The Last Battle of the Soul, Religious tract 2 – Epitaph
A COMFORTABLE Speach for the Widow of the defunct.
M. WEE daylie may see the trueth of that in Iob, Man Iob. 14. 1.that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble: Hee commeth foorth like a flowre and is cut downe: He fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not: Of this is a necessitie, For it is appointed Heb. 9. 27.vntounto all men once to die: The decree is come foorth against all flesh, All flesh is as grasse, &c. The grasse Isa. 40. 6.withereth, the flowre fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth vponupon it: vers. 7.Surelie the people is grasse: All must goe to ye vast gulfe of the Graue: Be cause all hauehave sinned, all are mortall without exceptiō of persons: prince people, great and small, all must goe to Golgotha: To great men God hath said, Yee are gods, but yee shall die like psal. 82. 7.men.
What man is hee, said the Psalmist,psal. 89. 48 that liueth and shall not see death? Were a man Monarch of theIob. 14. 5. whole world, Iob saith, That his dayes are determined, the number of his m… neths are with God: Hee hath appointed his boundes that hee cannot passe: As the enemies of Christ could not laye handes on him till his houre Ioh. 7. 30.was come, neither Death the … 1 Cor. 15. 26,enemie touch the Sainctes till the houre of their change come.Iob. 14, 14
As for you M. whom now the Lord hath made a Widow, yee hauehave to take patience, and holde your Leuit, 10, 3peace with Aaron: Dauid said to God, I was dumbe and opened not my Psal. 39. 9.mouth; because thou diddest it: A Widow in the holie tongue is called Almanah from a worde that signifieth dumb, a word warning her to lay her hād on her mouth for to seale it with a reuerend silence, because God hath done it: Let his decease prouoke and enkindle your desire to goe to him, for hee will no more come to you.
God, M. hath not left you comfortlesse, for now happie is your Husband who hath drunke of deaths cuppe so peaceablie euen a sleeping drinke wherewith hee hath gone to sleepe with these righteous, who are said by the Prophet to rest in their beddes: The friendes of Christ dieIsa. 57. 2. not, but softlie with Lazarus that friend of Christ, they sleepe in theirIoh, 11, 11 Graues, where they lye still and are Iob, 3, 13,quiet. Trauell M. with your owne heart that it bee silent.
O but yee hauehave to blesse God, who hath dealt so mercifullie with your dearest hearte whome hee hath so powerfullie vp holden in so bloodie and bitter a Battell against the enemies of his Saluation wherein by the strength of God in his weakenesse: After bitter bickeringes hee hath obtained so glorious a victorie which hath made all the heauens torejoyce.
Now assuredlie M. yee may say, My deare Husband the desire of mine eyes is now a Prince in heauen crowned with the euer greene Lawrels of immortalitie: Hee hath changed a fraile life, a wind in a worme for eternitie of Glorie. Faithfull Iob patientlie blessed God, by whose permission Sathan in a whirle-wind crushed all his Children together vnderunder the ruines of an house, howe much more comfortablie may yee say, The Lord gaue, & the Lord hath Iob. 1. …1.taken away, blessed bee the Name of the Lord.
*NoteHow manie good and godlie persons hauehave their Husbands taken by Pyrates, pyned in Galleyes, rotting in prisons, slaine by poysō, stobbed in duells, murthered by Traitours, killed in warre, drowned in Riuers, sunke downe in Seas with their whole substance, and diuerslie taken away in most doolefull manner? But be hold, which may blunt the edge of your dolours, your husband peaceablie deceased in his bed hauing his eyes closed with the finger of a Friend: Though all the sortes of death of Gods beloued Ones be precious in his sight, yet it is most comfortable for the liuing when these whom they louelove best are remoued in this outward peaceable manner, both spirituallie and temporallie comforted: This Iob calleth to die in Iob. 29. 1….our nest. If God had done otherwise to you in the rigour of his Iustice, who durst controll him?
This also ye must remember for the settling of any drūblie mood of impatiencie that may be in your heart, that hee was but lent vntounto you for a space, and so contracted yee at the first to tarrie but a space together: for if yee will take leasure to reade your Contract of m…rriage, yee shall finde that therein is made mention of the death of you both: Let mee yet come neerer, after hee had taken you by the hand before the … on your marriage day, your handes a little after few wordes spoken did goe asunder againe, euen for to tell you that none immortall knot can bee had of any things heere below: happie shee whose hearte is plyable and obsequious to the will of her God.
I confesse that yee cannot but mourne, beeing depriued of such … pleasure the fairest jewell of all your worldlie joy, the staffe of your estate on whō your greatest comfortes did depend: what wōder? for many days hauehave ye bene glad together, so that it is no possible were ye neuer so sāctified, but your heart must be deeplie wounded: Why not? Gods will was neuer against anie moderate mourning for the dead: * Grace maketh no… men and women Stoicks and stockes that cannot bee moued for anything: Nay, God permits vsus to mourne but not to carke & care 1 The…, 4. 13as these which hauehave none hope, who …ugging out their haire and downe their cheekes powre out their roaringes as waters, beeing swallowed vp of discouragement, hauing none hoe in their griefe, they some out myre and dirt.
It is permitted to mourne when Gods hand is gone out against vsus: It is naturall: True grace is not against it, but against its corruption in excesse: In the Olde-Testament Abraham mourned for Sarah: For theGen, 23, … death of Deborah Rebeccas Nurse was sore weeping, for which cause y• Oak-tree vnderunder which she was buried was called, Allon Bachuth, the OakeGen. 35, … of weeping: Iacob wept exceedingly for Ioseph, whom hee thought by some wilde beaste to hauehave beene rent in Gen. 37. 33pieces: After that Iacob had gathered vp his feete & yeelded vp the ghost, Ioseph fell vponupon his face and wept … Gen. 50. 1him and kissed him: Naomi after shee had lost both Husband and Children, would no more bee called Naomi, that is pleasant: Call me Ruth. 1. 20not Naomi, said shee, that is pleasant, but call mee Marah that is bitter, For the Almightie hath dealt verie bitter … with me: I went out full, and the Lord vers. 21,hath brought mee home againe emptie: Why then call yee mee Naomie, seeing the Lord hath testified against mee, and the Almightie hath afflicted mee▪ These all were interested, and therefore they mourned, beeing pinched with the smart.
Behold, M. how in the Olde-Testament God by taking away by death hath afflicted his dearest Ones & for to vse Naomis words hath testified against them: consider also how they hauehave mourned. In the New-Testament Christ himselfe groaning inIoh. 11. 35 himselfe wept at Lazarus his Graue▪ The wordes are these, And Iesus wept: The sight of Christes death was by Simeon foretold to his MotherLuk. …. 25. Marie: This Simeon called a sword which shuld pierce her thorow the Soule.
*NoteThus as yee see a Christian heart is not a Marble heart but a mel…ing heart furnishing teares the tribute of our louelove appointed for the funeral obsequies of our best beloued, whose appointed monethes of life are expired: *NoteIndeede where grace is, it stayeth at the course, stoppeth the …ent and the streame of Natures blind and bold corruptions, bringing our most violent affections into an holie compasse of an humble submission vntounto Gods will: But it neuer dissalloweth a tempered Turtle crouding for the absence of our dearest comforts: Such cleare crystall teares the Lord will put vp in his Bottels: But as for these drumlie and barmie teares of fierce and vnrulie passions comming from the muddie fountaine of an vnhallowed heart, the Lord will not respect them no more than … regarded the sacrifice of Cain: *NoteSuc… G…n. 4.teares are like the waters of jealousi… to the whoorish woman which mad… Numb. 5. 21her thigh to rotte & her bellie to swell: None but humble and godlie grieuances shall bee noted in Gods Register for to be asswaged and allayed with comforts.
By all that which wee hauehave saide M. yee see that yee hauehave licence to mourne like these that hauehave hope: Ye hauehave indeede nowe to mourne, but first for your sins which might hauehave beene some occasion of his remoue from you: What is the best of our hearts, but a filthie sinke-hole and stinking dung-hill: That done, first ye may mourne thereafter for … losse: If the first yee doe sincerelie▪ God in his appointed time shall bee the repairer of your losse with doubled contentmentes as hee did to Iacob who mourning sore for Benj… mine, in a clap recouered both I… seph & Benjamin: But how can that bee? will yee say: For him whom I hauehave lossed can I neuer in this world recouer: *NoteKnow yee not what Elkanah said to his Wife Hannah weeping for want of Children, Why 1 Sam, 1, …weepest thou? said hee, and why eatest thou not? and why is thine heart grieued? am not I better to thee than ten Sonnes? Shee is not worthie to bee comforted who thinketh not God to bee better to her than ten thousand Husbands: Hath not the Lord who sitteth at the Sterne, ruling all thinges aboue and below, proclaimed himselfe to the worlde to bee thatPsal. 68. 4. great IAH, The Father of the fatherlesse, & a Iudge of the Widowes? Dauid was confident in this … my father Psal 27. 10and my mother for sake me, …aid …e, then the Lord will take mee vp. As for your childrē lay fast hold vponupon ye promises of your God, who hath oblished himselfe in a Precept of his Law, to shew merciemercy vntounto the posteritie of the godlie and that vntounto thousands: There is Gods Obligation, whose word is faster than all the writs of men subscribed with a thousand Noters: Such is his louelove to the posteritie of the godlie that though the Mother shuld forget the fruit of her womb, yet can hee not forget them whom hee hath printed vponupon the palmes of hi… Isa. 49. 16.hands: Hee who hath made the Egyptian to fauour his people, andExod. 12. 36 caused the fi…rie flint to yeelde waterNumb. 20 11 for the thi…stie, & moued the deuourer to affoord foode: Though he…udg. 14. 14 suffer the Lyons to lack and suffer hunger: Psa…. 34 10They that seeke the Lord shall not want any good thing. All worldlie comforts may deceiue vsus, as a Broo… as the rising of the Riuers they passe away: But God whose bowels are euer earning ouer vsus is euer fast and sure: With him is no shadowe of change: This comforted the Psalmest in the failinges of his flesh and heart: God, said hee, is the strength of mine heart and my portion for Psa. 63. 26euer: This may vvell content vsus except that wee bee heartlesse cowards.
I know and am fullie perswaded that yee would gladlie hauehave still enjoyed your Iewell for some number of yeares, euen vntounto the last date of mans dayes, euen vntounto his threescore and tenth yeare, or to four score the vtmost feare of sinfull life set for these in whō is the reason of strength: Psal, 90. 10This I know would hauehave bene your desire: But bee yee thankefull to God, for the blessed time yee hauehave enjoyed him alreadie: How many bee Widowes before that their first yeare bee ended? *NoteAnd yet though so should hauehave beene done with you or with all these that liue godlie: A good marriage were it but for a day, it is in Gods Count Book reckoned to bee of long continuance: Many dayes make not the long life, but well spent dayes: A Childe of God though an Infant of dayes, dieth an Isa. 65. 20.hundreth yeares olde, but the sinner an hundreth yeares olde shall bee accursed; hee is but as of yesterday. As for your Husband M there is no neede now of lamentations for him, for he is well: He is now among these ransomed Isa. 35. 10.of the Lord, obtaining joye and gladnesse, where sorrowe and sighing hauehave none abode. God in great merciemercy hath taken him away, that hee should not see the euill to come. ThisIsa. 57. 1. was a fauour granted to good Iosiah, that he should be remoued in peace before the breake of weather: Behold, said the Lord, I will gather thee vntounto 2 King. 22 20thy fathers, & thou shalt be gathered into thy graue in peace, & thine eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vponupon this place.
*NoteIn these last Dreggie dayes of the world the dead could speake to the liuing, they might well say to them as Christ said to the weeping women of Ierusalem, Weepe not for Luk. 23. 28vsus, but weepe for your selues, for behold the dayes are comming, &c. In all appearance behold in this Age the dayes are comming fast on wherein that of Ieremiah shalbe said to the liuing,…er. 22. 10 Weepe yee not for him that is dead, neither bemone him, but we…pe for him that goeth away, for hee shall returne no more, nor see his natiue Countrie.
There bee such fearefull calamities now brewing for this Land that by all liklie-hood, when yee shall drinke the cup of wrath, our griefes shall so goe beyond all such sorrow, lik that of Ezekiel, yt neither shall the Husband mourne for his Wife, nor shall the Wife waile for the Husband at their buriall: Beholde, a Paterne.Ezek. 24. …6
Sonne of man, said the Lord, Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroake: Consider well the sodainnesse, the increaser of griefe, yet neither shalt thou mourne nor weepe, nor teares runne downe: Forbeare to cry, make no mourning for Ezek. 24. 17the dead: Bind the tyre of thine head vponupon thee, and put on thy shooes vponupon thy feete, and couer not thy lippes, and eate not the bread of men: All this was to declare that such calamities shul… ouer-take that people, that all such mourninges for the death of Husbands, W…ues, Children, &c. should be swallowed vp by a greater griefe.
This is plaine by the wordes following, Yee shall not mourne nor vers. 23,weepe, but yee shall pyne away for your iniquities, and mourne one towardes another.
Let vsus speake in Conscience: May not the Lord most justlie as he did threaten there, take from vsus our strength, the joy of our glorie, the desire vers. 25of our eyes & that whervpon we set our minds, euen the Gospel the Arke of his couenant? O let vsus die before yt euer that Glorie depart from this Israel.1 Sam. 4. 22
This consideration may sufficientlie teach you and vsus all moderat mourning in so mercifull a visitation: It shall therefore bee your best in your deepest doole to Behaue and Psal. 131. 2quiet your selflik a child that is wained of his mother: The choisest argument of comfort which the Apostle could finde concerning the dead, is founded vponupon the Resurrection, the day of the generall meeting of all Saints: I would not, said hee, hauehave you ignorant concerning them which are asleepe, 1 Thess. 4. 13that yee sorrow not euen as these which hauehave none hope: For if wee belieue that vers. 14.Iesus died, & rose againe, euen so them also which sleepe in Iesus, will God bring with him.vers. 15.
For this wee say v…to you by the word of the Lord, that wee which are aliue and remaine vntounto the comming of the Lord, shall not preuent them which are asleepe.
For the Lord himselfe shall d…scend vers. 16from heauen with a shout with the voyce of the Arch▪ Angel and with the Trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then wee which are aliue, and remaine vers. 17shall bee caught vp together with them in the cloudes, to meete the Lord in the Aire: And so shall wee bee euer with the Lord.vers. 18.
VVherefore comfort one another with these words.
Consider well and weigh these words which that great Pen-man of God hath set downe with a precept that with them wee should comfort one another while wee are in doole for the dead.
Finallie this M. yee must know that all earthlie sorrowes were they neuer so sharpe, will at last growe blunt, and will bee meekened and skinned ouer by time: Nowe that which Time can doe to a Pagane, let Grace doe it to a Christian.
I intreate the Lord of all Grace and A prayerkindnesse to cast downe his compassionate eye vponupon your afflicted & grieued case that your mourning beeing tempered with merciemercy ye may in your greatest griefe rejoyce in your God,
Amen.
A compendious Epitaphe fit for a godlie Man deceased.
To long Eternitie from toylesome Time,
His Soule is past, his Body sleepes in Slime.