thy mouth but record therein day and night Their Lawes should be axioms arising out of their owne deedes but they themselues are the readiest to infring the same Now then when the lease of the liues of these Stewards who hold all their possessions by seruice is expired and shall be summoned by death to appeare before their Land-lord to giue there accounts how beneficially they haue imployed their talents then they will beginne to haue a feeling sense of there owne miserie seeing how ill they did gouerne the people ouer the which the Lord had made them ouerseers We reade that Dauid being chosen of God to feede his people in Iacob and his in heritance in Israell did feede them according to the simplicity of his hart and guided thee by the discretion of his handes These Dauids be few now adaies and as the Poeth saith Rex bonus est sapiens qualem vix repperit vnum Mellibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo A good King and wise such a one as Apollo beeing asked counsell of coulde scarce finde one among all men Yet thanks be giuen to God who by his blessed prouidence hath elected a second Dauid to raigne ouer vs whose loynes are girded with righteousnesse and faithfulnesse the buckle of his raines in whose throne Astraea sits weying euery mans merrits by the equall ballance of their actions whose minde is inuironed against vice with the cleere streames of sweet vertue And therefore sith it hath pleased God to set a temporal transitory crowne of glorie on his head he needs not feare but that in the world to come he shall be crowned with a farre surpassing weight of glorie there shall tast the heauenly Manna and drinke the nectar of ioy But as for other Princes who heere doe tast the Roses of prosperitie shal in the world to come for their wickednesse drinke the worme-wood of aduersitie when they shall recount with themselues that they haue touched the Lords annointed and done his Prophets harme iniured the fatherlesse oppressed the innocent prophaned the sanctuary of God onely delighted themselues with the vaine pompe of this world how can they hope that their impure soules shoulde bee translated to this pure place of endlesse comfort So likewise to descend lower by a lineall degree throughout all the pedigrees of men Behold the Ministerie who haue the ouer-sight of our soules see if they can boldly run vnto the goale of death who haue not ledde theyr liues according to their inioyned vocations The Ministers which should haue two eyes as Gregory saith one of famous learning the other of an vpright godly life many of them haue one of these eyes but want the other And as the same Gregory saith Many declare that in wordes vvhich in life and manners they goe against These haue the eye of learning but want the eye of honest life Yea manie are blinde of both eyes but they be worse then the former For the Ministers should by their endeuours and honest coÌ„uersation reclaime the wicked from the brink of perdition they should inuent medicinable receits against the gostly maladies of sinners they should in the generall famine of spirituall foode prepare with Ioseph abundance of the breade of Angels for the repast of theyr soules Yea they should studie spirituall Phisicke and be trauelled in the scrutinie of the soules diseases and be acquainted with the beating and temper of euery mans pulse they should purge theyr flock from the leaprosie of sinne they should lift vp theyr voyce like a trumpet and shewe the people their offences and the house of Iacob theyr sinnes They are the Prophets of the Lord that shal bring the messages from the Mountaines and proclaime peace They be the light of the VVorlde the salt of the earth they be watch-men which for Sions sake should not holde theyr tongues for Ierusalems sake should not cease Nowe when they shall remember that they haue beene dumbe dogges which did not bark wheÌ„ the wolues did teare their flocks And as Gregory saith Thou hast seene the wolfe and hast escaped saying by chance I haue escaped all Thou hast escaped because thou hast kept silence Thou hast been heere in body thou hast escaped in spirit Or as Saint Bernard saith when they shall remember they were Ministri Christi sed serni anti Christi or call to mind the straight commandemeÌ„t giuen by christ to Peter to feede Christes flocke and they haue been rather wolues theÌ„ shepheards which did rather fleece and oppresse them then protect them when they did imitate Souldiers in habit husbandmen in gaine indeede they were neither because they did neither fight against the Wolues as Souldiers nor as husbandmen labour in Gods Vineyarde nor as Clarkes preach the Gospell in the Church and while they desire both they confound both As Bernard saith therefore their consciences will be perplixed their mindes distracted nor shall they perceiue the melodious harmonie of excusing thoughts or perswade themselues of that comfortable assurance that the opening of the booke will showe that their names are written in heauen or shall they tast that continuall feast of a cleere conscience the soules blessed banquet they shall wring their hands for griefe when they might haue clapt for ioy they shall tremble when they might haue triumphâ—d they shall weepe when they might haue laught they shall wish that the Mountaines would couer them hide them from the sight of God and these bee the causes why so vnwillingly they yeeld to dy yea euen wheÌ„ their forces languish their senses impaire their body droupeth and on euery side the ruinous cottage of their fraile body threatneth a fall yea when they may behold their grasse wasted their grapes gathered their house broken and nothing remaining but the stocke of the grapes the skinne of the flesh and but one only blast of life yet notwithstanding they will say with Callimachus I am too old to liue and too young to die and they are afraid to close vp their eies when they heare the Bell of death knelling in their eares but had rather fight still in this Campe of miserie then by deaths paspot to bee conducted out of this world They had rather with Aristippus prolong life then with Socrates yield to die and the causes bee these because they haue not beene carefull in their functions but haue beene carelesse in their liues dissolute in their actions they were not the instruments of God hauing a sound to teach well but the bones of the deuill because they did want the feeling and therefore they hauing deuoted their liues only to the deuill their conscience doe assure them that they hauing gorged the deuill with the fairest fruites of their liues God will not feede vppon the scrappes of his leauings gleane the reproofe of his haruest and therefore they bee vnwilling to depart out of this life But to passe ouer the spirituall gouernors and come to ciuell Magistrates The Lawyers
in store eate drinke and take thy rest VVho would endure the mocks and scornes of the world who would be rosted with Laurentius or martyred with the Apostles vnlesse they hoped that after the vessel of theyr bodies were seasoned in the wombe of the earth they should arriue at that blessed vndiscouered country where is no mediocritie of ioy no end of pleasure So then we Christians who are illuminated with the bright sunny beames of Christs Gospell wil reiect such Epicurian opinions of godlesse Atheists who belieue there is no resurrection no crowne of glorie remaining for them after theyr life is ended but S. Paul teacheth vs an other lesson For saith he if the dead be not raised then is Christ not risen if Christ be not risen thē our fayth is in vaine And in another place If in this life we haue hope onely then of all men we be most miserable So Iob saide when hee was ouerwhelmed with a sea of sorrowe I am certaine that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise out of the earth in the latter day and that I shall be clothed againe with this skinne and see GOD in my flesh yea I my selfe shal behold him not with other but with these same eyes This poynt of religion concerning our resurrection the very Heathen VVriters haue approoued for thus Cato speaking to Scipio Laelius in Ciceros booke De senectute saith Doost thou thinke that I would haue vndertaken so great labors both by day and night both at home and at the warre if my glory should haue had the same limits which my life hath So Plato in his Booke De animae immortalit saith That the soule of man is immortall and that it shall liue in another world So Socrates when he did drinke the venemous poyson with which he should breake of the feeble thred of mortalitie said I am sure that my soule shall liue and that my body shall arise in the second neuer dying birth But why doe I spend my time in a matter so needlesse to be confirmed sith the scripture the oracles of wisdome be so plentifull of proues all VVriters doe defend this vndeniable veritie for who can denie but that there is a resurrection and a reward reserued for them which die in the Lord if that this life were the only Paradise where we should take our delights who would not desire a long life with Methusalah or store of wealth with Salomon or honor with Haman but wee that knowe this earth to bee nothing else but an element of sorrowe this world to be but a Hydra of renewing cares will not place our eternall affaires and treasures of heauen vpon the gliding streame of this vncertaine life For we are surely perswaded that after the houre glasse of this momentary life is runne out we shall be imparadized in heauen and made free Denizers in that celestiall Ierusalem whose ioyes and praises doe superabound all inhumaine inuention to comprehend for so sayth Saint Gregorie No man is able to tell how great the ioyes of the heauenly Cittie shall be Because as Saint Bernard sayth the dishes of the heauenly banquet are so great that they cannot be measured so long that they cannot be limitted so many that they cannot be numbred and so precious that they cannot bee esteemed Yet notwithstanding that those ioyes be inestimable and innumerable we shall be certaine to inioy them after this life is finished For so sayth Saint Paule when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed wee knowe wee haue a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens there shall wee haue ioyes without measure pleasures without end We shall sayth Saint Augustine see without wearinesse we shall loue with-measure and shall giue praises without end Then shall Dauid tast how sweete the Lord is I am sure sayth hee I shall see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing These ioyes and the hope of the fruition of that blessed future life doth inbolden and harden a true Christian against his fatall houre willingly and ioyfully to leaue this world which is valles miseriae as Augustine sayth that hee may see the new Ierusalem that blessed companie of Angells whose glory whose praises whose blessednesse whose delights no tongue is able to expresse no heart to conceiue Yet that I might giue you a tast of those ioyes and as it were a shaddow of the Sunne shine of that glory which we shall possesse after the dissolution of our earthly bodies I will recite a few things which I haue reade in the Scriptures and in other places concerning the blessednesse of that happie life for the ioyes of heauen bee the onely causes which doe mooue and incite vs to liue godly in this present life For what doth make the laborer to worke but his hire The husbandman to toyle but the hope of a good haruest The Souldier to fight but the hope of victory and of obtaining of a Garland so in like manner what doth stirre vp mortall men to liue religiously and louingly to welcome the approach of death but only the confident hope of that hire which none of them by vertuall merrits shall deserue The hope of that good haruest wherein they shall reape all contentment of minde The hope of that wished victory and precious Garland wherewith they shall bee adorned and florish like Angelis These bee the true motiues and inducements which doe giue alacrity and bold spirits to vndergoe the pangs of death willinly and encourage and animate all timerous and fleshly minded persons to bee delighted and theyr eares tickled with musick in the daunce of death when they shall seriously consider they shal passe from death to life from mortalitie to immortality from miserie to ioy from pertill to securitie frō bondage to libertie from aduersitie to prosperitie and in fine from hell and damnation to blisle and saluation Howbeit that I may giue some kind of sauour and feeling knowledge thereof which may allure fearefull men cheerefully to expect and patiently to suffer the Iayler Death to lock vp the windowes of the prison house of theyr soules I intend heere to rehearse euen worde for worde what S. Augustine saith in one of his Meditations namelie the 22 meditation speaking of the felicitie of the future life O life sayth hee prepared by almighty God for his friends a blessed life a seeure life a quiet life a beautifull a cleane life a chast life a holy life a life that knoweth no death a life without sadnes without labour without griefe without trouble without corruption without feare without varietie without alteration a life replenished with all beautie and dignitie where there is neither enemie that can offend or delight that can annoy where loue is prefect and no feare at all where the day is euerlasting the spirit of all is one where almightie God is seene face to face who is the onely meate
they make the lawes and statutes limetwiggs to catch the simple which should bee as it were Sea-markes to auoyde shipwracke for ignorant passengers they studdie for to inuent pollicie how to palliate committed disorders The Iudges imitate Samuels songs which did not walke in their fathers waies but tooke bribes and rewards to peruert right The widdowes complaine the Orphans are wronged the poore are not regarded And as Isidorus saith through the loue of desire lawes are of no force hee that hath to giue hath also to gouerne And as Saint Augustine saith a fat Hen doth more preuaile with Iudges then iustice and money more then innocencie They will not regard any plea vnlesse the euidence containes golden eloquence But there is another commaundement giuen them in Deutronomie Wrest not the law nor know any person neither take any rewards for giftes blind the wise and peruert the words of the righteous as there is a common axiom among the Canonists Ni nire non debet esse acceptio personarum the Iudges and Lawyers should not regard the great men more then the poore nor the plaintifes bagges more then the defendants in forma pauperis Woe be vnto them that make vnrighteous lawes whereby the poore are oppressed Woe vnto that abominable Cittie whose Rulers are as roaring Lyons whose Iudges are as Wolues in the Eucning these threatnings out of the Scripture will make the Lawyers timerous to die when they shall recount with themselues how oft they haue trangressed these diuine lawes how many bribes they haue receiued to giue vniust sentence how oft they haue stopt their eares against the crie of the needie how oft they haue heard the accuser would not hearken to the accused Reiecting Alexanders graue iudgement who did alwaies stop one of his eares when any one did complaine againe another saying this care I lend the accuser the other I reserue for the excuser When I say they shall record their publicke and priuate iniuries their conniuence at manifest faults and too much seueritie at small crimes their vnlawfull condemnations and their partiall absolutions I say these committed offences will so examinate them and strike such a terror into them when the streame of their life runneth at a low ebbe and the date of their life heere in this world is expired and they entering into the kalends of death then they will sit quiuering for feare and knocke at the doore of their conscience and there summon a quest of inquirie for their sinnes and when they shall come to appeare at the Bar of consideration and there be arrained they shall answere as prisoners at the Barre guiltie guiltie And this is the reason why they are so vnwillingly to depart out of this life in like manner the Tradesmen who are customers to the world who haue gotten false ware sutable to the shoppe of such Marchants whose traficke is to toile whose wealth trash whose gaine miserie they I say are vnwilling to depart this life because by their fraudulent dealings they haue purchased an ill conscience which doth make them sleepe like the Nightingalls who alwaies sleepe with a prickt against their brest so doe they sleepe or rather slumber hauing a pricking conscience It alwaies registreth their misdeedes showing them their offences and so they haue no confident perswasiion that their election is sure Also the husbandmen who haue long time tilled the earth and by the sweat of their labours haue increased their worldly possessions now perceiue by the infirmitie of their body they bee not able any more to endure the churlish entertainment of the world or to prolong the tedious line of life and recount with themselues what infinite paines they haue vndergone for to obtaine worldly riches and neuer laboured one houre in the field of Gods Church to possesse beauenly treasures sowing the seedes of repentant sorrowe and watering them with the teares of contrition that they might reape a more beneficiall haruest and gather the fruits of endlesse comfort Then they will thinke with them selues that it is an vnseasonable time to alter the course of their vnthriuing husbandry when in the Aprill of theyr yeeres they might haue brought foorth the flowers fruites of saluation and these be the causes why they be vnwilling to depart out of this life and dare not say with father Simeon O Lord cōmaund that my Soule may depart in peace Nor dare not cry out with Dauid the pyller of mother Sion who liued in the child-hood of the Church when the clowde of the Law did ouershadow the appearance of the Sun in fulnesse of comfort before Christ had opened the store-house of ioy and yet he beeing wearie of his life and the burden of his body cryed out Oh howe long shall I liue in this prison And Paule the notable organ of the holy Ghost singeth the same long with Dauid saying ô wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of sinne So did Father Ieremie wish that the wombe had serued for his tombe And so did Esay be waile his birth and murmured against the knees that held him vp the breasts that gaue him sucke For they knew that the worlde was but a sea of sorrow and our life like vnto a new ship put into the sea fleeting to the bottomlesse swallow where as the tempestuous winds and waues of this world doe beate vppon and alwaies threaten a drowning of life but whē this fraile mortall life seemes to haue brokē her wings by the force of death then presently as immortall shee taketh her flight and lands at a good port VVhy therefore should wee desire to adde more feathers to the wings of time sith after our dissolution we shal be made liuely members fully knit in our body Christ Iesus Ay but a man will say if I were fully perswaded that I should bee made partaker of this beauenlie life I would willingly desire to die and wish that the feeble threds of my life would euery howre vntwine But now my guiltie conscience doth accuse mee my ill ledde life doth terrifie me and all my wicked deedes doe so molest my mind that I am afraide to die Sure this serious consideration of our former offences dooth much amaze a good grounded christian when hee lies vppon his dying bed wayting for the rufull diuorcement of his body and soule hauing a fettered conscience which alwaies will assure him that he hauing been a sluggish drone in the hiue of Christes Church shall not tast the sweetnes of pleasure nor the hony combe of comfort in the heauenly Citty but hee shall bee glutted with the sower grape of persecution of Gods wrath and these hellish torments that he hauing been a carelesse Marriner in this world and alwaies the shippe of his body remaining in the scope of the wicked wind and vveather of this world the Pirate the deuill shall make shipwracke of his saluation and so hee perrish vppon the rocks of eternall ruine But