Twenty sermons preached at Oxford before His Majesty, and elsewhere

1. First, The body as soon as the soul is taken from it, hastens to corruption, that must see corruption; yea it becomes so full of corruption, that thy dearest friend cannot then endure to come near unto thee. When the soul is ⟨p. 54⟩taken from the body, it's observed that of all carcasses that are, mans is the most loathsome, none so odious as that. Abraham loved Sarah well, but when he comes to buy a monument for her, see his expression, Gen. 23.8. He communes with the men and saith, if it be your mind to sell me the field, that I might bury my dead out of my sight. Though he loved her very well before, yet now she must be buried out of his sight. It is sown in dishonour, and it's the basest thing that can be: Therefore when our Saviour was going near to the place where Lazarus lay, his Sister saith, Lord by this time he stinketh, Joh. 11.39. I have said to corruption thou art my Father (saith Job) and to the worm thou art my Mother and my Sister: Job. 17.14. As in the verse before, The grave is my house, I have made my bed in the darkness. Here then he hath a new kindred, and though before he had affinity with the greatest, yet here he gets new affinity: He saith to corruption thou art my Father, and to the worm thou art my Mother and my Sister. The worm is our best kindred here; the worm then is our best bed; yea worms thy best covering, as Isaiah. 14.11. Thus is it thy Father, thy Mother, and thy Bed: nay, it is thy consumption and destroyer also, Job. 26. Thus is it with thy body, it passeth to corruption, that thy best or dearest friend cannot behold it or endure it.

1. First, The body as soon as the soul is taken from it, hastens to corruption, that must see corruption; yea it becomes so full of corruption, that thy dearest friend cannot then endure to come near unto thee. When the soul is ⟨p. 54⟩