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
will haue his course they both keepe their old wont Since the first diuision of waters the Sea hath beene accustomed to ebbe and flow who hath euer hindered it And since the first corruption of Nature Death hath beene accustomed to slay and destroy who hath resisted it Other customes haue and may be abolished a King may command and it is done but what Monarch so absolute what Emperour so potent that can abrogate within his Dominions this custome of dying Nay there is no priuiledge no not spirituall neither can that grace and excellent gift of holinesse and pietie preserue a man from a naturall death viz. the first death out of no Court or Church can a man fetch a writ of protection against this Sergeant no place will preserue no person can bee priuiledged from it Esay 57.1 For heere the holy and good man the righteous and religious man is taken from the earth and dieth Iames 1.18 For if any should be spared he that is begotten againe of Gods owne will by the word of truth he that is borne againe of water and of the Spirit Iohn 3.5 and so borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh Ioh. 1.13 nor of the will of man but of God He that is borne a new not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God 1. Pet. 1.23 which liueth and endureth for euer A man I say would thinke that such if any should not die and yet behold the whole generation of Gods children they all die in their appointed time and vndergoe death not as a punishment but as a tribute as Seneca the Heathen man speakes which euery man must pay for his life The foole dies the wise-man the subiect the Soueraigne I haue said saith the Psalmist yee are gods Psal 49.10 Psal 82.6.7 and yee all are children of the most high but yee shall die as a man and yee Princes shall fall like others and so also the Prophets and holy men of God Dauid was a man after Gods owne heart and yet he died Moses saw God face to face and yet he died Zach. 1.5 The Prophets were indued with a great measure of sanctification yet the Prophet Zachary ioynes them all together in one state of mortalitie Your Fathers where are they And doe the Prophets liue for euer What say I the Prophets Nay Christ Iesus himselfe the Sonne of God the onely Sonne the Sonne in whom he was well pleased more faithfull then Abraham more righteous then Iob more wise then Salomon more mightie then Samson more holy then Dauid and all the Prophets though hee knew no sinne in himselfe yet for taking on him the burthen of our sinnes became subiect to the same condition of mortalitie with vs and he died also Examples of other times experience of our owne teach vs that all of all sorts die and are gathered to their fathers yea the dumbe and dead bodies cry this aloud vnto vs. As Basil of Seleucia saith of Noah he preached without words of Preaching for euery stroake vpon the Arke was a reall Sermon of repentance so euery corpse that wee follow and accompany to the graue preacheth really this truth vnto vs. All the worthiest of the first times and whomsoeuer else the word of God hath well reported of where are they Are they not all dead Doe they not all see corruption our Sauiour Christ excepted Are they not all gone downe into the slimie valley Haue they not long since made their bed in the darke None of them all our Sauiour Christ excepted was able to deliuer his life from the power of the graue Art thou better then Dauid and wiser then Salomon Nay art thou greater then our Father Abraham who is dead and the Prophets which are dead Whom makest thou thy selfe If thou thinkest thou shouldest not die Then surely if the holiest begotten and borne of man doe die then all must die And if holinesse must yeeld then prophanenesse cannot stand out And therfore whether holy or prophane Iew or Greeke bond or free male or female all must die If the tender harted woman that wept for Christ then the stony hearted men that scoffed at Christ If those that imbalmed him then those that buffeted him If shee that powred oyntment on his head then he that spat in his face If Iohn his beloued Apostle then Iudas that betrayed him Man is a little world the world a great man if the great man must die how shall the little one escape We must not thinke much to vndergoe that which all are enioyned vnto necessarily Equalitie is the chiefe ground-worke of equitie and who can complaine to be comprehended where all are contained For there is not a sonne of man in the cluster of mankinde but Eodem modo nodo vinctus victus is liable to that common and equal law of Death And although they die not one death for time and manner yet for the matter and end one death is infallible to all the sonnes of men Lift vp your eyes to the heauens saith the Lord and looke vpon the earth beneath Esay 51.6 for the heauens shal vanish away like smoake and the earth shall waxe old like a garment and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner But if any shall obiect that Enoch and Elias died not Gen. 23.24 Hebr. 11.6 2. King 2.11 I answere We know not I rather thinke they did and that Elias in his fiery Chariot had his body burnt and Enoch who in his yeares matched the dayes of the Sunne 365. was without paine dissolued when God tooke his soule to heauen or if they died not yet as Origen saith the generall is not therefore false because God hath dispenced in some particulers though one or two died not yet this is an vniuersall truth of all men to be receiued and duely pondered Heb. 9.21 It is appointed vnto all men that they shall once die from which there is no auoidance For the Lord of life and death hath so decreed it the decree was made in the beginning Gen. 3.19 For dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne If it be his decree it must needs haue a certaine effect The decree is certaine the euent is ineuitable Our God saith the Psalmist Psal 115.3 is in heauen and hee doth whatsoeuer hee will Gods will is the deede as saith Saint Cyprian if he hath once willed it it is as good as wrought If he haue decreed it it is as certaine as if it were done It is heauens decree and it cannot be reuoked Dan. 6.1 I haue beene somewhat too tedious in this first Diuision which is somwhat contrarie to the common prouerbe that he should not be tedious that reades a Lecture of mortality but because this is on the one side a matter worthy to be obserued and on the otherside a matter too too much neglected I haue beene somewhat the bolder to
be the better prepared for it when it shall come indeed But some may heere obiect say how can this be done The Apostle Saint Paul doth answere it in giuing vs direction by his owne example when he saith 1. Cor. 15.31 By our reioycing which wee haue in Christ Iesus our Lord I die daily And doutlesse this Apostle died daily not only because he was often in danger of death by reason of his calling but also because in all his dangers and troubles hee inured himselfe to die For when men doe make the right vse of their afflictions and doe with their might endeauour to beare them patiently humbling themselues as vnder the Lords chastisement and correction then they are said to begin to die well And he that would mortifie his greatest sinnes must first begin to doe it in his smallest sinnes which being once reformed he shall with more ease be able to ouercome his master sinnes For this is the way to keepe sinne from raigning in our mortall bodies So likewise he that would bee able to beare the crosse of all crosses as namely death which is the end of all crosses must first of all learne to beare small crosses as sicknesses diseases troubles losses pouertie and the like which may fitly be tearmed little deathes and the beginnings of the greater death with which little deaths we must first acquaint our selues before wee can be able to incounter with great Death For as one well saith Death after the crosse is the lesse The world is set vnto vs as a house wherein we are but tenants at will out of which the Lord by sicknesse and crosses giueth vs warning and by death determineth his will and requireth it againe at our hands and willeth vs thereby to prepare our selues for a better house and the new house for which we are to prepare our selues is most pleasant and not so fraile ruinous and weake as our worldly house for the tiles doe sometimes fall off this house the walles doe reele the roofe doth drop the pillars doe leane the foundation doth sinke And what are these but so many warnings of the Lord to vs to depart hence and prepare for a better place Therfore when thou dost perceiue thy falling haires thy watering eyes thy trembling hands thy weake knees and thy stooping bodie what are these but onely the citations of Death which seemes to warne thee to prepare to packe vp that thou maist with more ease be able to goe out of this ruinous house of thine It is a fable but it hath a good mortall A certaine man did couenant with Death that he should neuer surprize him at vnawares or sodainly before that he had first sent a messenger to him to giue him warning that shortly hee would arrest him to which Death assented that though he could not alwaies forbeare him yet before hee did strike him hee would giue him warning Vpon Deaths promise thus past this man liued secure spending his time in all maner of riot and excesse and when he thoughtfull little of Death then came Death to take him away with whom this man expostulating for breach of promise Death in discharging of his fidelitie replied that with none no not those that violate all promises had he broken promise for saith he I haue sent many messenger vnto you from time to time to giue you warning of my comming thou wast sixe yeares since taken with a grieuous Feuer within these two yeeres sore troubled with Rhumes and distillations since that taken with the cough and paine in the head then troubled with the consumption of the Lungs And did I not lately send my brother Germaine vnto thee the drousie sleeping disease veturnosum soporem in which thou didst lye for a while like a dead man All these were fore-runners of my comming to warne thee to make thy selfe ready for mee who was neere at hand Is there any amongst vs that is not sometimes admonished of Deathes approaching by some of these his Apparators that hee must shortly depart The Poet saith truely Mille modis lethi miseros mors vna fatigat A thousand kinds yet but one death Hath death to take away our breath From whence let all men learne that haue care of their saluation what they ought to doe and be warie to prepare themselues for Death before Death doth end their life Often we ought to prepare for Death and doe not at last wee die indeed and would then and cannot Therefore while our feete are at liberty and before we be bound hand and foote let vs runne the way of the Lords Commandements and while we haue tongues and before we become speechlesse let vs vse our tongues well and not suffer them to sinne Mat. 22.12.13 And while we haue hands and armes and before our armes not from our shoulders Ephes 4.28 let vs worke with our hands the things that are good and procure things honest in the sight of all men Psal 150.6 and while wee haue breath before God stop our breath let vs praise the Lord. And while we haue eares Eccl. 12.4 before these daughters of singing bee abased let vs lift vp our eares to heare the word of God and not to vanitie Gal. 6 10. All we therefore saith the Apostle haue opportunitie to doe good vnto all men especially to them that are of the houshold of faith All this is a good preparation for death and by our patience in suffering afflictions it will make Death when it comes the easier for vs and the lesse able to afflict vs. For he that dyeth saith one before hee die shall not dye when he doth die In a temporall building the stones must be broken cut hewen and squared ere they be fit to make vp the worke The corne must bee cut downe bound vp carried into the barne threshed winnowed clensed and grinded before it be ready for good bread And the whirlewinde must first blow 2. King 2.11 before Eliah be rapt vp into heauen And wee must be cut hewen and squared with a number of Deathes messengers before wee can bee made fit for the Lords building We must be tossed with the winde and weather before wee can arriue in the hauen of heauen The very victualls which wee eate must first from life be brought to the fire and bee cleane altered in losing their propertie from the fire to the table from the table to the mouth so to the stomacke and there be concocted and disgested before they can nourish and worke their perfection in vs. Euen so Gods children must be mangled and defaced in this world which is the mill to grinde vs the kitchin to receiue vs and the fire to boyle roast and bake vs to alter the propertie from that wee were at the first that we thereby may bee made fitte to be brought to the Lords table For as raw flesh is wholesome meate for men so vnmortified men bee no creatures fit for God By
death is of no continuance it is buried in its own birth it vanisheth in its own thought and the paine is no sooner begunne but is presently ended Though the flesh bee weake and fraile yet the spirit is strong to encounter the crueltie of Death and to make it rather a kinde kisse 1. Cor. 4.16 then a cruell crosse We faint not saith the Apostle for though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renued day by day Our Sauiour Christ said at his death and last farewell Iohn 17.1 Father the houre is come glorifie thy Sonne that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee Is there glory in death and is death but an houre It is of no long abode that abideth but an houre and little doe I doubt but that in that houre the soule is more rauished with the sight of God then the bodie is tormented with the sence of death Nay I am further perswaded that in the houre of my death the passion of mortalitie is so beaten backe with impression of eternitie that the flesh feeleth nothing but what the soule offereth and that is God from whom it came and whither it would as Saint Augustine saith with as great hast as happinesse And therefore whether you please to define or diuine of death what it is if it bee rightly broken into parts and passages the elect of God shall finde it a very easie passage euen as it were but a going out of prison a shaking off of our giues an end of banishment a breaking off our bands a destruction of toile an arriuing at the hauen a iourney finished the casting off an heauie burthen the alighting from a madde and furious horse the going out of a tottering and ruinous house the end of all griefes the escape of all dangers the destroyer of all euels Natures due Countries ioy and heauens blisse And from hence doe flow those sweete appellations by which the holy Ghost which is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly in saying that they are gathered or congregated to their people that is to the company of the blessed and triumphing Church in heauen to come to those which haue deceased before them in the true faith or rather haue gone thither before them So that the holy Ghost vseth a most sweete Periphrasis of death as speaking of the death of Abraham Gen. 25.8 Then Abraham gaue vp the ghost and died in a good old age Gen. 35.29 Gen. 49 33. Numb 20.24 Num. 27.13 an old man and full of yeeres and was gathered to his people And of the death of Isaac And Isaac gaue vp the ghost and died and was gathered vnto his people and so likewise of Iacob of Moyses of Aaron c. It is but the taking of a iourney which we thinke to bee death it is not an end but a passage it is not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse things to better a taking away of the soule and a most blessed conueying of it from one place to another not an abolishing for the soule is taken from hence and transposed into a place of eternall rest it is a passage and ascension to the true life it is an out-going because by it the godly passe out of the slauerie of sinne to true libertie euen as heretofore the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt into the promised land And as S. Peter termes it it is a laying downe of the tabernacle 2. Pet. 1.14 2. Cor. 5.4 for so he stiles our bodies And as S. Paul termes it it is an vnclothing or putting off of it and a remouing out of the bodie from a most filthie lodging to a most glorious dwelling They are said to be loosed from a port or from a prison and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 seeing they are led out of the Inne of this present life to the heauenly Countrey and out of the dregs of wicked men to the most blessed societie of Christ and his Saints in heauen They are loosed by death out of the bonds of the bodie for euen as cattell when they haue discharged the labour of the whole day at last about the euening are set free and as they which are bound in prison are loosed from their fetters so the godly are led foorth by death from the yoke of their labours and sorrowes of this life and out of the filthie prison of sinne and by a wonderfull and most sweet translation are caried to a better life Out of all which it clearely appeareth Phil. 1.21 how truely the Apostle hath called the death of the godly aduantage seeing it is aduantage to haue escaped the increase of sinne aduantage by auoyding worse things to passe to better from labour and daunger to perfect rest and security and which is all in all to eternall blessednesse All which appellations of death doe teach vs to be so farre from beeing afraid of it that we ought willingly to welcome it as the easie and ioyfull messenger of our happy deliuerance and not sing loth to depart as all worldlings doe who tremble at the very name of it And thus I passe from the facility of dying to the felicitie of dying of which I may say as Sampson did of his riddle Out of the eater came meate Iudges 14.14 and out of the strong came sweetnesse Now the meat that commeth out of this eater and sweetnesse that proceedeth forth of this strong one is a cessation of all euill and an indowment of all good and by this doore we haue an easie and readie passage to all blessednesse and happinesse where God and with him all good is Man that is borne of a woman saith Iob hath but a short time to liue Iob 14.1 and is full of misery O sweet death that turneth time into eternity and misery into mercie so graciously hath our Sauiour done for vs making medicines of maladies cures of wounds and salues of sores and to his children producing health out of sicknesse light out of darknesse and life out of death Psal 27.13 This made Dauid to daunce in the midst of all his affliction and calamitie when he said I should verily haue fainted vnlesse I had beleeued to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing This hath supported the soules of Gods Saints in the seas of their sorrowes when they thought vpon the day of their dissolution wherein they should be made glorious by their deliuerance For as our Sauiour Christ tooke his flight from the heauen to the Virgins wombe from her wombe to the world from the world to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue vnto heauen againe Euen so from the womb wee must follow his steppes and tread the same path that he hath traced out for vs. Iohn 14.6 I am the way saith our Sauiour the truth and the life He is the way without wandring the truth without shadowing the life without
or Milo 2. Sam. 23.8 or Dauids three Worthiest when thou commest to graple with Death hee will quickly crush thee and cast thee into the dust For hee will admit of no composition with thee for Death hath feete of wooll but armes of iron it commeth insensible but it hauing once taken hold neuer loseth her prize Is it for thy bewtie These eyes of thine which now are as bright as starres Death will make a horror to the beholders These cheekes of thine wherein now the lilly and the rose striue for the preheminence Death will make pale and earthly these corall lippes of thine will Death change to black and wanne this mouth of thine which in sweetnesse yeelds a cynamom breath will send forth the stinking sauour of a Sepulchre Therefore the Lord saith by his Prophet Isa 3.24 It shall come to passe that in stead of sweete smell there shall be a stinke and in stead of a girdle a rent and in stead of well set haire baldnesse and in stead of a stomacher a girding of sack-cloath and burning in stead of beautie The substance of bodily beauty consisteth in naught else but in phlegme bloud moisture and gall or melancholie which are maintained by the corruptible iuyces of meates hereby the apples of the eyes glister the cheekes are ruddie and the whole face is adorned And vnlesse they be daily moistened with such iuyce which ascendeth out of the liuer incontinent the skinne is dried vp the eyes waxe hollow all ruddinesse and bewtie depart from the visage Now if thou consider what is hidden vnder that skinne which thou iudgest so beautifull what is shut vp within the nostrils what in the iawes and belly thou wilt protest that this brauery of body is nothing but a painted sepulchre which without appeareth faire to men Math. 23.27 but within is full of filthinesse and vncleannesse And if thou see in a ragged cloath the phlegme and spitle that proceedeth from the bodie thou loathest it and wilt not touch it with the typ of thy finger looking askew thereon Therefore this cell and seat of phlegme this bewtiful body will be so much altered that a man may say O how much is he or she changed from that they were And hereof it is that the Wiseman saith Fauour is deceitfull Pro. 31.30 and beautie is vaine But to digresse a little dost thou make thy selfe beautiful and art not contented with that beautie which God thy Creator hath bestowed vpon thee Then hearken to that excellent saying of Saint Cyprian that weomen which aduance themselues in putting on of silke and purple cannot lightly put on Christ and they which colour their lockes with red and yellow do prognosticate of what colour their heads shall bee in hell and they which loue to paint themselues in this world otherwise then God hath created them let them feare lest when the day of the resurrection commeth the Creator will not know them And besides know thou that there be aches feauers impostumes swellings and mortalitie in that flesh thou so deckest and that skin which is so bepainted with artificial complexion shal lose the beautie and it selfe You that saile betweene heauen and earth in your foure sailed vessels as if the ground were not good enough to be the pauement to the soales of your feet know that one day the Earth shal set her feet on your faire neckes and the slime of it shall defile your sulphured bewties dust shall fill vp the wrinkled furrowes which age makes and paint supplies Your bodies were not made of the substance whereof the Angels were made nor of the nature of stones nor of the water whereof the fire ayre water and inferiour creatures Remember your tribe Esay 51.1 and your fathers poore house and the pit whereout you were hewed Hannibal is at the gates death standeth at your doores be not proud be not madde You must die and then your finenesse shall be turned into filthinesse your painted beautie and strength into putrifaction and rottennesse Let him make what shew he can with his glorious adornations let rich apparel and paintings disguise him liuing seare-clothes spices balmes enwrap him lead and stone immure him dead his originall mother will at last owne him for her naturall childe and triumph ouer him with this insultation Hee is my bowels Psal 146.4 hee returneth to his earth His bodie returneth not immediatly to heauen but to earth nor to earth as a stranger to him or an vnknowne place but to his earth as one of his most familier friends and of oldest acquaintance Powders Liquors Vnguents Odours Ornaments deriued from the liuing from the dead palpable instances and demonstratiue ensignes of pride and madnesse to make them seeme beautifull such translations and borrowing of formes that a silly country-man walking in the Citie can scarce say there goes a man or there a woman Is it for thy youth If thou thinke so thou reckonest without thine hoste Ier. 8.11 Iudg. 4.21 Psal 49.14 For thy folly therin may happily cause thee to say Peace peace till with Sisera thou fall into thy last sleepe of destruction and to goe from thy house to thy graue But who can bee ignorant that on the stage of this world some haue longer and some shorter parts to play and who knoweth not though some fruits fall from the tree by a full and naturall ripenesse that all doe not so nay that the more part are pulled from it and doe wither vpon it in the tender bud or yong fruit then are suffered to tarry till they come to their perfect ripenesse and mellowing The corne falles of it selfe sometime is bitten in the spring oft troden downe in the blade but neuer failes to be cut vp in the eare when it is ripe Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree some drop with ripenesse all must fall so doe not more without comparison fall from the tree of time yong eyther violently plucked from it by a hastie death or miserably withering vpon it by a lingring death perishing in the bud of childhood or bea en downe in the greene fruit of youth then come to their full age of ripenesse by a mellow and kindly death Further doth not God call from his worke some in the morning some at noone and some at night For as his labourers enter into his vineyard Matth. 20.1 so they goe out that is in such manner and at such houres some die in the dawning of their life who passe but from one graue to another some die in youth as in the third houre some at thirtie and some at fiftie as in the sixt and ninth and some very old as in the last houre of the day Yet more die yong then old and more before ten then after threescore Besides all this the fresh life which the yongest haue heere is cut off or continued by the same decree and finger of God that the oldest and most blasted life is
all which meanes the Lord brings vs to mortification which be the little Deathes that thereby we may be the better armed and prepared for the great death when it commeth to endure the same with more ease For wee must learne to giue intertainment to the Herbengers seruants and messengers of Death that we may the better intertaine the Lord and Master when he commeth This point that blessed martyr Saint Bylney well considered who oftentimes before his burning and martyrdome did put his finger into the flame of a candle not only to make triall of his abilitie in suffering but also to arme strengthen and prepare himselfe against greater torments and paines in his death which hee did suffer with the more ease And thus you see the fourth dutie which we must in any wise learne and remember because otherwise wee cannot be so well able to beare and endure the pangs of death well except we be first well schooled nurtured and trained vp by inuring our selues to die through the sundrie afflictions and trials of this life The fift and last duety of our generall preparation is set downe vnto vs by the Preacher who saith Eccl. 9.10 All that thine hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power And marke the reason For there is neither worke nor inuention nor knowledge nor wisdome in the graue whither thou goest Therefore if any man be able to doe any good seruice or office either to the Church of God or Common-wealth or to any publike or priuate person let him doe it with all speed and with all his might lest by Death he bee preuented He that hath care thus to spend his dayes shall with much comfort and peace of conscience end his dayes Thus much of the generall preparation for death Now followeth the perticular preparation for Death and this is in the time of sicknesse and in the right and true manner of making this particuler preparation are contained three sorts of duties one concerning God another mans selfe and the third our neighbour The first concerning God is to seek to be reconciled vnto him in Christ and by Christ though wee haue bin long since assured of his fauour all other duties must come after in the second place and they are of no value or effect without this Touching the duties which hee is to performe to himselfe they are two-fold the one concerning his soule the other his body The dutie concerning his soule is that he must arme and furnish himselfe against the immoderate feare of present death and the reason hereof is very plaine because how soeuer naturally men feare Death through the whole course of their liues more or lesse yet in time of sicknesse when death approacheth this naturall feare bred in the bone will most of all shew it selfe euen in such sort as it will astonish the sences of the sicke partie And therefore it is necessarie that we should vse some meanes to strengthen our selues against the feare of Death which meanes are of two sorts Practise and Meditation Practise that the sicke man must not so much regard Death it selfe as the benefits of God whiâ—h are obtained after death He must not fixe his minde vpon the consideration of the pangs and torments of death but aâ—l his thoughts and affections must bee vpon that blessed estate that he is to enioy after death He that is to swim ouer some great and deepe Riuer must not looke downeward to the violent running of the streame but if he would prâ—uent feare hee must cast his eyes to the bancke on the further side to the which place he is to passe and euen so he that drawes neere vnto death must looke as it were ouer the waues of death and directly fixe the eyes of his faith vpon the eternall life and happinesse The meditations which serue for this purpose are principally three the first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the Death of euery man much more of euery child of God is not onely foreseene but also appoynted by God Yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his owne sinnes is laid vpon him by God who in this respect may bee said to be the cause of euery mans death Acts 4.28 The Church of Ierusalem confessed that nothing came to passe in the Death of Christ but that which the foreknowledge and eternall counsell of God had appointed therefore also the Death of euery member of Christ is foreseene and foreordained by the speciall decree and prouidence of God I adde further that the very circumstances of Death as the time place and manner the beginning of the sicknesse the continuance the end of it euery fit in the sicknes and the pangs of Death are set downe particularly in the counsell of God For vnto the Lord saith the Psalmist belong the issues of Death Psal 68.20 The carefull consideration of this one point will bee a notable meanes to arme vs against all feare distrust and impatience in the time of sicknes as also of our Death The second meditation is to be borrowed from the excellent promise that God hath made to the death of the righteous which is this Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Reue. 14.13 this the Author of truth that can not lye hath spoken Now then let a man but throughly consider this that Death ioyned and accompanied with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioyned with it and it alone will be a sufficient meanes to stay the rage of our affections and all immoderate feare of Death The third meditation is that God hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence to his seruants in their sicknes and at their death And the Lord doth manifest his presence three wayes The first is by moderating and lessening the paines and torments of sicknes and Death and hence it comes to passe that to many men the sorrowes and pangs of sicknes and death are nothing so greiuous and troublesome as the crosses and afflictions which they suffer in the course of their liues The second way of Gods presence is by an inward and vnspeakeable comfort of his holy spirit as Saint Paul saith We reioyce in tribulation Rom. 5.3.4 but why is this reioycing Because saith he the loue of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost 2 Chro. 2.5 which is giuen vnto vs. Againe this Apostle hauing in grieuous sicknesse receiued the sentence of Death saith of himselfe that as the sufferings of Christ did abound in him so his consolation did abound through Christ Here then we doe see that when earthlie comforts doe faile the Lord himselfe drawes neere vnto the bed of the sicke and as it were doth visit them in his owne person and ministreth vnto them from aboue refreshing for their soules with his right hand hee holds vp their heads Can. 2.6 and
with his left hand hee imbraceth them Psal 41.3 yea the Lord saith the Psalmist will strengthen them vpon the bed of languishing and he will make all their beds in their sicknesse The third meanes of Gods presence is the ministerie of his good Angells whom he hath appointed as keepers and nurses for his seruants Psal 91.11 12. to hold them vp and to beare them in their armes as nurses doe their young infants and babes and to be as a strong guard vnto them against the diuell and his wicked Angels And all this is obserued especially in the time of sicknes at which time the holy Angells are not onely present with the children of God to succor theÌ„ but they are ready aâ—so to receiue their soules at their last gaspe and carry them into Abrahams bosome Luk. 16.22 And thus much of the first dutie of a sicke man and the meanes to arme him against the feare of Death Now followeth the second dutie concerning the body and that is that all sick persons must be carefull to preserue health and life till God doe wholy take it away Therefore we must referre our life and our death to the goodwill and pleasure of the Lord. And touching this temporall life it is a pretious iewell and as the common saying is life is very sweete being giuen to man to this end that he might haue some space of time wherein he might prepare himselfe for his happie end and vse all good meanes to attaine vnto eternall life In the preseruation of life two things must be considered the meanes and the right vse of the meanes The meanes is good and wholesome physick which must be esteemed as an ordinance and blessing of God We read that King Asa is blamed for seeking to the Physitians in the extremitie of his sicknes 2 Cor. 16.12 Whereupon a question may rise whether it be lawfull when necessitie of sicknes constraineth to fly to the remedies of Physick whereunto the answere is easie Asa is not here blamed for seeking the ordinary meanes of physick but because he sought not the Lord in his disease but onely to the Physitians Iam 5.14 Is any sicke amongst you saith Saint Iames let him call for the elders of the Chu ch and let them pray ouer him and that is in the very first place bfore all other helpe be sought Whâ—re the diuine ends thâ—re the Physitian must begin and it is a very preposterous course that the Diuine should there begin where the Physitian makes an end for vntill helpe be had for the soule and sinne which is the roote of sicknesse be cured Physick for the body is nothing worth therefore it is a thing much to be misliked that in all places almost the Physitian is first sent for and comes in the beginning of the sicknes the Minister coÌ„es when a man is halfe dead and is then sent for oftentimes when the sick partie lyes drawing on and gasping for breath as though Ministers of the Gospell in these dayes were able to worke miracles The art of Physick therefore nor the Physitian is here disallowed but ouer much confidence in Physick and in the Physitian without relying vpon God the soueraigne Physitian without whose blessing no Physick nor potion can be auaileable to the curing of any maladie or disease neither can the Physitian any wayes profit the sick and diseased patient except the Lord in mercy giueth a powerfull working and operation to the medicine against the disease to predominate ouer it for the curing of the same The doctrine then from hence is that the helps of physick are not to be despised not too much to be depended on but our chiefest hope is to bee fixed vpon God who as hee onely puts the soule into the body so he onely can take it away againe when it pleaseth him Yea these ordinary meanes which God hath appoynted are not to be contemned or neglected lest we seeme thereby to tempt God especially in dangerous diseases Eccle. 38.1.2.3.4.56.78.9.12.13.14 Hereof Iesus the son of Sirach saith Honor a Physitian with the honor due vnto him for the vses which you may haue of him for the Lord created him for of the most high commeth healing and he shall receiue honor of the King the skill of the Physitian shall lift vp his head and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth and he that is wise will not abhorre them Was not the water made sweete with wood that the vertue thereof might be knowne and he hath giuen men skill that he might be honored in his meruellous workes With such doth he heale men and taketh away their paines of such doth the Apothecary make a confection and of his workes there is no end and from him is peace ouer all the earth My sonne in thy sicknes be not negligent but pray vnto the Lord he will make thee whole then giue place to the Physitian for the Lord hath created him let him not goe from thee for thou hast neede of him There is a time when in their hands there is good successe for they shall also pray vnto the Lord that he would prosper that which they giue for ease remedy to prolong life And hereof also Iesus the son of God saith they that bee whole neede not the Physitian but they that are sicke which speach of our blessed Sauiour commendeth that art Matth. 9.12 and the good seruice done thereby This commendaâ—ion aâ—so the Prince of Poets giueth to the Physitian The Physitian alone saith hee is to be equalled with many other in honor Gen. 17.12 Againe whereas God did not command circumcision of children before the eight day hee followed a rule of physick obserued in all ages that the life of the childe is very vncertaine till the first seuen dayes be expired And vpon the very same ground the Heathen men vsed not to name their children before the eight day 2. Sam. 12.18 And that Physiâ—k may be wel applied to the maintenance of health speciall care must be had for the choosing of such Physitians as are knowne to be well learned and men of experience as also of a good conscience of sound religion in the profession of the Gospell of Christ and of vpright life and conuersation Now touching the manner of vsing the means these rules must be followed First of all he that is to take physick must not onely prepare his bodie as Physitians doe commonly prescribe but he must also prepare his soule by humbling himselfe vnder the mercifull hand of God in his sicknesse for his sinnes and making earnest prayers vnto him for pardon before any medicine come in his body The second rule is 1. Tim. 4.5 that when wee haue prepared our selues and are about to vse the physick we must sanctifie it as wee doe our meate and drinke by the word of God and prayer The
third rule is that wee must carry in minde the right and proper end of Physicke lest we deceiue our selues We must not therefore thinke that Physicke serueth to preuent old age or death it selfe for that is impossible neither doe we eate drinke and sleepe that we may neuer die but that we may prolong our lâ—fe for a few dayes and to spend those dayes in the seruice of God preparing our selues to die For life câ—nsists in a certaine temperature and proportion of naturall heate and radicall moisture which moisture being once consumed by the heate is not by all arte reparable and therefore Death must needs follow But the true end of physicke is to continue and lengthen our life to his full natural period which is when nature which hath beene long preserued by aâ—l possible meanes is now wholly spent Now this period though it cannot be lengthened by any art of man yet may it easily be shortened by intemperance in dyet by gluttony by drunkennesse by violent diseases and such like But care must be had to auoide all these euils and the like that the little lampe of corporall life may burne till it goe out of it selfe by Gods appoyntment and vntill God hath fulfilled the number of our dayes Exod. 23.26 And this very space of time is the day of grace and saluation And whereas God in his iustice might haue cut vs off and vtterly destroyed vs long before this day yet in his great mercie he doth giue vs thus much time that we might prepare our selues for our end Which time when it is once spent which may be neerer then we are aware if a man would redeeme it with the price of ten thousand worlds Mat. 16.26 it caÌ„not be obtained For what is a man profited saith our Sauiour if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his soule And hauing thus seene what bee the duties of the sicke man to himselfe now let vs see what be the duties which he oweth to his neighbour And they are two First the dutie of reconciliation whereby hee is freely to forgiue all men and to desire to bee forgiuen by all In the old Testament when a man was to offer a Bullocke or a Lambe in sacrifice to God Matth. 5.23.24 He must leaue his offering at the Altar and first goe and be reconciled to his brother if he had ought against him and then come and offer his gift much more then must this bee done when wee are dying to offer vp our selues soules and bodies as an acceptable and reasonable seruice and sacrifice to God in forgiuing of all men And if the partie bee absent or will not bee reconciled yet the sicke partie by forgiuing hath discharged his owne conscience and God will accept his will for the deede in such a case For if yee forgiue men their trespasses saith our Sauiour your heauenly Father will also forgiue you Matth. 6.14.15 but if yee forgiue not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgiue you The second dutie is that those which are Rulers and Gouernours of others must haue great care that they which be committed to their charge and gouernment may be left in good estate after their death wherein are three duties to be handled the first of the Magistrate the second of the Minister of the Gospell and the third of the Master or Gouernour of the family The Magistrates dutie before his death is to prouide as farre forth as he can for the godly and peaceable state and gouernment of all such as are vnder his charge and gouernment and that is done partly by procuring the maintenance of pietie godlinesse and sound religion and partly by establishing of good and wholesome lawes for their safetie peace and quietnesse Whereof there are examples of the practise of these duties in Gods word Deut. 31.1 When Moses was an hundred and twentie yeeres old and was not longer able to goe in and out before the people he called them before him and signified that the time of his departure was at hand and therefore he tooke order for their welfare after his death And first of all hee placed Iosua ouer them in his stead to be their guide to the promised Land Secondly he gaue speciall charge to all the people to be valiant and couragious against all their enemies and to obey the Commandements of their God And Ioshua followes the same course Ioshua 24.1 for he called the people together and telles them that the time of his death is at hand and giues them a charge to bee couragious and to worshippe the true God which being done he ends his dayes as a worthy Captaine of the Lord. And so when King Dauid was to go the way of all flesh 2. King 1.1 and lay sicke on his death-bed he placed his owne sonne Salomon vpon his throne and gaue him charge both for the maintenance of true religion and for the execution of ciuill iustice Touching the dutie of Ministers of the Gospell when they are going out of the world they must cast about and prouide as much as in them lies that the Church of God ouer which God hath made them ouerseers may flourish after they are gone An example whereof we haue in Saint Paul Take heede therefore saith he vnto your selues Acts 20.28.29.30.31 and to all the flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made you ouerseers to feed the Church of God which hee hath purchased with his owne bloud For I know this that after my departure shall grieuous wolues enter in amongst you not sparing the flocke Also of your owne selues shall men arise speaking peruerse things to draw away disciples after them Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three yeeres I ceased not to warne euery one night and day with teares If this dutie had been well obserued and performed there could not haue beene such abundance of errors and heresies in the Church of God as hath beene and are at this day But because men haue had more care to maintaine personall succession then the right succession which stands and consists in the wholesome word and doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles therefore Wolues and vnprofitable teachers haue come into the places and roomes of faithfull and painfull Pastors and teachers not sparing the flocke of Christ but haue made hauocke of the same the Apostacie whereof hath ouerspread the face of the Church Thirdly housholders and masters of families must haue great care to set their houshold and family in good order before they die Which dutie the Lord himselfe by his Prophet Esay doth command that good King Ezechiah to performe Isa 38.1 Thus saith the Lord set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not liue And for the procuring good order in the family after death two things are to be done The first concerning this life and that is touching the ordering and disposing of lands and goods And that
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 all is in the pangs of death when friends riches pleasures the outward sences temporall life and all earthly helpes forsake vs. But put thy trust confidence faith in God which neither fadeth nor vanisheth Psal 118.8.9 but abideth continueth for euer Psal 146.3.4 For if thou bee in amity with God the night will bee short and thy sleepe sweete thy graue wil be to thee as a bed of doune there to rest till the day of resurrection thy prayers at that time wil smel as perfume and thy praises sound in thy soule as the harmonie of the heauens where thou shalt raigne for euer and euer And then true faith will make vs to goe wholly out of our selues and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of any earthly thing and to rest and rely wholly with all the power and strength of our heart vpon the pure loue and mercies of Iesus Christ When the Israelites in the wildernesse were stung with fiery Serpents and lay at the point of death they looked vp to the brasen Serpent Num. 21.8.9 which was erected for that purpose by Gods owne appointment and then were presently healed euen so when any man feeles death to approach and draw neere with a fiery sting to pierce his heart hee must then presently fixe the eyes of a true and liuely faith vpon Christ his Sauiour exalted lifted vp Iohn 3.14.15 and crucified vpon the Crosse which being done he shall by death enter into eternall life It is recorded by the Author to the Hebrewes Heb. 11.13 that the holy Fathers of the old Testament died in faith and so entred into glory And if wee will looke to be glorified with them then must we follow their steps in dying in the same faith with them And because true faith is no dead thing it must be expressed by speciall actions as namely by the last words which for the most part in them that haue sincerely and truly serued God are very excellent and comfortable and full of grace some choyce examples whereof I will rehearse for instructions sake and for imitation viz. The Last words of Iacob Gen. 49.18 O Lord I haue waited for thy saluation The last words of Moses his most excellent song set downe in Deuteronomy Deut. 32. The last words of Dauid 2. Sam. 23.1.2 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The last words of Zacharias the son of Iehoiada the Priest when he was stoned to death by King Ioash 2. Chro. 24.22 The Lord looke vpon it and require it The last words of the conuerted Theefe vpon the Crosse Luke 23.40.41.44 first rebuking his fellow for railing on Christ then confessing his and his fellowes guiltinesse thirdly his iustification of Christ that he had done nothing amisse and lastly his sweete prayer Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome The last words of our Sauiour Christ himselfe Luk. 23.34.43 when hee was dying vpon the Crosse are most admirable and stored with aboundance of spirituall graces First to his Father concerning his enemies hee saith Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Secondly to the Theefe vpon the Crosse with him Iohn 19.26 I say vnto thee this day shalt thou bee with mee in Paradise Mat. 27.46 Thirdly to his Mother Woman behold thy Sonne and to Iohn his beloued Disciple Behold thy Mother Iohn 19.28.30 Fourthly in his agonie he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Luke 23.46 Fiftly he earnestly desiring our saluation said I thirst Sixtly when he had made perfect satisfaction for vs he said It is finished And seuenthly when his bodie and soule were parting hee said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and hauing thus said hee gaue vp the ghost Act. 7.56.59.60 The last words of the Martyr Saint Stephen at his stoning First Behold I see the heauens open and the Sonne of Man standing at the right hand of God Secondly as they were stoning of him hee called vpon God and said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And thirdly hee kneeled downe and cried with a loud voice saying Lord lay not this sinne to their charge and when he had said this he fell a sleepe By these and such like examples wee see what a blessed thing it is to learne to die well which is to die in faith at which end true wisdome wholly aymeth and he hath not spent his life ill that hath thus learned to die well For the conclusion of our life is the touch-stone of all the actions of our life which made Luther both to thinke and say that men were best Christians in death and Epamynandas one of the wise men of Greece being asked whom of the three he esteemed most viz. himselfe Chabrius or Ephicrates answered Wee must first see all die before we can answere that question for the act of dying well is the science of all sciences the way whereunto is to liue well contentedly and peaceably But what must we thinke if in the time of Death such excellent speeches bee wanting in some of Gods children and in stead thereof idle talke be vsed Answ We must consider the kind of sicknes whereof men dye whether it bee more easie or violent for violent sicknes is vsually accompanied with frenzies or vnseemely motions or gestures which wee are to take in good part in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case and we must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by his behauiour in death or in a troubled soule for there are many things in Death which are the effects of the sharp disease he dyeth of no impeachment of the faith he dyeth in and these may depriue his tongue of he of reason but cannot depriue his soule of eternall life One dyeth saith holy Iob in his full strength being whole Iob. 21.23.24.25.26 at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milke and his bones are full of marrow another dyeth in the bitternes of his soule and neuer eateth with pleasure they shall lye downe alike in the dust and the wormes shall couer them Wherefore in this case we must iudge none by the eye nor by their deathes but by their liues The second dutie is to dy in obedience otherwise our death cannot bee acceptable to God because else we seeme to come vnto God vpon feare and constraint as slaues to their Master and not of loue as children to their father And thus to dye in obedience is when a man is ready and willing to goe out of this world without murmuring grudging and repining when it shall please God to call him Death is the feare of rich men the desire of poore men but surely the end of all men to this step man commeth as slowly as hee can trembling at this passage and labouring to settle himselfe here the sole memory of Death
how well would they reward him But the children of God reioyce at the newes of Death to shew their obedience to it and their ioy is according to the ioy of haruest as the Prophet speaketh and as men reioyce when they deuide the spoyle Isa 9.3 And they may say of Death when it commeth as the people triumphantly somtime spoke of the day of King Dauids coronation Psal 118.24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will reioyce and be glad in it And they may call Death as Iacob did the place where he came Mahanaim because there the Angels of God met him when hee was to meete with his cruell brother Esau Gen. 32.1.2 euen so when the children of God are to meete with cruell Death the Lord will send his holy Angels Hebr. 1.14 who are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of saluation to carrie them into Abrahams bosome Tell one of our gallants in his sicknesse that Death is come for him 2. King 9.20 and that his driuing is like the driuing of Iehu comming furiously toward him he hath the Athenian question presently ready What will this babler say Acts 17.18 But this newes comming to the childe of God in his sicknesse hee may be talked withall for he hath learned with Samuel to say Speake Lord for thy seruant heareth 1. Sam. 3.10.18 and to say with Ely It is the Lord let him doe as seemeth good to him and with Dauid to say Heere am I let him doe to mee 2. Sam. 15.26 as seemeth good to him Now the reason of this great difference betwixt the wicked and the godly why they are thus diuersly affected vnto Death is this the wicked enioy their haue-best in this life but the godly looke for their good and are walking toward it And if it should be demanded when a wicked man is at his best the answere is the best is euill enough and that his best is when he comes first into the world for then his sins are fewest his iudgements easiest they goe astray as soone as they are borne saith the Psalmist Psal 58.3 It had beene good for him therefore that the knees had not preuented him but that he had died in the birth Nay it had beene good for him Iob 3.11.12 as our Sauiour Christ said of Iudas which betrayed him if he had neuer beene borne Mat. 26.24 For as a Riuer which is smallest at the beginning increaseth as it proceeds by the accession of other waters into it till at length it be swallowed vp in the deepe So the wicked the longer he liueth he waxeth euer worse and worse 2. Tim. 3.13 deceiuing and being deceiued saith the Apostle proceeding from euill to worse saith Ieremy till at length he be swallowed vp in that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Ierem. 9.3 Reuel 19.20 And this the Apostle expresseth most significantly when he compares the wicked men to one gathering treasure wherein he heapes and treasureth vp wrath to himselfe against the day of wrath and the reuelation of the righteous iudgement of God For euen as the worldling who euery day casteth in a peece of money into his treasure in few yeeres multiplies such a summe the particulers wherof he himselfe is not able to keepe in minde but when hee breaks vp his chest then he finds it in sundry sorts of coyne whereof he had no remembrance Euen so and worse it is with thee O impenitent sinner who not only euery day but euery houre and minute of time multiplyest thy transgressions and defilest thy conscience hoording vp one euill work vpon another To what a reckoning thinkest thou shall thy sins amount in the end though thou forgettest them as thou dost cōmit them Rom. 2.5 yet the Apostle telleth thee that thou hast laid them vp in a treasury and not only so but that with euery sinne thou hast gathered a portion of wrath proportionable to thy sinne which thou shal◠perfectly know in that day Psal 50.21 wherein the Lord shall breake vp thy treasure and open the booke of thy conscience and set thy sinnes in order before thee But if you wil aske when the children of God are at their best I answere praised be God our worst is away our good is begun Iohn 7.6 our best is at hand As our Sauiour said to his kinsmen so may we say to the worldlings Your time is alwayes but my time is not yet come the children of God are not at their best now it is in the working onely wee were at our worst before our conuersion For our whole life till then was a walking with the children of disobedience in the broad way that leads to damnation and then were wee at the worst when wee had proceeded furthest in the way of vnrighteousnesse because then we were furthest from God Our best began in the day of our recalling wherin the Lord by his word and holy Spirit called vpon vs and made vs turne our backes vpon Satan and our face toward the Lord and caused vs to part company with the children of disobedience amongst whom wee had our conuersation before then we came home with the penitent forlorne to our Fathers family but they went forward in their sins to iudgement That was a day of diuision betwixt vs and our sinnes in that day with Israel we entred into the borders of Canaan into Gilgal and there we were circumcised Iosua 5.9 and the shame of Egypt was taken from us euen our sinne which is our shame indeed and which we haue borne from our mothers wombe The Lord grant that wee may keepe it for euer in thankfull remembrance and that we may count it a double shame to returne againe to the bondage of Egypt to serue the Prince of darknesse in bricke and clay that is to haue fellowship any more with the vnfruitful workes of darknes but that like the redeemed of the Lord Psal 84.7 we may walke from strength to strength till wee appeare before the face of our God in Sion For heere wee are not at our best but our best is to come Now our life is hid with the Lord and wee know not yet what we shall be 1. Iohn 3.2 but wee know when hee shall appeare we shall be like him the Lord shall carry vs by his mercy and bring vs in his strength to his holy habitation hee shall plant vs in the mountaine of his inheritance Exod. 15.13 euen the place which he hath prepared Isa 35.10 and the Sanctuary which he hath established Then euerlasting ioy shall be vpon our heads and sorrow and mourning shall fly away from vs for euer Therefore for this cause we must first indeuour that our death be voluntary for to die well is to die willingly Secondly we must labour that our sinnes die before vs. And thirdly that wee bee alwayes
ready and prepared for it O what an excellent thing it is for a man to end his life before his death that at the houre of death he hath nothing to doe but only to be willing to die that he haue no need of time nor of himselfe but sweetly and obediently to depart this life shewing therby his obedience to the ordinance of God for wee must make as much conscience in performing our obedience vnto God in suffering death as wee doe in the whole course of our liues Our Sauiour Christ is a notable example and paterne for vs to follow in this case And therefore the Apostle saith Let this minde be in you Phil. 2.5.6.7.8 which was also in Christ Iesus who being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God but made himselfe of no reputation and tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant and was made in the likenesse of men and being found in fashion as a man hee humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto death euen vnto the death of the crosse And although the wicked bee ill affected vnto death as we haue alreadie heard and would if it lay in their power most villanously intreate and handle death 2. Sam. 10.4 as Hamon the sonne of Naash King of the Ammonites did the messengers of King Dauid yet let euery good man when Death shall come for him as it may seeme to him vntimely before the threed of his life be halfe spunne out be heere informed to entertaine it kindly Gen. 19.1 as Lot did the Angels who came to fetch him out of Sodom For though he bee pulled from his seate which was to him as the plaine of Sodom seemed to Lot as a pleasant Paradise yet shall hee finde with Lot that hee is taken away from the iudgement to come howsoeuer he be taken away either by the malice of wicked men or by the mercie of God and that he is separated from the sinnes of this world which grieued his soule yea from sinning himselfe and from his owne sinnes which grieued the Lord his so gratious and kinde Father How can it be but that Death should be a welcome guest this a choice blessing which as a gentle guide leades vs to Christ carrieth the soule to her beloued Husband The resolution of Saint Ambrose was neither to loath life nor feare to die but obediently yeeld vnto Death because saith he we haue a good Lord to goe vnto The third duetie is to die in repentance which must bee performed by vs at all times and especially at this time Tertullian saith of himselfe that he is a notorious sinner and borne for nothing but repentance and hee which is borne for repentance must practise repentance as long as he liues in this sinfull world into which hee is borne vpon this condition that hee must leaue it againe and repent at his end also Repentance is a very sore displeasure which a man hath in his heart for his sinnes euen because they are the breach of Gods holy Lawes and Commandements an offence to God his most mercifull and louing Father which ingendreth in him a true hatred against sinne and a setled purpose and holy desire to liue better in time to come ordering his life and death by the will of God reuealed in his holy word Repentance consisteth of foure parts the first of confession by which the Prophet Daniel saith Dan. 9.4 We acknowledge our owne wickednesse and the wickednesse of our fathers for we haue sinned against thee righteousnesse therefore belongeth vnto thee but vnto vs shame and vtter confusion Father saith the prodigall childe I haue sinned against heauen and in thy sight Luke 15.21 and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne He that couereth his sinnes saith the Wise-man shall not prosper Prou. 28.13 but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall haue mercy 1. Iohn 1 9. If we confesse our sinnes saith the Apostle he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnesse Secondly Contrition Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God saith the Prophet are a broken spirit and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not dispise Isa 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie one that inhabiteth eternitie whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit to reuiue the spirit of the humble and to reuiue the heart of the contrite ones For all these things hath my hand made Isa 66.2 and all these things haue beene saith the Lord but to this man will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words So that this contrition is the bruising of a sinners heart as it were to dust and powder through vnfained and deepe griefe conceiued of Gods displeasure for sinne and this is Euangelicall contrition and is a worke of grace the beginning of renewed repentance Therefore the Apostle saith 2. Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh repentance vnto saluation not to be repented of The third is faith For without faith neither by repentance nor by any other meanes are we able to please God neither indeede can there bee any true repentance without faith The fourth and last point is amendment To amend is to redresse and reforme faults repentance is as the roote amendment the fruit Matth. 3.8 Bring forth therefore fruit saith Saint Iohn meete for repentance or answerable to amendment of life Repent saith the Apostle Paul and turne to God Acts 26.20 and doe works meet for repentance so that first there must be a change of the heart from euill to good by the gift of repentance put into it of God and then will follow amendment of our liues and manners There is no part of Christian religion of that maine importance wherein men doe more voluntarily deceiue themselues then commonly they doe in this dutie of repentance In respect whereof it will not be amisse but very materiall to deliuer certaine infallible signes and vnseparable fruits whereby we may assure our selues that wee haue repented The Apostle Saint Paul nameth seuen fruits which in some measure alwayes follow where true amendment goeth before 2. Cor. 7.11 Behold saith he your godly sorrowes what care 1 it hath wrought in you yea what clearing 2 of your selues yea what indignation 3 yea what feare 4 yea how great desire 5 yea what zeale 6 yea what punishment Those then who are true conuerts who do vnfainedly amend their liues they are not sluggish or secure in sinne but carefull to redresse what is amisse not hiders or excusers of euill but confessors and by humble supplication clearing their offences they are not contented to dwell in wickednesse but vexed in soule and full of indignation against themselues for their sinnes committed they stand in awe and are afraid of Gods iudgments they desire his fauour as
eternall with out time for that they abuse the speciall benefit of time in this world Againe concerning those which post off their repentance til age sicknes or death of these there are specially two sorts viz. The first sort are such as plead the sweete promises of the Gospell Ezech. 18.21 Mat. 11.28 as namely these At what time soeuer a sinner doth repent c. Come vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie loaden and I will refresh you Answer True it is and most true but to whom are these promises made and to what sinners They are made to all repentant sinners that turne to the Lord with all their hearts but thou art an vnrepentant wretch and continuest in thy sinnes therefore those comfortable promises belong not vnto thee And what sinners doth he bid come vnto him Those that be weary and heauie laden that is whose sins pinch and wound them at the very heart and withall desire to be eased of the burthen of them Therefore take not occasion to presume of the promises of the Gospell for vnlesse thou turne from thy euill wayes and repent of thy sinnes they belong nothing at all vnto thee I know the Gospell is a booke of mercy I know that in the Prophets there are many aspersions of mercy I know that out of the eater comes meat and out of the strong comes sweetenesse and that in the ten commandements which be the administratiōs of death there is made expresse mention of mercy I will haue mercy vpon thousands yea the very first words of them are the couenant of grace I am the Lord thy God yet if euery leafe and euery line and euery word in the bible were nothing but mercy mercy yet nothing auailes the presumptuous sinner that lies rotting in his iniquities O but he is mercifull gratious slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquitie transgression and sinne is not here mercy mentioned nine or ten times together It is but read on the very next words and not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children and vpon childrens children vnto the third and fourth generation is not this the terrible voice of iustice But stay in the 136 Psal there is nothing but his mercy endureth for euer which is the foote of the Psal and is found six and twentie times in 26 verses yet harke what a ratling thunder-clappe is heere and ouerthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red sea and smote great Kinges and slew mighty Kings c. The second sort are such that by reading and hearing of the story of Lots drunkennes of Dauids adultery of Peters deniall doe thereby blesse themselues and strengthen and comfort their hearts yea they haue learned to alledge them as examples to extenuate their sinnes and to presume that they shall finde the like mercy Am I a Drunkard saith one so was that good man Lot Am I an Adulterer saith another so was Dauid a man after Gods owne heart Am I a swearer a forswearer a curser a denyer of Christ So was the holy Apostle Saint Peter Shall I despaire of saluatiō saith the wicked persister in sinne and I read that the theefe repented on the crosse and found mercy at the last houre O vile wretches who hath bewitched you to peruert Gods word to your destruction It is as much as to poyson the soule Look on their repentance Lot fell of infirmitie and no doubt repented with much griefe yet looke vpon Gods iudgment vpon that incestuous seede Looke vpon Dauid Psal 38. Read the 38 Psalme it made him grow crooked his sinnes were as fire in his bones he had not a good day to his death but the griefe of his sinnes made him to roare out thou wouldst be loath to buy thy sinne so deere as he did Looke vpon Peter who wept for his sinnes most bitterly Mat. 26.75 And as for the example of the theefe as wee haue heard already and cannot heare too often seeing it is so often obiected and vrged the Lord knocketh but once by one sermon and he repented but thou hast heard many sermons crying and calling vnto thee and yet thou hast not repented and this is as wee haue heard an extraordinary example and thereof not the like in all the scripture againe and the Lord hath set out but one and yet one that noe man should despaire and yet that noe man should presume by this one example for what man will spurre his Asse till he speake Num. 22.28 because Balaam did so and yet one that no man should despaire but to know that God is able to call home at the last houre And by this he did declare the riches of his mercy to all such as haue grace to turne vnto him where contrary we see many thousands of those who hauing deferred their repentance haue beene taken away in their sinnes and dyed impenitent But this example is for all penitent sinners who vpon their hearty repentance may assure themselues that the Lord will receiue them to mercy Now if thou canst promise to thy selfe the same repentance and faith in Christ that he had then maist thou promise thy selfe the same felicitie which he now enioyes S. Ambrose cals the history of this man pulcherrimum affectandae conuersionis exemplum a most goodly example to moue men to turne to God But looke thou on his fellow who had no grace to repent and who hangs as an example to all impenitent wretches to looke vpon that they despise not the mercie of God nor reiect his call by his messengers and Ministers lest it come to passe that when they would repent they cannot To thee then that art priuie thou hast had many calles many offers of grace yea that hast seene the painfull and faithfull Preachers of Gods holy Word Sacraments spend their wits their strength yea ouerspend themselues for thy good what diuell hath bewitched thee to post off all and willingly to cast away thy selfe To thee therefore that dost strengthen thy selfe in thy sinnes vpon presumption of mercie to others I referre thee to the words that the Lord himselfe speakes in Deuteronomie Deut. 29.19.20 He that when he heareth the words of this curse blesseth himselfe in his heart saying I shall haue peace though I walke according to the stubbornenesse of my owne heart thus adding drunkennesse to thirst the Lord will not spare him nor be mercifull vnto him but the wrath of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall light vpon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from vnder heauen Besides this place there are many others in the Scriptures against those that strengthen their hearts in their sinnes If you presume that a Lord Lord will serue the turne at the close of your life it is nothing else but Infidelis fiducia a faithlesse confidence as
died for when Death had seased his bodie he died in prayer Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus saith he receiue my spirit And in such sort as Iacob died who in the seasure of death vpon his bodie raised vp himselfe and turning his face toward his beds head leaned on the top of his staffe by reason of his feeblenesse and so prayed vnto God Which prayer of his at his death was an excellent fruit of his faith For by faith Iacob Heb. 1.21 when hee was in dying blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph and worshipped leauing vpon the top of his staffe God grant when he commeth that he may finde vs so doing that when we shall lye vpon our death-beds gasping for breath readie to giue vp the ghost that then the precious soule of euery one of vs redeemed with the most precious bloud of our sweete Sauiour Christ Iesus may passe away in a prayer in a secret and sweet prayer may passe I say out of Adams body into Abrahams bosome But heere it may be obiected that in the pangs of death men want their sences and conuenient vtterance and therefore are vnable to pray Answere The very sighes sobbes and groanes of a penitent and bleeding heart are prayers before God at such a time euen as effectuall as if they were vttered by the best voyce in the world For prayer standeth in the affection of the heart whereof the voice is but an outward messenger For God at such a time especially lookes not vpon the speech and voice but vpon the heart And therefore the Psalmist saith Psal 10.17 Psal 145.19 That God heares the desire of the humble the Lord will fulfill the desire of them that feare him What prayer maketh the little infant to his mother He weepeth and cryeth not being able to expresse what he lacketh the mother offers him the breast or giueth him some other thing Psal 38.9 Matth. 7.11 such as shee thinketh his necessitie requireth much more then the heauenly Father heedeth the desires sighes groanes and teares of his children and doing the office of a Father hee heareth them and prouideth for them Exod. 14.15 Wee reade in the booke of Exodus that the Lord said vnto Moses Wherefore cryest thou vnto me and yet as it is there said there was no voice heard Wee reade also in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 1.12.13 that Hannah continued praying before the Lord that shee spake in heart onely her lippes mooued but her voice was not heard and yet the Lord heard her heartie prayer and granted her request Yea the very teares of the children of God are loud and sounding Prayers in his eares who will as the Psalmist saith put them into his bottle Psal 56.8 and register them in his booke yea the very bloud of his Saints are crying prayers vnto him And therefore the Lord said vnto Cain Gen. 4.10 when he had slaine his brother Abel What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers bloud crieth vnto mee from the ground If thou canst not pray distinctly and orderly lifting vp thine eyes on high with Hezekiah chatter like the Swallow mourne like the Done For the sorrow of his heart did so oppresse his soule that though he remembred God and looked vp vnto him and had all his desires waiting vpon the hand of God yet he was not able to pray to God in any distinct manner like a well aduised man his praying was all out of order it was more like the mourning of a Done and the chattering of a swallow then like the holy and orderly prayers of a wise and godly man as wee may reade in the Prophecie of Esay Esa 38.14 Luke 22.62 Wee reade not in what words Peter prayed but onely that he wept bitterly let thy teares flow likewise when thy words can find no free passage Which teares of sinners S. Bernard cals the wine of Angels And as concerning the true vigor of praying S. Augustine in one place sayeth It stands more in teares then in words for instructing a certaine rich widow how to pray vnto God among other words hee hath this saying Plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quà m sermonibus agitur plus fletu quà m afflatu This businesse of prayer for the most part is performed rather with groaning then with words with weeping then with speech Let God heare thy sighes and grones let him see thy teares when thou canst not shew him thy desire in words Psal 6.6 Water thy couch with teares as did the Prophet and God will gather vp and put euery drop into his bottle Thus doing when thou thinkest thou hast not prayed thou hast prayed most powerfully For as Saint Ierome saith Oratio Deum lenit lachryma cogit prayer greatly moueth God teares forceably compell him he is allured and wonne with the words of prayer to heare vs but with the teares of a contrite heart he is drawne and inforced to heare and helpe where otherwise hee would not And in this case wee must remember that God accepts affecting for effecting willing for working desires for deeds purposes for performances pence for pounds S. Chrysostome saith That prayer is the soule of our soules and in this affliction growing in thy soule because thou knowest not how to pray heare a notable comfort that the Apostle giues thee saying The spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not how to pray as wee ought but the spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with sighes that cannot bee expressed Where thine owne strength and wisedome faileth in this seruice of prayer vnto God there the wisedome and power of Gods spirit kindleth in thee strong desires and earnest longing after mercie and the meanings of those desires and longings God perfectly vnderstandeth and needes not be informed by thy words So that though thou canst not pray as thou oughtst to doe yet that seruice goeth forward wel while heartily thou desirest Gods fauour Esay 65.24 And it shall come to passe saith the Lord that before they call to me for ayde that is in our purpose of prayer I will answere and whiles they are yet speaking I will heare Remember that many goe to bed and neuer rise againe till they be raised vp and wakened by the sound of the last trumpet 1. Thess 4.16 If therefore thou desire to sleepe safely and securely whether in health or sicknesse goe to bed with a reuerence of Gods Maiestie and a consideration of thine owne weaknes frailty and miserie which thou mayest imprint in thy heart in some poore measure and pray thou thus and say If it bee thy blessed will to call for mee in my sleepe O Lord for Christ Iesus sake haue mercy vpon me forgiue me all my sinnes and receiue my parting soule into the heauenly kingdome But if it be thy blessed wil and pleasure to adde more dayes vnto my life then good Lord adde more amendement to my dayes and weane my mind from
the loue of this world and worldly things and cause mee more and more to settle my conuersation and meditations on heauen and heauenly things And whether thou shalt recouer or not recouer thy former health againe by prayer that belongeth to thy God and resteth altogether in his good will and pleasure For God saith Wisedome hath power of life and death Wisd 16.13 And to God the Lord saith the Psalmist belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 And to speake truth God for the most part seemeth to sleepe that so he might be awakened by our intreaties For God as S. Augustine notes amat nimium vehementes and is so delighted with our prayers as that he doeth many times deny vs our suites that hee might heare vs continue earnest in our prayers And againe if he should vpon euery motion wee make vnto him grant our requests his benefits at last would come to be contemned of vs. For we know it an ordinarie practise amongst men citò data citò vilescunt we account it scarce worth the taking that is not twice worth the asking Therefore before he grant hee would haue vs earnest with him indeed and to awake him with our prayers if perchance he should seeme to vs to be asleepe For God loueth and is especially delighted with an earnest suter and therefore doth many times deny men their requests at the first that hee might find them more feruent and constant in their prayers to him afterwards But if God of his mercie be awakened by thy importunitie and hath at length heard thy prayer or the prayers of others for thee and hath restored thee to thy health againe For the Lord saith Hanna killeth and maketh aliue 1. Sam. 2.6 hee bringeth downe to the graue and bringeth vp And the Lord himselfe saith in Exodus I am the Lord that healeth thee Exod. 15.26 and againe I kill and giue life I wound and I make whole thou hast thy desire or rather perhaps not thy desire seeing the holiest and best men of all encline neither this way nor that way but wholy resigne themselues as in all other things so especially in this case to Gods good will and pleasure or if they determinately desire any thing it is for the most part with the Apostle to be dissolued and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all But suppose thou desirest to recouer and doest recouer indeed consider then with thy selfe that thou hast now receiued from God as it were another life and know that it is but for a short time and therefore spend it to the honour and glory of God that restored it vnto thee and in newnesse of life let thy sinnes die with thy sicknesse but liue thou by grace to holinesse But then as thou obtainest thy desire thou must performe thy promise which thou madest when thy body was grieued with sicknesse and paine euen readie to die and when thy soule was oppressed with heauinesse pensiuenesse and sadnesse Isal 6.6 when thou with the Prophet diddest water thy couch with thy teares And what was that promise namely that if it pleased God to grant thee life and health and adde vnto thy daies some few yeeres more as he did to king Ezechiah 2. King 20.6 then thou wouldest loue him more sincerely serue him more obediently tender his glory more deerely pray vnto him more heartily repent more soundly follow thy calling more faithfully hate sinne more effectually and liue hereafter more warily and religiously then euer thou didst before And if thou hast offended him with pride to humble thy selfe hereafter if with dissolutones to be more sober if with swearing to leaue it if with prophaning of the Sabbaoths to make more conscience in sanctifying it if with vncleannesse to bee chaste and vnblameable it with conuersing with the wicked to abandon their societie and to say vnto them with the Prophet Dauid Depart from mee all yee workers of iniquity Psal 6.8.9 for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping the Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receiue my prayer Psal 119.115 and againe Depart from me you euill doers for I will keepe the commandements of my God Remember that thou hast promised and vowed amendement and newnes of life deferre not to performe the same When thou vowest a vow vnto God saith the Preacher defer not to pay it Eccles 5.4.5 for he hath no pleasure in fooles pay that which thou hast vowed for better it is thou shouldest not vow then vow and not pay Againe When thou shalt vow a vow vnto the Lord thy God saith Moses Deut. 23.21 thou shalt not be slacke to pay it for thy Lord thy God will require it of thee and it would be sinne in thee Thus if these and such other like promises and vowes thou wilt most conscionably and constantly performe then in a good houre as we say and in a happy time thou didst recouer And be thou not then the more secure and carelesse in that thou art restored to health neither with the chiefe Butler be thou forgetfull of thy promises Gen. 40.23 nor insult in thy selfe that thou hast escaped death but call thy sinnes and faults to remembrance with the same chiefe Butler Gen. 41.9 and remember rather that God seeing how vnprepared thou wast hath of his infinit mercy spared thee and giuen thee some little longer time and space of breathing and respite that thou mayest performe thy vowes and promises in the amendement of thy sinfull life and in putting thy selfe in a better readines against another time and how soone thou knowest not for though thou hast escaped this dangerous sicknesse which many others haue not and then canst say with the Prophet The Lord hath chastened me sore Psal 118.18 but he hath not giuen me ouer vnto death yet it may be that thou shalt not escape the next It may bee when a ship is come to the mouth of the hauen a blâ—st driueth it backe againe but there it will arriue at the last so must thou at length at the gates of death though thou hast escaped this Too too many there are that when God visits them with sharpe diseases that wakens vp their consciences and then sicke sicke and then if God will repriue them vntill a longer day oh what Christians courses they vow to take God proues them they mend in bodies yeeres in manners no no more then Pharaoh after the plagues remoueall for many in their afflictions and sicknesses looking for death how liberall are they in their promises but afterward how basely niggardly are they in their performances they play childrens play with God they take away a thing assoone as they haue giuen it When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Ierusalem then the Iewes made a solemne couenant with the Lord to set free their seruants but no sooner had the king remooued his siege but they retracted and repealed their vow and
brought backe againe their seruants into their former bondage Ierem. 34.10 So fareth it with these kind of men when God layeth fiege to them by sicknesses or some other pinching affliction then couenants and promises are made concerning the putting away of their sinnes but no sooner doth God begin to depart and slacke his wrath but we returne with the dog to the vomit and with the so we to the wallowing in the mire like Pharaoh that dismissed the Israelites when death entred within his palaces but presently after in all hast makes after them to fetch them back againe Consider therefore how fearefull a reckoning thou hadst made before Gods iudgment seat ere this time if thou hadst died of this sicknes and spend the time remaining in such pleasing sort to thy gracious God that thou mayest be able to make a more cheerefull and ioyfull account of thy life when it must expire indeed Therefore put not farre off the day of thy death though the Lord for thy good if thou vse it well hath put it off for thou knowest not for all this how neere it is at hand and see that thou being so fairely warned be wiser against the next time For if thou bee taken vnprouided againe thy excuse shall bee the lesse and thy iudgement the greater Thy worke is great which thou hast to doe and thy time can be but short and hee who will recompence euery man according to his worke standeth at the doore Thinke how much worke is behind and how slowly thou hast wrought in the time past The vncleane spirit is cast out Mat. 12.43 let him not enter and come in againe with seuen worse then himselfe Thou hast sighed out the grones of contrition thou hast wept the teares of repentance thou art washed in the poole of Bethesda streaming with fiue bloudie wounds Ioh. 5.4 not with a troubling Angel but with the Angel of Gods presence troubled with the wrath due for thy sinnes who descended into hell according to our Creed that is the extreame humiliation and abasement of Christ in his manhood vnder the power of death and of the graue beeing kept there as a prisoner in bonds vntill the third day to restore thee to sauing health and heauen Now therefore returne not with the dog to thy vomit nor like the washed Sow to wallow in the mire againe 2. Pet. 2.22 and the filthy puddle of thy former sinnes left being intangled and ouercome againe with the filthinesse of sinne which now thou hast escaped thy latter end proue much worse vnto thee then thy first beginning Twice therefore doth our Sauiour Christ giue the same cautionarie warning to healed sinners Ioh. 5.5.14 The first to the man cured of his eight and thirtie yeeres disease the second to the woman taken in adultery goe and sinne no more Ioh. 8.11 hereby teaching vs how dangerous a relapse and falling againe is into our wonted and accustomed sinnes And for this present mercy and health Luke 17.15 imitate the thankefull Leper in the Gospel and from hence forward tarie thou the Lords leisure because the Lord tarieth thine he tarieth for thee till thou change thy euill life tarie thou for him therefore vntill hee crowne thy good life and remember these two things to thy dying day and thou shaâ—t neuer doe amisse First that there is about thee an all seeing eye and an all-hearing eate He that planted the eare saith the Psalmist shall he not heare Psal 94.9 he that formed the eye shall he not see goest thou out he seeth thee returnest thou home hee seeth thee Psa 139.11.12 doth the candle burne he seeth thee is the candle put out hee seeth thee be it light or darkenesse hee seeth thee hee seeth how thou doest conuerse with thine owne heart and how with other men Therefore in this case the counsell of the Philosopher is good Sic viue cum hominibus quasi Deus audiat sic loquere cum Deo quasi homines videant So conuerse with men as if God heard thee so conferre with God as if men saw thee But suppose that thou desirest to recouer and yet neither thy selfe sees any likelihood nor God sees it good that thou shouldest recouer then if thou hast inured thy selfe to repentance heretofore and to prayer it will be the more familiar with thee now at this time Feruent prayer Psal 6.6 heartie repentance and watering thy couch with teares are most of all necessary at this time that the feare of death may not affright thee but be a welcome guest vnto thee For that being truly penitent at thy departure thou mayest bee sure with Simeon to depart in peace Luk. 2.29 And so God granting not thy will but his will may indeed grant both thy will and his will thy will which is not simply to recouer but if God will and his will which is not to haue thee lye lingering and languishing any longer in this short pilgrimage and warfare but to triumph for euer in heauen Therefore when the pangs of death doe come vpon thee and the wormes of the earth doe waite for thee it God giueth thee then thine vnderstanding say thou then inwardly to thy selfe to thy sicke soule Now my pilgrimage is ended my haruest is inned my iourney is finished my race is run my houre-glasse spent my candle burning in the socket Many of the godly are gone before me and I am now to follow after 2. Tim. 4.7.8 I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith hence-forth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not to me onely but to all them also that loue his appearing And O Lord I thanke thee that I am a Christian that I haue liued in a Christian Church that I shall die amongst a Christian people and that I am going to a Christian societie Exod. 33.14.15.16 And whereas the Lord said vnto Moses My presence shall goe with thee and I will giue thee rest let vs at this time pray vnto the Lord as Moses doth and say If thy presence goe not with mee at this time then carry me not vp hence For wherein shall it be knowne heere that I haue found grace in thy sight Is it not in that thou goest with me And if we thus spend the time of our sicknesse in this sort the Lord when he calleth for vs by Death shall finde vs either reading or hearing or meditating or counselling or resisting euill or doing some good or repenting or praying and then wee may bee sure that God will be our guide euen vnto death Psal 48.14 and will also send vs his Angeâ—s to stand at our beds-head Luke 16.22 waiting for vs to carry our soules into Abrahams bosome where we shall see God the Father behold God the Sonne and looke vpon God the holy Ghost where
we shall enioy the fellowship of the Angels the societie and company of the Saints and where wee shall liue eternally obey God perfectly and raigne with him triumphantly And besides all this if we spend the time of our health of our sicknesse and of our death in this sort we shall leaue a good name and report behinde vs Eccles 7.1 which is better saith the Preacher then pretious oyntment and is rather to be chosen saith the Wiseman then great riches Prou. 22.1 and it will be like the coates and garments which Dorcas made Acts 9.36 that will remaine behinde vs after that wee are dead and gone for the good example and incouragement of all others which are to follow vs. The end of the fourth Diuision THE FIFTH DIVISION THE COMFORT AT OVR OWNE DEATH THe Preacher saith Eccles 7.1 That the day of our death is better then the day of our birth In which parcel of holy Scripture for our comfort at death three points are to be considered First what is death that is heere mentioned Secondly how it can be truely that is heere mentioned said that the day of our death is better then the day of our birth Thirdly in what respect it is better For the first Death is a priuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne It is a priuation of life because the very nature of death is an absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shew that it was ordained as the meanes of the execution of Gods iudgement and iustice Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocēcy by a solemne law then made in these words In the day that thou eatest thereof Gen. 2.17 thou shalt die the death The Executioner of this punishmēt is also God himselfe as himselfe testifieth in the Prophet Esay in these words I make peace and create euill And this is materiall or naturall euill Esay 45.7 to the latter of which Death is to be referred which is the destruction and abolishment of mans nature created The procurer of this punishment is not God but man himselfe in that man by sinne and disobedience did put vpon himselfe this punishment Therfore the Lord in the Prophet Osea saith O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe Hosea 13.9 but in me is thy helpe Against this it may be obiected that man was mortall in the estate of his innocencie before the fall Answere The frame and composition of mans body considered in it selfe was mortall because it was made of water and earth and other elements which are of themselues alterable and changeable yet if we respect the grace and blessing which God did vouchsafe mans bodie in his creation it was vnchangeable and immortal and so by the same blessing should haue continued if man had not fallen and man by his fall depriuing himselfe of this gift and the blessing became euery way mortall And hereof it is that the Preacher saith Loe this onely haue I found that God made man vpright Eccles 7.29 but they haue sought out many inuentions Againe before the fall mans bodie was but subiect to death and could not then be said to be dead but after the fall it was then not only subiect to death but might also be said to bee dead And therefore now in this respect the Apostle saith Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sinne Againe mans bodie in his innocencie was like vnto the bodie of Christ when he was vpon the earth that is onely subiect vnto death for he could not be said to bee dead because in him there was no sinne and this was mans case in his innocencie before his fall Thus it appeares in part what death is And yet for the better clearing of this point wee are to consider the difference betweene the death of a man and a beast The death of a beast is the totall and finall abolishment of the whole creature for the body is resolued to the first matter and the soule rising frō the temperature of the body is but a breath and vanisheth to nothing But in the death of a man it is otherwise For though the bodie for a time be resolued and turned into dust out of which it came yet it must rise againe at the last day and become immortall but the soule subsisteth by it selfe out of the body and is immortall The reason of which difference is for that the soule of man is a spirit or spirituall substance whereas the soule of a beast is no substance but a naturall vigour or qualitie and hath no being in it selfe without the body on which it wholly dependeth The soule of a man contrariwise being created of nothing Gen. 2.7 it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then man became a liuing soule and so as well subsisting forth of it as in it But when God made the beasts of the earth he breathed not such matter into them but their bloud is as their soule Leuit. 17.14 and their life for the life of all flesh is the bloud thereof Psal 49.20 So that when beasts die they perish as the Psalmist saith and that is their end and their spirit goeth downeward to the earth Eccles 3.21 but the spirit of man goeth vpward saith the Preacher Saint Ambrose takes occasion by this difference from the shape of mans bodie to aduertise our minde what our affections should be It is well ordained saith he that man hath onely two feete with birds and not foure feete with beasts for by this he may learne to flye aloft with the birds and not with beastes encline and decline to the grosser and earthly things of this world Heere then we see that since the fall of man man is not only subiect to death but also may be said a dead man because he shall as surely die as if he were dead already whereas notwithstanding he hath a forme and shew of immortalitie Other things so long as they retaine their forme so long they doe remaine A house falleth not all the time that his forme and fashion lasteth the brute beast dieth not except he first forgoe his life which is his forme but man hath a forme which neuer is dissolued as namely a minde endued with reason and yet he liueth now but a very short time in respect that his bodie by reason of sinne and disobedience is become mortall whereby man is the procuter of his owne death and punishment Therefore it is a true saying of Saint Gregory Man is the worke of God sinne is the worke of man let vs therefore discerne what God hath made and what man hath
Christ it ceaseth to bee a plague or punishment and of a curse is made vnto vs a blessing and become vnto vs a friend and a passage or middle way betweene this life and eternall life and is become as it were a little wicket entrance or doore whereby we passe out of this world into heauen And then in this respect this saying of the Preacher is most true for in the day of birth men are brought forth and borne into the vale of misery but afterward when the children of God goe hence hauing death altered vnto them by the death of Christ they enter into eternall life and happinesse The third obiection is taken from the example of most worthy men who as it should seeme haue made their prayers against death Mat. 26.39 as our Sauiour Christ We reade when our Sauiour Christ was borne it was a ioyfull time at whose birth there was great ioy and mirth Simeon and Anna Luke 2.10.13.28.38 Luke 19.41 Marke 16.10 Luke 23.28.45 Matth. 27.51 yea and the Angels of heauen did sing and they bid the Shepheards sing because they brought them glad tidings of great ioy which should be vnto all the people But when our Sauiour Christ suffered death then it seemed that it was a dolefull time for then there was as much lamentation and weeping Our Sauiour Christ himselfe wept whom we reade to haue wept three times at the destruction of Ierusalem Iohn 11.35 at the raising of Lazarus and in his agony the disciples wept the daughters of Ierusalem wept Heb. 5.7 the Sunne was darkened the vaile of the Temple was rent the stones were clouen in sunder Yea all these and all sencelesse creatures in their kind did weepe and lament the death and passion of their maker And so it should seeme that our Sauiour Christ prayed against death on this manner Psal 6.4.5 Father if it be thy will let this cup passe from me Wee reade also that the Prophet Dauid prayed against death Returne O Lord saith he deliuer my soule O saue me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall giue thee thankes Againe Esay 38.1 wee reade that King Ezechiah prayed against death for when the Prophet brought him word from the Lord that hee should die and not liue this good king at this newes wept very sore and prayed for further life Now by the examples of these most worthy men yea by the example of the Sonne of God himselfe it should seeme that this should not be true which the Preacher doth heere auouch That the day of death should bee better then the day of birth but rather that the day of death should be the most dolefull and terrible day of all Answ We are heere to vnderstand that when our Sauiour Christ prayed in this sort as we haue heard he was in his agonie and he then as our Redeemer stood in our roome and stead to suffer and endure all things which wee our selues should haue suffered in our own persons for our sins if he himselfe had not vouchsafed to suffer for vs and therefore hee did not pray simply against the bodily or naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse for he feared not death it selfe which is the separating of soule and bodie but the curse of the Law which went with death as namely the vnspeakeable wrath and iudgement of God which was due for our sinnes The first death troubled him not but the first and second ioyned together Therefore the Author to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 5.7 That Christ in the daies of his flesh wheâ— he had offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death that he was heard in that he feared By which place it appeareth that Christ did not pray simply against the naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse which was the second death Concerning Dauids praying against death we are to vnderstand that when he made that sixt Psalme hee was not onely sicke in bodie but also perplexed with the greatest temptation of all in that hee wrastled in conscience against the wrath of God as appeares by his owne words For hee there saith Psal 6.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger c. Wherein wee may see that he prayed not simply against death but against death at that instant when hee was in that grieuous temptation for at other times he had no such feare of death And therefore in another Psalme he saith Psal 23.4 Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I wil feare none ill c. Wherefore he prayed against death onely in that sixt Psalm as it was ioyned with apprehension of Gods wrath as our Sauiour Christ did Lastly touching king Hezekiah wee are to vnderstand that he prayed against death not onely because hee desired to liue and to doe seruice to God in his kingdome but also it was vpon a further and more special regard because when the Prophet brought him this message of death he was then without issue hauing none of his owne body to succeede him in his kingdome But then it wil be obiected What warrant he had to pray against death for this cause Answ His warrant was good for God had made a particular promise vnto Dauid and his posteritie after him 1. King 2.4 that as long as they feared him and walked in his commandements with all their heart and with all their soule there shal not faile thee saith he a man on the throne of Israel Now this good king Hezekiah at the time of the Prophets message of death remembring what promise God had made to Dauid and to his seed and how that he for his part in some poore and weake measure had kept the condition in that he had walked before God with an vpright heart and had done that which was well pleasing and acceptable in his sight as he himselfe saith in the same place Isay 38 3. therefore hee prayed against death not for that he feared it but he desired to haue issue of his own to succeed him according to the Lords promise to his seruant Dauid Which prayer of his was so well accepted of God that hee gaue him his request and added vnto his daies fifteene yeeres and three yeeres after God gaue him Manasses Isay 38.5 Againe beside these examples it will be further obiected that the godly haue feared death 1. Kings 19.30 or esse why did Eliah flie from it in the persecution of Iezabel and Christ teach his to flie it in the persecutions of men Mat. 10.23 and Christ himselfe as we haue alreadie heard did pray against the bitter cup of it in his agonie Mat. 26.39 and before his apprehension Answ Those Saints did not nor were to flie from death as it is the end of life and a most blessed end
of the wicked Barbarians as we may reade in the Acts of the Apostles Act. 28.3 4.5.6 This rash censuring and iudging was also the sinne of the wicked Iewes as we may reade in the Gospell of Saint Luke Luke 13.1.2.3.4.5 wherein they did vtter a secret corruption naturally ingendered in all men that is very sharpely to see into the sinnes of others and seuerely to censure them but in the meane time to flatter themselues and be blind-fold in seeing their owne for these men thought because the like iudgements did not fall on themselues that therefore they were safe enough and not so great sinners but rather highly in the fauour of God euen as many in the world doe now adaies falsely imagine and suppose that they are alwayes the worst sort of people whom God doth most strike and presse with his punishing hand hauing forgotten that God doth not keepe an ordinary rate heere below to punish euery man as he is worst or to cocker and fauour him as he is best but onely taketh some example as hee thinketh good for the instruction and aduertisement of others and to be as it were looking-glasses wherein euery man may see his owne face yea and his owne cause handled and that God is a seuere reuenger of sinne that all men may learne by the example of some to tremble and beware lest they bee constrained in their owne turnes to know and feele the punishment they haue deserued Whereupon our Sauiour Christ is iustly occasioned to correct their erroneous and sinister iudgement and to teach them that they must not reioyce at the iust punishment of others For this is the propertie of the wicked as appeareth in the book of the Lamentations where it is said All mine enemies haue heard of my trouble Lam. 1.21 they are glad that thou hast done it but he that is glad saith the Wise-man at calamities Prou. 17.5 shall not be vnpunished but he should rather be instructed thereby to repent And to all such barbarous vnchristian and vncharitable censurers of the children of God the Lord by his Prophet saith Loe I begin to bring euill vpon the Citie which is called by my name Ier. 25.29 and should yee be vtterly vnpunished Ier. 49.12 Yee shall not be vnpunished And againe Behold they whose iudgement was not to drinke of the cup haue assuredly drunken and art thou he thou he that shalt goe altogether vnpunished Thou shalt not goe vnpunished 1. Pet. 4.17.18 but shalt surely drinke of it And the Apostle saith The time is come that iudgement must begin at the house of God And if it first begin at vs what shall the end be of them that obay not the Gospell of God Therefore iudge not thus rashly of those that are thus grieuously handled in this manner but think thy selfe as bad a sinner if not worse and that the like defects may befall thee and thinke some great temptation befell them and that thy selfe shouldest be worse if the like temptation should befall thee and giue God thankes that as yet the like hath not happened vnto thee The fift obiection is this When a man is most neere death then the deuill is most busie in temptation and the more man is assaulted by Sathan the more dangerous is his case and therefore it may seeme that the day of death is the worst day of all Answ The condition of Gods children in earth is twofold some are not tempted and othersome are Some are not tempted I say as Simeon Luk. 2.29,30 who as we read in the Gospel of S. Luke when he had seene his Sauiour Christ brake foorth into these words Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation foresignifying no doubt that hee should end his dayes in all maner of peace And as Abraham Gen. 15.15 For thou shalt goe as God said vnto him vnto thy fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age And as Iosiah that good king Behold therefore saith the Lord vnto him I wil gather thee vnto thy fathers 2. Kings 22.20 and thou shalt be gathered vnto thy graue in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vpon this place And as for them that are tempted as diuers of Gods children are subiect thereunto though their case be very troublesome yet their saluation is not the further off for God is then more specially present by the vnspeakable comfort of his holy Spirit and when we are most weake he is most strong in vs because his maner is to shew his power in our weaknesse An example whereof we haue in the Apostle S. Paul who was greatly assaulted and tempted by Sathan And lest I should saith he be exalted aboue measure 2. Cor. 12.7,8,9 through the abundance of the reuelation there was giuen to me a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Sathan to buffet me lest I should bee exalted aboue measure For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me and hee said vnto mee my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse And for this cause euen in the time of death the deuill receiueth the greatest foile when he lookes for the greatest victory The sixt and last obiection is this that violent and sudden death is a grieuous curse and of all euils which befall in this life none is so terrible therefore it may seeme that the day of such a kind of death is most miserable I answere It is true indeed that such death as is sudden is a curse and grieuous iudgement of God and therfore not without good cause feared of men in this world Yet all things considered we ought to be more afraid of an impenitent and euill life then of sudden death For though it be euill as death it selfe in it owne nature is yet wee must not thinke it to be simply euill because it is not euill to all men nor in all respects euill I say it is not euill to all men considering that no kind of death is euill or a cursâ— vnto them that are ingrafted in Christ for that they are free in him from the whole curse of the lawe Reu. 14.13 Blessed are they saith the Sonne of God that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Whereby it is signified that they which depart this life being members of Christ Iesus of what death soeuer they die yea though their death be neuer so sudden and violent doe enter into euerlasting ioy and felicitie Psal 116.15 Againe Precious in the sight of the Lord saith the Psalmist is the death of his Saints Their death therefore be it neuer so sudden or otherwise must needes be precious yea though death commeth vpon the children of God neuer so sharpely Prou. 14.32 and suddenly yet the righteous
the Poet saith Sleepe is the kinsman of death Quid est somnus saith one nisi breuis mors What is sleepe but a short death Et quid est mors nisi longus somnus What is death but a long sleepe By beds the Scripture vnderstandeth the places where the Lord bestoweth the bodies of his seruants after their death whether fire or water or the paunches of wild beasts or the chambers of the earth sea or ayre and these are called beds because they shall rest quietly in them as in their beds till the morning bell or loud trumpet of the last great day warning all flesh to rise shall raise them And therefore it is such an vsuall thing in the Scriptures so soone as men dye to say they fall asleep because therby is meant that they are laid in their beds of peace and they are called beds of rest to put difference betweene these beds of our nights sleepe and those of our sleepe in death for heere be our beds neuer so soft or well made we often take no rest by reason of some distemper in our bodies or fancies in our head but in these sleeping places Psal 4.8 which are called beds of rest wee may lay vs downe saith the Psalmist and sleepe in peace because the Lord our life being our keeper will make vs dwell in safetie Indeed in it owne nature the graue is rather an house of perdition then a bed of rest but being altered to the Iewes in promise to vs in performance by Christs graue who was buried in the earth to change the nature of it it is made to vs a chamber of rest and bed of downe These titles which are thus giuen vnto death is a sweete comfort to the children of God against the terrors of death for the graues of the righteous which by nature are the houses of destruction and chambers of feare are by Christ and the graue of Christ made vnto them chambers of safetie and beds of rest Christ by his buriall hath consecrated and perfumed our graues making them which were prisons to hell gates to heauen At night we take our chambers and lye downe in our beds so when death comes which is the end of life as the night is of the day we goe to the chambers of the earth and there lye downe in our beds till the day of refreshing which is the day of rising come that commeth from the Lord. This is a confutation of that phansie that hath so long deluded the simple world which is that dead bodies walke after their death and appeare vnto men For how can that be when the bodies of Gods children rest in their beds so soone as the breath departeth and the bodies of the wicked are in their prisons till the day of assise Whereof if any make a question let him open their graues and see And seeing the soule returneth not after it hath left the body how can the body walke that wanteth a soule or the soule be seene if it should walke which hath no bodie Phil. 1.23 or if death be a loosing of our soules from our bodies how can there be any death when soule and body are not parted and when the man is not dead but liueth But this phansie came from Pythagoras and is but a Philosophers dreame told by him to the world which was that the soules of men departed did enter into the bodies of other men good soules into good and bad into bad mens bodies The world then beleeued him and since that time Satan who can turne himselfe into all formes did in the dark night of Popery to deceiue that ignorant age change himselfe into the similitude of some person that was lately or had beene long dead and was beleeued by such a transformation to be the partie man or woman that hee resembled So entred the error that spirits did walke and that dead bodies came out of their graues and haunted sundry houses in the night which were not the bodies of the dead but the Diuell in those bodies or shapes as it is to be seene in Samuels counterfeit shape raised by the Witch at Endor 1. Sam. 28.14.15 And this error as it deceiued the blinde world and somewhat troubled the seeing Mat. 14.26 so is it still in the mouth and faith of credulous superstition at this day But God hauing giuen eyes to vs to see his truth Act. 12.15 and the light of iudgement to discerne it let vs not walke in so great darknesse as they that know not the truth nor whither they goe But the especiall drift of the holy Ghost in the holy Scripture by entitling death by the names of bed of peace of rest of sleepe and such like being all names of singuler commoditie and benefit is for the singuler comfort of all Gods children signifying vnto them thereby that they shal feele no bitternesse in death but rather ioy and reioyce in their deliue ance as if they were going to their beds and their liues are not lost but their bodies sleepe as in a bed most sweetely vntill the resurrection How sweete is peace to them which haue bin long troubled with warres and tedious contentions how pleasant is the bed rest and sleepe to them that haue ouerwatched themselues The Laborer is glad when his taske is done the traueller reioyceth when he commeth to the end of his iourney the Mariner is happie when after a dangerous voyage he arriueth in his harbour All men shunne paine and desire ease abhorre danger and loue securitie It were madnesse then for a godly Christian to feare so aduantagious a death and to wish for continuance of such a wretched life Tertullian hath a most excellent and elegant saying That saith he is not to be feared which sets vs free from all that is to be feared and that is death which putteth an end to all feares and miseries But the true Christian hath yet a farre greater benefit by death for it doth not only put an end to euils of paine but also to the euils of faults not onely to the punishment for sinne but to sinne it selfe Now the euils of faults are farre worse then the euils of paine yea the least sinne is more to be hated abhorred and shunned then the greatest punishment for sinne How comfortable then and welcome should death be vnto vs that endeth not only our sorrowes but also our sinnes As long as we liue heere and beare about vs these earthly and sinfull tabernacles we daily multiplie our transgressions and rebellions against our gratious God and sustaine fierie conflicts and continuall combates in our very bosomes O bondage of all bondages to be in bondage vnto sinne The Gentile that apprehended vice only as a morall euil could say that men being in bondage to their lustes were more cruelly handled by them then any slaues were by most cruell tyrants and monsters how much more then should we that feele sinne as a spirituall euill and groane
meate Yea it is for wicked and vngodly men to feare death exceedingly because death in them is not ioyned with a godly and wel reformed life they haue not done that good for which they came into the world and therfore it is for them to feare to die They apprehend death as a strong enemy finding in it through their continuall wickednesse and infidelitie no likelihood of saluation no signe of peace and therefore it is for them to feare to bee dissolued and to think death to be no other change then a plague death to them is a beginning of eternall death and no path-way to Christ but a portall-doore to destruction and therfore they may iustly feare death But seeing the Lord hath vouchsafed you a penitent and beleeuing heart goe on boldly Psal 116 9 and receiue your portion in the land of the liuing and although the assault of death bee very violent bitter and strong to the triall of your faith yet call to mind that our Sauiour Christ hath ouercome death and hell as we haue heard he hath broken the strength of this battell confounded the Captaine of this host and set vp the songs of triumph to all true beleeuers that they may haue the fulnesse of ioy So now it remaineth that you do as one that hath his house on fire burning all in a flame that it is vnpossible to bee quenched who will throw out from thence and fetch his treasures and iewels that so hee may with them build another house euen so must you doe Let your owne ruinous house burne let it perish seeing it may not bee otherwise Onely thinke and bestirre your selfe how you may saue your treasure and iewels I meane your soule and that is by a true and liuely faith in Iesus Christ that so at the resurrection of the iust you may come vnto a new house that cannot fade nor perish but remaine immortall for euer Onely let vs be faithfull and couragious for so hath our Captaine Iesus Christ beene who alreadie is proued the Conqueror and if we faint not nor turne backe hee will also make vs conquerors Therefore let not the violence and multitude of torments affright vs we haue but one life and we can loose but one and wee shall finde eternall life and blessednesse by loosing it 1. Sam. 17.49 Iudg. 16.30 1. Sam. 4.18 2 Kings 9.33 2. Kings 4.19,20 Iudg. 9.53 Acts 7.59 Luke 16.22 Goliah that mightie Gyant was as much hurt by Dauids litle stone as Sampson by the waight of a whole house Ely had as much hurt by falling backward as Iezabel by falling downe out of a high window The Shunamites sonne had as much harme by the headache as Abimelech by a peece of a milstone cast vpon his head And they that stoned Stephen to death tooke no more from him then an ordinarie sicknesse did from Lazarus and doth daily from vs all One death is no more death then another and as well the easiest as the hardest take our life from vs. And therefore the foure leprous men said one to another 2. Kings 7.3,4 Why sit we here till wee die If we say we will enter into the Citie the famine is there and we shall die and if we sit still heere we die also Now therefore let vs fall into the hoast of the Syrians if they saue vs aliue wee shall liue and if they kill vs we shall but die And indeed our torments how great and grieuous soeuer cannot be so great and so grieuous as those which the Martyrs and Saints of God in former ages haue sustained and suffered Of the Fathers in the old Testament the Author to the Hebrewes saith That some were racked and tortured Heb. 11.35.36.37.38 others had triall of cruell mockings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonments c. of whom the world was not worthy c. And of the Saints and Martyrs of God in the Primitiue Church in the ten persecutions they were thrust out of their houses spoiled of their patrimony loaded with irons locked vp fast in prisons and dungeons burned with fire beheaded hanged and pressed to death rosted on spits broiled on gridirons boyled in hot oyle and scalding lead throwne downe from high and steepe mountaines vpon sharpe stakes torne with wilde horses rent in sunder with the violence of bowed trees condemned to toile in the mettal mines thrust thorow with speares brayned racked pricked with pen-kniues their eyes bored out their tongues cut out their bowels ripped out of their bellies their bodies dismembred with varitie of punishments some whipped to death others famished to death some stabbed in with forkes of iron some drowned in sackes some their skins plucked off aliue some killed with cold and left naked to the open shame of the world Cities lay full of dead mens bodies and the bloud ranne streaming in the streets their torments were so great that the lookers on were amazed and they were so mangled that the inward veins and arteries appeared and the very entrailes of their bodies seene they were set vpon sharpe shels taken out of the sea and made to go vpon sharpe nailes and thornes and rolled vp and downe in vessels full of sharpe nailes plates of iron were laid red-hot to their arme-pits they were torne and pulled in peeces strangled in prisons gnawne with the teeth of cruell sauage beasts tossed vpon bulles hornes their bodies were laid in heapes and dogges left to keep them that none might come to bury them they were put into beares skins and baited by dogges and yet were not dismaid at any kinde of torment or crueltie the tormented were more strong then the Tormentors and their beaten and torne members ouercame the beating scourges and tearing hookes the tormentors were wearie with tormenting and being ouercome were faine themselues to giue ouer And in truth what is it that we suffer being compared with their sufferings Heb. 12.4 euen nothing in a manner Yee haue not saith the Author to the Hebrews yet resisted vnto bloud And why then should we feare death in the least degree seeing all those holy Martyrs and Saints of God feared it not at the highest degree 1. Cor. 6.3 Nay why should we feare men that are our selues feared of the Angels for wee shall iudge the very Angels Luk. 9.1 We were feared of the diuels for ouer them God giueth vs authoritie yea that are feared of the whole world 1. Cor. 6.2 for we shall iudge the world Let vs therefore with our whole might arme our selues for this combate of death The persecuters when they wound vs most are deepeliest wounded themselues and when they think most of all to be conquerers then are they most conquered Ignatius going to his martyrdome was so strongly rauished with the ioyes of heauen that he burst out into these words Nay come fire come beasts come breaking of all my bones rackings of my body come all the torments of the diuell together vpon me come
what can come in the whole earth or in hell so that I may enioy Iesus Christ in the end One seeing a martyr so merry and iocund in going to his death Luk. 22.44 did aske him why he was so merry at his death seeing Christ himselfe swet water and bloud before his Passion Christ said the martyr sustained in his bodie all the sorrowes and conflicts with hell and death due vnto vs for our sinnes by whose sorrowes and sufferings saith he we are deliuered from all the sorrowes and feares of hell death and damnation For so plenteous was the passion and redemption of Christ as that faint and cold sweat that is vpon vs in the agonie of our death the same he hath sanctified by the warme and bloudy sweat of his agony and making the graue a quiet withdrawing chamber for our bodies and death which before was so terrible to body soule is now by his meanes become the very doore and entrance into the kingdome of glory And hereof Blessed Hillary who from the fourteenth yeere of his age serued the Lord in singlenes of heart and in sinceritie of life to his liues end spake these words vpon his death-bed Goe forth my soule goe forth why art thou afraid Thou hast serued Christ these seuenty yeeres and art thou now afraid to depart Bishop Ridley the night before he did suffer at his last supper inuited his hostesse the rest at the table with him to his mariage for said he tomorrow I must be married shewing thereby how ioyfull he was to die and how little he feared seeing that hee well knew hee was to goe to Christ his Sauiour So by these examples wee see what great troubles the Saints and seruants and martyrs of God endured and how ioyfull they were as at a royal feast in all those troubles and sufferings of Christ that they might enter vpon that comfortable death of the righteous They were so farre from fearing death as worldlings feare it that they ran gladly vnto it in hope of the Resurrection and reioyced in the welcome day of death as in a day of the greatest good that could befall them Why then should we feare death at all to whom many things happen far more bitter and heauie then death it selfe and yet nothing so bitter and heauie as happened to these Martyrs and Saints of God Therefore when thou commest to die set before thine eyes Christ thy Sauiour in the middest of all his torments vpon the Crosse his body whipped head thorned face spitted vpon his cheekes buffeted his sides goared his bloud spilt his heart pierced and his soule tormented replenished on the crosse with a threefold plenitude as true God true man God and man gloria gratia poena full of glorie and all magnificence because true God full of grace and mercy because God and man and full of paine and miserie because perfect man a paine continuing long various in afflicting and bitter in suffering One saith hee continued in his torments twentie houres at the least others say he was so long in paine on the crosse as Adam was in Paradise with pleasure for it was conuenient that at what time the doore of life was shut against the sinner in the same moment the gate of Paradise should be open to the penitent and at what houre the first Adam brought death into the world by sinne in the same the second Adam should destroy death in the world by the Crosse Others report that Christ slept not for fifteene nights before his Passion in remembrance of the paine yea from the first houre of his birth to the last minute of his death hee did cary the crosse of our redemption In the beholding of which spectacle to thy endlesse ioy and comfort thou shalt see Paradise in the middest of hell God the Father reconciled vnto thee God the Sonne and thy Sauiour reaching forth his hand toward thee for to succour thee and to receiue thy soule vnto himselfe and God the holy Ghost ready to embrace thee and thou shalt see the Crosse of Christ Gen. 28.12 as Iacobs Ladder set vpon the earth and the toppe of it reaching heauen and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it to cary and aduance thy soule to eternall life and glory Then seeing wee are thus graced by God both in our life and at our death be not thou afraid to die And sure it is the will of God Matth. 20.22 that you should drinke of the cup that he hath filled for you and therefore pray that you may suppe it vp with patience and receiue great comfort thereby Againe there be three things that make death tollerable to euery godly Christian The first is the necessitie of dying the second the facilitie of dying the third the felicitie of dying For the first that which cannot be auoided by any power must be endured with all patience Eccles 8.8 There is no man saith the Preacher hath power ouer the spirit to retaine it neither hath he power in the day of death The first age had it and therein may pleade antiquitie the second age felt it and may pleade continuance the last age hath it and may plead propertie in all flesh till sinne and time shall be no more Call it then no new thing that is so ancient nor a strange thing that is so vsuall neither call it an euill properly thine which is so cōmon to all the world Wilt thou feare that to be done which is alwayes in doing I meane thy dying and dost thou feare to die in thy last day when by little and little thou dyest euery day Oh well said the Apostle Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.31 I protest by our reioycing which I haue in Christ Iesus our Lord I dye daily Then I may well say yee are alwayes dying and death is still in doing Remember my iudgement saith Iesus the sonne of Syrach for thine also shall be so yesterday for me Eccles 38.22 and to day for thee Salomon saith All things haue heere their time you to day and I to morrow and so the end of Adams line is soone runne out Death is the Empresse and Lady of all the world it seaseth vpon all flesh without surrender of any till the day of restauration no place no presence no time can backe it there is no priuiledge against the graue Eccles 41.4 there is no inquisition in the graue there is no pitie to bee shewed by the graue there is no pleading with the graue For there is no worke saith the Preacher nor deuise nor knowledge Eccles 9.10 nor wisdome in the graue whither thou goest And therefore antiquitie neuer made altar to Death or deuotion to the graue because it was implacable euer found to be cruell and neuer felt to be kinde And heere from the necessitie of dying wee come to the facilitie of dying which maketh it lesse fearefull and more tollerable for that the sence of
mee and rise with mee and lyeth all day in my bosome these things considered what comfort can I haue in death dying in such a case Answ Still be patient I pray you and drinke often of the Lords Fountaine some sweete water to refresh you in this case I know this you speake of is a very great griefe and biteth the heart and that euen this maketh many a man and woman more loath to die then otherwise they would bee and because diuers men haue diuers means to rid their debts by some by leases liuings in reuertions some by discharging euery yeere a portion by such helpes as alreadie they enioy euery man wisheth as his case is some to liue till those leases and reuertions come to them and theirs till they may by such yeerely parcels acquit the whole and so forth euery one wisheth life trembling and shaking to thinke on death till these things be so To all which mindes thus grieued and pinched I say this you cannot commit your wife and children into the hands of a more faithfull guardian and ouerseer then God is for he will take them into his charge and protection And therefore hearken and giue eare what the Spirit of comfort speaketh with great comfort in the first Epistle of Saint Peter 1. Pet. 5.6.7 Humble your selues therefore vnder the mightie hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time cast all your care vpon him for he careth for you As if he should say I know your woe and carefull thoughts bee not discouraged nor faint in feare vnder the Crosse you haue care in your heart cast it vpon mee and I will discharge it what you cannot I can and of my will be assured I doe care for you O my God what sayeth thou Dost thou care for me and shall I remoue it from my selfe to thy Maiestie and lay it all vpon thee So indeed thou speakest mine eyes see and mine eares heare Why then will I indeed both beleeue and doe most deare Father heere grouelling in the dust before thee humble my soule and blesse and praise thee for easing me of so grieuous a burden my care be hereafter my sweet God cast wholly vpon thee and as thou hast spoken so do for mee and mine I hunbly beseech thee for Iesus Christ his sake Consider the Rauens saith our Sauiour Christ Luk. 12.24.27.28.29 how they neither sow nor reape which haue neither store-house nor barne and yet God feedeth them Psal 147.9 Hee giues to the beast his food saith the Psalmist and to the yong Rauens which crie Psal 104.27 These waite all vpon thee that thou mayest giue them their meat in due season How much more saith our Sauiour are yee better then beasts or fowles Math. 6.26 Consider also saith our Sauiour of the lyllies of the field how they grow they neither labour nor spinne and yet Salomon himselfe in all his royalty was not cloathed like one of these c. What concludeth then our Sauiour there Surely euen this your heauenly Father knoweth that you haue need of all these things As if he should say let this stay and strengthen you and satisfie and content you euermore that God yea God your heauenly Father knoweth your case what you and yours from time to time and euer are in need of O strange and strong comfort drawne from Gods mercie loue and knowledge how ouerwhelmeth it all that euer fearefull and distrustfull man can obiect Gen. 32.10 I am vnworthy it is true for so wee must acknowledge with the Patriarch Iacob that wee are not worthy of the least of all Gods mercies My debts be great be it so that they are ten thousand talents the Creditors are very cruell and mercilesse yea so cruell as that mercilesse Creditor which our Sauiour Christ speaketh of in the Gospell Mat. 18.28,29,30 Psal 88.18 my selfe void of friends and the like Be it so that all thy louers friends and acquaintance are put farre from thee as the Prophet Dauid complaineth in the Psalme yea let al thy brethren hate thee as Ioseph was of his brethren Prou. 19.7 let all thy friends goe farre from thee and be wanting vnto thee as it is in the Prouerbs or whatsoeuer else it bee put it all off with this saith our blessed Sauiour that your heauenly Father knoweth the same and despaire you of helpe when hee faileth to know and not before I charge you but take it at my hands as a sequele sure he knoweth and therefore he will prouide in fit time for all things and his care shall doe what yours neuer can Psal 10.14 Psal 68.5 both for you and yours if you commit it vnto him It is God which calles himselfe the Father of Orphans and defender of the Widowes commmend them therefore to his patronage and defence Euer in such griefes as these are we should remember the promise of the Lord which hee made to Abraham and to his seed Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my couenant betweene thee and me and thy seed after thee in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be a God vnto thee and to thy seed after thee All soules are mine saith the Lord both the soule of the father and of the sonne are mine God which is thy God Ezech. 18.4 will also be the God of thy seed thy children are not only thine but also Gods yea more Gods then thine therefore doubt not of the fatherly care of God towards them The Prophet of the Lord doth testifie that hee hath beene yong and also old yet neuer did he see the righteous forsaken Psal 37.25 or his seede to beg their bread not meaning that it was impossible that the childe of a righteous man should go a begging but that it is a thing very rare and that he was now fourescore years old yet did he in all his life neuer see it and so haue many men liued till they haue beene of great yeares and yet seldome or not at all haue they seene any such thing come to passe And againe he saith Psal 112.2 The seed of the righteous shall bee mightie vpon earth the generation of the vpright shall be blessed God hath promised to thy children the heauenly treasures he will not suffer them to perish for hunger hee hath giuen them life and will not deny them maintenance for life he hath giuen them a body which he hath wonderfully framed he will also kindly sustaine hee will neuer forsake his owne nor giue ouer to nourish them whom hee hath created and hitherto by our selues through his blessing prouided for Therefore feare not at Death for if he take you away he will giue some other good meanes to performe his promise by He is your God and their God after you and will not faile them for he hath said it I will neuer leaue thee Heb. 13.5 nor forsake thee In the very matter we speake of see the
his seruants a new and strange kind of Philosophie that he shold mourn in the danger of death and yet reioice or at least comfort himselfe with any content in death And therefore his seruants said vnto him What thing is this that thou hast done 2. Sam. 12.21 thou diddest fast and weepe for the child while it was aliue but now he is dead thou doest arise and eate meat And what reason had hee for this strange and vnwonted behauiour He said While the child was aliue I fasted and wept for I sayd Who can tell whether God will haue mercie on me that the child may liue but now being dead wherefore shall I fast Can I bring him againe any more I shall goe to him but hee shall not returne to mee any more Behold the same thing that maketh thee to mourne namely that thy dead shall not returne to thee the very same consideration Dauid made the ground of his quiet and content And thereupon he comforted his heart and would not continue in heauinsse for that which could not bee helped So that it is to a right vnderstanding man ground inough to build content and quietnesse of heart vpon that God hath done his worke which thy sorrow cannot reuoke But peraduenture it will be here obiected that afterward when Dauid heard of his sonne Absolons death hee did so greatly lament and bewaile the same that hee would in no sort bee comforted quite contrarie to that which before hee practized for it is said that he was much mooued 2. Sam. 18.33 and went vp to the chamber ouer the gate and wept as he went saying O my sonne Absolon my sonne my sonne Absolon would God I had died for thee O Absolon my sonne my sonne For the answering of this obiection and your better satisfaction herein wee are to vnderstand that Dauid knew that he had a wicked and rebellious sonne of the estate of whose saluation he had great cause to doubt because he died in rebellion which indeed may seeme to bee the principall cause of his exceeding sorrow and lamentation and not so much for the death of his sonne as for that cause But of his childe he beleeued that he died in the state of grace and so was made partaker of saluation which was the cause that he was comforted presently after his death saying that his son should not returne but that he himselfe should goe to him Euen so in like manner if we feare the estate of our childe or friend that is dead then indeed haue wee great cause to weepe mourne and lament for him as Dauid did heere for Absolon but if we haue no such feare and do hope well and the best of the estate of our childe or friend then must wee with Dauid comfort our selues and say But now he is dead wherefore should I fast and weepe can I bring him back againe I shall goe to him but he shall not returne to me Let them mourne for their dead that know not the hope of the dead and suppose them extinct that are departed But let them that in the Schoole of Christ haue learned what is the condition hope of the dead how their soules doe presently liue with Christ and that their bodies shall be raised vp in glorie at the last day let them reioyce on the behalfe of their dead Amos 8.10 and throw off that burden of sorrow which is so heauie vnto them But you will say he was my onely childe and therefore his death must needs be grieuous Zach. 12.10 Indeed the death of an onely childe is very great and grieuous to parents and a cause of great heauinesse and lamentation yet remember that Abraham was readie to haue sacrificed his only sonne Isaak Gen. 22.3.10 the promised seede at Gods commandement Iohn 3.26 And God gaue his only Sonne Christ Iesus to death for our saluation And to comfort you to the full as Elkanah said to Anna so also much more may the Lord say to vs 1. Sam. 1.18 Am not I better to you then ten sonnes Then though hee bee your only childe and all that you haue there is no iust cause of complaint and griefe seeing the Lord hath taken but his owne and also seeing in his taking of him you giue him but as your pledge and earnest to binde vnto you the right of that inheritance that you expect or as your feoffee in trust gone before to take possession and keepe a place for you in heauen Trust me now or else the time will come when you shall trust me that you haue cause and cause againe to lament and mourne not for them who dying in the Lord are happie with the Lord and rest from all their labours and miseries but as Christ said in the Gospell to the woman that followed him Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues and your children Luke 23.28 so we for our selues and our children for hauing been safe by them and strengthned through them they are taken away from the plague wee lye open to it and it commeth the faster because they which kept it from vs are remoued And the greater our losse is the greater is their gaine and the more cause haue we to sorrow for our selues although to reioyce on their behalfe and to lament for our sinnes that haue depriued vs of their graces goodnesse prayers and holy company and let vs follow them in their faith vertue pietie godlinesse and good workes And yet if for all this their losse the want of their presence be grieuous vnto you and that you still desire their presence and would see them let me speake to you as Chrysostome did to some that were so affected Doe you desire to see them then liue a like vnto them and so you shall soone enioy their holy and comfortable presence but if you refuse so to doe neuer looke to enioy or see them againe It is written of Ierome that when he had read the life and death of Hillarion and saw that after he had liued religiously he died most comfortably and happily said Well Hillarion shall be the champion whom I will imitate euen so let vs say with Ierome Well this godly friend of ours which is deceased shall be our champion whom we will imitate we will follow his chastitie iustice pietie and godlinesse And so if you endeauour and doe say and performe you shall be sure to enioy that in future time which hee possesseth in the present that is heauenly and eternall blisse and happinesse What Pilgrime doth not make speed to returne home into his owne countrie Who hasting to saile homewards doth not wish for a prosperous winde that he may speedily embrace his long desired friends and parents and what are we but pilgrimes on earth what is our country but Paradise who are our parents but the Patriarkes Why make we not hast to runne vnto them that we may see our countrie salute our parents an
infinite number of acquaintance expect vs there our parents brethren sisters friends children kindred that are alreadie secure of their owne immortalitie but yet sollicitous for our safetie what ioy will it bee to see to embrace them Conclude then with your heart that you will bee strong against such losses and pray to the giuer of strength that you may be strong and leaue your losses to the Lord your God that hath gained them blessed for them blessed for you with many thankes for euer and euer The end of the sixt Diuision THE SEVENTH DIVISION OF THE CASES WHEREIN IT IS Vnlawfull and wherein Lawfull to desire DEATH TOuching the cases wherein it is vnlawful to desire death they may be reduced principally into three The first is if God can bee more honoured by our life then by our death then in such a case it is altogether vnlawfull to desie death but rather on the contrary we are to desire and pray for life For which purpose wee haue diuers examples in the holy Scriptures to warrant the same as of King Dauid and king Ezechiah Dauid bewayled himselfe in many of his Psalmes that If God tooke him away he should lacke occasion to honour prayse him as he was wont to doe whilest he was amongst men and therefore hee desired longer life that he might set forth the honour of God amongst the people Returne O Lord sayth he Psal 6.4.5 deliuer my Soule O saue mee for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall giue thee thank Againe Psa 30.8.9.10 I cryed vnto thee O Lord c. When I go down into the pitte shall the dust praise thee c Againe Psal 88 9 10 11 12. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction c. shall the dead rise and praise thee And againe Psal 118.17 I shall not dye but liue and declare the workes of the Lord. Ezechiah bewayled himselfe Esa 38.18.19.20 when hee heard the message of death and praied for longer life knowing therby that God should bee more honoured by his life then by his death And therefore sayth hee The graue cannot prayse thee c. And thus may euery godly Christian desire life and not death to this end onely that God thereby may be glorified But yet in this case although it be vnlawfull to desire death so long as God may bee glorified by our Life yet in praying for life to this end we must referre all to Gods good wil and pleasure Therfore if any wil obiect say I might in my place by mine endeauour such as it is for the time to come further profite the Church of God and greatly honour him for this end therefore I could wish that the space of a longer life might be graunted vnto me Answer As the Lord sayd vnto Dauid 1 King 8.18.19 Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart Neuerthelesse thou shalt not build the house but thy sonne which shall come forth of thy loynes he shall build the house vnto my name Euen so it may bee sayde to thee that whereas it is in thine heart to glorifie God and to profite his Church and therefore thou couldest wish that the space of a longer life might be granted vnto thee to that end thou doest well that it is in thine heart to doe so Neuerthelesse all this must bee commended to Gods disposing that is how long God wil haue thee to remaine in health and life for his glorie and for the good of his Church For hee that hath furnished thee with the giftes of teaching or exhortation or any other good gift for the glory of God and good of his Church he doth know how to furnish others also with the same when thou art gone and as God would not let Dauid build his Temple but did reserue it to be performed afterward by Salomon so God for some secret cause will not haue that good worke furnished by thee but reserueth it for some other time and some other person Therefore if thou art straightned with the Apostle Philip. 1.23 that thou doest not know which of these thou shouldest chuse hauing a desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ which is better for thee or to abide in the flesh which is more profitable for the church Know that to dye is aduantage vnto thee but to liue is aduantage to the Church No man of vs sayeth the Apostle Rom. 14.7.8 liueth to himselsf and no man dyeth to himselfe for whether we liue wee liue to the Lord to the end that wee may glorifie him and gaine more soules to him in the Church or whether we dye we dye to the Lord that we may obey his Fatherly will calling vs out of our Station Whether therefore we liue or dye we are the Lords that most mighty gentle and mercifull Lord From whose loue neyther life nor death can separate vs. Rom. 8.38.39 Thou hast hitherto obeyed the will of the Lord most faithfully spending thy seruices on the Church militant obey him further most readily embracing his will that calles thee to the society of the Church triumphant Thou art rightly carefull out of charity for the encrease of the church notwithstanding thou oughtest out of faith to commit the care of gouerning teaching and conseruing the same vnto God There is nothing heere more wholesome nothing better nor more conformable to pietie then for a man to resigne himselfe wholy to the will of God and to commend the full power of disposing our life and death to him with godlie prayers And one of these two thinges we may vndoubtedly hope for that eyther hee will giue vs that which wee aske or that which hee knoweth to be more profitable Delight thy selfe in the Lord sayeth the Psalmist Psal 37.4.5 and he shall giue thee the desires of thine heart commit thy way vnto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe Secondly it is altogether vnlawfull to desire death through impatience in that wee cannot haue our owne willes wishes and desires Gen. 31.1 In which case Rachell offended for seeing that shee bare Iacob no children shee enuied her sister Exo. 16.23 and sayde vnto Iacob Giue me children or â—lse I dye In like case also the children of Israel offended who murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wildernesse and said Would to God wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the Land of Egypt when we sate by the flesh pots did eate bread to the ful Numb 11.10 In this case Moses offeÌ„ded who said vnto the Lord Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy seruant and wherfore haue not I found fauor in thy sight that thou layest all the burden of this people vpon me Whence should I haue flesh to â—iue vnto all this people For they weepe vnto me saying giue vs flesh that
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
vngodly wiues it is sayd that they were a griefe of mind vnto Isaack and her because they knew that God was greatly dishonoured thereby Gen. 27.46 therefore Rebecca sayde to Isaacke I am wearie of my life because of the daughters of Heth and if Iacob take a wife of them such as those that are of the daughters of the land what good shall my life doe mee In this case also the Prophet Eliah desired death for he seeing the Idolatrous practises of the Israelites and the strange cruelties of Ahab and Iezabel against the Prophets and seruants of the Lord and how they had forsaken the Lords couenants 1. Kin. 19.3.4 cast downe his Altars and slayne his Prophets with the sword and that they did also seeke his life to take it away therefore through the greate zeale which he had to the glorie of God that hee might not see these abominations wherewith the Lord was so much dishonoured by them It is sayde That hee requested for himselfe that hee might dye and said it is inough now O Lord 2 King 2.11,12 take away my life for I am not better then my Fathers And afterwards as we reade God graunted vnto him more then he did desire for the Lord tooke him away vp into Heauen in a whirlewinde which taking vp of Eliah after this sort into heauen was farre better and more easie for him then the ordinary common death of all men Who can expresse what a griefe it is to the childe of God to bee inclosed and compassed about with wicked and vngodly miscreants by whom God is all the day long blasphemed and dishonoured What a torture and torment it is to such as feare the Lord and are godly minded to liue in the midst of a froward peruerse and crooked generation continually prouoking Gods wrath by reason of their wicked liues and deedes It would make a mans heart to bleed to heare consider how swearing blaspheming cursed speaking rayling slandering quarrelling contending ieasting mocking scoffing flattering lying dissembling vaine corrupt filthy scolding scurrilous loose and idle talking that ouerflow in all places so that men that feare God had better bee any where then in the company of most men This made the Prophet Dauid to crie out and say Ps 120.5.6.7 Woe is mee that I soiourne in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar my soule hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace I am for peace but when I speake they are for warre Lot was fore vexed and grieued with the vncleane conuersation of the wicked and therefore it is sayd that the Lord deliuered iust Lot vexed with the filthy conuersation of the wicked 2. Pet. 2.7.8 for that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawfull deeds As the World in all ages heretofore hath not knowne the pure and straight paths of God so in these present euill dayes of ours the true and right Profession of Christianitie is counted of many Puritanisme and precisenesse phantasticall affectation of singularitie and popularitie and hipocrisie True it is indeede that as there are true Preachers and true Beleeuers so Sathan stirres vp counterfeits that haue an outward shew and resemblance of them but are not purged from their inwarde filthinesse Pro. 30.12 These are they that Worldlings stumble at concluding thus Euen so are they all therefore their profession is but a kind of Sect and to follow the common course practise of the world is the surest and safest way And here Sathan hath his desire Againe if any godly man that hath alwayes made conscience of his wayes shall offend although of meere infirmity or occasioned by some strong temptation but yet so as hee may iustly be taxed why then the matter is out of all doubt both he and all his ranke are hypocrites and none else Such is the blindnesse of the world and their preiudicate opinion of the children of God But to you that are of this vncharitable opinion giue mee leaue to speake thus much You boast your selues to bee the children of God and the true members of Christ though carelesse of your wayes but as for others who make conscience of their wayes you make mockes on them with your mouthes and you deuise termes for them to make them accounted factious sectaries hypocrites and I know not what they are your gazing stockes and taunting Prouerbes Concerning which sect Act. 28.22 we know that euery where it is spoken against but where is your deuotiō where is your zeale where is your repentance where is your feruency sobrietie prayer thanksgiuing humilitie What fruites of the Spirit appeare in you what loue of God in zealous exercises of Gods worshippe what contempt of the worlds pompe pride pleasure vanity in your moderate liuing conuersation What regard of the afflictions of Ioseph Yea your bodies are your Idols and your soules like drudges doe homage to your bodyes this appeareth in your excessiue fare costly apparrell varieties of fashions in your curiositie in the putting on thereof in your wanton sports daliances pleasures and such like But for a conclusion let me leaue this as a bone for you to gnaw on That stumbling blockes shall euer bee cast before the feet of the wicked yet shall the Lanthorn of Gods word shine vnto them to guide them without stumbling or erring notwithstanding stumble they will and fall downe euen to the breaking of their neckes for their owne wickednes blindeth them yea and they wilfully out of the hardnesse of their hearts close their eyes against the wayes of truth because the wayes of error death and destruction are more pleasant vnto them Furthermore woe shall bee to them that wrong by word or deede or writing the least of Gods little ones who are so deare to the Lord as the apple of his eye Zac. 2.8 Therefore let the scorners and enemies of good men remember That Israel is as a thing hallowed to the Lord Ier. 2.3 all they that eate it shall offend Euill shall come vpon them saith the Lord Men may dippe their tongues in venome Reu. 22.11 and their pennes in poyson and keepe the garments of such as stone Stephen but the Lord will auenge the cause of his poore ones he will not alwayes hold his peace nor hide his face Therefore in the meane time till wee can haue our desire in this case We must take great care that we delight not in their euill company and if it be our hap sometime to bee amongst them let vs take heede wee be not polluted and defiled by their company for it is a common and a true saying that hee that toucheth pitch shall bee defiled therewith so he that doth conuerse with them must looke to be defiled with their company If a man that had wallowed in the myre and tumbled in the filthie channell should offer to company with vs wee would loath
persecutions into desarts mountaines and holes of the earth But they were worthy and had farre better company hauing a kind of fellowship with Christ and all the Saints that were gone before them So for the faithfull that now liue if the wicked and vngodly make no more of them then of the filth of the World and as of the of scouring of all things as the Apostles speaketh it is because they are too good to liue amongst them and too precious to be cast before swine 1 Cor. 4 13. that so treade and trample them vnder their feet And where they say away with such fellowes from the earth Math. 7.6 for it is not fitte that they should liue Christ will in his due time take them from the earth by a blessed and most sweet death Act. 22.22 to haue the company and fellowship with him his Angels and Saints and with all the holy company of Heauen and then they shall haue their desire Thirdly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of our sinnes to the end we might not offend God any more by sinning And what a miserie and bondage it is to bee in subiection to sin may appeare by the most earnest and feruent prayer of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul vvho feeling the waight and heauie burden thereof 2 Cor. 12.7.8.9 he desired God with earnest zeale and feruencie and with deepe sighes and groanes that hee might be deliuered from it And againe after the long and lamentable complaint that the Apostle made of the Law that was in his members striuing against the law of the Spirit and leading him captiue into the law of sinne hee breaketh forth into this most patheticall exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death or this body of death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 7.24.25 The Prophet Dauid also feeling the heauy waight of his sinnes maketh his grieuous complaint and mone thereof vnto God saying There is no soundnesse in my flesh Psal 38.34 because of thine anger neyther is there any rest in my bones because of my sinnes for mine iniquities are gone ouer my head as a heauie burthen they are too heauy for me If a man would inuent a torment for such as feare God and desire to walke in newnesse of life and to haue part in the first resurrection hee cannot deuise a greater torment then to be disquieted with this tyranny of sinne and with this vnquiet vnhappy Iebusite euen the rebellion and corruption of our owne flesh and this heauie weight of sinne that doth cleaue and hang so fast vpon vs. O happy therefore and blessed death that dischargeth and freeth vs from so sore combersome and cruell bondage and from further offending of him who dyed for our sins So that death freeth vs from the necessity of sinning also brings vs to bee with Christ And to desire death in this case is not a loathing to liue but a loathnesse to sinne In which case Iob desired death because of his sinnes that he might not offend â—od any more and therefore hee sayth Iob. 6.8.9 10. O that I might haue my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for euen that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off then should I yet haue comfort Now in the meane while till we can haue our desire in this case accomplished Rom. 6.12 wee must resist and striue against our sinnes that they may not raigne in our mortall bodies and let all our endeauor and care increase against our sins that the force of them may be dayly weakened their number lessened and all occasions of sinning auoyded Fourthly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the miseries calamities and troubles of this life and for the preuenting of the miseries to come And yet this holy desire must not be simple and absolute but it must bee restrained with certain respects and with these reseruations First it must bee desired so farre forth as it is a meanes to put an end to all our miseries to all the dangers of this life to all the corruption of nature and to the necessity of sinning Secondly as it is a gate by which wee enter into the immediate fellowship with Christ and of God And our desire also for these endes must keepe it selfe within these limits wherein two Caueats must bee obserued First it must not bee immoderate exceeding the golden meane Secondly it must alwayes be with a reseruation of Gods good pleasure and with an humble submission and subiection of our willes to the will of God For if eyther of these be wanting the desire of death is defectiue faulty and dangerous Death frees vs from the miseries and perils of this world abolisheth all present and preuents all future dangers and brings vs to be with Christ What man wearied with labour desires not rest what Mariner tossed vpon the seas wisheth not to come into safe harbour What traueller toiled with a tedious and perilous iorney would not willingly come to his wayes end what sicke maÌ„ accepts not health what slaue imbraceth not freedome what prisoner doth not entertaine inlargement what captiue would not welcome liberty what husbandman would be euer toyling and not at length receiue the fruit of his labour what marchant is content to liue euer in danger by sea and by land amongst Pyrats and robbers not to come at last safe home with his wealth And lastly what man hauing the reuersion of a goodly kingdome would be loath to receyue the possession of it And sure wee are all in this case by reason of the manifold miseries incident to vs in this world that wee haue good cause to wish with a holy desire to be loosed from al these miseries and to be with our Sauiour Christ and in the meane time Luk. 21.19 till we can haue our desire in this case Let patience possesse our soules Fifthly and lastly it is lawfull to desire death for the perfecting and full accomplishment of that coniunction and vnion which wee haue in Christ Iesus our head that wee might be where he is to enioy his presence For we are saith the Apostle members of his body of his flesh Eph. 5.30 and of his bones that is we are most straightly coupled to Christ by the spirituall band of our faith which vnion is most admirable For first wee are vnited to his Godhead that is not by transfusion of the diuine substaÌ„ce but by effectual working by the manhood and secondly wee are one with his manhood that is really and substantially Ioh. 15.5 as appeareth by those Similitudes by which this vnion is expressed in holy Scriptures as namely First of the Vine and branches Ioh. 3.29 Rom. 11.18 Eph. 2.20 Eph. 1.23 Secondly of the Bridegroome and the Bride Thirdly of the Oliue tree and the
branches Fourthly of the foundation and the building Fiftly and specially of the head members Concerning which vnion Cyril hath made this resemblance that as two peeces of waxe moulten vp together do make vp one lumpe so Christs flesh with our flesh ioyned together make vp one body which is his Church And this coniunction and vnion which wee haue in Christ is also set downe in that heauenly prayer which our Sauiour Christ made vnto God his Father at his last farewell out of this world immediately before his passion and suffering Iohn 17. where hee prayeth at large for the accomplishment of this vnion in vs with him And if our Sauiour-Christ himselfe did pray vnto his Father for the ful accomplishment of this vnion that wee might be where he is for to behold his glorie then it is lawfull for vs to desire the same And this is true loue indeed vnto Christ our head to desire to bee with him for the propertie of true loue is an ardent and burning desire to obtaine that which is beloued And as a woman that loueth her husband vnfainedly cannot be content with any loue token shee receyueth from him in his absence but longeth and wisheth and desireth more and more till shee receyue himselfe euen so the Soule which is wounded with the loue of Iesus her mercifull husband hath continuall desire to be with him I grant euery token sent from him brings comfort but no contentment till she enioy him If the loue of men compelled the Apostle to say to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12 14 It is not yours but you I seeke How much more should the loue of God compell vs to say to our Lord Iesus It is not thy gift but thy selfe O Lord that I long for for thou art the portion of my soule seeing I am nothing without thee let mee tast the benefit of being thine I desire thee not thine for thy selfe not for thy gifts I desire thee onely nothing for thee Psal 73.25 nothing with thee nothing besides thee The godly Christian hath some liuely foretast sweetnes of this blessed and happy coniunction and vnion with Christ and therefore it is a griefe vnto him to be holder from him and a ioy to remoue vnto him But certainely he shall neuer goe out of this earthly body with ioy who liues not in this fraile body with grief for his absence from him If thou desirest that which thou hast not which is heauen then shedde thou teares here on earth that thou mayest obtaine it And hereof comes these and such like complaints As the hart panteth after the water broâ—kes so panteth my soule after thee O God my soule thirsteth for God for the liuing God when shall I come and appeare before God In this case Saint Paul desired death in respect of himselfe For to me sayeth he to liue is Christ and to die is gain But if I liue in my flesh this is the fruit of my labour Phil 1.21,22,23 yet what I shall choose I wotte not for I am in a straight betweene two hauing a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is farre better for me For the Apostle to haue a desire is more then simplie to desire for it witnesseth two things first a vehement secondly a perpetuall desire to passe to Christ his head and this is a setled desire which is a gift of Gods grace peculiar onely to the elect of God In this case is also Simon desired death for when the holy Ghost reuealed to him that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord Christ after that hee had seene him in the Temple He tooke him vp in his armes and blessed God and sayde Luk. 2,28 29,30 Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace c. Wherefore hidest thou thy face saith Augustine to God happily thou wilt say No man shall see mee and liue Oh then Lord that I were dead so I might see thee Oh let mee see thee that I may dy euen heere I will not liue Dye I would yea I desire to be loosed to be with Christ I refuse to liue that I may liue with Chrisâ—… And in this respect all the godly may desire death Though he tarrie Heb. 2,3 Heb. 10.37 Revel 22.20 wait for yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry For hee which testifieth these thinges sayth Surely I come quickely Amen Amen Euen so come Lord Iesus THE EIGHTH DIVISION OF THE GLORIOVS ESTATE OF Gods Children after DEATH TOuching the glorious estate of the children of God after death which way shall I beginne to expresse the same when as the blessed Apostle sayeth Eye hath not seene Eare hath not heard neyther hath it entred into the heart of man 1 Cor. 2.9 the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him I remember what is registred of a certaine Painter who being to expresse the sorrow of a weeping Father hauing spent his skill before in setting forth of the sayde passions of his children did thinke it best to present him vpon his Table to the beholders view with his face couered that so hee might haue that griefe to bee imagined by them which he found himselfe vnable to set out at the full The like must I doe in this case for the glory of that glorious estate which the children of God shall hereafter enioy I must commend to you with a kind of silent admiration that so you may with your silence suppose that to be infinite which you see that I will not aduenture to expresse What hand can measure the bounds of infinite What mind can number the years of eternitie what hand what mind can measure can number the vnmeasurable measure innumerable number of the ioyes of Heauen O that I had the tongues of the glorious Angels in some sort for your sakes to vtter or rather that you had the harts of the glorified Saints in some little small measure to conceiue of some part of this glory But this glorious Sunne doth so dazell my weake eyes this bottomlesse depth so ouerwhelme my shallow heart and the surpassing greatnesse of these ioye do euery way so ouercharge me that I must needes stand a while silent amazed and astonished at the serious consideration of the exceeding aboundant excellency of this glory which requires rather the tongues and pennes of Angelles then of men to describe and expresse the the same yea rather it cannot bee perfectly described and expressed by Angels themselues And therefore I must be content then darkely to shaddow it out sith liuely representation of it is meerely impossible This I may say in a word that looke what difference there is in proportion betwixt the cope of heauen and the earth which respectiuely to it is but as a pricke in the middest of a center the same much more there is betwixt the glorie of all the Kingdoms of
how deckt with stars as with sparkling Diamonds What would wee say if wee could see into it Mat. 17.1 and behold though with Peter Iames and Iohn at a glance or blush superficially the goodly pauement of heauen within whose floore is of gold and wall about it garnished with precious stones Mat. 4.8 And what is a kingdome here where all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them were shewed in the twinkling of an eye Luke 4 5. as it is in the Gospel if there were not hope of a better kingdome where all shall be kings and reigne with Christ eternallly And they which here haue reigned as kings vpon the earth shall lose nothing but gaine immeasurably by the change yea kings and queenes which haue beene nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the Church of God as the Prophet speaketh when they come thither Isay 49.23 shall cast away their Crownes as Elias 2. King 2.13 when hee went vp by a whirlewind into heauen let his cloake or mantle fall from him and they shal repent nothing there saue that they came no sooner thither and when they shall compare their earthly and heauenly kingdomes together they shall say as S. Peter said of the mount Mat. 17.4 bonum est esse hic It is good to be here in heauen but for the earth they shall bee as loth to looke backe vnto it as Moyses to goe backe into the land of Egypt For their pallaces shall then seeme prisons their golden chaines golden fetters their crownes crosses and all their earthly honors but burdens and vexations But when they shall looke vpon the face of God they shall say to him with triumph as it is in the Psalme With thee is the well of life Psal 16.11 in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore Thirdly if Adams paradise and garden was so delightsome and pleasant how pleasant and glorious is Gods owne seat of his owne residence He spake it with a wondring tongue whose heart could not comprehend so infinite an excellencie in saying as we haue heard before How glorious things are spoken of thee O thou city of God! Psal 87.3 For though in the letter this worthy Prophet spake of that earthly heauen which he confessed to be in the material tabernacle because of Gods presence and the godly exercises of Gods people performed there yet his meaning was vnder the cloud of the phrase to direct Gods children to a higher tabernacle and house of greater glory then that which was earthly and vnder the doome of time Againe saith the blessed Apostle 2. Cor. 3,7,8,9,10,11 If the ministration of death written and ingrauen in the stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to bee done away how shall not the ministration of the spirit bee rather glorious For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glorie For euen that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glorie that excelleth For if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious And if the preaching of the Gospel whereby God giueth his quickening spirit working the life of grace in his elect be glorious then much more shall the true professors of the Gospel be made partakers of farre greater glorie in the kingdome of heauen Againe wee doe reade in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 18.23 that when Dauid was perswaded by Saul by the meanes of his seruant to become the Kings sonne in law it is there said by Dauid Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the Kings sonne in law seeing that I am a poore man and lightly esteemed Then if it be accounted a great honor and glory to be a sonne and childe to an earthly King much more honorable and glorious it is to be the sonne and childe of the King of heauen Behold saith Saint Iohn what manner of loue the Father hath bestowed vpon vs 1. Iohn 3.1 that wee should bee called the sonnes of God Which glorie all the tongues of men and Angels as wee haue heard before can in no wise expresse as witnesseth the blessed and glorious Apostle Saint Paul himselfe who was in it 2. Cor. 12.1,2,3,4,5 and saw it and therefore he saith I knew a man in Christ aboue foureteene yeeres agoe whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the bodie I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught vp into the third heauen and heard vnspeakable words which it is not lawfull or possible for a man to vtter So great and infinite are the glory and ioyes of the kingdome of God as they cannot enter into vs and therefore it is appointed that we must enter into them Therefore it is said Matth. 25.21 Well done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord. Now if the Queene of Sheba as we heard before pronounced the seruants of King Salomon happie 1. King 10.8 for that they stood continually before him and heard his wisdome then much more happy are the Saints and seruants of God who doe continually with his holy Angels stand and behold the glorious presence of one which is greater then King Salomon Matth. 18.10 euen the God of glory himselfe In which respect Saint Ambrose on his death bed said We are happie in this that we serue so good a Master Yea happie is the people saith the Psalmist that is in such a case Psal 144.15 yea happie is that people whose God is the Lord. Yea blessed and happie are all those which so liue in this world that departing hence they may be assured to come into so glorious a place and presence Wee see by experience when a Country-man hath beene trained vp sometime in the Court he forgetteth his clownish kinde of life and becommeth a Courtier let vs therefore leaue the speeches habite fashion and manners of this wicked world wherein we liue and inure our selues with the customes and course of the Court of heauen let all our thoughts words and communication testifie that in spirit wee are alreadie there Let my minde saith Augustine muse of it let my tongue talke of it let my heart loue it and my whole soule neuer cease to hunger and thirst after it In the meane time till thou come into this glorious place and presence aske of God by heartie and faithfull prayer to giue thee grace entirely and from the bottome of thy heart both to vnderstand and desire the ioyes and glory thereof and so to be affected and rauished with the delight thereof that euer and euery where thou mayest be stirred vp to serue
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