heauenly habitation Augustine writing vpon Genesis sayth That the blessed shall haue a three-fold sight of God in heauen To wit they shall first haue a spirituall or they shall see the blessed spirits Angels next a body or corporall sight of the blessed redeemer And thirdly a supernatural or intellectuall sight and a fourth may be added that they shall likewise see the holy Chost For the first their spirites and soules shall behold and see with great comfort and ioy the blessed Angels and Spirites of all the faithfull departed They shall see the bright Court of Angels Math. 18.10 Cherubins Seraphins alwaies beholding the face of our father which is in heauen attending the Dyetie and euer pressing to doe his will faithfully speedily willingly neuer wearie of watching because they are neuer wearie of well-doing They shall see the faire assembly of the Saints of God the Patriarckes Prophets and Apostles Luk. 13.28 with Abraham Isaacke and Iacob in his glorious Kingdome they shall bee tyed vp with them in the bundell of liuing 1 Sam. 25.29 neuer to bee loosed any more As they before them haue done so shall they returne into their rest as into a retiring Campe after the day of battell This is the greatest ioy vpon the first sight And if as Chrysostome sayth to see the Deuill and euill Spirits bee a horrible punishment and a kind of hell then to see good Angels and good Spirites must be a great ioy and the beginning and entrance into heauen Psal 45.1 The second is that corporall and bodily beholding of our Sauiour Iesus Christ standing at the right hand of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.12 and his comfortable face and countenance fayrer then the sonnes of men and whome the very angells desire to behold and whereby in their Spirites the Saintes doe presenly see the naturall and humane bodie of Christ Iesus at the right hand of God the Father from whose glorious sight doth arise a greater measure and degree of comfort and ioy Cant. 3.11 Then come the godly to see in substance that which was spoken of the type by Salomon Math. 12.42 Come foorth O yee daughters of Sion and behold the King Salomon with the Crowne To see then this true Salomon more great then Salomon euen our Redeemer thus standing crowned in glory and haue accesse to him must needes bee a second and higher measure of ioy to the beholders It is sayd when Salomon was crowned 1 Kin 1.40 the people reioiced exceedingly that the earth rent with the sound of thē Oh what ioy and greater ioy is it then to see Christ Iesus thus crowned with glory in Gods Kingdome at home When the Wise-men came a farre iourney seeking Christ anst found him new borne lying most meanely basely in a Cratch amongst the beasts yet did they reioice seeing him in the Cratch and did offer to him Oh how much shall yee reioyce Math. 2.10,12 seeing him that was in the Cratch cloathed with great glory and wearing an immortall Crowne The third sight is that intellectuall and glorious sight supernaturall of Gods essence face to face as Paul nameth it yea God himselfe of so great Maiesty might beauty goodnesse mercy and loue 1. Cor. 13.12 as if a man were filled with all other blessings temporall and eternall and yet without this as Plotin sayth all were but misery and accursednes And this is such a sight in such a manner and after such a measure which notwithstanding shall be infinite as is or can bee possible for the glorified Creatures to beholde the glorious Creator And as the Apostle Saint Peter sayeth to bee made partakers of Gods diuine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 farre beyond that sight of Moyses or Peters when being clogged with mortality they yet did see that was glorious to behold Of this sight of God Iob. 19.23.24,25,26.27 the holy man speaketh in his Booke Oh sayeth he That my wordes were now written O that they were printed in a Booke that they were grauen with an yron penne and layde in the Rocke for euer For I know that my Redeemer liueth and that hee shall stand at the latter day vpon the earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see GOD whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my raines be consumed within me Yet this sight shall exceed and goe beyond that of our Forefathers before the fall or that of the Apostle Pauls for it is sayde by him that we shall see him face to face And by the Apostle Peter being made partakers of his diuine nature more then euer man could haue dreamed off then shall the Elect see so◠as they shall bee with him for euer yea and serue him continually in singing praises vnto him Which sight is called the spirituall life not in respect of substance but qualities in so farre that after those sightes the elect shall spiritually liue and that without any naturall or bodily helpes or meanes as in this present transitory life In that Life shall bee no neede of meate drinke light artificiall or naturall Candle Starres Sunne or Moone For God shall bee all in all By which sight and supernaturall knowledge it shall come to passe That Philip. 3,21 these our mortall bodies shall bee like to his glorious body Dan 12,3 and shall shine like the Sunne in the firmament and be made like Angels Fulgentius speaking of this most glorious and supernaturall sight sayth thus In a looking glasse wee may see three different things the glasse our selues and what is neere vs So by the glasse of Gods diuine clearenes wee shall see him our selues Angels and saints beside vs yea we shall see God face to face not as now through the glasse of his word but we shal know him as we are known of his Maiesty As a man standing vpon the shore of the Sea seeth not the bredth or depth of it so the Angels in Heauen and the elect on earth may see God really and yet not comprehend the depth of his greatnes nor the height of his euerlasting essence The fourth sight is that we shall likewise see the Holy Ghost proceeding from them both and breathing vpon our saued soules like a gentle soft ayre vpon a garden and more sweet then all the trees of Incense Againe the Apostle sayeth Now I know in part 1 Cor 13,12 but then shall I know euen as I am knowne The Apostle is bolde here to say that all the knowledge wee haue here is as the knowledge and stuttering of a young child yea that his owne knowledge too was such although he were an Apostle and a principall Apostle and thereby hee insinuateth that our knowledge here is as farre inferiour to the knowledge we shall haue there as the knowledge of a childe that stuttereth and stammereth and yet cannot speake plaine is to the
and considered the shortnesse of their life so fraile so inconstant and transitorie and vpon Death so black and vgly how soone would they let fall their proud plumes forsake their arrogancy and change their purposes their manners their mindes their liues In that they tend and hasten as fast as they can to death some at one miles end some at two some at three and some when they haue gone a little further And thus it commeth to passe that some are taken out of this life sooner and some tarry a little longer Abhorre therefore thy haughtines auoid thy vanities leaue off thy lusts amend thy life For he that is godly wise vieweth his death present and by the meditation and remembrance thereof he armeth himselfe to amend If the greatest man in the world doe in a holy meditation strip himselfe out of his robes and ornaments of state and haue the scanning of this one poynt often in his minde hence I must as great as I am and whether then Like men who trauelling no sooner come to their lodging but they are talking of their next Inne the debating of this question in the minde would bring forth most excellent fruite and so likewise if euery man would thus meditate and reason I must remoue and whither then Hell is my desert how shall I escape it Heauen is the onely place I desire to goe to how shall I come to it And thus one good meditation and thought would make way for another and so lead vs on by degrees vnto the kingdome of God Marke the life and behauiour of the wicked to auoid their steps and of the godly to prouoke thy selfe to a holy imitation of the like course as a thing best pleasing to God It is one way whereby wee honor those that are departed in the faith when wee resemble them in those heauenly graces which like the stars of heauen did shine within them while they were aliue Mark also their death with like diligence think seriously vpon thy owne death how thou must shortly dye and lie downe in the dust and part with whatsoeuer delight thou doest here enioy that this may breede in thee a contempt of the world and a longing after a better life Gregory said that the life of a wise man must be a continuall meditation on Death and he onely is euer carefull to doe well who is euer thinking on his last end It were good that Christians which tender their saluation would among so many houres of the day as they mispend in idle vaine and wandring thoughts talke play or fruitlesse exercise imploy but an houre of the day after the example of a holy man in reading meditating and pondering of one little booke trium foliorum but of three leaues which I wil commit to your Christian cōsideration I haue read of a certaine holy man who at first had led a dissolute life and chancing on a time into the company of an honest godly man he in short time so wrought by his holy perswasions with his affections such is the force of godly societie that he vtterly renounced his former course of life and gaue himselfe to a more priuate austere moderate and secluse kinde of liuing the cause whereof being demanded by one of his former companions who would haue drawne him such is the nature of euill company to his vsuall riot hee answered that as yet he was so busied in reading and meditating on a little booke which was but of three leaues that he had no leisure so much as to think of any other businesse and being asked againe a long time after whether hee had read ouer these three leaues he did reply that these three leaues were of three seuerall colours red white and black which contained so many misteries that the more he meditated thereon the more sweetnesse he alwayes found so that he had deuoted himselfe to reade therein all the daies of his life In the first leafe which is red I meditate quoth he on the Passion of my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and of his precious bloud shed for a ransome of my sinnes and the sinnes of all his Elect without which we had been all bondslaues to Satan and fewell for hell fire In the white leafe I cheere vp my spirit with the comfortable consideration of the vnspeakable ioyes of the heauenly Kingdome purchased by the bloud of my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ a great motiue of thankfulnesse In the third leafe which is blacke I meditatate vpon the horrible and perpetuall torments of Hell for the wicked and reprobate prouided and kept in store who if they behold the heauens from thence they are iustly banished for their sinnes If they looke vpon the earth there are they imprisoned on the right hand they haue the Saints whose steps they haue not rightly followed on the left hand the wicked whose course they haue ensued before them they haue Death ready to arrest them behind them their wicked life ready to accuse them aboue them Gods iustice ready to condemne them and vnder them Hell-fire readie to deuoure them From which the godly are freed by the death of Iesus Christ This booke of three leaues if we would alwayes carrie in our hearts and meditate often therein assuredly great would be the benefit which we should make thereby to restraine our thoughts words and actions within the bounds and limits of the feare of God 1. Sam. 24.10.11 But we are on the other side so busied like Nabal about white earth and red earth and blacke earth in gathering and scraping of transitory trash and in vncharitablenesse and so deuoted vnto fleshly pleasures and deceitful vanities and spending our houres like Domitian in hunting of flyes others like little children in catching of Butterflies and playing with feathers the rest like fooles in toyes and leasings that we haue not leasure at all to reade and meditate on that booke of three leaues nor to thinke on death And so on the sudden the sunne of our pleasure setteth the day of our life doth end the night of our death commeth and we chop into the earth before we be aware like a man walking in a greene field couered with snow not seeing the way runneth on and suddenly falles into a pit Lam. 1.9 When the Prophet Ieremie had remembred all the calamities and sinnes of the Iewes at the last he imputed all to this Shee remembred not her end so if I may iudge why naturall and carnall men care for nothing but their pompe their honor and dignitie why couetous men care not for any thing but their golden gaine why voluptuous Epicures care for nothing but their pleasures and Delicates whose posie is that Death hath nothing to do with them I may say with Ieremiah They remember not their end And with Esay Thou diddest not lay these things to thy heart Esay 47.7 nor diddest remember the latter end of it Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise saith
decree of God is vnchangeable Esay 46.10 His counsell saith the Prophet shall stand and he will doe all his pleasure Secondly it is an article of our faith grounded on the word of God and from thence saith the Article he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead Eccles 12.14 Thirdly the Scripture saith That God shall bring euery work vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill But all this is not done heere for heere many matters are cloaked and carried in a mist that deserue iudgement and merit condemnation Therefore that God may be iust in his sayings there must be a sessions of gaole-deliuery which the Scriptures cal the iudgement of the last day Fourthly the godly doe heere groane vnder many miseries the vngodly wallow in many delights and pleasures The rich liue delicately and Lazarus is in paine therefore it is necessary as it is certaine that a day should come wherein the Lord may make knowne his righteousnesse and magnifie his iustice before his most glorious throne that they who haue liued merily and dishonored God might liue in torments of fire and they whose life hath beene miserable seruing the Lord might be comforted for euer Some haue offâ—nded deepely and haue not beene touched by the Magistrate some haue suffered great rebuke and sometimes death who haue done good and deserued not only fauour but recompence and therefore a day must come and is appointed wherein the Lord that is iust 2. Thess 1.6.7.8 will recompence tribulation to all that haue troubled the righteous and rest to them that were troubled On the otherside would it not bee hard for the godly who haue here endured the crosse for the ioy that was set before them if there should not come a time of refreshing from God And would it not too much obdurate the wicked who drinke iniquitie as water if they should escape all punishments and vengeance here and also after death Fiftly this is shadowed out in that Housholder Mat. 20.8.10 Matth. 25.19 who wheÌ„ euening was come called the labourers and gaue euery man his hire and peny And if a wise master will recken with his seruants shal we thinke that Wisedome it selfe will not one day recken with impeniten sinners and call them before him for his money that is pretious graces of wit learning authority wealth and other outward and inward ornaments of life which they haue consumed on their lusts Sixtly euery mans conscience doth by a trembling feare as in Felix at one time or another Acts 24.26 iustifie this point of a iudgement to come And therefore as the Floud of waters once drowned the world Gen. 7.1.7 except a few who were sauâ—d in the Arke so it is certaine that the floud and tempest of the last day with fire shal consume it and all therein 2. Pet. 2.5 except such as Christ hath or then will gather into the little Arke of his Church In the euening of the world and when there shall be no more time he wil cal the labourers before him giuing them the peny or pay of euerlasting life but for the idle and loyterers he will put them out of the vineyard Matth. 7.23 and out of Christ and send them with sinners to the place prepared for them as they haue liued without the Church or idle in it so when the labourers receiue their peny thâ—y shall heare this sentence Depart from mee yee that worke iniquitie I know you not Thus it is proued not onely to be certaine but necessarie that there should bee a iudgement which we are to vnderstand know and wisely prouide for But some will say seeing men come to their account at their death what needeth any other day of audit or hearing to whom I answere That men at their death receiue but priuate iudgement but heere they shall receiue publike sentence then they are iudged in their soules onely heere they shall be in soule and body This first is but a close sessions the other is an open and solemne assise In the first much of their shame is hid heere they shal be ashamed to the full and vtterly confounded If our owne lawes doe not condemne and execute malefactors in prison but in open place and manner for their greater shame it is great reason that wicked sinners should not priuately in the graues as in prison be iudged and led to execution but be brought to the publike skaffold and barre of solemne sessions there to receiue their shame and sentence together and not to be executed by a close death in the gaole but be brought forth to suffer vpon the high stage of the world in the sight of Saints and Angels where all eyes may see and behold them And that this day cannot be farre off it may appeare both according to the prophecies of holy Fathers as also the truth of the Scriptures Augustine in his booke on Genesis saith against the Maniches That the world should last sixe ages The first from Aadam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to Dauid the fourth froÌ„ Dauid to the Transmigration to Babylon the fift from the Transmigration to the comming of our Sauiour Christ in the flesh and the sixt from the comming of our Sauiour in the flesh to his comming againe to Iudgement So that according to this Prophecie we liue in the last age 1. Iohn 2.18 which last age is called by Saint Iohn the last houre And how long this last houre shall continue Reue. 1.11 he onely that is Alpha and Omega the first and the last knoweth The Hebrewes they boast of the Prophecie of Eliah a great man in those dayes who prophecied that the world should last sixe thousand yeeres two thousand before the Law two thousand vnder the Law two thousand from Christs comming in the flesh to his comming againe vnto Iudgement If this Prophecie bee true then cannot the world last foure hundred yeeres But leauing men and comming to the Scriptures which cannot erre Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 10.11 That wee are they vpon whom the ends of the world are come If therefore the end of the world were come vpon them that liued aboue one thousand and fiue hundred yeeres agoe then surely Doomes day cannot now be farre off Saint Iames saith Iam. 5.9 Behold the Iudge standeth before the dore Saint Iohn Baptist preached repentance to the Iewes saying Matth. 3.2 Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Saint Peter saâ—th 1. Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand Though no man can shew the fingers of this hand The Apostle Saint Iude saith Iude 1.14.15 And Enoch the seuenth also from Adam prophecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute iudgement vpon all and to conuince all that are vngodly among them of all their vngodly deeds which they haue vngodly committed and
of Canaan not through the Land of the Philistims Exod. 13.17.18 although that were neere For God siad lest peraduenture the people repent when they see warre and returne to Egypt but God led the people about thorow the way of the wildernesse of the red sea So God for many causes best knowne to himselfe doth bring his children out of this Egyptian world vnto the spiriutall Canaan which is the kingdome of heauen not the neerest way but by many windings and turnings and the furthest way about euen as it were thorow the red sea of miseries and afflictions that all Gods waues and billowes may goe ouer them Psal 42.7 The Lord can if he please bring them as he doth many other of his children the neerest way to heauen but this further way about is for Gods owne glorie and for his childrens owne good And God as a most wise Father is not euer kissing his childe but many times correcting him and the same God that doth mercifully exalt vs by giuing vs a sweete taste and liuely feeling of his grace and the efficacie of it in vs doth in much loue many times for our health humble vs when hee leaues vs without that sence and feeling in our selues and then doth he cure vs of the most dangerous disease of pride and confidence in our selues settle in vs a true foundation of humilitie cause vs to deny our selues and depend wholly vpon him to cast our selues into the armes of his mercie to hunger for his grace to pray more zealously and with greater feeling of our wants and to set an high price vpon the sence of Gods fauour to make more esteeme of it when we haue it againe and to kill and mortifie some special sinne for which before we had not seriously and heartily repented For when it is his good will and pleasure to make men depend on his fauour and prouidence hee maketh them first to feele his anger and displeasure and to be nothing in themselues to the end they might value and prize their vocation and calling at an higher rate and estimate and wholly and altogether rely and depend vpon him and be whatsoeuer they are in him only This point being then well weighed and considered it is more then manifest that the child of God may passe to heauen euen thorow the very depth and gulfe of hell For the loue fauour and mercie of God is like to a sea into which when a man is cast he neither feeles bottom nor sees banke For thy mercy saith the Psalmist is great aboue the heauens Psal 108.4 and thy truth reacheth vnto the clouds So that touching despaire whether it ariseth of the weaknesse of nature or of the conscience of sinne though it fall out about the time of death it can be but the voice and opinion of their sicknesse and a sicke-mans iudgement of himselfe at such time is not to be regarded and besides it cannot preiudize the saluation of their soules that are effectually called For the gifts and calling of God saith the Apostle are without repentance Rom. 11.29 and those whom God loueth hee loueth to the end and world without end And as for other strange euents which fall out in death they are the effects of diseases Rauings blasphemies and idle speeches arise of the disease of melancholy and phrensies which often happen at the end of hot burning feauers the choler shooting vp to the braine the writhing of the lips turning of the necke and buckling of the ioynts and the whole body proceed of crampes and convulsions which follow after much euacuation and whereas some in sicknesse are of that strength that three or foure can hardly hold them without bonds it comes not alwayes of witchcraft as people commonly thinke but of choler in the veines and whereas some when they are dead become as blacke as pitch it may rise by a bruise or impostume or by the blacke Iaundise or the putrefaction of the liuer and doth not alwayes argue some extraordinary iudgement of God in the wicked it doth but in the godly not Now these and the like diseases with their symptomes and strange effects though they doe depriue man of his health and of the right vse of the parts of his bodie and the vse of reason and vnderstanding yet they cannot depriue his soule of eternal life and happinesse which with the soule of Dauid is bound vp in the bundle of life 1. Sam. 25.29 with the Lord his God in eternall peace and blessednesse And all sins procured by these violent and sharpe diseases proceeding from repentant sinners are sins only of infirmity and weaknesse for which if they knew them and came againe to the vse of reason and vnderstanding they will further repent if not yet they are pardoned and buried in the bloud of Christ and in his death who is their Sauiour and great Bishoppe of their soules 1. Pet. 2.24.25 for he that forgiueth the greater sinnes will also in his children forgiue the lesse And againe wee ought not to stand so much vpon the strangenesse of any mans end when we knew before the goodnesse of his conuersation and life For wee must iudge a man in this case not by his vnquiet death but by his former quiet godly life And if this bee true that strange diseases and thereupon very strange behauiour in death may befall the best childe of God we must then learne to reforme our iudgements of such as lye thus at the point of death The common opinion is if a man lye quietly in his sicknesse and goe away like a lambe which in some diseases as in consumptions and such like lingring diseases any man may doe that then he goes straight-way to heauen though he haue liued neuer so wickedly But if the violence of the disease stirre vp impatiencie and cause in the partie frantick and vnseemely behauiour then men vse to say though hee be neuer so godly that there is a iudgement of God seruing either to discouer an Hypocrite or to plague a wicked man But the truth is farre otherwise for in truth one may die like a lambe and yet goe to hell For the Psalmist saith Psal 7 3.4.5 There are no bonds in their death but their strength is firme they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men And againe another dying in exceeding torments and strange behauiour of the body may goe to heauen examples whereof we haue in that holy and iust man Iob as may appeare throughout his whole booke and in diuers others Gods deare Saints and children Therefore by these strange and violent kinds of sicknesse and death which doe many times happen to the deare Saints of God wee must take great heed that wee iudge not rashly of them in condemning them to be wicked and notorious Hypocrites and offenders for it may be our owne cafe for ought wee know This rash censuring and iudging was the sinne
him to be released and if your selfe belong to God it is best for you also at this time to loose him best I say in the wisdome of God and to some end although not so in your owne reason which seeth not so farre and in all respects best Now thinke with your selfe thus much if you had done good to one and pleasured him much and all the friends he hath or any of them should crie out for it would it not grieue you surely it would grieue you so much the more by how much that vnthankefull dislike should be more vehement and last long So it is with God and therefore see what you doe and whom you moue to anger The Apostles words are plaine All things worke for the best vnto them that feare God if you beleue it and also thinke of your dead friend and your selfe God the holy Ghost who cannot lye concludeth that the same was best both for him and you which now is come to passe When good is done we should not grieue and when the best is done much lesse should we grieue for God calleth him out of this life when he is at his best if he be good that hee turne not to euill if euill that hee waxe not worse Away then with sorrow and sowre lookes and let the Lord for his mercie receiue your thankes from faithfull content and not murmuring and repining from vnbridled affections not onely good is done but the best euen the very best by the best that onely knowes what is best and it should appease and satisfie you God is no lyer neither can he be deceiued but if one houres life might haue been better either for him or you then is not the best done and then the Apostles words are not true but that were wicked once to imagine so Therefore no longer life would haue profited him or you but the very best is done blessed therefore be God for his goodnesse euer Fourthly I consider what the same Apostle saith in another place I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all And I aske of you whether your selfe do not the like as you are able if you doe not you are yet ouer earthly and further in loue with this wicked and sinfull world then you should be If you doe it why then grieue you that your friend hath obtained that which you desire this will seeme rather enuie then loue in you to conceiue dislike for ones well doing What againe if your friend wish as the Apostle doth long before he obtained his request and now the Lord hath granted what he so heartily wished this is mercie to be reioyced for and not any miserie to bee wept for A true friend acknowledgeth a debt for the pleasuring of his friend and is not mooued with anger or griefe for the same stay then your teares if you will bee iudged a friend and neither grudge to God the companie of his child nor to the child the presence of his God because this is wicked Thinke of the glorie company immortalitie and ioy and comfort with the blessed Trinity and all the hoste of heauen that now your friend enioyeth thinke of the woes and miseries in this wretched vale of teares from which he is freed and then iudge you if the Apostle say not true that it is best to be loosed and to be with Christ If this best bee now at this instant fallen to your good friend by Gods good mercie blesse God for it and comfort your self that your friend enioyeth such endlesse ioy and comfort and thereby shall you shew your selfe a friend indeed and all that are godly and wise cannot but thinke well of you Againe the Apostle saith 2. Cor. 5.6.8 That we know that whilest wee are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord therefore we loue rather to remoue out of the bodie and to dwell with the Lord. From which absence from God your friend is freed and by presence and dwelling with God he is now blessed a true cause and a great cause as hath beene said of good content Then doe not you prouoke the Lord with vnthankfull teares sighes and groanes but stay that course which offendeth greatly and tread the steppes of all such as vpon the like occasion haue walked rightly by their discreet mourning Who are euer patient and moderate in sorrow repressing and ruling their affections and gaue them not a loose reine and so ought you Againe in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians it is said I would not haue you ignorant brethren concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not 1. Thess 4.13 as they which haue no hope Reade the place and examine your owne course whether you hope or no. First that your friend is well and then that Almightie God will supply his want to you some other way for both these are necessarie our friends are our comforts if they be good But if I tie God to them and thinke all is gone when they are gone where is my hope what pleasure to God so to trust in him that I trust more in my friends and cry out when they goe how shall I doe how shall I liue what ioy can I now haue Is this hope is this trust is this faith fie that euer affections and passions should carie any good child of God so far from his dutie and from true knowledge I say againe our friends are our comfort while the Lord lendeth them and when our friend returneth to his earth yet the Lord is in heauen where he euer was if I haue lost my father to be my father mother sister friend yea all in all to me whatsoeuer I want Therefore while he liueth which is and shall bee for euer I cannot be friendlesse though my friends die or depart from me but that either for one he will raise me vp another or himselfe supplie the place which is best of all Mourne not then I pray you as one without hope but hearken vnto the Apostle and shew foorth your faith hope and obedience vnto God to the glorie of God and your owne praise Againe wee read in the booke of Leuiticus Leuit. 10.3 that the sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu were slaine by the Lord in his anger for their sinnefull presumption in offering vp strange fire which the Lord commanded them not which was a fearefull sight and spectacle to the fathers eyes to see two sonnes at once and in such sort dead Yet what did Aaron I pray you marke the text I will saith the Lord bee sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified And Aaron saith the holy Ghost there held his peace And what an example is this if any thing may mooue you to stay your affections for the death of your friends Againe it is said in the booke of the Reuelation And I heard a voyce from heauen Reu. 14.13
were reprobate or saued Of which matter saith he it is not for me to determine Our Iudge is his Iudge who will lay all thinges open when the time commeth This in the meane time is certaine that the deede of the man ought in no wise to bee allowed If wittingly I discommend his reason if in a phrenzie as one out of his wit then doe I greatly lament and pitty his case Yet notwithstanding seeing Gods iudgements be secret and wee be likewise in doubt vpon what intent he did thus punish himselfe nor any man can be certaine whether he repented or not before the last breath I think their opinion herein is more indifferent who doe rather disallow the example of the dead then despayre any way of his saluation Otherwise if we will adiudge all these to hell that haue departed the World after this sort how many examples haue we in the first persecutions of the Church of those men and women who being registred in the Works of worthy Writers haue notwithstanding their prayse and commendation For what shall wee thinke of those young men who being sought for to doe sacrifice to heathen Idols did cast down themselues headlong and brake their neckes to auoyde such horrible pollution of themselues What shall I say of those Virgins of Antioch who to the end they might not defile themselues with vncleannesse and with Idolatrie through the perswasion of their mother casting themselues headlong into a riuer together with their mother did for doe themselues though not in the same water yet after the same manner of drowning as this M. Hales did What shall I say of other two sisters which for the selfe same quarrell did violently throw themselues headlong into the Sea as Eusebius doth recorde In whom though perchance there was lesse confidence to beare out the paines that should be ministred of the wicked vnto them yet that their good desire to keepe their faith and religion vnspotted was commended and praysed Another like example of death is mentioned by Nicephorus in another Virgin likewise whose name is expressed in Ierome to bee Braessila Diraehima who to keepe her Virginity fayned her selfe to be a Witch and so conuenting with the yong man which went about to deflowre her pretended that shee would giue him an hearbe which should preserue him from all kind of weapons and so to proue it in her selfe layde the hearbe vpon her owne throat bidding him smite wherby shee was slain so by the losse of her life saued her Virginity Hereunto may bee ioyned the like death of Sophronia a Matron of Rome who when shee was required of Maxentius the Tyrant to be defiled and saw her husband more slacke then he ought to haue been in sauing her honesty bidding them that were sent for her to tarry a while till she made her ready went into her Chamber and with a weapon thrust her selfe through the breast and so dyed Likewise Achetes biting off his owne tongue did spit it in the face of the harlot Which examples sayth M. Fox I doe not here alledge as going about to excuse or mainetaine the hainous fact of M. Hales which I would wish rather by silence might bee drowned in obliuion But yet notwithstaÌ„ding as touching the person of the man what soeuer his fact was because we are not sure whether hee at the last breath repented againe for that wee doe not know nor are able to comprehend the bottomles depth of the graces and mercyes of God which are in Christ Iesus our Sauiour Wee will therefore leaue the finall iudgement of him to the determination of him who is appointed the onely Iudge of the quicke and dead And thus far M. Fox Touching the Cases wherein it is lawfull to desire death they may bee reduced principally into fiue The first is that if God can bee more honoured and glorified by our death then by our life then in such a case it is lawfull to desire death Iudg. 16.28.29.30 In which case Sampson desired death knowing wel therby that he should slay more of the vncircumcised Philistines the enemies of God at his death then he slue in his life In this case Moses the seruant of God desired to dye yea he went further for hee desired not a temporall but an eternall death for the glory of God in the saluation of his people For when Moses perceyued that the Lord was greatly offended with the people for making and worshipping the golden Calfe and that the Lords wrath waxed hote against them and that hee meant to consume them for the same Exod 32.31.32.33 It is sayd that Moses returned to the Lord and sayde Oh this people haue sinned a great sin and haue made them Gods of gold yet now if thou wilt forgiue their sinne and if not blot mee I pray thee out of the booke which thou hast written Also in this case the Apostle Saint Paul went as farre as Moses in desiring the same death for the like cause as Moses did which was for the glory of God in the saluation of his people Who being exceeding much sorrowfull for the Lords reiecting and casting off the Iewes sayth Rom. 9.1.2.3.4 I say the truth I â—…e not my Conscience also bearing mee witnesse in the holy Ghost that I haue great heauinesse and continâ—al sorrow in my heart for I could wish that my selfe were accursed or separated from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsemen according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertayneth the adoption and the glory and the couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and the promises whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came Who is ouer all God blessed for euer Amne In this case also the holy Martyres greatly longed after and desired death and ranne most ioyfully and gladly vnto it Well knowing with Sampson that they should slay more at their death then they slue in their Life as first that they should slay their last enemie by death which is not slaine but by dying And secondly that by dying they should kill the spawne of all enmitie sinne that causeth death and thirdly they knew that God should be more glorified and honoured by their death then hee could be by their life in that it would thereby bee an occasion of daunting his enemies and of the increasing and flourishing of his Church and Children For the death of the Martyrs was the seed of Gods Church Acts and Monuments 113. In which respect M. Foxe in his Acts and Monuments sayth that in old time Martyrdome was more desired then Bishoprickes be now Secondly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the wicked through zeale to Gods glory to the end that wee may bee freede from their society whereby wee might not bee eye-witnesses nor eare-witnesses of theyr dayly blaspheming and dishonouring of God In which case Rebecka desired death Gen. 26.34.35 for when Esau had taken
accounted his life madnesse and his end to bee without honor How is he numbred among the children of God and his lot is among the Saints Therefore haue we erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined vnto vs and the Sunne of righteousnesse rose not vpon vs. Out of which place it may be gathered that if the wicked themselues shall know the children of God after death whom they haue derided mocked scoffed and wronged nay if the wicked shall at that day know Christ himselfe as it is testified in the booke of the Reuelation Reuel 1.7 where it is said Behold he commeth with clouds and euery eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall waile because of him then much more vndoubtedly shal the Saints of God know the same and their Sauiour Iesus Christ and they shall also know one another but the full and certaine truth hereof shall be reuealed vnto vs in the last day and therefore it is not good to approch nearer this holy flame of Gods secrets lest we be therwith consumâ—d nor diue any deeper into this bottomlesse depth for feare of drowning we herein must not be ouer curious but be wise to sobrietie and especially labour to know those things that more concerne vs in this life and that are more euidently discouered vnto vs that we and our children may doe them it is a learned ignorance not to know that which God would haue vs to be ignorant of but it is a pernicious contempt not to bee willing to know that which God would teach vs true wisdome and modestie in the children of God consisteth in opening the eares to learne when Christ openeth his mouth to teach and in not desiring to learne that which hee is vnwilling to reueale vnto vs the holy Scripture is the schoole of the holy Ghost wherein as there is nothing omitted that is necessarie to saluation so is there nothing taught but what is requisite for vs to know Againe cast thy conceit earnestly vpon the description of the holy Citie new Ierusalem Reuel 21.10 come downe from heauen as a Bride prepared for a husband a Citie of solace whose ports are euer patent whose streets are paued with gold and garnished with all manner of pretious stones euer splendent shall this Citie be and there is represented vnto thee a place full of all glorie pleasures and excellencies that hart can imagine and those perdurable euen for euer The first point is to consider what manner of place it is that the blessed Saints doe inhabite 1. King 8.27 it is the heauen of heauens or third heauen called Paradise 2. Cor. 12.2.4 where Christ in his humane nature ascended farre aboue all visible heauens which by the firmament as by an azured curtaine spangled with glittering starres and glorious planets Psal 19.5 is so hid that we cannot behold it with these corruptible eyes of flesh This place therefore the holy Ghost framing himselfe to our weake capacities describes by things most glorious which no man can estimate by things of most value in the account and estimation of men and therefore he doth liken it to a great and holy Citie named the New holy and heauenly Ierusalem Reu. 21.1.2 where onely God and his people who are saued and written in the Lambes booke doe inhabite and dwell all built of pure gold like vnto cleare glasse or Cristall the walles of Iasper stones the foundations of the walles with twelue manner of pretious stones hauing twelue gates each built of one pearle three gates toward each of the foure corners of the world and at each gate an Angell as so many porters to keepe it that no vncleane thing may enter into the same It is foure square therefore it is perfect The length the breadth the height of it are equall twelue thousand furlongs euery way therefore it is spacious and glorious Thorow the middest of the streets there euer runneth a pure riuer of the water of life as cleere a Crystall therefore it is wholesome And on either side of the riuer is the tree of life euer growing which beares twelue manner of fruits and yeelds fruits euery moneth and therefore fruitfull And the leaues of the tree are health to the nations and therefore wholesome There is therefore no place so glorious by creation so bewtifull with delectation so rich in possession nor so comfortable for habitation for there as Saint Augustine saith the King is verity the Law is charitie the dignitie is equitie the place felicitie and the life eternitie It is in sight most high in space most ample and large in matter most sumptuous in shew and bewtie most spetious and glorious there is no night nor darknesse for the Sunne of righteousnesse which knowes not to be hid doth euer send his beames into it It is a place of holinesse and puritie for no vncleane thing shall enter into it Reu. 21.27.16 Reu. 22. It is a place of brightnesse and beawtie for it is as cleare as Crystall It is a place of roomth and largenesse therefore it is said in Baruch Baruc. 3.24.25 O Israel how great is the house of God and how large is the place of his possession great and hath no end high and vnmeasurable And into this pure bright and large place of glorie shall all the Saints of God enter and possesse it So that it is wholy pleasant wholy desirable remoued from all euill and replenished with all good In which as Augustine saith there is a life prepared of God for his friends a secure life a quiet life a beautifull life a cleane life a chaste life a holy life a life that knowes not death a life without streitnsse without necessi ie without sorrow without corruption without perturbation without variety without mutation a life full of beauty and honour Where as Bernard saith there is nothing present that offends nothing absent that delights Now if the Fabricke of this world which is as it were but a stable for beasts a place of exile and valley of teares to men hath so much beautie and excellencie that it strikes him into admiration that doth contemplate it and doeth astonish him and such plentie of good things that no sences can desire more such varietie of beasts birds fishes fountaines townes prouinces cities disegreeing in institutes maners and lawes such choice of all precious stones of value gold siluer and exquisite silkes naturall and artificiall if I say this building of so smal a frame of the Sun Moone and Starres shine with such brightnesse what shall then our heauenly countrie doe not now the habitation of seruants but of sonnes not of beasts but of blessed soules Where is the hall of the great King of kings the omnipotent God who can and will performe to his beloued children much more then they can conceiue And doubtlesse so farre as this wide world exceedes for
heard in mine owne land of thine acts and of thy wisedome how bee it I beleeued not the words vntill I came and mine eyes had seene and behold the one halfe was not told mee thy wisedome and prosperitie exceedeth the fame which I haue heard Happy are thy men happy are these thy seruants which stand continually before thee and heare thy wisedome Now if the queene of Sheba could say so much that the one halfe was not told her and that his wisedome and prosperity exceeded the fame which shee before had heard of him then much more may the child of God truly say when he commeth in his owne person to behold a farre greater then Salomon nay Mat. 12.42 not so much as one quarter of the glory and ioyes of heauen was told him and that the glory and ioyes thereof farre exceed the report fame and description which he hath heard For all the ioyes which we haue heard or can heare of when they are put all together they are all but as one poore drop of water to the maine Ocean sea in comparison of the ioyes which the Saints of God shall behold and enioy in their owne persons in the kingdome of glorie For no man knoweth them but such as enioy them according to that which is said in the booke of the Reuelation To him that ouercommeth Reu. 2.17 I will giue to eate of the hidden Manna and will giue him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth sauing bee that receiueth it Let me but shew you now what S. Augustine speaketh of the ioyes of heauen Wee may sooner tell you saith hee what they are not then what they are And hence it is that the euangelical Prophet Esay saith Isay 64.6 That since the beginning of the world men haue not heard nor perceiued by the eare neither hath the eye seene O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him For there we shall see light that passeth all lights which no eye hath seene there wee shall heare a glorious sound or harmonie which passeth all harmonies which no eare hath heard there wee shall smell a most sweet sent and sauour that passeth all sweet sents and sauours which no sense hath smelt there wee shall taste a most pleasant and delightfull taste that passeth all pleasant tastes which no tongue hath tasted and there we shall finde such pleasure and contentment as passeth all contentments and pleasures which no body euer had Nay I can not hold my heart for my ioy yea I cannot hold in my ioy for my heart to thinke vpon this ioy and glorie and to think that I that am now a silly poore worme vpon earth shall hereafter be a glorious Saint in the kingdome of glorie where is not onely true happinesse but perfection of happinesse not sound ioy onely but fulnesse of ioy which are so absolute and strange that neither eye hath seene to wit eye mortall nor eare hath heard 1. Cor. 2.9 that is eare of man hath not heard the like neither can they enter into our heart though all our hearts were as large euery one 1. King 4.29 as the heart of Salomon which God gaue vnto him euen as large as the sand that is on the sea-shore to conceiue and vnderstand them if they were told vs which are reuealed by the spirit and but lisped out by S. Iohn in those earthly similitudes of gates of pearles of walles of iasper Reu 21.18.19.21,22 and of a street whose pauement is gold as we heard before Dan 12.3 But it may be here obiected But in heauen saith the Prophet Daniel they that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many vnto righteousnesse shall be as the starres for euer and euer Now the firmament hath not so much light as the starres which lighten it and the starres haue lesse light then the Sun that lightneth them from whence therefore it seemeth that in heauen also there should rather be some want then such fulnesse of heauenly ioyes and glorie I answer though in this condition of our heauenly life there may be degrees of glory In my fathers house saith our Sauiour Christ Iohn 14.2 are many mansions yet there shall be no want of glory some may be like the skie some the starres of the skie yet all shall shine some vessels may hold more some lesse and yet all bee full so one may haue more ioy then another there are sundry measures of more or lesse glory in heauen There is one glory of the Sunne saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 15 41 another of the Moone and another glory of the starres for one starre differeth from another in glory but no measure shal lacke his fulnesse of life and glory there where shall be a measure of ioy heaped vp shaken together pressed downe and running ouer And as Bernard very excellently speaketh Luke 6.38 a measure without measure where we shall be filled with ioy yet being filled wee shall still desire lest our fulnesse procure a loathing and in desiring we shall alwaies be filled lest our desire beget a grieuing neither can God giue more nor man receiue more then we shall there enioy for there we shall be replenished and satisfied with such a fulnesse of life glory and happinesse so as wee shall not bee able to desire or to haue any more euen as vessels cast into the water being so filled with water that they can desire or hold no more and he that hath least shall haue enough The reasons hereof are these Hell is contrarie to heauen In hell there is a fulnesse of torment in heauen therefore there must be a fulnesse and perfection of glory and happinesse Secondly earthly kingdomes and the kings therof haue as great an absolutenesse as earth can affoord and giue them and shal we thinke that heauen which can giue an entire wil giue an impefect crowne of righteousnesse and glorie Wil the kings of the earth dwel in base cottages and not in royal Courts and Pallaces and shall these kings of a far better kingdome want ioy and glorie wheras mortall kings haue so great glorie and power Princes on the earth dwell in royall palaces sometimes of Cedar and Iuorie but they whom the Sonne of God hath made kings and priests vnto God his Father Reu. 1.6 as it is in the booke of the Reuelation shall raigne in a glorious citie and pallace whose twelue gates are twelue pearles Reu. 21.18 whose wall is of Iasper and building of gold and whose streetes shine as cleare glasse So said he that saw all this glorie but darkely or as Moyses saw the land of Canaan in a very short mappe or card afarre off as it doth appeare in the booke of Deuteronomie Deut. 34.1,2.3.4 We see but the outward wall of this heauenly Court and City and yet how glorious is it and
saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Your friend is dead in the Lord and therefore blessed will you then weepe and lament for him his workes follow him and the Lord in mercie hath crowned his obedience according to his promise and will you looke awry at it God forbid Againe consider with your selfe that your friends walk with God and are gone to their heauenly Father in peace they are gathered vnto their people they are not dead but sleepe and their flesh resteth in hope they are gone the way of all flesh and doe now behold the face of God in heauen and what cause of sorrow is this to any friend that loueth them If your friend were discharged and released out of prison and miserie and preferred to the palace of an earthly prince and to his Court to his great and exceeding ioy and content would you shewe your loue and contentment toward him in bewailing the same how much lesse then should you lament his preferment into Gods euerlasting Court and kingdome to his vnspeakable ioy and comfort Thus may you gather many places of holy Scripture and on this sort meditate on them For sweet is the word of God against all sorrowes and griefes and by name against this But it may happily be obiected it is your child that is dead and it died before it could well be baptized this grieueth me more then otherwise it would and so you feare your childs estate Answ God forbid that we should either speake or think so seeing the Lord neuer said so but contrariwise the Scripture witnesseth that they are in the Couenant of God and so in state of saluation so soone as they are borne and Baptisme doth not make them Christians that were none before but is the Sacrament the seale the signe the badge of them that are Christians before Besides it is not the want of the Sacrament that depriueth a man of Gods fauour for the children of the Israelites were not circumcised all those fortie yeeres which they liued in the wildernesse the reason whereof was because they were euer to remoue and iourney whensoeuer the pillar of the cloud that was their guide ascended and went forward Numb 9.18 c. so that they were alwaies to attend vpon the cloude both night and day not knowing when it would remooue and therefore could not circumcise their children in the wildernesse as yee may read Iosh 5.2 c. but it is the contemning or despising of the Sacrament that depriueth men of Gods fauour when they make no more account of it then Esau did of his birth-right Gen. 25.32 then Ahaz did of the Lords helpe Esay 7. and it is also the neglecting of it when God offereth time and opportunitie that we might haue it Againe the Lord neuer said that whosoeuer died vncircumcised or vnbaptized should be wiped out of the booke of life but hee hath said Gen. 17.12.14 that whosoeuer contemneth or carelesly neglecteth the Sacraments shal be cut off from among his people And so read you the notes vpon that seuenteenth chapter of Genesis and I hope they shall content you for this matter God is not tyed to the Sacrament nor euer was The contempt hurteth but not the want when it is against your will Obiect Happily your child was of ripe yeeres and withall so toward that it could not be but that he should come to some great place and preferment if he had liued both for the good of himself and his friends and that he in his youth and the flower of his age should thus bee taken away is a great losse say you Answer True it is that the losse is great in respect of the world but what is that if we consider God God is also able to supplie all that some other way if we take it well This is apparant that what good or preferment could haue come to him any way or to his friends if he had liued the Lord for some purpose as yet happily hidden hath preuented but yet his arme is not shortened as I said to doe vs good some other way but it might perhaps prooue otherwise contrarie to our expectation if he had liued longer and then it would haue beene a great griefe vnto vs. But admit that it would haue beene as you hope if he had liued longer yet he is more highly preferred euen to the highest heauens and to the presence of God and this no earthly preferment can match And except we be wholy earthly our selues we cannot but sauour this and not let his youth grieue vs for no youth nor age is too good for God when he is pleased to take them A foole or a child seeing a goodly cluster of grapes thinketh it pitie to put them into the presse to deface them but he that is wise knoweth that thereby the liquour which is in them is preserued and that this timely gathering is a meanes to keepe them from corruption So we thinke sometime Oh it is great pitie such a one should die so soone so towardly a youth so good a creature can hardly be spared but God in his wisedome knoweth it to be good And if he cut off the life of that good and godly king Iosiah as it were in the middle of the stemme 2. Kings 22.20 doubtlesse it is for this cause that his eies may not see the manifold euils to come If you will be ruled to weigh things with reason you may well see mercie euen in this timely death for many are the perils both of bodie and soule that young men auoid when they are taken hence false doctrine heresies errours and many grieuous sinnes wounding the very conscience with a biting worme that euer gnaweth publike calamities and ruine of state many priuate miseries great and grieuous which no man can thinke of beforehand more bitter to good men then any death from all which this happie deliuerance in time of youth doth free your child and set him safe that you shall neuer mourne with him nor for him that way And herein we haue Dauid an example of godly fortitude who hauing a child sicke did while it liued afflict his soule besought God for the child and fasted and wen◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lay all night vpon the earth and would not be comforted Thus while there was hope of remedie he gaue way to the sorrow of his heart 2. Sam. 12.16 but when Dauid perceiued that the child was dead then he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himselfe and changed his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and after came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eate His sorrow ended when he once saw there was no hope of enioying any longer the companie of his child Now this course seemed vnto