TO THE WORSHIPFUL AND MY VERY GOOD FRIENDS, Mr. JOHN VPTON Esquire, and to his virtuous and religious wife, Mistress Dorothy Vpton, all prosperous welfare tending to eternal safety. AS one not ambitious, but desirous to set forth the glory of God, to declare his truth and publish his mercies, I have presumed to present this small Treatise to your view, wherein is handled the shortness and fewness of man's days, the frailty and uncertainty thereof, how he is mortal, every day dying, because every day life shorteneth, & the rather because it was preached at the Funeral of your dear Father. I know Solomon findeth fault with writing many books, saying, there is no end in writing many books, but Eccles. 12. 12, Tenet insanabile multos scribends cacoethes. they are such do defend false doctrine, and vain opinions which he taxeth, such as set forth the glory of God he commendeth. This inconsiderate age of ours, is more willing to entertain idle Pamphlets & vain toys, with fond inventions have excogitated, then to embrace such laudable enterprises which further the kingdom of God, or persuade the truth of Religion among the sons of men. I know some will not spare to bark at this, but I will pass by the S●●llean dogs. and stop my ears, as Jerome speaks, esteeming Zoilus, nothing at all, nor much regarding 〈◊〉 as carp at each monument of piety, and in a prejudi●●e 〈◊〉 reject and discharge their pains who shall 〈◊〉 cross the watch of their wicked delights. I doubt not 〈◊〉 with you and with all good Christians it will find acceptance.) It is unworthy the world's view, being the fruits of a short conception, the effect of a distracted study, oft hindered and perturbed by sinister courses. Thus thankfully remembering myself, do commend your ways to the Lord, that they may be prosperous, your sorrows easy, your comforts many, your virtues eminent, your consciences quiet, your lives holy, your deaths comfortable, your election sure, and your salvation certain, remaining. Yours in all Christian affection, JOHN PRESTON. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF ARTHUR VPTON Esquire in Denon. PSAL. 103. 15. 16. Man's days are as an herb, as a flower of the field so flourisheth he. For the wind goeth over it, and it is not, and the place thereof shall know it no more. THis Psalm is laudative, wherein Epainetix●s. David doth praise God for divers benefits partly in particular bestowed on him, partly on all man kind, and partly on the people of Israel. The first part of praise he propoundeth under the form of an exhortation, in the first and second verse. The benefits bes●●●ed on him he setteth down to be five, 1. remission of sins, 2. regeneration, 3. deliverance from dangers, 4. giving victuals, and necessary food, 5. strength of body, all which are contained in the 3. 4. 5. verses. The benefit bestowed on the people of Israel were these, the opening of his word, the remission of sins, and the moderation of chastisements, from the 7. to the 13. then he amplifieth this moderation, from the fragility of humane nature, saying, God knoweth whereof we are made, he made us, therefore he knoweth us, he made us of dust, Gen. 2. 7. and he remembreth that we are but dust, thou art Gen. 2. 7. dust, Gen. 3. 14. and dust shall return to the earth, as it Gen. 3. 19 was, Eccles. 12. 7. And so every man shall become no Eccles. 12. 7. pulvis in pulne●ena: Humus in humum. N●scimur vt● moriamur. man, for that which is taken from the earth shall return to the earth, dust shall return to dust, and earth to earth: we are borne that we might die, and we must die that we may live, by dying to revive, by losing life to win the goal of eternal felicity. There is little cause either to love life, or to fear death: and motives to persuade us to mourning, that our inhabitancels prolonged, and our decease adjourned. As all rivers go into the sea; Eccles. 1. 7. So all men must go Eccles. 1. 7. into the grave. Death is the tribute of all, the prison of all, the mistress of all, and the receptacle of all. Man's days are as an herb, as a flower of the field, so flourisheth he. For the wind goeth over it, and it is not, and the place thereof shall know it no more, in which words, 2. things are remarkable, 1. The fragility of humane nature in the 15. v. 2. A reason at the 16. v. The fragility of humane nature is expressed by a twofold comparison. 1. Compairing man's days to an herb, man's days are as an herb. 2. To a flower of the field, as a flower of the field so flourisheth he. It is as much as if the Prophet had said, though The metaphrase. man be an excellent creature little inferior to the Angels, yet he is a frail creature, soon come and soon gone, his days are like the herb which is the life of the earth, and a flower of the field, which is the glory of the herb as the herb groweth, and as the flower flourisheth, so now groweth and flourisheth, and as the herb and flower soon wither, so man soon fadeth away, if the wind blow on the herb or grass it is gone, and it cometh not to his place again: so if death blow, or deprive man of breath, he is dead, he is gone, and the place wherein he lived, he shall live no more, and the eye which hath seen him, shall see him no more. Man's days] The word is Enosh man, which is a Text. Pagin. common name, and sometimes particular. As Homo is a common name to all men in one tongue: so Enosh is Lingua Hebraica Adam ab adamach terra madida apta ad formas recipiendas, Merce. a common name of all men in the holy tongue. God named the first man Adam, let us make man, Gen. 1. 26. Let us make Adam that is man, Adam from Adamah, which is moist earth, fit to receive forms and impressions, he was so named that he might keep in memory, that he was but earth. Our first Parents called their second son Habel, Gen. 4. 2. or Hebel, which is Gen 4. 2. vanity, vanity is a matter which is nothing, or that which soon vanisheth away as the breath which goeth forth from the mouth. Man is vanity, Psal. 39 5. Like to vanity, Psal. 144. 4. The children of men are vanity, Psal. 39 5. Psal. 144. 4. the chief men are lies, to lay them upon a balance they are altogether lighter than vanity, Psal. 62. 4. The Psal. 62. 4. Hommes sunt 〈…〉 sense is, if men should be put in one scale of the balance, & vanity in the other scale, men would ascend, vanity descend, that is, men would be found lighter than vanity: men are vainer than vanity itself. He was so named that he might keep in mind the vanity of his humane condition. Zeth named his son Enosh, Gen. 4. 26. which is to be weak or frail, that Gen. 4. 26. he might keep in memory the frailty and infirmity of humane condition, and so it is a common name of man. That all men both by name and by nature, are frail and Doct. 1. weak, man's name doth bring so much to man's remembrance. Man brought nothing with him into the world, 1. Tim. 6. 7. In his infancy he cannot help himself, 1. Tim. 6. 7. in his old age he must be holpen, the helper of other creatures, must have his help from God the Creator. Other creatures can shift for themselves, but man is so weak that he must be fed, warmed, nurced and nourished by others. He is subject to sicknesses, to diseases, to troubles, to sorrows, to the famine, to the plague, to war, and to many more miseries, man is borne unto travail, job. 5. 7. This life is full of the job. 5. 7. grief of things past, of labour and pain of things present, and of fear of things to come. The ingress into life is lamentable, because an infant begins his life with tears, as it were foreseeing the evils to come, the progress weak, because many diseases afflict us, and many woes vex us, and the egress fearful if we be not in Christ, and have put him on, Rom. 13. 14. man beginneth his race with crying, and endeth it Rom. 13. 14. with grieving, nay all man's days are sorrows, Eccles. 2. 23. it is. It is, full of sorrows both of body and mind. Eccles. 2. 23. Abraham had in the land of Canaan no ground of his own to dwell in, but only the inheritance of a sepulchre: so man shall have no more in this life after a few years, nay months, it may be days but a plot of lodging. This life is rather a death because every day we die, seeing every day we consume somewhat of our lives. The entrance into life is strait ways the beginning of death. This life is an expectation of death. for every day we look for death a scene of mockeries, a Sea of miseries one only vial of blood which every light fall breaks, every light ague corrupts. Though man be frail and weak, yet God loves Use. ●● him dearly, and doth regard him, and doth respect him, hence is it that David saith Lord what is man that thou regardest him, Psal. 144. 4. Man is the slave of Psal. 144. 4. death, a traveler that passeth away, for here we have no abiding city, Heb. 12. 14. We are strangers and pilgrims, Heb. 13. 14. 1. Pet. 2. 11. Sojourners as all our fathers were, 1. Pet. 2. 11. Psal. 39 12. Lighter than a bubble, shorter than a moment, Psal. 39 12. vainer than an image, frailer than a venice glass which is soon broken, more changeable than the wind, more inconstant than a shadow, and more deceivable than a dream. God doth also provide for man food and raiment: What is here in man to move God to love him, he is conceived in sin, and borne ininiquitie, Psal. 51. 5. and unless he be borne again, he cannot Psal. 51. 5. enter into the kingdom of God, joh. 3. 5. His heart is joh. 3. 5. deceitful and wicked above all things, jer. 17. 9 And the imaginations of the heart evil, Gen. 8. 21. The eyes are jer. 17. 9 Gen. 8. 21. casements of Lust, as to David, 2. Sam. 11. 2. The throat is an open sepulchre, Psalm. 5. 9 The mouth is full of cursing 2. Sam. 11. 2. Psal. 5. 4. and deceit, Psalm. 10. 7. The feet swift to shed blood, Esa. 59 7. The hands are extended to all unmercifulness. Psal. 10. 7. Esa. 59 7. He doth break the yoke, and burst the bonds, jer. 5. 5. Hating to be reform, Psal. 15. 17. Saying, The jer. 5. 5. Psal 50 17. Psal 94. 7. Mala. 3. 17. Lord shall not see, Psal. 94. 7. It is in vain to serve God, and what profit is it if we keep his commandments, Malach. 3. 14. By nature man is the child of wrath, Ephes. 2. 3. Ephes. 2. 3. The son of disobedience, Collos. 3. 6. Nay, a beast by his own knowledge jer. 51. 17. Yet God loves man, and Col. 3▪ 6. will make him coheir with Christ, Rom. 8. 17. Yet not jer. 51. 17. Rom. 8. 17. all but the Elect God doth give to us, we can give nothing to him, nothing doth come to him, if we stay in him, nor nothing doth depart if we stay not in him, on either side he is our profit, whether he stay in us, or we in him. To the sick and weak he is a keeper, turning their bed in their sickness, Psal. 41. 3. To the man Psal. 41. 3. of the Palsy, he was health, Mat. 9 2. To Lazarus that Mat. 9 2. was dead he was life, joh. 11. 44. To the blind he was joh. 11. 44. sight, joh. 9 9 To the lost sheep he was salvation, Luk. 15. 4. 5. 6. Luk. 15. 4. 5. 6. To such as go astray he is the way home, joh. 14. 6. joh. 14. 6. The second use may justly reprove such as never mind their weak and frail condition. We should Use. 2. meditate on death in life, than death would not be so ghastly and fearful. In the morning we should think this may be the last day of our life, and in the evening often we go to bed, we should think this may be our last night on earth, so thinking on death at all times. In all our actions we should consider with ourselves, would we do such and such like things if we were to die instantly, and then come to judgement. We should consider our lives are but lent us, they are no freehold. We came into the world upon this condition that we should go out again, yielding up all into the Lord's hand: most men never think on death, but put that day far from them, when there is nothing nearer life than death, it always dogs a man at the heels. As the shadow followeth the body: so doth death follow life. If we die to ourselves in life, we shall live in death to God. Before we die, sin must die in us. Let us leave sin, before sin leave us. God will never forgive, that we will not forgive. Let the old man die in us in this life, than Christ will live in us in death: none are exempted from death of what estate or condition soever. Solomon for all his wisdom died, 1. King. 11. 43. Samson for all his 1. Kin. 11. 43. strength, judg. 16. 30. Absolom for all his beauty, 2. Sam. 18. 11. judg. 16. 30. 2. Sam. 18, 11: 2, Sam. 17. 23. 2, Sam. 12. 18. Ahitophel for all his craft, 2. Sam. 17. 23. David's child for all his youth, 2. Sam. 12. 18. Methushelah for all his age, Gen. 5. 27. Lazarus the beggar died, Gen. 5. 27. Luk. 16. 22. Luk. 12. 20. 2. Kin. 9 33. Luke 16. 22. And the rich covetous cormorant died, Luk. 12. 20. Proud jezabel died, 2. King. 9 33. & Sarah which was full of modest humility, & humblemodesty died, Gen. 23. 2. Kin. are not exempted, from death, for Saul, David, josiah died, Preachers are not exempted, Gen. 23. 2. for Paul, Peter, and many such like have died. Physicians which kill many, though cure some, die themselves as sick. Soldiers the cause of many men's deaths, die themselves as Cornelius. As it is most true some of all sorts shall be saved: so it is no less true that all of all sorts shall die. Death is a port or haven whereunto we all must sail through the troubles of this world, whereunto the sooner we come, the sooner we shall be delivered. It is appointed all shall die, Heb. 9 27. decreed in Hebr. 9 27. the Parliament in heaven, and Gods decrees are unchangeable. It is but a minute of time which we live, and somewhat less than a minute, we are in this world as in another man's house, and therefore we should always mind death. If means could free men from deaths arrest. Kings, Potentates and rich men would not die, for they would give more than half their goods to live. If ignorance babbling in an unknown tongue might serve the Papists would not, if strength, the strong would not: if skill, the Physician would not: if mirth, the bone companion would not: if smoke, the bewitching vanity of this time, them the greatest part of men would not, in a word if any thing would serve turn, than death arrest were not strong enough. Death is such a Pursuivant, that he will take no bail, no bond, no day for appearance, but the party arrested must presently appear before the tribunal seat of God, 2. Cor. 5. 10. 2. Cor. 5. 10. As an herb] Or as some read it, as grass or hay. This similitude of grass is used in divers Scriptures to Ic●●. this end. The Prophet saith, all flesh is grass, Esa. 40. 6. Not by nature, not by making, not by condition, but by similitude of fragility. The holy ghost useth this simile to show the imbecility of our nature and of our times. And the Apostle saith, All flesh is as grass, 1. Pet. 1. 24. Esa. 4. 6. The world of men may be resembled to a ●. Pet. 1. 14. field of grass. That man is like grass for the brevity of his life, and Doct. 3. suddenness of his death. The grass is soon come, and soon gone: so is man soon come, and many times soon gone, as jonah his gourd was, jon. 4. 6. The grass jon. 4. 6. when it is green is beautiful bearing flowers, but being cut down withereth: so man being young hath the greenness of life, than beauty and comeliness, but being dead withereth. As the grass is to day, and to morrow cast into the oven: so man lives to day and to morrow cast into the grave. There is difference in grass a thousand forms in one field, yet all are alike in this that they must wither: so there is difference in men's places in the world, but no difference at all in death. As dies the beggar: so dies the King. It is granted he may have better attendance, and he may have more cost bestowed on him. Healthy bodies must wither, as well as sick bodies. The strongest must stoop as well as the weakest. The godly must die as well as the wicked, and the longest liver must pack along, as well as the untimely birth. As the mower can with few strokes cut down thousands of grass: so God can easily with the sith of his judgements cut down a multitude of men. This grass may be brought to wither many ways, if it be eaten by the beasts, or trodden by the foot of man, or burnt with fire, or cut down with scythe or sickle: so man may be brought, to his end many ways, by fire or water, or strangling, or murdering, or the like. When the grass is cut and dried, it is meat and fodder for the beasts of the field: so when the flesh of man is laid in the grave, it is meat for the worms. I shall say to corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm thou art my mother, and my sister, job 17. 4. Man shall sleep in the dust, and the worms job. 17. 4. shall cover him, job 21. 26. The moth shall eat within us job. 21. 26. like a garment, and the worms shall eat them like wool, Esa. 51. 8. Herod was eaten of worms, Act. 12. 23. As a Esa. 51. 8. Act. 12. 13. jon., 6. worm did eat jonah his gourd, jon. 4. 6. So worms shall eat our flesh. The grass will perish if it be never cut down: so man will become as a rotten leaf if he live long. This life is as a short misery. Man that is borne of woman is of short continuance, job 14. 1. I would job 141. have no man say, I have so many years to lives, years are not thine, they are but lent thee. This answer was made to one saying, I have fourteen years to live, thou dost mention fourteen years which thou hast not, nor mayst not have, but thou forgettest the many years which thou hast had. jacob said, few and evil have the days of my life been, Gen. 47. 9 The time of our Gen. 47. 9 life is threescore years and ten, if a man come to fourscore, then there is nothing but weakness, Psal. 90. 10. Psal. 90 10. All come not to seventy years, or to eighty, & some live an hundred, but most die before they come to seventhty. Some die in their youth, some in their old age. God hath ordained to every living creature his appointed time wherein to live, grow, and increase, so to decrease and die, and as it pleaseth him to prolong or abridge their lives, so doth he dispose of the second causes and means whereby he will have it brought to pass, and so every one hath his certain bonds and term of life set him, yet none but God only can attain to the knowledge thereof. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth, and are not his days as the days of an hireling, job 7. 1. Are not man's job. 7. 1. days determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds, which (if he would) he cannot pass, job. 14. 5. All the days of my appointed time job. 14. 5. will I wait till my changing shall come, job. 14. 14. God job. 14. 14. hath appointed how long every man shall live, though fourscore years be no long course, yet there are but few that hold out to the uttermost end thereof in regard of them that stay by the way. Some are cut off even before they have begun their course, and some in the mid way, & that through so many sorts of sicknesses with other inconveniences and accidents, that a man cannot possibly comprehend or conceive them all. The first use reproveth such as know their flesh is as Use. 1. grass, yet they seek things for this life only, they wallow Luk. 16. 19 in wealth, and have all things at their wills, they are clothed in fine silk and purple, they glitted and glister with gold and pearls, their faces are covered with fatness, job. 15. 27. they beat the people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, Esa. 3. 15. They swallow up the poor. job. 15. 27. Esa. 3. 15. Amo. 8. 4. They eat the flesh of the people, and flay off their Amo. 8. 4. skin, Mich. 3. 3. They are attended with great trains Mich. 3. 3. and troops of men, they lead mighty Armies, and are carried in Coaches like Princes, for abundance of all things, they are as mortal Gods upon earth, yet are soon bereft of all their riches and glory, and perish as the grass, what foolishness hath wrapped up their understanding, what blindness hath possessed their hearts, what vanity hath bewitched and ravished their minds, what missed of error hath compassed them and overshadowed the light of their knowledge, that they seeing the frailty of their own estate and condition. Can any thing in this life, be either durable or very delightsome, when life itself is so frail and tickle a thing. The Apostle saith, The world vanisheth and the lust thereof. 1. joh. 2. 17. Solomon concludeth all 1. joh. 2. 17. worldly things under a most uncertain, frail and brittle condition, censuring them all with one judgement: vanity of vanities, all is vanity, Eccles. 1. 2. Came not Eccles. 1. 2. Croesus the rich Prince to misery for all his wealth. Xerxes' the King of Persia for all his pomp and glory discomfited. Did not Dionysius the King of Siracuse fall from a King to be a schoolmaster. Did not Bellisarius fall from a giver to be a receiver, from a rich man to be a beggar. Came not job from great riches to job. 1. 21. miserable poverty for a time. Do not many flourish to day in wealth, and to morrow come to extreme poverty. Are we all as grass and worms meat, why then do we make so much of the flesh which shall perish, and do not adorn and deck the soul with virtues which shall be presented to God in the day of judgement. We do not regard our souls, but prefer Domin●n ancillari, et ancillam dominari magna ●●t abusis our bodies before them. It is a great abuse when the mistress shall become an handmaid, and the handmaid mistress: so it is a great abuse when the soul is not regarded, and the body preferred before the soul. Seeing our bodies shall perish as grass, let us say, Christ is to me in life and death advantage. Phil. 1. 21. When we die we shall be delivered out of two prisons at once, the one so much worse than the other, as it is worse to be withheld from perfect bliss, then from the liberty of a most painful and tedious pilgrimage. We now live to die, but then we shall die to live for ever: now living we are continually dying, but then once dying never to die more. We shall leave a ruinous and base cottage, & pass to a most glorious and blessed palace, whose pavement is pure gold, and whose gates are pearls, Revel. 21. 21. By this we may guess Revel. 21. 21. what rooms we are like to find, where our Saviour prepareth the place,, joh. 14. 2. Had the Prodigal son john. 14. 2. cause to sorrow when he was to depart from this dirty village, and the company of swine to his father's Luk. 15. 17. 18. house. Who would not be able to cast off a sack of dung to receive long white robes, Revel. 7. 14. I hope we shall have neither oxen to try, nor farm to see, nor Revel. 7. 14. wives to withhold us from going, Luk. 14. 18. 19 20. Luk. 14. 18. 19 20. We have had toil enough in the servitude of Egypt, we have wandered long enough in the desert in continual battle with Gods & our enemies, and in death the time is come to take our repose, and enjoy the felicity of the land of promise. We have been in the mount Sinai with Moses, when thunderings began to be heard, lightnings to flash, and a thick dark cloud to cover the mount, but we shall come to enjoy his glory, whose terror we have already sustained. This may reprove such as fear death, The sting of death is taken away, O death where is thy sting, 1. Corint. 15. 55. 1. Cor. 15. 55. Some would die, but they would not die a violent death. What cause have we to fear death, we have but one life, and but one can we lose. Goliath was as much hurt by David's little stone, 1. Sam. 17. 50. as 1. Sam. 17. 50. Samson by the weight of a whole house, judg. 16. 30. judg. 16. 30. Ely had as much harm by falling backward in his chair, 1. Sam. 4. 18. as jezabel by being thrown down 1. Sam. 4. 18. from a high window, 2. King. 9 33. All they that stoned 2. Kin. 9 33. Stephan to death, took no more from him, Act. 7. 59 Act. 7. 59 then an ordinary sickness did from Lazarus, Luk. Luk. 16. 19 16. 19 One death is no more death than another, and as well the easiest, as the hardest, taketh our life from us. Let us be willing to leave this sinful world, desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ, Philip. 1. 23. Philip. 1. 23. Why should we fear that which cannot be avoided. The very necessity of death should make us not unwilling to die, and the remembrance of our mortality should make us little fear, when experience showeth us, that we are mortal. Live well, and die well we may, if please God, but live long, & not die, we cannot. We should not think our life shortened, when it is well ended. He dieth old enough, that dieth good: and life is better well lost, then evil kept. We go but that way, the which all the world before us hath gone, and all that come after us shall follow & bear us company. 4 If we be not warned, neither will take it for a warning, that we are as grass, death may come before we are aware, and surprise us, when we shall not have time to learn to die. We must be prepared, Luk. 12. 40. Luk. 12. 40. We must watch, Mark. 13. 37. How soon is the grass Mark. 13. 37. cut down, and so, how soon doth man die. The day of death will come suddenly, as thief in the night, 2. Pet. 3. 10. ●. Pet. 3. 10. A thief giveth no warning when he will come, but cometh when men are asleep: so the day of the Lord cometh suddenly, when men are altogether unprovided. Before a ruinous house fall, the rafters crack and give warning. At a strangers coming, the dog barks and gives warning: before a storm the clouds give warning, and the trumpet biddeth men prepare to battle: but the day of death cometh suddenly, all the time from the birth to death, is a time of preparation. When the bird thinketh herself safe, then is she nearest to death, when the shipmaster is in sight of land, he may be in greatest danger, for commonly in the range or harbour is the Ship lost, the want of care drowneth the Ship, the want of skill is the ruin of the soldiers, the want of food starveth the sheep, and the want of preparation to die casteth thousands into perdition. As a flower of the field so flourisheth he.] Man's life is Text. compared in the Scripture to a span for the shortness thereof, Psal. 39 5. To a shadow, Psal. 102. 11. First, for Psal. 39 5. Psal. 102. 11. the cause, for as the shadow is form oflight and a body, so is man of an intellectual soul, and a humane body. Secondly for the figure and likeness, as the shadow is sometimes long, and sometimes short: so some men live long, some but a short time. Thirdly, for the flight, the shadow is changed with the moving of the body: so is the life. The shadow in the morning is not as it was at night, and the health of the body in the morning is not as it was at night. The shadow flieth from a man following it, and it followeth a man flying from it: he that looseth his life shall save it, & he that will save his life shall lose it. Fourthly, for the measure, the longer the day, the shorter the shadow: and the shorter the day, the longer the shadow: so the higher the day of prosperity, the shorter the life: and the shorter prosperity is, the longer man's life seemeth to be; jobs prosperity was short, therefore his life seemed long, I will (saith he) speak in the bitterness of my soul, job 10. 1. For he was even weary of job. 10. 1. his life, to smoke that vanisheth, Hos. 13. 3. To a bubble Hos. 13. 3. that is dissolved. To a weaveers shuttle for swiftness, job. 7. 6. job. 7. 6. To a cloud that is driven with the wind, job. 7. 9 job. 7. 9 To a vapour which is soon dispersed, jam. 4. 14. And here jam. 4. 14. to grass which withereth, and to a fading flower. That the whole outward glory of man is but as a fading Doa. 3. flower. Though a flower may be fair in sight, sweet for smell, curious in colour, and glorious for beauty, yet it will fade: so man may be great in place, noble in birth, mighty in strength, valiant in courage, wise in ordering and disposing, careful in providing, and excellent in knowledge and gifts, yet all will fade and fall away. A flower groweth speedily, but being cut down, turneth as speedily to its former matter: so man quickly groweth up from the earth, & assoon turneth to earth again. Do not thou glory, do not thou praise, do not thou admire, at outward things, for they will fade away, they are as a reed of Egypt. That which men most glory in they are soon deprived off, I speak of worldly things. Some glory in their birth, nobility, and house from whence they same, all these are Gods gifts, but not much to be stood upon, The God of heaven hath given thee a Kingdom, power and strength, and glory, Dan. 2. 37. Some glory in their Dam. 2. 37. riches, why dost thou so, either they will leave thee, or thou must leave them, all riches have their wings as an Eagle, and fly into the heaven, Prou. 23. 5. The Apostle Prou. 23. 5. saith, trust not in uncertain riches, 1. Tim. 6. 17. Riches 1. Tim. 6. 17. are uncertain, because they have wings, and because they avail not in the day of wrath, Prou. 11. 4. Silver and Prou. 11. 4. gold cannot deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord, Ezechi: 7. 19 That which our Saviour calleth thorns, Ezechi. 7. 19 Matth. 13. 7. Paul calleth uncertain riches. Do Mat. 13. 7. riches content, no, the more men have, the more men crave, and commonly they are the greatest beggars, which have the greatest portion, he that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver, Eccles. 5. 9 A covetous Eccles. 5. 9 man is not satisfied with riches, for the more he gathereth together, the more he desireth, the grave and destruction can never be full, so the eyes of man can never be satisfied, Prou. 27. 20. The covetous man desireth Pro. 27. 20. all that his eye seeth. The covetous saith, What shall I do because I have no room, Luk. 12. 27. Some Luk. 12. 17. glory in pleasure, pleasure is like lightning, sweet but short, much cost and care for a little sport, nay one hours sport, may be recompensed with eternal punishments. Some glory in the world, and worldly things, notwithstanding this I must tell thee, either thou wilt fail in pursusing them, or else when thou hast caught them, they will be so vain that they will give no contentment. Some glory in beauty, beauty will vanish with a sickness, or consume in time. Some glory in their strength, man's strength is but weakness. Some in honour, man shall not continue in honour, He is like the beasts that die, Psal. 49. 12. It is an evil Psal. 49. 12. sickness, and a great vanity, when a man shall have riches, and treasure, and honour: and want grace to joy in them. Eccles. 6. 2. Some in the praise of men, which indeed Eccles. 6. 2. is but wind, No man knoweth whether it cometh, and whether it goeth, john. 3. 8. As the child's lo●e, so the joh. 3. 8. people's commendation is gotten and forgotten in an hour The Prophetsaith, Let not the wise man glory in jer. 4. 23. his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength, neither the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, jere. 9 23. 24. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, for wisdom shall not deliver the wise from death, nor strength the strong, nor riches the rich: but faith in Christ, and good conscience in all things shall deliver the godly from the second death. Is it so, that glory, pomp, honour, and beauty are as a fading flower, then let not us affect these things Use. 1. too much, let them not steal away our hearts. We should set our affections on things above, Col. 3. 2. It is not simply unlawful to use the world, but it is needful Colos. 3. 2. that we be jealous of ourselves, to watch our own hearts, that our affections be not set on the world. Outward glory, pomp, honour, and beauty are but transitory things, so are riches, and the world. A man cannot serve God and mammon, Math. 6. 24. It is an axiom Mat. 6. 24. in the Bible, that amity with the world, is enmity with God, jam. 4. 4. Either men must forsake God and jam. 4. 4. love the world, or bid the world farewell and cleave to God. We are taught not to love the world, 1. john. 2. 15. For we see the daily mutability, and inconstancy of I. joh. 2. 15. the world and worldly things. Do not humane affairs imitate the sea, are not men tossed on earth, more than on the sea, one taketh away this man's ground, another that man's field, another desireth his neighbour's wife, another taketh away his servants. One striveth with his neighbour about water, another about the air. He that is poor is reproached, he that is rich is sought to be ensnared. He that ruleth is subject to conspiracy, the Magistrate to envy, and he that is of power to hatred. There are continual wars, continual slaughters, and insatiable desire doth exercise tyranny, covetousness ruleth, and lying is preferred. Trust hath taken her flight, truth is a stranger, and salutations are full of suspicion, and so all wallow in vices, for every man is vanity, Psal. 39 11. Psal. 39 11. 2. This may reprove the seekers of these vanities, who plod and study to attain to them, but being gotten, they profit not much, they cannot save, they may destroy, they cannot help at the last, they may hurt. How greedy are men after honour, how do they covet promotions, how do they hunt after riches. They care not who are poor, so they be rich: who sick, so they be whole, who cold, so they be warm, who sink, so they swim. The loathsome lukewarmness of the most is to be reproved, Revel. 3. 19 And the dangerous Revel. 3. 16. loss of first love in too many to be lamented, Revel. 2. 4. Revel. 2. 4. Let men seek the Lord, whiles he may be found, Esa. 55. 6. Esa. 55. 6. Good and not evil, Amo. 5. 14. The Kingdom of God, Amo. 5. 14. Math. 6. 33. Peace, Psal. 34. 14. The time will come when Mat 6. 33. Psal 34. 14. the Sceptre and sepulchre will be all one, when the Prince and peasant shall be fellows, when there shall be no difference between the ashes of velvet, and course canvas. What can the belie return which consumeth most part of men's riches but dung & corruption, what vain pomp and glory, but malice and envy, what unchastity but hell and the worm of conscience. Let men and women be never so richly attired without Christ they are naked, with what jewels and ornaments soever they are set forth, without Christ's beauty they are deformed, howsoever their faces are painted, and their beauty blazed, without grace they are ugly and monstrous, nay they carry about them their own funeral, while their body is a filthy tomb of a more filthy soul, not only dead, but almost rotten in sin. Noah must not follow the fashions of the old world. Lot must not follow the fashions of Sodom. job must not follow the fashions of Vz. We must not follow the fashions of our corrupt age, but as Paul exhorteth, in the mids of a crooked and naughty generation, we must be, pure and blameless, shining even as lights in the world, Philip. 2. 15. Shining evermoreto Philip. 2. 15. walk in the narrow path, and enter in at the strait gate, Luk. 13. 24. Luk. 13. 24. We must account spiritual things our chiefest glory. This spiritual glory is either in the world to come, or in this world, that in the world to come is the greatest. Rejoice under the hope of the glory of God, Rom. 5. 2. Rom. 5. 2. When Christ which is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory, Coloss. 3. 4. The glory Col. 3. 4. which shall be conferred may be considered either on the bodies or on the souls of the godly. The glory which shall be given to the bodies of the Saints is threefold, first the bodies of the Saints shall be immortal, they shall die no more, for mortality shall put on immortality, 1. Corinth. 15. 53. Secondly, they shall I. Cor. 15. 53. be incorruptible, they shall rot and putrefy no more, they shall be free from infirmity and deformity, It is sown in weakness, and shall be raised in power, 1. Cor. 15. 43. 1. Cor. 15. 43. Thirdly, they shall be spiritual, 1. Cor. 15. 44. 1. Cor. 15. 44. The glory upon the soul shall be the perfection of God's image in all the faculties of it, then shall the memory, will and affection be made conformable unto God. The glory in this world is first Christ, He is the King of glory, Psal. 24. 7. We must be much in the duties Psal. 24. 7. of mortification, before we can enter into the kingdom of glory, for no unclean thing shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, Revel. 21. 27. We are unclean Revel. 21. 27. till we be washed in the blood of Christ by justification, and bathed in tears of true repentance by mortification. Secondly, the spirit of adoption is the spirit of glory, if this rest upon men they cannot be miserable, 1. Pet. 4. 14. Thirdly, our souls are our glory. 1. Pet. 4. 14. Fourthly, the testimony of a good conscience is our glory, 2. Corinth. 1. 12. In a word, God is our glory, 2. Cor. 1. 12. Psalm. 3. 3. Psalm. 3. 3. For the wind goeth over it, and it is not.] The word Text. is taken for wind, for the spirit, for the intellectual soul, for the will, and for the air, but most expositors read it, the wind goeth over it. The Prophet doth not say, it is burned with the heat of the Sun, or destroyed with the cold of the winter, or cut down with the hand of the mower, but the wind goeth over it, and it is not, that is, the wind goeth over the flower, and it is not, for it is withered. As a flower is destroyed by the passing of some wind: so man's life doth fail with a light occasion. That man's life and glory are soon gone. First, man's life Doct. ●. is soon gone, how many at unawares have been burnt up in their own houses, how many slain by beasts in the field, how many devoured by the same, how many consumed in common pestilences, murdered by thieves, slain by their enemies, killed by the fall of an house, as those on whom the tower in Siloam fell, Luk. 13. 4. They spend their days in wealth, and suddenly Luk. 13. 4. they go down to the grave, job 21. 13. Sodom was job. 21. 13. destroyed in a moment, Lam. 4. 6. Sisera soon slain by Sam. 4. 6. joel, judge 4. 21. The Philistims by Samson, judg. 16. 30. judg. 4. 21. judg. 16. 30. Esa. 37. 38. Saneherib by Adramelech and Sharezer, Esa. 37. 38. Man can take life away, but he cannot give life. There is great pains and payments bestowed before one come to man's estate, and then a small thing taketh away his life. As when a bladder is blown great with great pain, a prick of a pin will give vent for all the wind: so when man is grown up, a little thing will deprive him of life, a stab with dagger or knife will take from him his life, because life itself is frail, brittle, unstable, and of all things most uncertain. As the Spider's web which is long time spinning, is swept away and destroyed upon a sudden: so man's life which hath continued many months and years in a moment ceaseth, I have cut off like a weaver my life, Esa. 38. 12. One is choked with an hair in milk, another strangled Es 138. 12. Fabius' Senator Anacreon. Adrianus Papa. ●anat. in 27. Proverb, johan. stow 44. ann. Elr●a. with the stone of a grape, another with a fly some crushed and trodden to death. Man continueth not in one stay, he is of few days in his body, and full of trouble in his estate. Secondly, man's glory is soon gone. The Prophet saith, the glory of Epraim shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. Hos. 9 11. By glory is meant riches, Hos. 9 11. power, honour, and renown. As a bird doth not long stay in a place: so glory, as riches, and such like do not long continue. The smoke ascending upward from the chimney at the first is great and thick, but it is quickly scattered and out of sight: so the glory of the men of this world, by little and little is obscured, and vanisheth clean away. The first use we must remember our end, how ●e. 2. frail and fickle a thing our life is, hence is it, that David saith, Lord let me know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is, let me know how long I have to live, Psal 39 4. Psal. 39 4. Thy life is as the palm of thy hand, if it be compared with eternity, and it may be more truly called the shadow of death than life. It is decreed that the death of all is a certain hour, but the hour of death uncertain. It is better the hour of death be unknown, then known. Moses saith, Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, Psalm. 90. 12. That we may have the fewness of our Psal. 90. ●●. days in memory, that we promise to ourselves no great things in this world, but that our minds be set wholly on the study of heavenly wisdom. Let us consider how many years we have lived in the world, how many of them we have spent in sleep, and eating, how many in childhood and vanities, how many in worldliness and wickedness, and how few in piety and godliness, why do I speak of years, I may speak of months, nay of days, nay of hours: we need not the Art of Arithmetic to number the hours that many of us have spent in reading, praying, meditating, examining, hearing, and practising holy and Christian duties. Let us now return to the Lord, jere. 4. 1. Let us hear his writ, while it is to day, jere. 4. ●. Heb. 3. 13. Let us arise and depart for this is not our rest. Heb. 3. 1●. Mich. 2. 10. Let us be more frequent in prayer, more Mica. 2. 1●. careful in hearing, more conversant in meditation, more painful in seeking, more diligent in examining, and more studious in doing. Let not God, the author of time, have the least part of time spent in his service. Let us redeem the time, Coloss. 4. 5. Buy it with repentance, Colloss. 4. 5. watching, fasting, praying, and with strong cries, let us make our peace, & fly from the anger to come, Math. 3. 7. Let us remember our Creator in the days of Math. 3. 7. our youth, Eccles. 12. 1. God will have the first fruits, Eccles. 12. 1. and the first borne are due to him. Let us consider our latter end, Deut. 32. 29. and how quickly our life will Deut. 32. I. be gone. Our sinees cleave so fast unto us, that we do not remember our latter end, Lament. 1. 9 We are careless Lament. 1. 9 in making our calling and election sure, 2. Pet. 1. 10. 2. Pet. 1, 10. It is sufficient for us that we have spent the time passed of our lives after the lusts of the Gentiles, walking in wantonness, lusts, drunkenness, in gluttonies, drink, and in abominable idolatries, 1. Pet. 4. 3. Our grey hairs, 1. Pet. 4. 3. our sickly bodies, our weaknesses, and infirmities, the shortness of our lives, the judgements of God on others, and his mercies toward us, should make us always abundant in the works of the Lord, 1. Cor. 15. 58. 1. Cor. 15. 58. That is, we must prove our constancy in faith, and our love to God and our neighbour, by earnest study, endeavour, and zeal, not that our works can be superogatory, and more than due, but that we ought to excel in the things that are due. Let us double our employment in reading the Scripture. Prayer must be sent before, understanding desired, the continuance of meditation given, that the Scripture might transform us into itself after a sort. In reading the Scripture, the guide oft to be the grace of God, study and diligence must be given, that all may be referred to edification. In meditation, which putteth life and strength into all other duties. We must meditate on God's majesty above us, on our nature within us, on the vanity of the world without us, on the shortness of life behind us, and on heaven which is set before us. In hearing of the word preached, which is the means of knowledge, and faith, and of all grace, with the blessed and prosperous growth and increase thereof. In conference, in mortification, and in mercy. The 〈◊〉 sapien●ium vita est 〈◊〉 medita●●●. life of all wise men is the meditation of death. Is outward glory soon gone, I for the glory of man endeth with the life of man. It is hard to be gotten, short of continuance, and sorrowful to be left. It is given to men, not that they should give themselves to it, or to affect it too much. Be not thou afraid, (saith the Prophet) when one is made rich, and when the glory of his house is increased. For he shall take nothing away when he dieth, neither shall his pomp descend after him, Psalm. 49. 16. 17. Salomon's glory ended with his life, so did Psal. 49. 16. 17. haman's, Herodes, and Nero's. The affecting of outward glory doth cause many to fall from God. The love of the world made Demas for sake Christ, 2. Tim. 4. 10. The 2. Tim. 4. 10. love of money made judas sell Christ, Math. 26. 15. The Mat. 26. 15. love of riches, made the covetous man loose Christ, Luk. 12. 20. And the seeking of vain glory, maketh Luk. 12. 20. many men neglect Christ. Seek Christ and ye shall live, Amo. 5. 6. Seek him while he may be found, Esa. 55. 6. Amo. 5. 5. Esa. 55. 6. Gen. 49. 14. Luk. 5. 6. He that hath I sachar his burden must needs couch, Gen. 49. 14. He that hath rend his net, will take nothing, Luk. 5. 5. They which are laden with thick clay cannot mount up before the Lord, Habak. 2. 6. They can never be Haba. 2. 6. faithful disposers, that are faithless workers, 1. Cor. 4. 2. They will say and do not, Math 23. 3. So they which labour 1. Cor. 4. 2. Mat, 23. 3. much for vain glory, will hardly attain to true glory. And the place thereof shall know it no more.] When Text. the flower is cut off, or withereth, the root is green in the earth, but man when he is once dead shall live no more here, he shall live no more upon earth. He shall be seen no more here, he shall live no more in this world. The place where a flower hath grown shall know it no more: so the place shall know no more where man hath lived. That man being once dead shall live no more on earth. Doct. 5. Who of all our fathers departed this life have lived again a natural life, we shall go to them, they shall not come to us, they triumph, we fight, they at their journeys end, we travailing, they in the haven, we on the sea, they at rest, we in trouble. Remember that my life is but wind, and that mine eyes shall not return to see pleasure. The eye that hath seen me shall see me no more, thine eyes are upon me, and I shall be no longer. As the cloud vanisheth, and goeth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall no more return to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. job. 7. 7. 8. 9 10. As if job had said, after death I job. 7. 7. 8. 9 10. shall not live here on earth, enjoying my riches, my dignities, and power, I shall not come again to eat and drink, to have children, and to be restored to my former estate, I shall not command servants, nor be commanded by any higher power on earth, my life shall be a communion with the blessed Trinity, my joy the presence of the lamb, my exercise singing, my ditty praise ye the Lord, my consorts Saints and Angels, the place the heaven of heavens, 1. Kin. 8. 27. The Paradise, 1. Kin. 8. 27. Luk. 23. 43. The bridegrooms chamber, Psal. 19 5. They which now see me, shall see me no more on earth my Luk. 23. 43. Psal. 19 5. soul at the time of dissolution shall return to God that gave it, Eccles. 12. 7. and my body to the dust, dust I am, Eccles. 12. 7. concerning my body, Gen. 3. 19 There is hope of a tree Gen. 3. 19 if it be cut down, that it will yet sprout, and the branches thereof will not cease. Though the root of it wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof be dead in the ground. Yet by the sent of the water it will bud and bring forth houghs like a plant. But man is sick and dieth, and man perisheth, and where is he, job 14. 7. 8. 9 10. He that is once dead naturally cannot be repaired again, he job 14 7. 8. 9 10. cannot return to live on earth. An house that is fallen may be built again, a tree that is fallen may be underpropped and stayed up again: but man being dead can return to his natural life no more. My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle, and they are spent without hope, job 7. 6. A weavers shuttle is soon from job 7 6. one end to another: so we are soon from the day of birth, to the day of death: and our days are spent without hope ever to live a natural life. If a man die, shall he live again, job 14. 14. When the soul is separated Io 1 14. 14. from the body, the body lieth as a stock or block terrible to behold: if it lie a while unburied it will putrefy and stink. We love no man so much in his life, as we loathe him after death: for than we cannot see him dead, whom we were never weary beholding when he was alive. To desire or wish him living that is dead, is in vain. The living shall go to the dead, but the dead not come to the living. First, it may warn and admonish men to do good Use. 10 whiles they live, and to set all things in order before they die. If thou hast wronged, make restitution in thy life time, for thou shalt not come again to restore. If thou wilt give, do it in thy life time, for thou shalt not come again. No doubt the rich man would have been more pitiful and merciful if he had lived again on earth. Merciful givers shall be the children of the highest, Luk. 6. 35. And be like God their Luk. 6. 35. father, who is the father of mercies, 2. Cor. 1. 3. They 2. Cor. 1. 3. shall be his Stewards to dispose his goods, Luk. 16. 2. Luk. 16. 2. And his hands to distribute his alms. All that thy hand shall find to do, do it with all thy power, for there is neither work nor invention, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest, Eccles. 9 10. Here we Eccles. 9 10. must repent, here we must give, for after death these actions shall have no place. In this life do good, after ●●ccrris actio in calis contemplatio. this life receive good: here labour, hereafter rest. In earth action, in heaven contemplation. The dead ●●●monles. are said to rest from their labours, Revel. 14. 13. Revel. 14. 13. And although the soul through death doth not lose his faculties, notwithstanding she doth not exercise her operations. The action of the godly after this life is a perpetual fruition of eternal happiness, put in the contemplation of divine glory. Our Saviour saith, I must do the works of him that sent me, while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work, joh. 9 4. Work while ye have have light, joh. 12. 35. Ioh 9 4. joh. 12. 35. Gal. 6. 10. Nallus poenitentiae ln us, nullus satisfaclionis effetlus. Cypria ad de●●ctr. While we have time, let us do good to all men, Gal 6. 10. As all time is not fit to sow and plant: so all time is not to do good, for after death there is no place of repentance, nor no effect of satisfaction. Hard dealing men give gifts to the poor after death but too late. Funeral beneficences is not free but formal, not cheerful, but extorted. Because the time of repentance, satisfaction, Perk. restitution, and such like will not long last and continue, let us now repent and turn to the Lord, to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts, Hebr. 3. 7. 8. Exhort one another daily, while it is called to Hebr. 3. 7. 8. Quotidie est ho. he. Heb. 3. 13. day, Hebr. 3. 13. Make satisfaction to those men whom thou hast wronged, and restore such goods, lands, and possessions as thou dost detain from any man, there can be no true repentance while the treasures of wickedness are in the houses of the wicked, Mica. 6. 10. Mica. 6. 10. Secondly, it may reprove many who affirm that they have seen and heard dead men to walk and talk, to frequent their promises, and to say, I am the soul of this man, or of that woman, I am tormented grievously in Purgatory, for this or that which I have done, I might be delivered, if so many Masses were said for me. If they be not popish which make such false apparitions for gains sake, they are certain evil spirits, Satan can transform himself into an Angel of light, 2. Cor. 11. 14. Why not into a soul. He entered 2. Cor. 11. 14. joh. 13. 27. Act. 5. 3. Ephes. 2. 1. into judas, joh. 13. 27. He filled Ananias heart, Act. 5. 3. He worketh mightily in the sons of disobedience, Eph. 2. 2. Hence it is that they are called the children of the devil, as Paul said to Elimas', and full of all subtlety and all mischief, the child of the devil, and enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the strait ways of the Lord, Act. 13. 10. Such were the jews to Act. 13. 10. whom Christ spoke, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. joh. 8. 44. Hence is joh. 8. 44. that the holy Ghost saith, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, which hath grtat wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time, Revel. 12. 12. He is a deceiver of the people, Revel. 12. 12. Revel. 20. 3. 8. And his sleights and deceits are called Revel. 20. 3. 8. the deepness of Satan, Revel. 2. 24. The devils perloaps Revel 2. 24. cannot assume dead men's bodies, for they are more unfit for motion, then dead instruments that never had life. It is a peculiar work of God's power to raise the bodies of men out of the grave. The Scripture doth not mention that ever evil spirits did appear with true bodies. Seeing, man's days are few, frail and fickle, few, for fourscore years is a long time now, though four hundred were not much in time past, frail, for the strongest man is but weak, and fickle, for we are speedily from the womb our living mothers, to the womb of our dead mother earth. Man's days are not only few, frail, and fickle, but short, and so his living death is changed to an everlasting life, and the end of a temporal is the beginning of an eternal life. Man's days are not only short, but also full of trouble, notwithstanding the sorrows of a bitter life shall be recompensed with a blessed death, and the going out of a bad, is the beginning of a better world. Man's days, pomp, glory, birth, blood, are but as vanishing flowers, this world is transitory, and when man dieth he shall leave all behind him, he shall carry no more with him going, than he brought coming: no more out of the world, than he brought into the world, whereof he shall have any use: and when a man is dead he shall return no more. If a man wrong, or deceive, oppress and go beyond the seas at his return he may right those he hath wronged, and relieve those he hath oppressed: but man that wrongeth, oppresseth, and iniureth in this life, and dieth in the sin, shall not return to live on earth, to repent for it, neither to satisfy for it, therefore while we live, let us so live, that we may live in death. I have hitherto spoken of life and death, now I must speak something of the life and death of this Worshipful Gentleman whose body standeth before us ready to be interred. To live well is the ready way to die well, as men live: so they for the most part die. A blessed life, shall have a blessed death. Such as expect for comfort in death, must be obedient to God in life. If men will live till they be dead, they must die while they live, a good life here, bringeth a good death hereafter. That his life was godly appeared by his hospitality how many of the Saints hath he fed, and lodged, insomuch as if he was a Gaius for them, how did he relieve the poor daily at his doors and in time of sickness how provident was he for them. He was a peacemaker among his neighbours, composing controversies, and ending many needless suits, which either pride, or tyranny, or self-will, or envy had begun. He had a great love to the means of his own salvation, I mean the preaching of the word, frequenting it often if his health did serve him, countenancing & supporting the Lecture where he was a continual hearer. How kind and affable he was to God's Ministers they will be ready to witness. In his sickness he was very penitent and sorrowful, confessed his sin, desiring God to forgive him: nay, assuring himself that all his sins were pardoned and forgiven for Christ's sake. In his sickness he was patient, weary of the world, desirous to go home, forgiving and forgetting all wrongs and injuries done him. His talk for the most part in his sickness was of heavenly matters, and such as came to comfort him, might receive comfort from him. He did often pray, and join in prayer, and which was worthy observance did pray for a blessing on Physic before he would use it. He used all lawful means commending the success to God. So lived he, and thus died he, leaving an earthly possession, and a house of clay, but now enjoying an heavenly inheritance, a mansion, a resting place of eternal glory, leaving loving friends: but now enjoying such as are more lovely, leaving children, and yet gone to his children. All did not speak well of Christ, some said he was a deceiver, some a glutton, some a wine-bibber, some a company keeper of wicked men; so all may not speak well of this Gentleman, there be cursing Shimeries, and railing Rabshakethes, some that will speak good of none. As the red dragon cast out water after the woman that had brought forth a man child to drown it; so such as are the dragons young will cast out slanders, lies, false reports, and cursed speeches after those which die in the Lord to disgrace them. The lives of such men as love to disgrace the dead we mayknow, their death God knows. FINIS.