〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The year running into his first Principles, or the burial of the Old year, or Man. Rom. 6.23. A SERMON, Intended to be preached at the Funeral of M. Edmund Whitwell, Deputy of S. Olaves Bread-street, in the City of LONDON. By Philip Perrey Master of Arts of Clare-hall in Cambridge, Rector of S. Michael in the suburbs of Bristol by presentation, and by election Pastor of Bedeminster, near adjoining to the said City of Bristol. Mori certum, quando mori incertissimum. In sylvis Leporem, in verbis quaere Leporem. London, Printed by W. B. for John Saywell, and are to be sold at the sign of the Greyhound, in little Britain, without Alders-Gate. 1654. To his painful and Industrious Father, wellwisher to learning, Warden of the Fishmonger's Company in Alderman Lemmonds time, and now one of the Livery; greeting. Loving Father, TO write or dictate many words to you, it will be counted but superfluity. But yet lest I should be guilty of Astorgy, want of affection to you my Parents; I entreat you (good Sir) to accept of these few lines in a Sermon of mortality, as a true sign and symptom of my thankfulness to you for my education, and my preservation (under God) in my sickness. Your extreme charges and love I acknowledge, and for this I shall pray that you may return to Heaven in a full age (not yet I hope) And rest Your dutiful and much Obliged Son PHILIP PERREY. M. A. TO ELISABETH, the Widow of Mr. Edmund Whitwell, Deputy of S. Olaves Breadstreet, greeting. BEfore I speak not to, but of the dead, (dear Widow) the Apostle tells me it is good manners to visit the Widow. I cannot, I may not, it seems by hand; but it is no unmannerliness to visit you by my pen, the attendant of my hand, Your Husband is dispatched by the hand of cruel death, and I am sure it was time, because God had so determined to inter the old not the young: My Wife is departed (the more is my grief) whether by death, or some other disaster, I am yet uncertain. But that's not so much to my present purpose. And besides (though some have reported, that to much learning hath made me mad, this I writ with a blushing pen,) I am loath by a woeing letter, to turn your mourning Weeds into Hymen's garments to quickly: Neither know I any reason why I should. Receive only I pray, as a Symptom of my thankfulness to you living, these few lines, after your Husband's decease. He that renders thanks for one benefit, wittily and cunningly asks another (says Seneca:) But the latter is none of my intent; My aim is only to free myself from ingratitude, to your Son in Law Mr. Pears. And indeed I do this, minding and recording the Apostles words: James 1.27. Pure religion and undefiled, is to visit the Fatherless and the Widow, and to live unspotted unto the Lord, or from the World. Farewell. From my Chamber at the golden Lion in Barbican, in the Suburbs of London. February 25. 1654. The ELEGY Ogdodecastichon in E. W. Bur. by M. the SCOT. HEre lies S. Olaves Deputy, it is true; But who must now succeed? O sure it is you, Weeden by name; the first is gone, the best The grave encloses now, the body's rest. And is the White Rose cut? must Weeds succeed? O this is it may make thy heart to bleed. (Dear Widow) Thy portion and thy lot Is God. A Husband for thee; now the Scot Hath hid this Rose, or Olave in the grave; O would the stone had choked death the Slave. And must a Scot, who brought all evil hither? Conduct my Sheep as to a loud bell-wether? Unto his pen? My pen shall write no more, it Is cruel death hath robbed me of my store. Of which, I pray receive this boon, but little To adorn the body of our honoured Whittle. Adieu beholders look on me no more, For Alms now resort to the Widows door. Or thus: HEre lies the body of Soapboyler Whitwell; it Is well: But where's his Soul? in Hell? O no, the Elysian fields receive Souls stripped of bodies, whom death doth bereave Us off. The Usurer's at his heels, And what then may you imagine his Soul feels? No smart I hope. Death is three fold, Corporal, Which makes us stand, Male, Female, and all. The next is Spiritual, but what's that? It is above the head; call it the hat. The third's Eternal, (from which deliver us Lord) Of Angels, men, and fiends it is abhorred. At death the dole is given, eternal life; Which is thy Husbands. What hast thou? (dear wife) An earthly Tabernacle here below? If thou'lt reap joy, grudge not in tears to sow. The custom's now to ask, what art thou? Then What hast thou? the Cock being dead (sweet Hen) Pardon my boldness, (dear Mistress) now Adieu, Your friend (not foe) thus truly bids to you. Thine (so much as thou mayest be mine, or I mine own.) PHILIP PERREY. Minist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The year running into his first principles, or the burial of the old year, or Man. Rom. 6.23. For the wages of sin is death, etc. THere is a twofold state of Man often inculcated, and mentioned among the Divines; one of which was before his fall, the other after it: The one a state of happiness, because it had freedom adjoined to it, the other a state of unhappiness. Insomuch as Man then (who was heretofore the Viceroy of the whole World, a Lord at least, and free) was now brought under subjection, into a condition vile, and beneath his first Creation; a state of service, yea, bondage. The first, I say, was the state of innocency, wherein man had such authority and power given unto him, that he might become Lord over all, but him only, who was Lord of all, even God himself, which (as Aquinas says) is ens primum tempore, essentiâ & dignitate, wherein he was so far from service or slavery, that he had, as a Lord protector, or director of all the Creatures, he had almost the Supreme, the highest power, a good state, and well liked of to, by Man and Woman; till the old Serpent had buzzed, Gen. 3. or rather hised in their ears; eritis sicut dij. It is a royalty, a licence granted unto him, (before his fatal marriage of the Woman to him, or rather extraction out of him, his side, telum intra propria latera vibrans) from Gods own mouth. Gen. 1.28. Have dominion over the fish of the Sea (mass in mare tanquam sydus non planeta praedominans) and over the fowl of the Air, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (os homini sublime, Ovid. etc. this may be one reason subordinate why he was made upward that his thoughts should fly upward ad inspectionem volatilium. Exp. loci. our Saviour sent us to the Sparrows for the worth of one farthing two of them) and over every living thing that lives upon the face of the earth. Homo ab Humo. The former intends the sublimity of his Soul; this the terrestreity, or mortality of his body. But alas, quantum mutatus ab ipso? What a sudden, yea, strange alteration I had almost said altercation) do we find? Behold now another kind of man, (the Elements begin in his body and the towering thoughts of his Soul to commence a civil uncivil war within themselves. He, which before with Dives, sat as it were in an imperial Throne of Majesty, is presently cast down with Lazarus full of sores, i sins into an unexpected dungeon of misery. He, who was to day Lord Paramount of all, to morrow, yea even the very same day strangely dejected and cast down, Calv. for some Divines hold that he fell in the very same day, in which he was created. He, I say, though he were in the morning chief master of all, was by the following night, (for what if his sin which is a work of darkness was then committed?) fain to crave aid and help of those which were his servants, even the very Creatures: and not the best, but the worst of them, a few Fig-leaves to keep him, as he thought, from the sight of his jealous, incensed, and all-seeing omniscient Creator. But sure, he who like a Courtier, was at the top Pinnacle of honour, was not thus suddenly cast down, and out of favour for nothing. No sure; This would argue a kind of rashness and imprudence too in him. Who was wisdom itself (God the Son I mean coessential and coeternal with the Father, yea, coequal says the Apostle) yea, Athan. Phil. 2.9. certainly there was a cause for the infliction of this punishment. Sin it was which made that liberum animal, (Ames.). that had liberam voluntatem & arbitrium. That Majestical creature, who only of all the rest had the benefit of freewill and arbitrement, thus to be captivated to and yield obedience to the base disaffections of his Soul. His unbelief, his pride, his despair, his overcuriosity in prying into God's secret knowledge, Inst. l. 1. with many other sins, which Calvin and other Divines reckon up in the tasting of the Apple, or Fig, which for all it hung so high on the Tree, caused man arborem inversam, thus to fall. Some imagine about Autumn: the fall of the leaf. I am sure he had brought forth little, or no fruit, being arbour not only nata, but sata between the four great waters. These were the things, Gen. 2. B. of Wells. in Ps. 1. Luke 10.7. which brought him into bondage, and made him that was free become a servant at least, if not a slave. And sure the labourer is worthy of his hire says the Evangelist from Christ. But it must be in the same kind, and agreeing to the nature of the service. Now Adam, and so consequently his whole posterity, (for as is the root, so are the branches) which had this sin, not only by imitation, Aust. (which was the error of the Pelagians) but by propagation to. The nature itself is corrupted. And for this act of infamy man is too famous, for this unworthy act worthy of a recompense, of pay for his work In which, because he did nothing else but as it were seek his own destruction, and dissolution of his body and soul; God rewarded him accordingly, gave him that he sought for, even death itself. Which both according to Philosophers and Divines to is dissolutio corporis & animae: Arist. A divorce of the body from the Soul. Which was according to Gods own composition with him, he agreed with him for so much, and no more, Gen. 2.17. nor no less. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die; dying thou shalt die, the Hebrew signifies, (as the marginal Notes declare.) And he (who was the truth itself) would not be worse than his word. All which our Apostle here considering; and withal setting down Man, as he was indeed, in the form of a servant (the master was so, Phil. 2. & the servant is not above the master) where he mentions the hire itself that was paid him for his service. The sum total of which is significantly expressed in the first Metaphorical words of the Text. The wages of sin is death. Where S. Paul following this apposite allegory of service and freedom: (because righteousness is a state of freedom, and sin of slavery, which state, it may be of service by reason of the indiscretion of their depraved nature agrees better to them than power, or dominion) therefore the Apostle bids them, if they will needs be servants to make choice of the best masters they can, not tyrannising and domineering sin, but meek and heart-winning righteousness, vers. 18. of this Chapter. Rom. 6.22.18. Being then made free from sin, ye become servants of righteousness. In which approbation of their present state is a kind of exhortation for their continuance in the same. But yet if they would by no fair means be recalled from the service of sin, he would try whether terror would divert them from it. And therefore lays down the words of the Text, as a terrifying reason and dehortation unto them, for the wages, etc. A thing accounted most terrible amongst the Heathen, except some of their Heroes, or noble spirits, their highminded volunteers, but of others much feared and hated. As if the Apostle should have thus expostulated with them, why you, O Romans, who have heretofore lived by the light of nature, wanting, or at least being without the light of grace, and so have been superstitiously ignorant of the deity, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, birds, etc. changing the truth of God unto a ; worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator, 1 Rom. 21. and in this have committed most abominable Idolatry, with many other most execrable sins. I tell you now, & even weeping, the end of these ways, of these sins is none other but sorrow, and even death itself. The catastrophe and conclusion of sorrow, (it ought be at least, for we must not be sorry as men without hope. You therefore that accounted so much of life, that (as the Orator speaks) quaevis sit ratio expediendae salutis, Tully. any way to save life and health; Arist. and that death, as the Philosopher speaks, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the most terrible of terribles. Let it then work the same effect upon you, as it is in itself, to wit, fear. For the end of these sinful ways of yours is no better, the wages of your sins is death. In which words you may observe with me these two general parts. 1. Here is the slavery, bondage, and service of man, signified and expressed unto us by the first word of the Text wages, being a thing properly belonging unto servants, which is likewise declared unto us by the matter of the service, which was sin. The wages of sin. 2. Here is the stipend, or pay that he received for his service, and that was death. Stipendium peccati mors est. The wages of sin is death. And thus you have the division of the first part of this verse. The words which at this time we mean to treat of. And first of the first, The slavery, bondage, or service of man, signified by that word, Wages, and further demonstrated unto us by the matter, or the manner of the service, which was sin, the Wages of sin. From whence without any further ambages, or circumlocutions, you may observe this very useful Doctrine following from the words. Doct. The state of every man in sin, is a state of slavery, bondage, or service at the least. They were comminatory & angry words of God unto Adam, the Father of us all, Gen. 3.17. Gen. 3.17. Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. With sorrow! What's that? 1. With much labour and toil thou shalt eat it, which before might have come up freely, signifying the slavish and serviceable estate of Adam after the commission of sin. Vers. 19 And we sure, which are ex eodem luto confecti, from dust as well as he can receive no dust from this dust of the earth except we labour. It was sin that did bring us into this toil. We, whose teeth are set on edge by our forefathers tasting of the sour Grapes, must likewise have some sour sauce by reason of our sins mingled with our sweet pleasures: serve we must, if we will live, since by the least sin we have deserved death, (yea, eternal, ex consideratione oppositi in the end of the verse) and this long ago. Non citius nati quam damnati. (Aust.) No sooner born to live, but if God had not born the longer by his mercy with us, we might very justly have been deprived of life, and so made subject unto death. As we are born servants to it (from the womb to the tomb sometimes) that was to pay us our due. Gen. 3.19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread (says Jehovah) serve thou must, if thou wilt have bread to eat, sin hath brought thee to it, for the condition of every sinner is a state of service. Gen. 9.21. When Noah had committed that foul sin of drunkenness, the words are, He drank of the Wine and was drunken. See here the true, but sad effect of this sin according to that of the Poet. Ovid. Quid non ebrietas designat? operta recludit. This sin of his was not so closely done, but that it will display, and lay open his nakedness. And his own son, whom natural duty bound to conceal, yet lays it open further, and reveals it to his other brethren. A most abominable sin to vilify so much, and neglect him, who under God was the cause cause of his being. Sanctum Patris nomen, especially of such a one the name is holy, and therefore he a most unsanctified Child to show such strange irreverence to his most reverend Father. A most execrable sin. And behold therefore now (which is the thing I intended to note for our present purpose) see I say, Vers. 25. the event, the due punishment inflicted upon it in vers. 25. of the forenamed you find it. Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren, and not only in the general together; Verses 26.27. but to both them severally in the subsequent 26. and 27. verses. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant, and again God shall enlarge Japhet, and Canaan shall be his servant, a recompense due unto him for so vile an act. Vers. 26.27. He that would be so high, that by reason of his neglect he seems to be above his Father, it were high time he were brought lower. He that was so free of showing his father's shame, and so liberal in his scoffing, must now be brought down, that freedom must be taken from him; and for this sin he must be made to serve, and that which yet further aggravates his misery, his brethren: Now they'll put off their brotherlike bonds and affections, and lay a yoke upon his neck, serve he must, because he had sinned, and serve his brother because he had offended and sinned against his Father: the son being most obliged to exact recompense for the offence done to the parent. Places for the proof of this Doctrine are very frequent in holy writ. I will name only one, or two more, and I hope these one, or two witnesses will be sufficient for the confirmation of the truth of this position unto you. The Apostle proves this, speaking of sin, Rom. 6.19. Ye have yielded yourselves servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity. A strange seeming tautology; But Galvin renders a very good reason for it. The first is opposed to sanctity towards God, or holiness of life; The latter hath a respect to the injuries offered to our Neighbours, as the very words do signify, ut Iniquitas quasi non Equitas, quae fit inter aequales: to our Neighbours, which are of the same nature, and equal to us by creation, (not in regard of God who is above us.) And by the second repeated iniquity, which takes away the seeming tautology, he means universalem naturae corruptionem, the whole corruption of man's nature: unto corruption, i.e. adding more unto the former, ut iniquitatis regnum in vobis vigeret, that the Kingdom of sin may flourish, and you become captivated slaves and vassals unto that old tyrant the Devil; and all this by reason of your sin: That is it which makes you servants, S. Paul insinuates no less. Tit. 3.3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures. I might indeed have gone further in the proof of this, especially to men of this age, that take so much delight in this thraldom, that they seem rather to think it a mastership then a service. But as the proverb saith, verbum sapienti sat' est, to you whom I perceive not the unwisest readers, I know it may suffice. Others, if they desire more, I must reply to them, as he to his good holding stomached guest, especially at this festival time of Christ's Nativity, for I suppose, yea, I think I may determine, he was born in Winter: Luke 1. for the Shepherd's were in the field praising God for it, and why should not we. We can mump a Nativity Pie, etc. and must that stop the mouth so much, that we may not praise God for his Son's incarnation, fiat voluntas Dei, says my diurnal prayer. Math 6. If some be satisfied it is sufficient, unus not sufficit omni: Or as that distressed client to the over hearing judge. Audi Alteram partem, Hear the rest, (than let him give a quietus est.) And it may be in that thou mayest pick some thing more, that may satisfy thy appetite. In the mean time I shall descend to some particulars, and that more clearly, yet to demonstrate unto thee (most courteous Reader) the truth of that general I propounded, man a sinner is truly called a servant: And that both according to the inward and outward part of man. His body is nothing else but the mere emblem of slavery and servitude; which seems to be born to little else but labour, toil, and trouble. He hath greater variety of work belonging to the body, than he hath members to perform them. Those feet which were so swift to commit the sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, are now slow enough to undergo the service. The hands which were so nimble to reach the forbidden fruit prepared without their labour, must now labour and toil, and that tediously before they can obtain it. No fruits of the ground, but they must be the fruits of their own labour. Experience tells us the young man's days are nothing but a time of labour; and for old men, they do hoc morbo laborare, they labour of this disease that they cannot work. Psal. 104.23. Psal. 90.10. Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening; yet is their strength but labour and sorrow. And he who was wise enough to judge of these things, (The Scripture styles him the wisdom of the Father) he lays this down for an infallible truth; Eccl. 1. All things are full of labour. And again in the fourth Chapter of the same book of the Preacher; he, who was the truest and most powerfully pathetical preacher of God, preaches this Doctrine, or definite proposition unto you: That there is no end of the same. And as for his Soul, Divinioris spiritus afflatus, the breath of that Divine spirit, P. Cons. of that purest act and being of God himself; now behold by reason of its sin, how impure it is become, peccatorum sterquilinium, Burton. Nothing else but a mere dunghill of beastly uncleanness, in a nasty case of vile and base servitude. Behold now those faculties of the same, before time the favourites of God the King of Kings, thus miserably by reason of their own defaults cast out of favour: of Lords and Masters become mean vassals and servants. I remember what the story says of the Lord Cromwell, and Frisgobald of France, the one the Master, the other the servant. But in process of time, the case was plainly altered according to the Lawyers: The Master was degraded, the servant exalted: The Master a beggar, the servant rich & highly promoted, (I do not mean to touch the Mountains lest they smoke) & domineering over the Master. Thus it is with the affections of poor distressed man. This little World by reason of the vertigo in the brain, is merely turned upside down: Those higher powers of the Soul are made servants to the inferior, and lower affections of the same. The understanding and will, which were in the Soul tanquam Rex & Regina beati in solio, as King and Queen highly be-efied in their Throne, now captivated and enslaved to the mere outward senses, which are only as so many Porters to the Ourt-gate, to let in and out guests (for every object is a guest entertained by the Soul) I say, which serve to let them in or out as they are liked, or disliked of by the royalty and government of the understanding and the will. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristotle heretofore called the mind or understanding the eye of the Soul, which could see and foresee to all kind of danger by way of prevention that might happen unto the same. But now this eye is darkened with Ignorance and Superstition: And if thine eye be evil, Math. 6.23. how great is that darkness? i.e. altogether darkness: the question doth seem to imply no less: For the cause being removed, the effect presently ceases, according to the Logician: And this was the plot of sin, or rather the Devils by sin, First to bring the King, the understanding, into bondage, that then the inferior parts of the subjects for very fear, (if nothing else) might not resist him. It is with the mind in this case as it was with Samson amongst his enemies; he was not absolutely captivated unto the Philistines until they had put out his eyes, and deprived him of sight. So it is with the Soul of man, if the understanding, the eye of it, is not blinded, so long it is not Satan's slave, nor sins servant. But if this eye once be blinded, it works in this sinful World, like the horse that is hoodwinked in the Mill; Arist. not so much as seeing, at least not seeing so far as to understand what it doth. It was the axiom of the Philosophers, and a true one secundum apparentiam. Voluntas sequitur dictamen intellectus, The will follows the dictate of the understanding. But sure this seems to be quite contrary in our present cause of Divinity: Not the understanding the will, but the lower affections draw the will; and the will in sinning seems to force the understanding: or else why die men in these bright sunshine times of the Gospel? when they see and understand too, that they are against the word of God, yet they will commit so various and heinous sins. And I can give no present reason for it, but this, That they are tanquam noctuae coram sole; unless they are as Owls, which become blind before the Sun, that enlightens all other, creatures, but darkens only those. This Sun of righteousness in Malachi his Evangelical Prophecy enlightens many other poor Souls, Mal. 4. when as these (miserable it is to see) become start blind. It is with our understanding and will, as with a Justice of Peace and his Clerk. The silly and indiscreet Justice not able to judge sufficiently of matters himself, is feign to be guided and ruled by his Clerk: And our understanding by reason of sin, blinded with ignorance, is now content to be overswayed by the will, which indeed should be only his Clerk to follow his dictate, precept, and Commandment. And thus far you see man's understanding appear plainly to be a servant, if not a prisoner, yea, worse than that, a very slave. Neither is the will free: This as a comate with the former in ill husbandry must taste of the same sauce: They both have sin for their master, like to those beasts they draw in the same yoke. It is there said, Sam. 1.6.12. when the Kine were yoked together under the Ark of the Lord, they went along the highway & lowed as they went, so these two, our will and understanding draw (as these Kine in the same yoke, under the Ark as it were, where was the rod of Aaron and that budding too for correction, as well as the two Tables of the Law for instruction heretofore) under the same burden of sin. And I know no reason but they should with these Kine low and grieve for the same, and cry out in this Egyptian darkness, as those Israelites in old Egypt, our burdens are to heavy for us: and yet at the same time say they want straw, i. e. small sins to play withal. For your very will, that liberum arbitrium, that freest part of man is now become servile; Imagination so far overrules the will, that it doth not only make you to offend man by iniquity, but sin against God by impiety. To this purpose are those words of the Apostle. Coll. 2.23. These things indeed have a show of wisdom in will-worship, etc. Ovid. Sic volo, sic jubeo, was the Poet's description of the wills imperial government: But alas now the mere imaginative faculty of the Soul, the fancy of man, seems to have this supremacy. It is not, what I will, that I fancy: But these are termini convertibiles, (as the Logician speaks) The proposition is convertible, and thus it is true: What we do but imagine, that we will. The least titillation, or tickling of the fancy, now in this state of corruption, in a manner forces the will to the willing of the object, let it be never so bad. The adulterous man fancies his lascivious mistress, and he makes presently to her. The drunkard fancies his pot-companions, and then he can no longer be from them, etc. The fancy accounts them to be sweet sins, and therefore the will must to the acting of them. But alas, In vino venenum. In the sweetest Wines lies that poisonous sin of drunkenness. Latet anguis in herbâ, on their green and pleasant bed lies that riggeling, insinuating, yea, serpentlike sin of adultery. Yet for all this, the Will wills them, they are sweet, and therefore she must have them: And in all this seems to be but the base, the more vile a servant and slave. And for all the understanding pronounces it to be against reason, yet like an illaffected patient, she is still inclining most to that which doth her most hurt: As a silly sullen prisoner, though shown the way to be free, yet still will stay in prison, and therefore the more a vassal, the more a servant. And thus you see the will and the understanding having their Necks in the same chain of misery. There is a third, (if that be any comfort to them) the fancy and imagination have the same fetters about them, for they seem to be subject to the mere outward senses, eyes, ears, etc. which are only as so many windows to let in sinful objects into the palace of the Soul, to rob her of her proper liberty; to convey enemies into her, (as Tarpeia the Sabines into the capitol at Rome) to captivate and enthral her. In a word. All the affections that belong unto our Souls as joy, grief, fear, etc. are no better than so many servants and slaves to as many sins and vices. Alius libidini servit, alius ambitioni, omnes spei, omnes timori, etc. Macrobius. as Evangelus well discourses, whence the Poet styles them no less than servants. Qui metuis, qui parva cupis, qui duceris ira: servitii patiere jugum, etc. Not to speak of the Countrey-mans life; for that is nothing but a mere epitome of slavery, I mean for outward service, (not inward contention.) Lovers are slaves to their Mistresses, Rich men to their Gold, Courtiers generally to lust and ambition: and all slaves to our affections. The one with Alexander is a slave to his fear; the other with Caesar to pride; another with Vespasian to his money, and the last with Heliog abalus to his gut, or belly. All servants of sin: Omne sub regno graviore regnum. Even Princes themselves are under another: And it were to be wished that that subjection were not under the Tyranny of sin and Satan. Court sins being commonly now set forth (which are flattery, dissimulation, etc.) as books cum privilegio, committed with a Licence, because they suppose none are able to control them. But let them know even Nobles may be bound with links of iron, as well as Manasses was in chains. No: This is no privilege in the Court of heaven, God commands his Prophets to tell Israel of her sins, and Judah of her transgressions: Jer. 17.1. Exp. yea, hear more. The sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron, (which is hard to enter, but being once entered is durable) and with a point of a Diamond, our sins being as glass very perspicuous, and they must be cut asunder, as Samuel cut King Agag in pieces, though in sumptuous apparel. And therefore since they had sinned and given themselves to it, Pemb. God gives them also up to it (obdurando cor, & detrahendo gratiam) he punishes them with the same slavery. Verse. 3 Therefore (says God) will I give thy high places for sin, i. e. the most sumptuous Temples and fairest Churches, is it not so? O that I in my particular had not reason to mourn in sable for my Bedeminster, now as yet lying in its own ashes and ruinous heaps of indigested stone. God send us living Temples, and that also re-aedification. And this is all the difference between the Courtiers and the poor man's misery: The one is in Iron chains, the other in golden fetters, and is it not all one to be bound in Irons and Gold? Both are in bondage, and if there be any difference at all, it is that of S. Augustine's: There's, as Gold, are splendidiora peccata: there's more illustrious and notable sins; howsoever they are sins, and are as so many clogs unto the Soul. And this, which is worse, the opener the sin, the closer prisoner he is, who is captivated unto it. O miserum principem, ideòque miseriorem, quod miseriae sensum perdidisti, cries that tragic Poet of pious Herminigildus. I am sure, I may more boldly say it of these impious sinners: Miserable they are in themselves, but more miserable yet, in that they perceive not themselves to be miserable. Servants they are, but the more in slavery, the more subject unto sin, in that they account themselves not to be so. And that (with which I will conclude this position of ours, concerning man's service unto sin) that I say, which is said of the Soul in general, may be also affirmed of every Soul in particular. Anima est in corpore tanquam in carcere, The Soul is in the body as in a prison, where every outward sense almost is as so many Jailers, or Keeper's domineering over her. And from this none are exempt. Every one by sin is made of a servile condition. In many things we offend all. James 3.2. Rom. 5.12. And all men have sinned; says S. Paul. And therefore all must suffer. All by reason of this are in bondage and service: Plato. And therefore that Divine Naturalist calls it as siduam servitutem, extremam & meluct abilem, A continual and almost inevitable slavery to be so captivated to vices. And who is free? That is nemo, no not so much as one is free; all servants captivated by sin; and that to these three masters. To the Devil, the World, and the Flesh, i. e. To the Devils temptations, to the World's allurements, and to the Flesh's corruption. First to Satan, as the chief Tyrant: Then to the other two, as to his Bassa's Viceroys, or substitutes. To the Devil first, 1 Tim. 5.25. so S. Paul complains. Some are already turned aside to Satan: and then servants to the Prince of this World; yea, the World itself, so the same Apostle speaks. Eph. 2.2. Ye walked according to the course (speaking of them when they were reprobate silver, and could not otherwise pass) according to the Prince of the power of the Air. And in the third and last place, you are slaves to your own lust and flesh, Verse. 3 so S. Paul follows it: We all had our converfations, i. e. (I as long as in sin) in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires, or as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies, the Wills of the flesh, etc. And now me thinks I am in a large field, in which I might expatiate myself. In a large Ocean, in which I might rove far: But I think by this time it is better, vela contrahere to let down my fails. The latter part of my Text calls me nearer home; these things it may be will be more fitly handled and enlarged in another portion of Scripture, thus much therefore shall serve to have spoken of the first Doctrine, there slavery unto fin. A word, or two of the uses, and so likewise I shall speak something to the second, i e. The wages in particular death. 1. Use. Is for the deploration of man's miserable condition in fin; and in that an exhortation to him for to leave it, man by nature is made upward, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Os homini sublime dedit caelumque videre, Ovid. says the Poet. And as his nature is, so by often use and practice is his inclination and disposition, in actions natural he claims the priority: In actions political and civil, those which respect him (quâ hominem, as he is merely man) he desires the praecedence and the preeminence, Superiority, or supremacy is the mark he still aims and shoots at. He that is lowest desires to be higher; and he that is high, labours to be highest: Only in actions spiritual, and those which belong unto the Soul, man is of a base dejected nature: a slave and servant he is to the vilest sin. You know what the Centurion said to Christ: Luke 7.8. I am a man set under authority (not usurping it, observe the order) having under me Soldiers, and I say unto one, go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh, and to my servant, do this, and he doth it; and hath not sin the same tyrannising power over men? Doth not that say to this man? go to the acting of this sin of murder and adultery, (as it did David,) and he goeth: And to another, Come to these pot-companions; (who as the Prophet saith, Isai 5.11. rise up early in the morning, that they may drink strong drink, that continue until night till Wine inflame them. Ho, drink with those, and be merry.) Come saith sin, and how suddenly do they come, (even as the Lord is said to hear before they ask) almost before the base temptation of Satan to it is settled within them, and so like so many Sybarites, or Epicures, do wallow in drunkenness and uncleanness. Not as Christian's living soberly, as S. 2 Tit. 12. Paul exhorts them. And doth not the Devil with the Centurion say to a third? Do this art of cheating or defrauding thy Neighbour, do this any sin, and doth he not do it? Yea, is he not rather even preventing the Devil's temptation, by the willingness of his corrupted nature, in the acting of any sin? You see thus your miserable and servile condition in sin; and will ye yet follow it? Me thinks you should be ashamed, thus to turn your backs upon God your King, and to side with the Devil, a malignant usurper. Thy state while thou art thus is worse than any Turkish slave, which the whole World almost now so much abhors. The worst of you here, I know, if he could avoid it, would not be a servant, no not to the kindest and most royal Master, if he could be a master himself, and have servants that might obey him: And will you be Superiors and Governors in worldly affairs, and yet suffer yourselves to be underlings in spiritual things? I tell you the sinful man is no better than a servant, a slave unto his sins: And if you credit not me, yet believe the Apostle, Rom. 6. who often tells you the same: It was the speech of the ancient Senators of old Rome unto the common people upon the removing of the Tribuni, a certain kind of triple Governors by Tribes, Quid expectatis, num deflagrare omnia passuri estis? Non pudet lictorum majorem prope numerum in foro conspici, quam togatorum aliorumque? Now what do you exexpect any thing but an inflammation, or deflagration of all? Are you not ashamed to suffer more Bumbalies and Sergeants' to appear amongst you, then free men, etc. May not I, in this case say the same to you? Why what mean you by this rebelling against God? By your continuance in sin? Surely, you can expect nothing else but utter ruin and destruction. Are you not ashamed to harbour so many corruptions within you, which are as so many Bailiffs from the Devil, to arrest you at his suit? and cast you hereafter into the dungeon of darkness for ever? You suffer scarce one free man, Gal. 5.1. one free grace of God, and Christ within you to guide you and direct you. Be not entangled with the yoke of bondage: And if this will not serve you, I will persuade you a little further, yet by the same arguments the Romans did their Soldiers against their enemies, Pugnatis pro aris, pro focis, pro libertate, pro liberis, As long as you willingly go on in sin, you have no good by the Church; you lose your liberty, you are servants to sin. Draw therefore thyself out of these gins and fetters of Satan: Take up arms against that sin, which hath so long captivated thee, thy Children, thy Family: and now defy it. In that thou hast obeyed sin, thou hast not only enslaved thyself, but others. It may be thy Wife, thy Children, thy Family (with Joseph) have learned of thee to swear by the life of Pharaoh as well as thou. In a word: Art thou addicted to any kind of sin? why man, thy very company may make them to do the same, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Evil company corrupts good manners: as says S. Paul. 1 Cor. 15.33. If therefore thou desire to have any part in Christ and his Church; if thou wouldst have thy Children, thy Family do well; if thou wouldst (lastly) thyself not die ever, but live eternally, leave sin: lest that leave thee in the lurch; And make thyself a servant of righteousness, bind thyself to it, not to the grave like stinking menstruous rags of sin, for otherwise thy wages is set here down determinative, say the Schools, i. e. death, which is indeed ultima linea rerum, the determination and period of all our natural days, whereas the reward of others is eternal life, the duration (if I may so call it, and why not?) of a day without a night. Whence S. Rev. 21.22, 23. Exp. Ps. 84.6. John most Divinely sets forth his heavenly Temple. The pathway to it is the street of the City of pure Gold (not the valley of Baca) as it were transparent glass, Ecce puritatem & claritatem: And I saw no Temple therein: Hic Ecce Theologum the word of God sine Templo in vitâ aeternâ, and the vail of the Temple here rend at his death. And I would I might not justly take up the same complaint. I have a people or Congregation: But my Temple as Jerusalem was the Wall of it burnt down. Neh. 1.3. I wish I might not say by a perfidious brother, and the Gates thereof were burnt with fire, Exp. for the Lord (God Almighty, and the Lamb are the Temple, he that was on earth) the sacrifice: agnus ille mactatus. And the City had no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it; and the Lamb is the light thereof. In the pacifical Prophet we read of the Lion and the Lamb lying down together; but here he, who was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, now the Lamb of God, fits alone. Col. 3.1. Ecce, Solstitium perpetuim solis. Juscitiae● Christ the Sun of righteousness sits, Exp. in praesenti implicat aeternitatem, at the right hand of God: Mal. 4.3. Never again to descend with healing in his wings, till that general day of doom: When he shall change our vile body, Phillip 3.21. Exp. that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, similitudinem non paritatem aut aequalitatem, according to the working, (no more passion, Exp. but action only) whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Let not sin then, or therefore reign in your mortal body, Rom. 6.12. Exp. as the Apostle speaks (lest it as another Haman exalted, swelling with pride even against Mordecai's humility) that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof; neither yield your Members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (the former against thy Neighbour, the latter against thy God,) but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your Members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 2. Use. Is none but that of S. Hierom. That men would not aspire too high in this sinful World, but be content with that lot which is cast into the lap. It may be it is not so good for them to be high: the power they have being abused may make them the more servants unto sin. As it did Haman in his cruel design against God's people the Jews, Esth. 7.4. Exp. if God had not appointed Esther to prevent it. Who boldly delivers her message, as to God, Ecce virilitatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sexus imo foeminini. For we are sold, I, and my people to be destroyed, Exp. (I whom thou hast chosen as an instrument to increase and enliven thy own) to be slain, (secundum corpus) and to perish as our enemies think, secundum animam. This I take to be the meaning of the holy Ghost here.) But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen I had held my tongue (an admirable Rhetorical insinuation) although the enemy could not countervail the King's damage. If men then will be no more in slavery than they are, let them content themselves with those lower places which are freest from the commission of sins. (I speak not this to by't, or backbite, but to caution any authority) Occasio facit furem: The higher the place, the more occasion is offered unto sin; and our corrupt nature (as Children about this time on sweet and gilded Marchpans) is apt enough to lay hold of it. I'll end this use with the words of the forenamed Father: do not repine in thy low, or so servile citate, for Satis est potens (says he) qui servire non cogitur: For thus thou art high and powerful enough, in that thou art not so much in service to, or under the dominion of sin. Thus much for the uses of the first doctrine. I hasten now to the second part of the Text, which is the Wages of sin particularly specified in this word death. The Wages of sin is death. And here, before we proceed any further, I pray note the earnestness of the Apostle in the following of this argument, he was very loath to leave it, being so enforceable to them. Why was it not enough once to tell them so? Verse. 21 as he doth in the end of the 21. verse. The end of these things is death. No, non frustra aliis verbis idem iterum repetit, sed terrore duplicato magis detestabile reddere peccatum voluit. Jo. Calv. It is Mr. calvin's note upon the Text. If the first reason would not serve; he repeats it again in other words, that by often inculcating, he might make the sin the more odious to them: He speaks it the more urgently, that, as Children with their lesson, if they will not learn at first, by often reciting it, he would even beat it into their heads. So then the second Doctrine we may gather from the words, without any wresting of them, are no other but the words themselves. Doct. The Wages of sin is death: and that three ways. All which before I insist on, receive a modern recapitulation of my foregoing discourse. D. F●a●ly. Sin eclipseth the light of the understanding, disordereth the desires of the Will, weakeneth the faculties of the Soul; distempereth the Organs of our body; disturbeth the peace of our conscience, choketh the motions of the spirit in us: killeth the fruits of grace, enthralleth the Soul of the body; and the body and Soul to Satan. Lastly it depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporal (and if continued in) of the fruition & possession of all eternal blessings. First. The first is a death unto grace, which sin causes in regard of the absence of grace altogether, or in respect of the suspersion of the acts of grace, for some certain time, which is plainly proved in that Epistle to the Ephesians, in two places: where the Apostle especially opposeth living in grace, Eph. 2. Zanch. or by it; and death in sin, i.e. death to grace, so it is in the first verse. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Exp. loci. It was time for S. Paul to praefix a conjunction copulative, since sin had made such a separation: Quickened, is raised from death, or restores unto life ex nihilo by grace: For there the Apostle compares these two states of us, what we are by nature and sin, and what we are by grace. And in the fifth verse it is more plain yet: Even when we were dead in sins, hath he quickened us together with Christ. Aquinas. By grace are you saved, gratia gratis datâ; These last words very well explain the former to our present purpose. And this is the first death, which is the Wages of sin; and is truly called a spiritual death. The second follows upon it, and that is a natural death, Magnus or Temporal, which is dissolutio corporis & animae, the dissolution of the body and Soul. Therefore says the Apostle: 〈◊〉 5. 〈◊〉 Vers. 11. As sin hath reigned unto death: And before that you find this death's head more plainly presented in an ugly shape, as it were upon a stage acting a part, ●. R. or at least moving above-board. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the World, and sin by death; and so death did pass upon all men, for that all have sinned: The words at least in sense and meaning of the forenamed Doctrine. This is the second; Though S. John in the Revelation calls, my third in order, the second death. And so it is indeed in Divinity. He is the Divine, But I have made bold as a spiritual Physician in these distempered times, to present you with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: And to give you a mixed Dosis, or taste of the natural, and the spiritual. The third is that which is the worst, a death unto life eternal, Bolton. Isai 66.24. and yet a death that never dies: Their Worm shall never die, their Fire shall never be quenched. The former death is but as the prick of a lancet, or flea-biting unto this; 1 Cor. 15. for that is but for a time, we shall rise again after that at the last day; but this is to all eternity. I, what if I did say, determined from all eternity? Constitutum est omnibus semel mori●, Heb●● 2●. Exp. i. e. in this death continually, always dying, and yet never dead, quae ab ipso momento dependet aeternitas (as the Father elegantly) an eternity for ever succeeding our sudden departure. By the former the body is but killed, fear not him that kills the body, but by this both body and Soul are utterly destroyed. Matth. 10.26. Rather fear him that is able to destroy both body and Soul in Hell: Whence S. Austin, Lib. de Civit. Dei 21. Prima mors animam nolentem pellit de corpore; secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore; The first death driveth the Soul out of the body, being unwilling to part with it; The second death keepeth the Soul against her will in the body. The first death is the separation of the Soul from the body. The second is the separation of Soul and body from God: and by how much God is more excellent than the Soul, by so much the second death is worse than the first: Prima mors bonis bona est, malis mala, Aust●● Civit. Dei, Lib. 13. secunda ut nullorum bonorum est, ita nulli bona; The first death is good to good men, because it endeth their sorrows, and gins their joys: but evil to evil men, because it ends their joys, and gins their everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth. The second as it belongeth to none that are good, so it is good to none. Both these are the due Wages of sin, and shall be paid at the Audit day of doom. The sentence pronounced against Adam, mort● morieris, By the reduplication of the word, seems to imply as much as thou shalt die again and again, iterum atque iterum, the first and second death. The first is as the earnest penny, the second as the whole hire, both make up the Wages of sin. The first is like the splitting of a Ship, and casting away all the goods and wares; the latter as the burning of both with unquenchable fire. This is the Wages of every sinner that dies in sin unrepented off. Such must go down even quick into Hell, Psal. 55 15. says King David, and Christ says, God shall pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon them at the last day. Matth. 25.41. Go you cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Every word is able to break, yea, grind in pieces a heart of Adamant. Loco super. I cannot let pass S. Austin his observation, Nemo hic propriè moriens, seu in morte dicitur; sed ante mortem, aut post mortem: i.e. viventes aut mortui ibi, è contrario non erunt homines ante mortem, aut post mortem, sed sine fine morientes & nunquam pejus erit homini in morte, quam ubi erit mors ipsa sine morte. In this life men cannot be said properly to be dying, or in death; but alive, or dead: for whilst the Soul remains in the body we are living; after the separation thereof we are dead: Whereas they that are in Hell cannot be properly said to be dead; because they are most sensible of pain: nor to be alive, because they suffer the punishment of the second death; but continually dying. And never shall it be worse with man in death; then where death itself is without death: where life perpetually liveth according to that of Isaiah. A worm continually gnawing; Lib. 9 Mor. cap. 45. so a fire continually burning. S. Gregory sweetly quavers upon this sad lesson, or note of death. Mors sine morte, finis sine fine, defectus sine defectu: quia & mors vivit, & finis incipit, & deficere nescit defectus. The death of the damned is a deathless death: an endless end, and undefiable defect. For their death always liveth, and their end beginneth; and their consumption lasteth, is permanent and eternal. And this death is especially meant in my Text: The correspondency of this Member, to that which follows makes it manifest; all which shall suffice also for the second Doctrine: For I can't now dilate, or enlarge myself. 1. Use. This in the first place confutes that common error of the Papists concerning venial sin, whereas every sin is mortal. For the Apostle speaks here very plainly: The Wages of sin is death, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And in that he saith it of all sins, it may be said of every sin, A quatenus ad omne valet consequentia, is an undoubted truth of the Logicians, from, as to all the consequence is very good: And our Apostle saith as sinner, so worthy of death. Rom. 5. And therefore every sin is mortal in itself, and deserves even eternal death. For I can give no more credit than Robert Bellarmine doth to the Popish Legend; who professedly refutes those of his own side, who give credit to the Legend; which relates that by the prayers of S. Gregory, the Soul of Trajan was delivered out of Hell, (preces habent efficaciam, as in jacob's wrestling with God: but it made him halt ever after.) O no, death ever living, Gen. 32.31. and not dying is their wages, in presenti, continually: Neither is this proceeding of Gods, any ways unjust, to punish him with death, I, even eternal: in regard the impenitent sinner, if he should always live upon the earth; would always hold on his sinful course, had he still the use of his tongue (says a modern) he would still blaspheme & curse; had he still the use of his eyes, he would still look after vanity: had he still the use of his feet, he would still walk in wicked ways: had he still the use of his hands, he would work all manner of wickedness, had he still the free use of all the faculties of his Soul and Members of his body, Lib. the 4. Noviss. he would still make them weapons of unrighteousness. Inchinus the Romish postiller giveth some light to this truth by an inch of Candle, whereby two play at Tables in the night, and are very earnest at their game; but in the midst of it the Candle goeth out, and they perforce give over; who (no doubt) if the light had lasted would have played all night. This inch of the Candle is the time allotted to a wicked man; who is resolved to spend it all in pleasures and pastimes, & if it would last perpetually, he would never leave his play, & therefore sigh he would sin eternally; though (by reason the light of his life goes out) he cannot, he deserves eternal punishment: Yea, he must needs know his Wages, and that is death, & that eternal, without repentance on man's, & infinite mercy on God's part. 2. Use. Is of exhortation to all to leave of their sins, and that betimes. Agree with thine adversary, and that too quickly. And if that will not serve, it is a use of terror to you all, for here is that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The most terrible of terribles, whose ugly grim face in the Church's body may affright the beholder; much more his violent and unexpected presence in our trembling bodies, which are (or aught to be) the Temples of the holy Ghost. Eunuchus. That (as Terence of Phaedria to Thais) paint him never so lively, and with old-bald-pated time by him, I shall cry out, Tremo horreoque cùm primum aspexi hanc. Death it is I mean, the Wages of sin. A death to grace, and that is miserable here; A natural, or temporal death, and that (I know) is loathsome to most. And the more you are addicted to this sublunary world, the more grief it breeds within you. Else what mean those out-cries, and roar with those wild Irish at graves, as men and women without hope? Hone, Hone, etc. O my dear Father one cries, my sweet and aged Husband another, and a third, mine only friend is dead, and to whom shall I make my moan with him: O me miserum, quis dabit in Lachrymas fontem? But there is a third death that is more terrible than all, that from which there is no recovery, no release. When you shall (without repentance) be bound in chains in Hell; where, (I am sure) that of the Poets will take no place: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris, But here the screeching of your companions shall add but greater grief and horror to your distressed and distracted mind. And do you not yet stand amazed and tremble at the hearing of these things. Me thinks every one should cry out with himself now, as the affrighted Jailor to Peter, what shall I do to be saved? Or else as trembling Foelix to S. Paul. Too much learning hath made thee mad: go away now, I will hear thee of this matter, i. e. (the judgement to come) another time: But alas it is too true. We may now again cry out, as the Prophet once to an obdurate and stiffnecked Nation. Ho every one that thirsteth, Come unto the waters, etc. Isa. 55.1. Your poor and dejected (if not ejected) Ministers may long enough wish that their heads may become Fountains of tears; and withal complain no man hath believed our report, and that especially in this matter of death. Our subject subjecting all. Give me leave (as by death's head presented at the beginning of a Feast) to affect the Soul by the terrible presence of the body. And now you may imagine the Sermon is drawing to an end, if not done. O no: It is then only done, when it is applied, received, understood, and practised. There is no Physic, but if it works, maketh the patiented sick for the present: and for the most part the most smarting plaster most speedily cures the wound. These observations are true in corporal Physic, and much more in spiritual: because the smart of sin, and trouble of conscience for it, are as so many signs of maladies, as the beginning of cures. Some say, the fear of the plague brings it: But if we speak of this plague, and other judgements of God for sin, it is certain that the fear of them (not servile but filial) is the best preservative against them. He only may be secure of the avoiding of Hell torments, and escaping the pangs of eternal death, who feareth them as he ought; and he that fears them not, as another Stoical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as in a most fearful case. Ecclus. 41.1. O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee! Admirable upon which is that strict Dr. Lake his meditation, that reverend B. of Bath; whom I rather quote by reason of the proximity to Bristol: which (though it hath scorned those old prayers) hath need now of a Lord have mercy upon me, where I have been verè vir dolorum & afflictionum: Which made me bring to light first these dark thoughts of death, being lately (thanks be to God) drawn by a Divine power out of the snares of Hell and death. We have no abiding place on earth, none have: But of those that would have there are many, here below singing an undeserved requiem to the Soul, & saying with the fool, Soul take thy rest. Many there are, O Lord, that though they must die, cannot endure to mind death. Nothing more unsavoury to them then that their memory should be exercised with the memory thereof: Eccles. 12.1. Whereas says Solomon; Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth: And it was Moses wish, O that men would be wise & consider their latter end. Let me a little raise your thoughts (before I leave you) from doting upon Lachrymae to much, which was the first my Master taught me in Music. We have looked long enough upon Hell and death, Let us now look up to our Saviour (it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) who Triumphed over both: Let the sight of the one as much raise your hope (for without it we may not, we must not be) as the other dejecteth us in fear. Now the Sermon being finished, let us eternally sing his praises against those mortal enemies of Funeral Elegies, Brownists I mean, and Anabaptists; who will bury their dead, not only against, but without the Apostles rule. 1 Cor. 14.40. Let all things be done decently and in order. Who hath saved us? Even us (that alive yet from everlasting weep and mournings in the valley of Hinnom. Shall any waters of affliction quench in us the love of him, who for us quenched unquenchable fire? shall not the benefit of our delivery from everlasting death, and burial too in the grave of Oblivion live in our memory? shall any thing sever us from him, Matth. 27.46. Rom. 8.38. who for our sakes after a sort was severed from his Father? When he cried my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or the sword? No, I am sure, I may ascend higher, and descend lower too with the Apostle (whose Antiperistasis makes his Rhetoric more admirable and winning.) Neither life, nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I will shut up all with that prayer of our unparallelled Lake, (in whom was the depth of all Divinity, as in an Ocean rather than a Lake) seeing the whole world is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a sweet sour. And this is the evil of worldly weal, & the ease our corrupt nature takes in it, makes us more to distaste the joys of Heaven. Mix, I beseech thee, O Lord, my peace with war: Being of S. Paul's temper and constitution, finding a Law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my mind. Rom. 7. Let me never be a secure owner of my worldly goods; (neither well can I, since thou in thy goodness hast taken them, wife, and all from me.) Yea, Lord, let them appear as they are, Transitory & uncertain, that I may not repute them to be my goods. Let Thiefs strip me, let crosses distress me, (as I thank thee, I am Christianus, quia Crucianus) though I lose, yet I shall gain, and prosper best when I do not prosper. Death that must come shall never be , yea, the remembrance of it shall be my greatest comfort; it shall never find me but willing to leave what I never did enjoy, or joy in. And happy shall I account that hour, that shall take me out of the World; when it takes (as it hath done, I thank God, for five months together) the World from me, because we never were well at one, Yea, I had almost said she which once lay in my bosom, and therefore shall not fear to be at odds. The World is crucified to me, and I unto the World. Death shall take no pains in parting our association: which shall find us before hand parted in affection. Let death be bitter unto others, to me it shall be sweet, when it pleaseth God to send it.) And I will (God-willing and assisting) prepare myself by a timely thinking of it, Praemonitus praemunitus, so shall I never be uncomfortably surprised by it in regard of my body: And with holy Stephen, (notwithstanding all the stony hearts of these times) I shall call upon God, saying, Acts 7.39. Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Amen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. P. P. Praedicator. ERRATA. PAg. 9 line 3. and 12. for tautology r. tautology. p. 1●. l. 5. for die r. do, p. 16. l. 2. for contention, r. contentment, and l. 8. for graviore, r. graviori, p. 25. l. 15. for, of the body, r. to the body, & l. 29. for restores r. restored p. 28. last l. for undefiable r. undefeisable.