KING David's epitaph. 513
nor feai-, nor imperfection, which is the ground of jealousy. "Wo shall perfectly love them because they shall be perfectly good ; and they shall perfectly love us because we shall be perfectly good ; and one shall stand admiring the graces of God in another, and that ^Yill maintain a per- petuity of love. Therefore it is want of faith that makes us unwilling to yield our souls unto God at the point of death. It is a going to our fathers.
But then wc must take heed what fathers we imitate here, Heb. xiii. 7. Take heed who are our patterns while we live ; for if we do not imitate them here, we cannot live with them in heaven when we are dead. Therefore it is a very necessary item in Heb. xiii. 7, ' Look to them that rule over you, that speak the word; whose faith follow, considering the end of their labour.' Let us look before what kind of men those have been that we desire to live with in heaven, and mark the end of their conversation ; for such as we delight in, and frame our carriage to here, such we shall live with hereafter. We must not think to live with Nero, and die with Paul ; to live Epicures, and die Christians ; to live dissembling and falsely in our places, and to die comfortably, and to go to the blessed souls at the hour of death, and at the resurrection. No. God will gather our souls with wicked men, if we fashion our carriage to wicked men. Such as we delight in, and live with, and set as patterns before us, with such we shall live for ever hereafter. ' He was gathered to his fathers.'
One sign of a man that shall be gathered to believing fathers, to his good forefathers, besides imitation, is this, to delight in the congregations of just men here. A man may know he shall go to the congregation of perfect souls in heaven, if he delight in the congregations of God's saints here ; for surely he that hath a confidence to be in the proper heaven, heaven that is so blessed, he will have a care while he lives, as much as he can, to be and delight in the heaven upon earth. Now the chief heaven upon earth is the church of God. ' 0 how amiable is thy dwelling-place, 0 Lord,' Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, where many souls meet together to join in speaking to God, and in hearing God speak to them. Those therefore that delight not in the congregations, that delight not in the service of God, what hope have they to be gathered to the congregation of the faithful when they are gone. So much for that, ' He was gathered to his fathers.'
' And he saw corruption.'
It is an Hebraism for ' he felt corruption,' ' he had experience of cor- ruption.' All other senses are attributed to sight. That being the prin- cipal of all the senses, they have their term from it, because sight is the most excellent, the most capacious and quick sense. Therefore, I say, the actions of all the other senses are attributed to it, as we say, see how he speaks, and so here, * he saw corruption,' that is, he had experience of it ; because sight is a convincing sense. He could not properly see when he was dead : but the meaning is, he had experience of ' corruption.' The truth is this, in a word, that,
Ohs. 6. The best and greatest men in iJte icorld, when they are gone, theg are sxd>ject to corruption.
David was a king and a prophet, * a man after God's own heart.' Yet this could not keep David's body from corruption.
Reason 1. The reason is, ive are hut dead men here. This is not the life that Christ hath purchased for us. We are going to death. Our natural life isbut cursus ad mortem, a continual going to death. We ore alive now, but,
VOL. VI. K k
514 KixG David's epitaph.
nlas ! our life is nothing but a continual living ; every day cuts off a part of our life. It is a statute that all must die.
Bcason 2. And it is our 2)C)fectinn to die. We cannot otherwise see God and enjoy our crown. Death indeed is nothing but misery. But when wq die we go to live. The best must ' see corruption.'
Vse 1. Therefore this should be an argument to support the soul ; when -wc think of the rottenness in the grave, and of that place, and time of horror, when wo shall be no more here upon earth. It is no otherwise with us than it hath been with the best in the world. They all saw ' corrup- tion' in their time.
Use 2. Again, considering we have but corruptible bodies here, bodies that must see corruption; Jet us take care for the belter part. lie is a mad- man, that having two houses, one free-hold, the other a rotten tenement, ready to fall about his ears, that shall take delight in that and neglect his own inheritance, which is a goodly thing. It is for want of wit; and it is as much want of grace, when wc, having a double life, the life of grace, that ends in glory, the life of the soul, the life of God, as St Paul saith ; and then the life of the bodj', which is communicated from the soul to the bod}', which is corruptible ;— our bodies are but ' tabernacles of clay, whose foundation is in the dust,' — for us to take CJire of this vile body, as the apostle calls it, Philip, iii. 21, ' "Who shall change our vile body, and make it like to his glorious body, according to his mighty power ;' to take care of this vile body and to neglect our precious souls. It is the care of most (such is the carnal breeding of men, and they follow those that bred them in this brutishness, as if they had no souls ; as if there were no life after this), their care is, ' what they shall eat, and what they shall drink, and put on,' Mat. vi. 25 ; what to commend themselves by in the outward man to the view of others ; all their care is for their outward man. Alas ! what is it but a corruptible vile body ? It is but the case of the soul. They forget the jewel and look all to the casket, which is a base body, take it at the best while we are here.