the viewing which, will stop my haste.  
1. That Mournful sable Pall, tells us sad tidings, that a Man is Dead, and shrouded under it; and 'tis alas too true, the dead remains of him, who this day Seven-night was alive, and this day Fortnight was a Lively, Likely Man to live; Verily every Man living is altogether vanity. Hear what advice he whispers, Watch, for what's my case to day, may be thine to morrow; 
Hodie mihi, eras tiöi.  Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh when you think not, 
St. Luke 12.40.  and in an hour when ye are not ware.  
2. A Young Man in the Flower and Blooming of his Age, not fully yet of Age, not of Disposing Age, in the Laws and Stile of England; Yet at Age to be disposed of in the Chambers of Death: An Ear, nay, an whole Sheaf, nay, an whole Field, Reaped by Death's Fatal Sickle, before 'twas ripe, or set, or Kerned; As if in an immature Harvest, you should reap to 
* Being in May.  morrow; a Rose Bud gathered ere 'twas blown; a Torch puffed out, not half consumed; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Greg. Nyss. de Pulch.  an Hourglass dashed, and pashed in pieces, and all the Sand spilt, and lost, before it was a third part run: What Age is safe from Fate? In the very midst of Life we are in Death; Of whom may we look for help, but from thee O Lord, who for our sins most justly are displeased? 
Psal. 90.12.  Oh Teach us to Number our days, that we may apply our hearts to Wisdom, and that we may know how frail we are.  
3. But those Coat Armours, Ruby and Topas, Diamond and Pearl, speak him some Noted Personage. 
Nobilis quasi noscibilis.  I need not ask the Question here, which David asked over Abner's Hearse; Know You not that a Prince and a Great Man is fallen this day? You know it well, unto your Cost and Sorrow; and see, by Dear Experience; In this Fourth doleful Instance, in one Family, all of Recent, and Fresh-bleeding Memory; that Earldoms, and Perage Nobility, and Honour, Lordships, and Manors, Possessions, and Appearances, Gold, and Silver, Palaces, and Parks, and store of Richest Lands, and Tallest Timber; and what ever else the World calls Noble, Grand, and Stately; can't shade, or hid their Lords from Death, are no good Brest-Works against his Bullets; nor best charged Shields, security against the Arrows of Mortality. Death with his ill-match't-pair, of Pale and Sable Hackneys, out-drives the goodliest Sets of Six.  
'Twere as impertinent, as the Philosopher's reading a Lecture of Warlike Discipline in the presence of Hannibal; for me to unfurle his crimson Ensigns, and Unfold and Display his Splendid Banners, or paint out, and Delineate his thrice Honourable Stem, amongst those to whom they have been now so long Familiar; and as superfluous to Blazon his Scutcheons in that Country, which hath to long been irradiated in every corner, with the Illustrious Rays of his cross-Crossets Sol, in their Field Mars; or enriched and secured by those Ruby Shields, glistering with Topaz.  
IT would but Adorn Death's spoils, and more Enhance his Triumphs, to tell you that his Captive, was the Onely-Son of an Ancient Hereditary Earldom; By Blood, and Marriage, The Son of Two, the Grandchild of Four Eminent Earls; and as many Countesses; and Nephew to more Peers, than all Arithmetic hath Digits; Derived from, or Allied to, almost all the Noble Blood, that runs in English, and in English-Irish Veins.  
A Branch of two Families: The One the Grand Nursery of Ancient Piety: 
His Mother was the Lady Mary Boyl, Daughter to the Earl of Corck.  the Other the Happy Source of Newest Ingenuity; a Society of virtuosos within themselves; the Original, and Archetypes of those, Insignized with that Noble Character; In a word, the Son of Two Bloods, which I may boldly call; not the least Ornaments, of two Great Kingdoms: And endued, with all those Generous, Lovely, Innobling Excellencies, which might Retribute what he Borrowed from such Blood, and would (Oh unhappiness he hath not!) have Transmitted it to his Posterity, Enriched (if it be capable of more, and hath not attained its Acme) with increased glory; Yet now must lie down in Obscurity and Dust, under the Dishonours, Reproaches and Squallidness, of Death; Stripped and Desrobed of all his Amiable, Manly, Goodly, Beauty, Proportions, Features; calling Corruption, Rottenness, and Worms; Mother, Brother, Sister.  
Cease then from Man whose breath is in his Nostrils; 
Isa. 2.22.  for wherein is he to be accounted of? 
Psal. 146.3, 4.  And Trust not in Princes, nor in any Son of Man; for when his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his Earth, in that very day his thoughts perish: Surely all Flesh is Grass, yea, the goodliness thereof, as the Flower of the Field.  
4. The next Impaled Shield, tells me he was a Son, and those unwelcome Labels hint immature death; nay an Only One, yea an Only Begotten One; (griefs in a cluster,) huic illae lacrymae, this gives the kill Accent.  
What the good Woman feared in a Parable, is here fulfiled without one, 
1 Sam. 14.7.  and his perplexed Mother, may with anguish of distress cry out, My coal that was left is quenched, and to my Husband is not left Name or Remainder upon the Earth: This is so deep a Key, no Base can touch it, but the hoarsest sobs and groans; A Note so superlatively above Ela, no female trebble's shrill enough to Reach it, and keep Tune; 'Twill crack our sorrows into Schreeks and Squeling, but to venture at it; and would be some Apology, if Rachel like, his dearest Mother, should be obstinate in sorrow, and refuse to be comforted.  

Fugientis naturae in successore pignus remanet, & extinquentis jam luminis lucerna ex parte accensa.  5. Childless too himself; more sorrow still, had he but left an Heir, and lived a vicarious life; lived in another, though he had died himself; left but an Hostage in his steed; racked up one spark to kindle more, we could have spared him better; had he Knit on an end, 
Nodosa aeternitas successio liberorum. Aetatis incrementum.  to lengthen out his Line, and fixed one Link to keep the Chain entire, the Wound had been Curable, and the breach more Reparable.  

Jer. 15.18.  But now the pain is perpetual, therefore will we Wail, 
Mich. 1.8.  and Howle, and go stripped and naked, and make a Wailing like the Dragons, and Mourning as the Owls.  
But Lastly, because no Sorrows are Superlative, which want the Emphesis of Widow (that ours may be more than such) thats here with full Advantage. Though his Right Honourable Mother be not so; yet is his Sweet, and Dearest Lady such, with so much forer agravation, as her tender years are less accustomed to endure it: and be distressed, with the doleful Epithet of Dowager, so immaturely. So soon, so suddenly, is she bereft of him, as if she had only had him to be made miserable by losing of him: and in him such an Honour, and Happiness, as his High Rank, and Higher Sweetness, Kindness, Nobleness of mind, possessed her of in Him. The smart and sorrows of our losses, have no true Standard, but the content and joy, we had in their fruition.  
But I forget myself and You, 'tis Cruelty to gall your bleeding hearts afresh; To Rake in your wounds, and longer vex those eyes, are half wept out already; and draw more sluices, when all the Banks run over; Claudite jam rivos; what I have drawn already, was not to hurt, but help you, to give your sorrows vent, lest they should fester inward.  
Tears help to suage our grief, 
Sedatur lacrymis, egeriturque dolour, Ovid.   
And yield us some relief.  
Now let me hasten to refresh you, and reassume, the ●…ht side of my Text; Weep not; at least, No more, when we have wept enough already: Not that he can soon, or easily, be sufficiently bewailed; but we must not shed so many tears as he deserves, lest we shed abundance more than he needs, or we can spare, or God allows.  

Nihil difficilius quam magno dolori paria verba reperire. Senec.  And though the task, be hard to counterpoise your sorrows, yet Accept these anodynes, which may dissolve, and mollify the tumour, assuage the smart, and ease the throbbing; they are Collyria fitted for such eyes. And let me speak as if more of the most-concerned were present; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  for if any thing be spoken worth the carriage, you that are present, may transmit it, to the absent; As Gregory Nyssen spoke in his Funeral Oration for Young Pulcheria.  
But because they must dig deep, who will build sure; and begin below, who would ascend. I will lay the First Stone under ground; within the Earth of his Mortality; and lead you gradually to higher Comforts.  

Utrum stultius, mortalitatis legem ignorare, an recusare?  Weep not; for he was Mortal, he must have died ere long: What wise man sheds his tears, because his Roses shed their leaves? He came into the World under this Law; 
Seneca.  Nulli contigit impune nasci; No man is born on cheaper terms, than a necessity of dying. He answered as became a Gallant man; who entertained the Message of his Son's disease, with, Ego cum genui tum moriturum scivi; I knew when I begat him, he must die; huic rei sustuli. 〈◊〉 'tis but a little, 
Maximum solatium est cogitare id sibi accidisse, qu d ante se passi sunt omnes, omnesqu● pass●…i & ideo mihi videtur rerum natura quod gravissimum fecit, commune fecisse, ut crudelitatem fati consolaretur aequalitas. Sen. ad Polys.  little sooner that he's gone. A few more changes of the Night and Day, and fewer of the Summer and Winter, would have brought him, and will bring us, where we shall change no more. We all must follow in the Order set us; had you a View, (larger than that which Xerxes) took, of all Mankind at once; You might conclude with him, not one of them should be alive, within an hundred years. Fate's impartiality, makes some amends, for its Severity. Yea, the end of all things seems to hasten, and not to be at such a distance, as secure Atheists. would fain persuade themselves.  
Weep not; he died not in a Foreign Land, 
Ubi non licuerit matri ultima filii oscula gratumque entremi sermonem oris. haurire. Sen. ad Martiam.  at a neglected distance (the Seas returned him safe;) But in a Mother's Bosom, where she both might, and did, assist his Soul and Body with the most pious tenderness; and was her own witness, with what faithfulness and Care, Chaplain, Physicians, Nurses, all Attendants, performed towards him.  
Weep not; He died not suddenly, by a surprise, or ambushment of Death; which grants no liberty to trim a Lamp. He died not in a Broil or Duel; 
Mat. 25.7.  he died not Flagrante Crimine, in any Notorious Sin, or with symptoms of unusual Vengeance; but in the way of all the Earth, the common death of all Men; 
Numb. 16.29. Num. 27.3.  Et suâ & siccâ morte; In his own sin; as Zelophehad's Daughters, spoke of their Father, in opposition to dying for any signal provocation.  
Weep not; He's gone unsoyled, 
Redditur illi aequale testimonium omaiam hominum, desideratur in tuum honorem laudatur in suum. Sene. ad Mort.  free from reproachful blots of Scandalous Enormities, and needs no tears to rinsh him. He did not outlive a good Report, but hath left a Memory behind him, Clean, and Unstained: a Lovely Shadow of his Lovely Person, and his Fairer Mind. His Part was Acted well, and He's gone off the Stage, as Great Augustus Caesar thought he did; and may with him require your Plaudite.  

2 Kings 22.20. In hoc tam procelloso & in omnes tempestates ex posito mari, navigantibus, nullus portu. nisi mortis est. Seneca.  He's come into his Grave in Peace, which was the Great Promise to God's Friends of Old.  
He hath escaped the storms, and is Arrived in the Port with safety. He's laid to rest with Honour, and his Unstained Ashes, are shrined in immortal Urns; whose Gold no rust can cancer, and which will Try and Vex, the teeth of Time itself, to injure; and the most spiteful Malice, dares nor attempt, once to besmear his Marble.  
Weep not; He's taken from an Evil World, which is very full of sin, and therefore cannot be void of sorrow; Evasit omnia vitae incommoda. Though he hath left some good, 
Quis divinat an mors inviderit, an consulucrit?  he hath escaped more evils; and Death did consult his Ease, and Safety, more than Envy his Felicity: With the wings of a Dove he is flown away, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nyff.  and is, out of the reach both of Temptation and Trouble, and shall no more offend a Good God; nor be offended by bad men. He is taken from the Evil to come, and shall not hear or see, what may make our hearts to ache, and our Ears to Tingle, to hear the Relation of; Si been computes plus illi remissum, quam ereptum; 
Non miser quod amisit sed Beatus quod non desiderat.  If you reckon right, you'll find him gainer by his loss; 'Tis better not to need, then to enjoy whatever he hath left; to be above them, then to have them.  
Weep not; for he is not Extinguished but Removed; Non amissus, sed praemissus; He ceaseth not to be, 
Cyprian:  but to be here. The House indeed's pulled down, in order to repairing, and raising up, more glorious and splendid. But the Inhabitant was neither crushed with its Ruins, nor soiled with its dust: The Bird, the Angel flew away, at the disturbance of the Nest; And the Immortal Man, made his escape, when Death unlocked the Prison Doares. The Spirit is returned to God.  
'Tis a good Observation, one of the Ancients makes upon that passage of God's rewarding Job. Chap. 42.10. The Lord gave Job twice as m●ch as he had before; or, as 'tis in the Hebrew, Ad●ed all that had been unto Job, unto the double; for h● had Fourteen Thousand Sheep, for his Seven Thousand and Six Thousand Camels, for his Three Thousand; 
Job. 1.3. with 42.12.  and a Thousand Yoke of Oxen; and a Thousand Shee-Asses; for Five Hundred of Each. But He gave him but Seven Sons, and Three Daughters, the even Number which he had before; 
Greg. Nyss. Oratione fu●eb, pro pulcheria in fine,  Compare Chap. 1, 2. with Chap. 42.13. And he gives the reason of it; because, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.— He gave him twice as many Cattle, as he had before; but only the Even Number of his Children, because they perished not, (as did the Cattle) though they died; and so the Equal Number proved Double in Effect; and Job had twice Ten Children, half in another World, and half in this, at the same time; though in so distant place. I need not heap Arguments, to prove the Souls Existence, after Death; 
St. Luke 12.4. St. Mat. 10.28.22.32.  when Christ hath so plainly told you, It cannot be killed. And that He who is the God of the Living, not of the Dead, is still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who therefore do still live.  

1 King. 17.21.  The Prophet prayed, that the Child's Soul might return again into him, not a new one be made for him; And St. Paul, speaks most expressly, that when we are absent from the body, we shall be present with the Lord, 2 Cor. 5.8. and therefore desires to be dissolved, that he may be with Christ, Phil. 1.23. Which were a most absurd Argument, if the Soul should bear the Body company in dying. And the Souls under the Altar call for vengeance against them who shed their blood. 
De consolation ad Marti. Cap. 24.   
Seneca could tell disconsolate Mercia; Imago duntaxat Filii tui periit, & Effigies non similima, ipse quidem aeternus, meliorisque nunc Status est; despoliatus oneribus alienis, & sibi relictus. The Image only of thy Son is perished, and the Picture (which was not very like him neither) is defaced; But he himself is Eternal, in a better state eased of his uneasy burden, and now at freedom to enjoy himself.  

Arguments for the Souls imortality and Existence after death.  And if I may suggest an Argument or Two: It would be a Chasma and Hiatus in Nature, if some Creatures being wholly Immortal, others wholly mortal; there were not one made up of both, Fibula utriusque mundi, the Button and the Buckle of both Worlds, which knits and clasps them into one; Connubium visibilis & invisibilis; The Beast and Angel mixed into one, which makes a medium betwixt both, and containeth both.  
Doth the Image of the King Perpetuate his Coin, and render it Treasonable to Melt it down? And shall not God's Image, much more preserve, what that is stamped upon, from perishing?  
It acts without the body, and above it, here, that is an Earnest it can be without it afterwards; It is a Spirit, consists not of Contrarie's, of Corruptible, of Self-destoying Principles; therefore abides for Ever. Hath Vast and Everlasting Expectations; which Nature would never have impressed, if they had been in vain: Lastly, consent of Nations Seals to this Truth: These, if neither most nor best, are such as lay uppermost amongst my sudden thoughts, and may suffice.  
Weep not; for He shall Rise again; 
Non solum representata, sed expectata resurrectio, luctum nobis minuere debet ob mortuos, Grotius.  He shall not continue Death's Everlasting Captive, or the Graves Eternal Prisoner: Thy Husband, Son and Friend is but asleep, he shall do well, and wake. The Grave hath been forced and broken up, and our True Samson, hath carried away, the Gates, the Bars, and Posts, of this Philistian Gaza. O Death where is thy sting? O Grave where is thy Victory? And when that glorious Morn, draws back the Curtains, and dispels the Night, then shall he wake Refreshed; and Rise, and Dress himself, and be remarried to his Flesh.  
Each Morning's Sun, each Summer's Verdure is a loud instance, and presage of this; both Testaments, the Old, and New confirm it, as well in Examples as Predictions: Christ is risen as a Man, to show 'tis possible, as an head to assure 'tis certain; And God is Just, therefore the dead must Rise; that what hath been so much a amiss in this Life, may be amended, and better ordered in the Next; where it shall be, Bonis Benè, Malis, Malè.  
They that need more to satisfy their reason, or confirm their Faith; let them consult the 1 Cor. 15. Chap. at their leisure, where they shall find good measure, Prest, and Heaped, and Running over.  

Illud te non minimum adjurerit si cogitaveris nihil profiturum dolorem tuum, nec illi nec tibi: percamus lachrimis nihil proficientibus, Sen.  Weep not; Your sorrows now are fruitless; wherefore should I fast, Now he is dead, can I bring him back again? Was the wise Argument of Holy David, 2 Sam. 12.23. Can you weep Aquafortis, your tears would not dissolve the chains of Death. Si fletibus fata vincuntur eat omnis inter luctus dies, sed si nullis planctibus defuncta revocantur, desinat dolor qui perit; Was the grave Council of the Sage Moralists; let Reason master Passion, and spare those Tears you know are Fruitless, and but spent in vain.  
Weep not; Tears may hurt you, though they bring him no help, 
2 Cor. 7.10.  and kill yourselves, though they'll not quicken him; The sorrow of the World worketh Death; Facilius nos illi dolor adjiciet, quam illum nobis reducet; Too many tears reproach you both, Him, as if he needed them, and died like Absolom, whose Body only he resembled, not his Manners, Mind, or End. Yourselves, for their Excess no less upbraids your Manhood, than their defect would have reproached your Humanity; Non sentire dolorem non est hominis non far, non est viri: Yea, your Patience, Faith and Christianity, as if you sorrowed like those who have no hope.  
Weep not; 
A● hac te infamia vindica, ne videatur plus apud te valere unus dolour, quam tam multa Solatia.  Lest you provoke the Lord to Multiply his stripes; as Children often suffer more for sullingness, and sobbing, then for the first occasion of Correction; take heed you forfeit not the mercies which are left.  
Weep not; For 'tis the Work of God. 
Leu. 10.3. Psal. 39.9.  Aaron held his peace, in a case more difficult; and David was dumb with silence, because God did it; 
1 Sam. 3.13.  and Good Eli thus submitted, 'Tis the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. He that hath Ruled the World now near Six Thousand Years, and never yet committed over sight or error, guided this blow. He called him back, 
Iniquus est qui muneris sui arbitrium danti non relinquit, avidus qui non lucri loco habet quod accepit, sed damni quod reddidit Ingratus qui injuriam vocat finem voluptatis. Senec.  who gave him, and had more Right and Title to him, than a Wife or Mother; and they too ungratefully forget God, and themselves, who reckon it an Injury for him to take his Own. God's absolute, and Indisputable Sovereignty, his Infallible, and un-erring Wisdom, and his constant and faithful Goodness, should at least make us lay our hand upon our heart, and mouth; that we may neither speak, nor think amiss, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nyss.  of what he doth; Knowing that he doth all things well: But rather say with Holy Job, The Lord giveth, and the Lord hath taken away, as it pleaseth the Lord, so come things to pass, blessed be the Name of the Lord.  
But because sorrow is very querulous, witty to afflict itself, and pregnant ●f Arguments to aggravate its burdens; And he saith little to the purpose, (talk he never so much) who takes not the Mourners Tears and Sighs, from their own Eyes and Lips, and measures out returns proportionable; Let us suppose we heard them (as we have heard them) thus complaining.  
Objection. First, that he Died Young, in the very Spring and Flower of his Age, when all their Comforts were expected from him; and these budding pregnant hopes, are niped and blasted, and suffer a sad Abortion, Nimis cito periit & immaturus; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Answer. I know the wound is tender, and will not bear such handling, therefore I shall not Answer so roughly, as to say, 
Optimum non nisci, proximum quam citissime mori.  the sooner he died, the better; because the First best is not to be born, the next best after that, is to die as soon as may be: But I will refer you to what the Author df the Book of Wisdom speaks concerning Enoch. Honourable Age is not that which stands in length of time, 
Chap. 4.8.  nor that is measured by number of years; 
Quicquid, ad summum pervenit ad exitum properat. Eripit se, ausertque ex oculis perfecta virtus. Nec ultimum tempus expectant, quae in privio maturaerunt. Indicium imminentis exitis Maturitas.  but Wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is Old Age. Speedily was he taken away, least wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul: He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time; for his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he to take him away, from amongst the Wicked; and admit this be not the true Solomon, yet He hath told us, 
Eccl. 7.1.4.1.  The day of Death is better than the day of ones Birth; and again, I praised the Dead which are already dead, more than the Living which are yet alive.  
He dies not too soon, who dies in the time that God hath set; and so died he, and this should stay your hearts. 
Job. 7.1.14.5.  Is there not an appointed time to man upon the Earth? his days are determined, the Number of his Months is with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds which he cannot pass; and the Philosopher could see this; Nemo nimis cito moritur, qui victurus, 
Soluitur quod culque promissum est, Habebit quisque quaetum diis Primus ascripsit, Ser,  diutius quam vixit, non fuit, sixus est cuique terminus: manebit semper ubi positus est: No man dies too soon, because no man hath less of life, than was designed, and promised from the first.  
And because Examples of the like sufferings, soften those strokes, which are most pungent, when they are conceived least common, and Esteemed Singular. Take these few Instances in a Case, where multitude hath made our choice more difficult.  
Thus died Blest Abel, the First that ever died, and Consecrated Early Death; Thus the Good Son of that Bad Father, Jeroboam; Thus died the Holy Josiah, 
Octavia & Livia altera soror, Augusti altera uxor, amiserunt filios juvenes, utraque spe futuri principis certa. Octavia Marcellum, Livia Drusum.  like whom was none in Zeal for God; Thus died Marcellus, and Drusus, successively both Heirs Apparent to Augustus Caesar, and the World's Empire; Thus died sweet Titus, Deliciae generis humani, the Darling and Delights of Mankind; Thus died that Glory of the Roman Caesar; Alexander Severus, Paganus Christianizans; and Happy had it been for Nero had he died so, and his Quinquennium and his Life had had the same Period; and the kinder hand of Death had drawn a preventing Veil, after the Glory of those rare beginnings, 
Quam multis diutius vixisse nocuerit?  to cover the Reproach of what succeeded, in the Obscurities of Everlasting Night.  
But to come nearer home; So died that Miracle of Grace and Greatness, Edward the sixth; So died Prince Henry le boon, le grand; So died of Later Date, the much Admired Young Lord Hastings, and that Early Confessor, Son of the Royal Martyr, the thrice Illustrious Duke of Gloucester.  
Sed ridiculum est mortalitatis exempla coll●gere; and therefore I conclude with him, whose Example is above all Parallel; So died our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, in the very Strength and Vigour of his Age.  
And notwithstanding sorrow, mostly st●ps its ears, against the charms of sober reason: yet let me modestly debate the Case.  

Nihil est ●am fallax quam vita humana; nihil tum infidiosum: non m●h●rcle quisquam accepisset nisi daretur in scii, Sen.  What is the life that he hath parted with, you so bemoan his loss? look back and see what Comforts it afforded You; What had You lost, if You had died as Young? would it quit cost, to live it over, if you might, again: Has the World been so kind a Stepdame to your Selves? Was your Apprenticeship so sweet, and gentle, you grudge so much his Earlier Freedom? What is it, but a constant hurry, and a druging Bondage? A wearisome delight, and vexing vanity; A little-ease; a great Temptation; a slippery Good, which slideth through our fingers, and leaves nothing, 
† Quid aliud in mundo quam pugna adversus diabolum quotidie geritur,— cum avaritia nobis, cum impudicitia, cum ira, cum ambitione congressio est, cum carnalibus vitiis, cum illecebris saecularibus assidua & molesta luctatio est, Cipra.  but its slime upon them; A Glutinous and clammy Evil, which stains us with a guilt, that sticketh faster to us, than our Skins. A leaky ship, and an infected house; a peevish neighbour, and insulting master, which like to Joab, 
* 2 Sam. 2.14.  makes our miseries and torment, his sport, and play; ‖ which daily keeps us floating, on the unconstant waves, of fears, and hopes, of grief, and anger, of fainting joys, and sullenest despair: Now tell me, is it not a mercy; Beneficium mortis contra tot vitae injurias habere? To lie still, and to be quiet, 
Job. 3.13, 17, 18.  to sleep, and be at rest; to be where the Wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary be at rest; where the Prisoners rest together, and hear not the voice of the Oppressor.  
And with the great Bishop of Nyssa, 
Vide Nyss in funere pulcheriae.  let me demand yet farther, 
— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— Tell me what good, and loveliness, thou seest in old Age, to render thee so fond on't? Is it a shrivelled cheek, and wrinkled brow, a toothless mouth, and faltering tongue, a head grown bald, and crazed; A stooping back, and trembling legs, and every part made impotent, and all unable for their Offices? To be an Hospital of pains and aches, a bag of Rheums, and Phlegm, the constant Prisoner of the Gout, or Stone: Only the Ruins and Reproach of thy own Comeliness, the Confutation and Revers of former usefulness and Beauty.  
To be, in paenam vivax, to outlive thy Senses, Fancy, Memory, and Judgement; and to live Blind, and Deaf, and, tantum non, to Dote, to be a Burden to ourselves, a Trouble and Temptation unto others; to be our own moving Sepulchers, and to conclude our strength, 
Psal. 90.10.  in Weakness, Labour, Sorrow: In a word, to have so long a Reckoning, and Account to make; and to go late to Heaven: as if that were only a reserve, when we can stay no longer here, and not a place of Choice.  
Objection. 2 But He was our All, and all is gone in him, and we are undone. Answer. Not so: All is not gone, while God and Christ's not gone; Though He be Dead, yet the Lord Liveth, and Blessed be the God of our Salvation. His Life or Death had no Affinity with your Eternal State. No loss undoes us, but the loss of Christ; 'Tis a Miserable Happiness, which stands upon so weak a bottom, as the Life of Man. He that gave Him; can give another; Eve once observed, that God gave her another Seed in the stead of Abel; and Jobs submissive patience was rewarded with a Full Return. Abraham believed God to very good purpose in no unlike a case; With God nothing shall be impossible: A Phoenix may arise out of the Ashes; the harder is the straight, the more is He engaged to Relieve, who seldom doth Extraordinary Things, in Ordinary Cases; By how much our sorrows are more smart and pressing, by so much the more we may expect his help.  
All those we read of Raised by Miracle, in Scripture, were Only Children, except Lazarus; and he was to Mary and Martha, as is an Onely-Son unto the tenderest Mother: The Widow's Son of Zereptha, 
2 Kings 17.  raised by the Prophet Eliah; the Shunamites by Elisha; 
2 Kings 4.  Jarus' Only Daughter, and this in my Text, who was a Widows Only Son; and though we have no ground to hope for help in kind; yet may we in proportion; The Key of the Womb is in his hand; or He can give a Name and Place within his Sanctuary, 
Isa.  better than of Sons and Daughters. He can vouchsafe to be instead of all Relations, who calls them Mother, Sister, 
St. Mark 3.35.  Brother that obey his word. He can give Faith, and Patience, and a Sanctified advantage by our Trials. He can make a Beehive of the Lion's Carcase, 
Jud. 14.8.14.  and bring forth meat out of the feircest eater; and leave us gainers in the issue, by our soarest losses: and 'tis like he will; Our deepest, and our hollowest miseries, send up the loudest Echoes in the Ears of Mercy; and, magno vulneri, majora Adhibebit remedia; He hath greater remedies, for greatest wounds.  
But now the Family is dead, and fallen with Him, Objection. 3 and the Line, and Name, will fail, by his departing Childless.  
That's more than any man can tell; Answer. you had better hope the best, then apprehend the worst: He Treats himself unkindly, that antidates his fears. But suppose it true; then He, nor His, shall never taint the Blood, nor foul his Shield with any Stainant Colours, nor blot his Honourable Impress. 
* GUARD TA FOY.  'tTwere Endless, to Recount how many Noble English Families have seen their Period: 
In hoc uno se ceteris exaequari hominibus, non injuriam, sed jus mortalitatis judicaverunt  Two Right Honourable Earls, have None betwixt them Now, whose Patents and Creations, (I have been assured) differ Two Hundred Years; and None Remain of those, who were Created, in so long a space; Hic habere se dolet liberos, hic perdidisse; And if Children cause us grief, that's least uneasy, which concerns their want.  
Do we rejoice when single persons have performed handsomely? and shall we do less for Noble Families, laid up unblemished in the Bed of Honour, and whose Names are sufficiently Embalmed with Renown, and Virtue, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  and Entered in the Registers of Fame and History, to be Coevall with the Sun and Moon? and need not Succession to Eternize them.  
Objection. 4 But I fear most, that I sinned him away, and 'tis for my Transgression, that God hath snatched him hence.  
Answer. This is an Holy, and a commendable fear; and not unseasonable at such a time. Art thou come to call my sin to Remembrance, and to slay my Son, said the poor Widow, 1 Kings 17, 18.  
I am well content you listen to the Rod, take its alarm's, and would promote your doing so, unto my power. Right hand Errors, are least dangerous. We had better ten times admit that supposition, which will make us hate our sins; then that but once, which will incline us to indulge them. While your heart is hot, pursue the Murderer, and be avenged of whatever sin, you can suspect as accessary to a Sons, an Husbands, or a Kinsman's Death.  
But let me add, we sometimes are too curios, with the Disciples, in the blind man's case; Who sinned, this Man or his Parents, that he was born blind? 
St. John. 9.2, 3.  To whom Christ Answered; Neither hath this Man sinned, nor his Parents, but that the Works of God might be made manifest in him: Not but they all were sinners, but it was not for any Extraordinary sin that that blindness happened to him, as Saint Chrisostome Observes.  
Sometimes too Censorious, both of our Selves, and Others, to aggravate our sorrows, and add Affliction to the Afflicted, instead of the alleviating of them; which evil Spirit, Christ twice rebukes, in one Chapter. 
St. Luk 13.2.4.  Suppose you these galileans were sinners above all the galileans, or those Eighteen upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell;— I tell you now nay;— And with the like words would I comfort you: No wise, or sober Christians, will make dishonourable reflections upon such a Providence, but Sympathise, and tenderly Compassionate you; Be not you too severe upon yourselves.  
but I have better comforts yet, and 'twas from Christ's Example, that I Learned, to keep the best Wine unto the last; the former were Collyria to cool your Eyes, these are Cordiacalls to warm your hearts. 
1 Tues. 4.13.  I would not have you Ignorant concerning them that sleep, that you sorrow not as men without hope.  
I shall speak first in Hypothesi, upon the Charitable supposition that he died in Christ; and then give you the Grounds upon which that supposition is bottomed.  

Rev. 14.13.  Weep not; for him that's gone to rest; Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord, for they rest from their labour; Beatum deflere Invidia est. He's nearer our envy then our pity. Gaudendum potius, quam dolendum; 
Nec accipiendas esse nobis atras vestes quando illi alba indumenta jam sumpserunt, Cipria. de Mo●t.  as Saint Cyprian. Our blacks should not be of too deep a Dye, when they are Clothed in their long white robes, and are encircled with Golden girdles under their Paps. It's very incongruous, to blur our faces with excess of tears, for them, from whose Eyes all tears are wiped, and from whom sighing, and sorrow shall fly away; which is the happiness of all in Heaven; if we believe this, how can we mourn? if we believe it not, how are we Christians? but, Fidei & spei nostrae prevaricatores, as St. Cyprian; but the cheats and abuses of our hope and confidence; If we will weep, 'tis fit, that we do it for ourselves, then them; not that they are gone before, but that we stay still behind; They have obtained, what we have but in hope; though we be Elder, yet are we Minors, they of Age, though Younger; and have attained to the Inheritance, Incorruptible and undefiled, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss. de Mortu.  and which fadeth not away; which we must yet breathe after, wait and pray for; That state knows neither Widowhood, nor Orphanage, where God is all in all; they who are ever with the Lord, shall never feel woe or want, but are possessed of that Fullness of joy, which is in his presence, and drink of those Rivers of pleasure, 
Psal. 16. ult.  which are at his right hand for evermore.  
And that he is one of those: what follows is a ground of hope: 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Gr. Nazian Orat. deci. iá laudem Caesa. frat.  You know the Family from whence he sprang; what Education and Example he was Nursed up under? what Womb he lay in; (though grace be not extraduce) 'twas well for Augustine that holy Monica was his Mother; Her Zeal, (next to free grace) first Canonised him, and her Blood was the blessed earnest of his following Saint-ship; well did St. Ambrose assure her, that a Child of so many Prayers (and such Prayers as hers) could not miscarry; and we speak modestly enough, while we depress our present case, to be but Parallel.  
I might here touch his Natural accomplishments, and Moral Excellencies: In that Fair mansion, of his Goodly Body, Dwelled happily a Fairer, and move Lovely Mind; Humble, Modest, Pregnant, Civil, Truly Noble; Large, not with swelling pride, but Solid Worth; Free yet not frolic, Reserved, but not Morose; Courteous, where not Familiar, Kind, though Great; which could keep distance, yet without disdain; A Conversation clear from soul deboyshe's; which ‛ slave, and debase, not few of Highest Birth; No  Riots, or Blaspheming Oaths Unmanned him, as too many, into to beast, or fiend: And because Relative duties well discharged, best speak us Real Christians; He was Eminent in these.  
A most Obedient, and Obsequious Son; A , Affectionate, and Tender, Husband; A Civil, Faithful, and Obliging Friend.  
But that our hopes may be the more Explicite, the good discoveries he gave of better than all this, were neither late, nor faint, nor forced from him. Accept of these few Instances; He freely gave up himself to God, and was not solicitous for any thing in the Event, but Life Eternal; professing himself most willing to die, and would Indent with God for Nothing, but the pardon of his sins, which he was sensible he wanted, and begged most hearty, and joined with them, who sought it for him, Earnestly, and Pressed them to do it frequently.  
He made firm Resolutions (of his own accord) that if it pleased the Lord to spare him, he would spend four hours every day, in Reading, Prayer, and Meditation, and such like Holy Exercises, as might concern his Soul's Salvation. And when with a Holy Jealousy his Pious Mother Answered: But I fear Child, when thou art well, thou'lt think it tedious, and forget this promise, and alter the number; He with some passion (but 'twas devout and holy passion) replied; by the Grace of God Madam, if I ever change the number, it shall be to make them more. And we humbly hope God took him at his word, and hath Enlarged his Vacancy, and changed his Four, into Twenty Four; fetching him thither, where they serve him continually, the whole of every day, and never cease, or sin. And as he seriously professed, he should for ever take more Contentment and delight in his Good Mother's Company, and such as are like to Her; in whose Converse, he should be always Hearing and Seeing what might promote his Everlasting Good; Now God, we hope, hath taken him to Better Company, the Family of the Firstborn in Heaven.  
And as a loud Testimony, how little Worldly things were to Him, He Sacrificed his Youthful Friends (which usually are the dearest pieces we possess) which he Expressed with such an Emphasis, and Force, as is too hard to imitate. I now well see, what little good, my Feathered-Friends can do me, and what they signify.  
It was the Law for Sacrificing Fouls, that the Feathers should be cast beside the Altars, 
Levit. 1.16.  by the place of the Ashes; and full so low he laid the Vanity, and Gayness, of himself and others. Saint Anselme, used to compare the Soul, into the Body; to a Bird with a string about its leg, and a weight tied to it; His String's uniyed, His Snare is broken, and as a Bird he is escaped, yea like a Dove, whose wings are of Silver, and her Feathers of Yellow Gold; He's hastened to the winged Cherubims, to sing for ever in the Lord's presence, and to be sheltered under the most immediate Protection of his Feathers.  
'Tis true, his hopes were very modest, somewhat verging upon fears and doubts; which his Solicitous inquiries discovered. Whether his delaying, (for he bewailed, his not conforming sooner, and more throughly, to his Good Mother's pious Admonitions) could be forgiven: and whether God would accept his late Repentance, and the resolves made on a Bed of Sickness? And when these, and the like, were Answered, with Prudent, and Faithful Caution; and then with such Encouragements, as the manner and heartiness of his Expression seemed to Entitle him to. He Answered, Well! Then I will Cast myself on God. And he is a God, who casts not them away, that do so in good Earnest; Therefore with Him, we'll leave him, and Conclude;  
Beseeching you to bear from him, what possibly you would not bear from me; the free discovery of your Vanities, and let this pull down your Plums, and make you serious.  
And You that survive Him, do Him the Kindness, and Yourselves the Right; to Act what He Resolved. Spend every day some good Proportion of your time, as all Good Men, and Wise, shall spend Eternity. Delay not your Return to God. Submit to wholesome Councils Early; Delight in Company, may make you Better. Sue-out most Earnestly, the Pardon of your sins; Solicit those, who are the Favourites of Heaven, to assist you in it. Adorn as he, all your Relations: Study his Hearse, and listen what he whispers thence; and when you see't, Remember, that beest thou Young, or Great, or Darling of thy Dearest Parents, Stem of thy Family, or whatever else, that's Man, thou certainly must die; therefore prepare: for, Ex Hoc momento Aeternitas.  
Upon this moment do Depend,  
The Joys, or Woes, that never End.    

LORD Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to saving Wisdom; And forgive us our many sins, at, and against the frequent Funerals we attend, that so many warnings may not be lost, and leave us unprepared, lest they aggravate our guilt beyond excuse. Writ upon our hearts the word we have heard; and Sanctify this awakening Example to us all; And most Eminently, to those Right Honourable Personages, most nearly Concerned in it; whose Wound, and Breach, we Beseech thee, (who art Able to do above all that we can Ask, or Think) of Thy Infinite Goodness to repair and bind up, with Thy All-Healing hands, in Thine own Time, and Way. And all for his sake, who died far our sins, and risen again for our Justification, and sits at thy right hand making Intercession, whereby he is Able to save to the uttermost, all those who come to Thee by Him. To Him, with Thy Majesty and Blessed Spirit, be Adoration, Submission of ourselves, and Ours, to be at Thy Dispose, Praise, and Everlasting Glory; AMEN.   

EPITAPHIUM.  
WIthin this Marble doth Entombed Lie,  
Not One, but All a Noble Family:  
A Pearl of such a Price, that soon about  
Possession of it, Heaven, and Earth fell out;  
Both could not have Him, So they did Devise  
This Fatal Salvo, to divide the Prize:  
Heaven Share's the Soul, and Earth his Body takes,  
Thus We lose all, whilst Heaven, and Earth part stakes:  
But Heaven, not Brooking that the Earth should share  
In the least Atom, of a Piece so Rare,  
Intends to Sue Out, by a new Revize  
His Habeas Corpus, at the Grand Assize.  
JOHN FLOWER.   


Frontispicii Speculum. The Mind of the Frontispiece:  

Wouldst thou Amazed Friend, a Reason have;  
Why Squalid Death, is Trimmed, so Gay and Brave?  
This is her Nuptial Day; That is the Bed,  
To which, Great Warwick 's Heir is Captive Led;  
But 'twas Rude Woeing, and a Stolen Match,  
An Uncouth Rape, in which the She did catch  
The Male; who though pursued, by wanton Death,  
Was , and Yielded not, till out of Breath.  
On't this retrieve the Banes? No! 'twill not do,  
She Got a Licence; And, they're Bedded too▪  
But to disguise th' unfitness, and prevent  
Just scorn; to paint, alone, she's not content  
But steal's His Colours for't; and all she can  
To make Him like Herself; halfe-Na'kt, and Wan.  
And yet, 'cause Guilty, fearing an Assault,  
With His Own Shields, She Guarded hath the Vault,  
But She's past blushing, and will not Confess  
Her Wrong; His Right, to Cornet, Coat, or Cross,  
Cry's All's mine Own; and if You proof require,  
For the Left Crest; The Serpent was my Sire:  
And for the Dexter one, That venomed wing  
Feathers my Arrows; And his tail's, my Sting:  
The Coronet without dispute's mine Own,  
For She that Conquers, may Command the Crown:  
The Coat's may Proper bearing: from such Losses,  
Yourselves Blaze me to be, The Cross of Crosses.  
And for the Motto, You dare not Deny,  
That none Keeps Faith, more Firm, than Destiny.   

Yet those who Keep the Faith of Christ tothth' Last;  
Will Be too Quick for Thee, for all thy haste.  
And when the Glorious Morn, Restores them Light;  
Bid Thee with Scorn, Eternally Good-Night.  
Aliter  
Our Text in Mottoes, is displayed:  
〈◊〉 Motto in a Text obeyed.   A. Walker. 
GARDE LA FOY.   engraving of an effigy on a tomb, with coats of arms JÁY GARDÉ LA FOY. 2. Tim: 4: 7. 
Ex Hoc momento Aeternitas. 1664