haue at large obserued in the first diuision Matth. 25.6 The foolish Virgins supposed the Bridegroome would not come like a bat in the night there is time enough said they to repent what needs all this hast But poore fooles they were excluded Many thousands are now no doubt in hell who purposed in time to haue repented but being preuented by death are fallen into the burning lake there to be tormented for euer Therefore let vs esteem it as an imminent danger to liue in that estate wherein we would be loath that death might finde vs. Secondly bad customes are dangerous and greatly to be feared Hee that from his youth hath wickedlie in his old age shall haue sinne in his bones Iob 20.11 his bones saith Iob are full of the sinnes of his youth which shall ly downe with him in the dust Sinnes are not like diseases in the body the older the sorer but saith Saint Augustine the older the sweeter and yet the more toothsome the more troublesome The Disciples of Christ could not cast out a foule spirit that had remained in one from his childehood Mark 9.18.21 hee that hath had long possession will plead prescription a custome long retained is not quickly changed and therefore it is very dangerous not to repent before we can sin no more Thirdly we must remember that the longer we continue in sin without repentance the further wee runne from God And there is no great likelyhood that hee that hath beene running from God forty fiftie or perhaps three or foure score yeares together and with the Prodigall runneth into a farre Countrey can returne againe in the space of six dayes six howers six minutes for it may bee his sicknes vnto which time he deferreth his repentance will not be so long as the shortest of these times how then is it possible to turne in time to our God by repentance Neither is this a worke of one day or two as it is said in the book of Ezra in another case Salomon giueth a young man counsell to remember his Creator in the daies of his youth Ezra 10.13 earely to begin repentance that is in the prime and bud of his life Eccle. 12.1 while hee is fresh and gallant and not to tarry till the dead winter of age cause his buds to fade and leafe to fall or till the brawne of his strong armes fall away or till the keepers of the house the hands which defend the body tremble or til euery thing bee a burthen feeing euen then the grasse-hopper shall bee a burthen or till they wax darke the eyes that looke out at the windowes or till the grinders cease that is his teeth fall out of his head or till the doores of his lippes bee shut and iawes fallen or till the daughters of singing the eares be abased being not able any longer to heare the voice or sound of Instruments or till it bee too late to knocke Eccle. 12.3.4 when the Lords doore is made fast Mat. 25.10.12 and there shall bee no more opening And lest this young man should thinke the terme of his age which Salomon cals the euill day or time to be the most conuenient time and terme of beginning repentance in the verses following he brings the old man deafe blinde lame short-winded full of aches and diseases in his body trembling vpon his staffe his lippes and hands shaking without memorie and almost robbed of his sences as if hee should say looke my sonne is this man fit to learne or repent who cannot heare speake see goe nor remember Thus Salomon schooleth his young man Exod. 2.22.29 Further God requiring the first borne for his offering and the first fruites for his seruice doth no doubt require the prime and maiden-head of euery mans worke Leuit. 23.10 and that we should repent betimes and serue him with our first and best meanes It is for yong men to beleeve And therefore the ordinary Creede which is both for yong old saith I doe beleeue In the Leuiticall temple there was a morning offering as well as an euening sacrifice And when the Angell of the couenant stirreth the poole that is offereth saluation not he that is oldest Iohn 5.2 but he that steppes in first yong or old is healed Eph. 5.16 Colos 4.5 Some say that youth must haue a time but Christians must redeeme the whole both of youth and yeares For here God will not be satisfied with the first fruits as in the legall Priest-hood but must haue the whole crop of time offered to him in his seruice and performance of his commandements Elisha could say to his seruant is this a time to take rewards And amidst the pangs of death is that a time to thinke of amendement of life Againe let vs remember that in time of sicknesse wee thinke most vpon that which wee most feele Death doth besiege vs sinne affrighteth vs our wiues grieue vs our children with-draw vs being many waies distracted how shall we then repent and amend Being then at the weakest how can we resist Sathan who is then at the strongest Our repentance then will be late repentance and late repentance is neuer or very seldome true repentance according to this saying sera poenitentia rarò est vera sed vera poenitentia nunquam est sera late repentance is seldome true but true repentance is neuer too late Also those repentance◠that men frame to themselues at the last houre are but false conceptions that come not to bearing for in such repentance men forsake not their sinnes but their sinnes forsake them It will be too late to come to the kay when the ship is launched too late to transplant trees when they be many yeares growne too late to season flesh when it crawleth with wormes too late to mend a house when it is on fire so stands the case with him that hath liued long in sinne without repentance Such as by their prophannesse doe wilfully refuse the offer of Gods mercy and do prefere their pleasures and profits before it may runne so farre that all the meanes they can vse shall neuer obtaine mercy at the hands of God I say as there is a time in the which the Lord will wooe vs yea he sends his Ministers to intreat vs hee will chide and expostulate the matter with vs why we will not accept of his mercy O Ephraim saith the Lord what shall I doe vnto thee Hos 6.4 O Iuda what shall I doe vnto thee So there is and will be a time that after the refusing of grace and contemning of mercy offered the Lord will shut vp and bolt the gate of mercie so as he will not be entreated at our hands any more This is proued vnto vs by the Prophet Dauid in one of his Psalmes Psal 95.7.8 where he exhorts the people that they will take and accept the time the Lord offers them lest it come to passe by their
answered with thankes thou onely hast looked on me with open and true iudging eyes Saint Ambrose saith How far will ye great men stretch your couetise Will ye dwell alone vpon the earth and haue no poore man with you Why put you out your fellow by kinde and challenge to your selfe the possession common by kinde in common to all for high and lowe rich and poore the earth was made Why will ye rich change proper right herein Kinde knoweth not riches that bringeth forth all men poore for we be not got with rich cloathes and borne with gold ne with siluer naked he bringeth them into the world needy of meat and drinke and cloathing naked the earth taketh vs as she naked brought vs hither She cannot close with vs our possession in sepulcher for kinde maketh no difference betweene poore and rich in comming hither ne in going hence All in one manner he bringeth forth and in one manner he closeth in graue Who so will make difference between poore and rich abide till they haue a little while lyen in graue then open looke among dead bones Lam. 4.5 who was rich and who was poore but if it be thus that more cloathes rot with the rich then with the poore and that doth harme to them that are then liuing not profiting them that be dead And it may be that the wormes shall feede more sweetely on the rich Iob. 24.20 then on the poore But thou wilt say saith Saint August I am not such a one as he is God forbid I should be so he is base and beggerly I am high honorable and rich tell me not saith Saint August The ods of your apparell or other externall things but marke ye the qualitie of nature remember the day of your birth and the day of your death There is no difference in the one or the other both weake both miserable for all of all sorts and conditions are made of one mold and one matter of clay and earth whose foundation is in the dust which shal be destroyed before the moth It is true that as there is difference of starres though all made of the same matter and difference of mettals some gold Iob. 4.19 some siluer some lead some tinne but all made of one earth and differences of vessels some gold some siluer 2 Tim. 2.20 some wood some earth and some to honor and some to dishonor but all made of the same mould so are there differences of bodies some more excllent then other and made of purer earth but yet all subiect to corruption as the matter is whereof they are made It being the body then that dyeth and seeth corruption one must dye as well as an other For as great men haue no priuiledge from error nor protection from reproofe for their faults blameable so haue they no priuiledge from Death For all men haue one entrance into the world a like danger in life the same necessity of death respect cannot change nature nor circumstance alter substance a great man is a man a man hath a body and a soule both haue their diseases which greatnesse can neuer diminish but oftentimes augments And therefore in a bodily infirmitie of some noble personages the Phisition takes them in hand not as noble men but as men Physick they must haue although with better attendance more exquisite and costly medicines and skilfuller Doctors then the poorer sort haue Therefore doe they thinke because they liue better and are in better estate and haue better meanes to preserue life then poore men that therefore they shall liue longer and what difference concerning death betweene a noble man and a begger when both goe to one place All goe to one place saith the Preacher all are of dust Eccl. 3.20 and all turne to dust againe When in these acts and scenes of seeming life as at a game at chesse the highest now vpon board may presently be lowest vnder board And the breath in the nostrels of the rich man may as soone be stopped and they as soone turne to the dust as other men Deaths cold impartiall hands are vsed to strike princes and pesants and make both alike Therefore in this respect the case of the rich and poore great and small high and low may be resembled to the play or game at Chesse Heare this therefore all ye people giue eare all yee Inhabitants of the world both low and high Psal 49.1.2 rich and poore together For while the play indureth there is great difference in the men greater respect had to some then to others but whē the Check-mate is giuen play ended then the men are tumbled together and put vp into the bag frō whence they were taken out and the lesser men vppermost many times there being no difference And so it is in this world There is great differēce in men greater respect had to some then to others as it is meet to be but when death cōmeth as surely it will come to all sorts then there will be no such differēce in the graue neither doth Death know any such difference for hee spareth none the yong as well as the old dyeth the Lambes skinne is brought to the market as well as the olde Crones the rich as well as the poore the Prince as wel as the subiect for there is no difference in the mould from the rich Crowne of Kings to the poore beggers crutch from him that sitteth on a Throne of glory vnto him that is humbled in earth and ashes from him that weareth Purple and a Crowne Eccle. 40.3.4 vnto him that is cloathed with a linnen frocke Reu. 20.12 Saint Iohn in his vision in the booke of the Reuelation saw the dead arraigned at the barre of the great Iudge both great and small Matth. 27.33 olde and young In Golgotha are skulls of all sizes saith the Hebrew prouerbe Death attendeth youth behinde vshereth old age and walketh before it and it is hard at hand to all and to all sorts All must grinde to greete Princes are old cold and chillerie Princes as well as others must decay and weare away Againe in this respect they may be resembled to Actors of a Comedy vpon a stage wherein one acteth the part of a prince an other of a Duke another of an Earle another of a Nobleman another of a Gentleman another of a Magistrate another of a Merchant another of a Countreyman another of a seruant euery one acteth a seuerall part And so long as they are vpon the stage so long there is respect according to their parts had one of another but when the Comedy is ended and the stage pulled downe then there is no such respect had amongst them Yea many times he that plaies the basest part is the best man So likewise so long as men doe act sundry parts vpon the stage of this world that is so long as men doe liue in seuerall vocations and callings so long
ending he is the way in our peregrination truth in deliberation life in remuneration the way whereby our pathes are directed the truth whereby our errours are corrected and the life whereby our fraile mortalitie is eternized Therefore you may not looke to leape out of your mothers warme wombe into your fathers hot ioy Matt. 10.24.25 For the disciple saith our Sauiour is not aboue his master nor the seruant aboue his Lord you must for a while endure death that you may be dignified I had almost said deified and surely you shall be neere it Iohn 1.13 For we are borne of God saith the Euangelist and we shall be fashioned like vnto the glorious bodie of Christ for hee shall change our vile bodie Phil. 3.21 that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie and we shal follow the Lambe saith the holy Ghost Reuel 14.4 whithersoeuer hee goeth And now tell me in lieu of all I haue said if death doeth thus diuide vs from all euill and bring vs into all good if death bee like vnto the gathering hoste of Dan Numbers 2.31 Numb 10.25 Ioshua 6.9 that commeth last to gather vp the loste and forlorne hope of this world that they may bee found in a better whether is it better to liue in sorrow or to die in solace Let Agamades and Trophonius assoile the doubt of whom it is writen by Plato in his Axiaco that after they had builded the temple of Apollo-Delphick they begged of God that he would grant to them that which would bee most beneficiall for them who after this suite made went to bed and there tooke their last sleepe being both found dead the day after in token that the day of death is better then the day of life this being the entrance into all misery and that the end of all misery yea our dissolution is nothing else but aeterni natalis the birth day of eternitie as Seneca calles it more truly then he was aware For this dissolution giues to our soules an entrance and admission into the most blessed societie of eternall glorie with God himselfe for what other thing is death to the faithfull but the funerall of their vices and the resurrection of their vertues Christians therefore one would thinke need not as pagans consolations against death but death should serue them as a consolation against all miserie But you will here obiect and say me thinkes I am called backe too timely out of this life Psal 102.24 God snatcheth me a way in the midst of my dayes I might yet liue longer for I am young and in my blood I feare therefore lest this be a signe of the wrath of God Psal 55.23 seeing it is written Bloudie and deceitfull men shall not liue out halfe their dayes I answere there is no time now to consult with flesh and blood but readily to obey the heauenly call And for your few yeeres Seneca saith well He that dieth when he is young is like him that hath lost a dye wherewith hee might rather haue lost then wonne more yeeres might haue ensnared you with more sinnes and haue hardened you in your impenitencie to the hazard of your life in this world and your soule in another And for the flower of your youth if you compare it with eternitie whether now you are going and ought to long after it indeed all are equally young and equally old For the most extended age of a man in this world is but as a point or minute and the most contracted can bee no lesse And Iesus the sonne of Sirach saith Eccl. 41.13 A good life hath but few dayes nothing is too timely with God which is ripe Long life truly is the gift of God and the hoarie head a crowne of glory saith the Wiseman if it be found in the way of righteousnesse Pro. 16.31 Yet short life is not alwaies a token of the wrath of God seeing God sometime commands the godly also and those that are beloued of him to depart timely out of the house of this world that beeing freed from the danger of sinning they may be setled in the securitie of not sinning neither be constrained to haue experience of publike calamities more grieuous oftentimes then death it selfe An immature and vntimely death for a man to be taken away before he be come to the full period of his life that by the course of nature and in the eye of reason he might haue attained vnto is a thing that may betide good men and not be a curse to them Esay 57.1 The righteous man perisheth and no man layeth it to his heart saith the Prophet the mercifull man is taken away namely vntimely For if they died in a full age it were not blame-worthy for a man not to consider it in his heart Iacob knew this full well that vntimely death belongeth to Gods children for when Iosephes party-coloured coat was brought to him all bloudie it is said that he knew it Gen. 37.33 It is my sonnes coate saith hee some euill beast hath deuoured him Ioseph is without doubt rent in pieces So Abiah Gen. 44.28 the sonne of Ieroboam falling sicke Ieroboam sending his wife to the Prophet Abiiah with presents 1. Kings 14.1.2.3.6.12.13.17.18 to tell her what should become of the childe when shee was come the Prophet told her that he was sent to her with heauie tidings Arise thou therefore saith he get thee to thine owne house and when thy feete enter into the Citie the childe shall die and all Israel shall mourne for him bury him for he only of Ieroboam shall come to the graue because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam Now this truth is confirmed vnto vs by two arguments the one drawne from the malice of the wicked against the godly the other from the mercie of God to the godly For the first the wicked through their malice seeke by all meanes to cut off the godly because their wickednesse and sinfull life is reproued by their godly conuersation neither can they follow their sins so freely as they would nor quietly without detection or checke The Apostle saith Cain 1. Iohn 3.12 that wicked one cut off and slew his brother Abel and wherefore slew he him because his owne workes were euill Gen. 37.2 and his brothers good The Patriarches sold Ioseph their brother and sent him out of the house of his Father because hee was a meanes that they were checked for their euill sayings And this is that we haue in the booke of Wisdome Therefore the vngodly men say let vs lye in wait for the righteous Wisd 2.12.14.15.16.18.19.20 because he is not for our turne but is cleane contrary to our doings he vpbraideth vs with our offending the law and obiecteth to our infamie in the transgression of our education Hee was made to reproue our
knowledge of the greatest Clearke in the world The very heathen thought this to bee one great benefite that men especially wise men had by death that their knowledge was perefected in the other world and that none could possibly attaine to perfect wisedome knowledge vntill they came thither How much more should wee count this an inestimable glorie and benefite that in the life to come wee shall haue the perfect knowledge of heauenly things yea and of all things in the Kingdom of Heauen yea we shall know God with a perfect knowledge so farre as Creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator Wee shall know the power of the Father the wisedome of the Sonne the grace of the holy Ghost and the indiuisible nature of the blessed Trinity And in him we shall know not onely all our friendes who dyed in the faith of Christ with vs but also all the faithfull that euer were or shall bee For first our Sauiour Christ tells the Iewes in the Gospell of Saint Luke that they shall see Abraham Isaacke and Iacob Luk. 13,28 and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God and you your selues thrust out Then if the wicked shall know the godly much more shall we know them Gen. 2.23 Secondly Adam in his Innocency knew Eue so soone as hee awaked out of his sleepe to bee bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh much more then shall wee know our kindred and friendes in the faith when wee shall awake and bee perfected and glorified in the Resurrection Mat. 27.52.53 Thirdly the Apostles knew Christ after his resurrectioÌ„ and the Saints which arose with him and appeared in the holy City Mat. 17.4 as is recorded by the Evangelist S. Mathew therefore we shall know one another then Fourthly Peter Iames and Iohn knew Moses and Elias in the transfiguration of Christ much more shall wee know one another in our glorification Luk. 16.23 Fiftly Dines knew Lazarus a farre off in Abrahams bosome much more shall one child of God know another in the Kingdome of God Sixthly our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell of S. Mathew sayth vnto Peter Mat. 19.28 and the rest of his Apostles verelie I say vnto you that yee which haue followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory yee also shall sit vpon twelue thrones iudging the twelue Tribes of Israel But this place of Scripture being somewhat obscurely vttered Our Sauiour Christ there alluding to the present state of things the number of the twelue Tribes of Israel and of the twelue Apostles the Apostle Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians expresseth more plainely and clearely applying it in generall to all the faithfull vnder the New Testament Affirming that the Saints shall iudge the World 1 Cor. 6,2,3 Yea euen the Angells that is to say Wicked and Vngodly men and wicked and vngodly Spirites And hence Tertullian notably comforteth and encourageth the Martyres that were in durance dayly expecting the Iudges comming to receiue sentence of death perhaps saith he the Iudge is looked for yea but you shall iudge your Iudges your selues But heere by the way wee are to vnderstand that the authoritie of iudgment doth not belong either to the Apostles or Saints and that in their manner of iudgement they resemble Iustices who at an Assise are in a manner Iudges and yet giue no sentence but onely approue the sentence that is giuen The Iudges for the time haue the whole authoritie the Iustices on the Bench are but Assistants and witnesses the definitiue Iudgement is proper to our Sauiour Christ Acts 10.42 who is the supreme Iudge himselfe For he it is 2. Tim. 4.1 saith the Apostle Saint Peter that was ordained of God to bee the Iudge of the quicke and the dead and he it is saith Saint Paul that shall iudge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdome The Apostles and Saints are not Iudges but as Iudges hauing no voice of authoritie but of consent So that although our Sauiour Christ our head principally and properly shall be the Iudge yet we that are his members shall haue a branch of his authoritie and shall be as it were ioyned in commission with him so the Bench and not the Barre is our place there in heauen which is part of our glory and ioy Then if the Saints shall be assisting in iudging wicked men and wicked spirits it then followeth that they shall know the wicked from the good the goats from the sheep and then much more shall they know their fellow-Iustices and Commissioners And the Apostle Paul confiâ—meth this in these words before alledged saying But then shall I know 1. Cor. 13.12 euen as I also am knowne And Augustine out of this place comforteth a widow assuring her as in this life shee saw her husband with external eyes so in the life to come she should know his heart and what were all his thoughts and imaginations Then husbands and wiues looke to your thoughts and actions for all shall one day be manifest Seuenthly Gen. 25.8 Gen. 35.29 2. King 22.20 The faithfull in the old Testament are said to be gathered to their Fathers therefore the knowledge of our friends remaineth Eightly The Apostle Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 13.8 That loue neuer falleth away therefore knowledge one of another being the ground thereof remaines in another life Rom. 2.5.6 Ninthly The Apostle saith That the last day shall be a declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will render to euery man according to his deeds Eccles 12.14 And the Preacher saith That God shall bring euery worke to iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill And in the booke of the Reuelation it is said Reuel 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to giue to euery man according as his workes shall bee Then if euery mans worke shall be brought to light much more the worker Matt. 12.36 And if as it is in the Gospell wicked men shall account for euery idle word much more shall the idle speakers themselues bee knowne for if the persons bee not knowne then in vaine shall their workes be made manifest and knowne then if the wicked shall be knowne as well as their wicked works much more shall the Saints know one another Tenthly and lastly it is said in the booke of Wisdome Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldnesse Wisd 5.1,2,3,4,5,6 before the face of such as haue afflicted him and made no account of his labours when they see it they shall be troubled with terrible feare and shall be amazed at the strangenesse of his saluation so farre beyond all that they looked for and they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselues This was hee whom we had sometime in derision and a prouerbe of reproach We fooles