vntroubled vndismayed insomuch that an auncient witnesse of the Christian Bishops that they did more ambitiously desire the glory of Martyrdome then others did Praelacies and Preferments And a late mortall enemie of theirs bade a vengeance on them for hee thought they tooke delight in burning What then shall wee gaine by them I remember Master Rough a Minister comming from the burning of one Austo in Smithfield being asked by Master Farrar of Halifax where he had beene made answere There where I would not but haue been for one of my eyes and would you knowe where Forsooth I haue beene to learne the way which soone after hee made good by following him in the same place in the same kinde of death Now if one President made him so good a Scholler What dullards and non-proficients are we if such a cloud of examples work not in vs a cheerefull abilitie to expect and encounter the same aduersary so often foyled before our eyes Yet least any should complaine that examples without Rules are but a dumbe and lame helpe I will annexe vnto them a payre of Funerall Sermons opening a couple of Seales reuealed to Iohn in his second vision The first affording vs sundry Meditations of Death and Hell The second of Heauen the happinesse of such as dye in the Lord and rest vnder the Altar The vse of them I chiefly dedicate and commend to old sick persons such especially as die of lingring diseases affoording them leisure to peruse such themes though I forbid none but to all I say Come and see THE LIFE OF FAITH in DEATH REVEL 6. 7. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Come and see And behold a pale horse and his name that sate on him was Death and Hell followed after him and power was giuen vnto them c. COme and see Were it some stately some pleasing yea or but some vaine sight such as Mordecay riding on the kings Horse in pompe with the Royall Furniture or but a company of Players riding through a Market A Drum a Trumpet or the least call would serue the turne to draw vs out to the sight But these being serious yea to nature somwhat hideous and odious Voyces like vnto Thunders are giuen to the beasts to call beholders The Cryer in the Wildernesse is willed to cry this Theme aloud in the deafe eares of men A Boanerges with all the vehemency and contention of his voyce and affections will bee too little vnlesse God boare the eares open the eyes and perswade the hearts of men to Come and see Yet is it but our folly to be so shye of this sight for though it bee sad yet is it of all the sights vnder the Sunne the most necessary the most profitable Though we turne away our faces and close our eyes yet see it wee must and see it wee shall neuer the lesse neuer the sooner neuer the later Nay the truth is see it wee neuer shall but with closed eyes Thou tender faint-hearted man or woman that art so loath to meete with a Corps or Beere to see a skull or any thing that minds thee of Death shalt thou by this meanes protract or escape thy Death No let mee tell thee praeuision is the best preuention and praemonition the best praemunition That which is commonly receiued of the Basiliske is here no conceited Story but a serious truth He that sees it before he be seene of it may auoyd the deadly poyson of it Hee that sees it before it comes shall not see it when it comes Hee that mannageth an horse at an armed stake fits him to rush into the maine Battell without feare And wouldest thou with Ioseph of Arimathaea walke euery day a turne or two with Death in thy Garden and well foreacquaint thy selfe therewithall thou shouldest haue if not Enochs yet euery true beleeuers Priuiledge not to see Death not to taste of Death viz. in that ougly forme distastfull manner which other the sonnes of Adam do who because they will not see the face of it must feele the sting of it To dye well and cheerfully is too busie a worke to be well done ex tempore The Foundation of Death must bee layde in life Hee that meanes and desires to dye well must dye daily Hee that would ende his dayes well must spend them well the one will helpe the other The thoughts of thy end as the trayne of the Foule and Rudder of a Shipp will guide thy life and a good Life will leade thee to a peaceable end that thou shalt neither shame or feare to dye In a word Platoes Phylosophy in this is true Diuinitie that the best meane and whole summe of a wise mans life is the Commentation of Death not euery fleet and flitting flash but frequent and fixed contemplations Death is the knownest and vnknownest thing in the world that of which men haue the most thoughts and fewest Meditations Be therefore perswaded to Come and see that is come that thou mayest see Come from other obiects infinite and vaine spectacles with which the eye is neuer glutted Drawe neere and close to this that thou mayest see it throughly Wipe off the Clay Spittle and Scales of thine eyes that thou mayest cleerly behold the nature quality and consequents of Death No mortall wight but hath some blushes of mortality such as go and come but if they would suffer them to lodge in their mindes they must needes stirre some affection and leaue some impression in the memory and produce some effects in their liues Socrates had a gift that hee could fasten his eyes many howers on one obiect without change or wearinesse Halfe so stayed a thought of ones mortalitie might bring a man to immortalitie It is not beautie seene but looked on that wounds I meet with a Story of one that gaue a young Prodigall a Ring with a Deaths head with this condition that he should one houre daily for seauen dayes together looke and thinke vpon it which bred a strange alteration in his life like that of Thesposius in Plutarke or that more remarkable of Waldus the rich Merchant in Lyons who seeing one drop downe dead in the streets before him went home repented changed his life studied the Scripture and became a worthy Preacher Father and Founder of the Christians called Waldenses or poore men of Lyons In Conference and Confessions many one hath acknowledged to my selfe the like some that by dangerous sicknesse of their own others that by feare of infection in times of the Plague and generall Visitation others by the death of friends as by shafts that haue fallen neere them haue beene awakened affrighted and occasioned to thinke deeply on their ends to prouide against their ends to attend the Word which hath proued the meane of their conuersion and saluation And this I thinke should bee enough to perswade young and olde one and other to Come and see But what now are we come out to see Behold First the Seale opened Secondly the
THE LIFE OF FAITH IN DEATH Exemplified in the liuing Speeches of Dying Christians By SAMVEL WARD Preacher of Ipswich LONDON Printed by Augustine Mathewes for Iohn Marriot and Iohn Grismand and are to bee sold at their Shops in Saint Dunstons Church yard and in Pauls Alley at the Signe of the Gunne 1622. TO HIS DEARE AND LOVING MOTHER I Honour Augustine much for honouring his Mother so much after her death whose name and example had otherwise lyen in obscuritie But I like better and wish rather to follow the piety of Nazianzene who gaue himselfe to the performance of all Christian Offices to his louing Mother God hath so blessed the former part of your life aboue the lot of most women with two such able guides as haue so stored you with Spirituall and Temporall furniture that you neede not the ayde of any your Children Neuerthelesse Grace and Nature will bee ascending and expressing themselues though in weake seruices REVBEN when hee found but a fewe Flowres must bring them to his Mother LEAH ESAV when hee takes Uenison gratifies his aged Father withall SAMPSON findes home by the way and presents of it to his parents Heere is a Posie gathered out of olde and new Gardens this sauory meate hath God brought to hand heere is sweete out of the strong Let your soule eate and blesse The vse and fruit of them I wish to euery beleeuer especially in age and sickenesse but the handsell and honor of them if any be to your selfe whom the Law of God and Nature binds mee to honour aboue others Long may you liue to blesse your Children with your daily Prayers especially your sonnes in that worke which needes much watering Yet euery good Christian in yeares cannot but desire to bee forewarned against death approching and that is the ayme of these endeuours God prosper and blesse them as the former and send mee my part in the benefit of these as hee hath done of them in the time of vse Your Sonne in all dutie desirous of the birth-right of your loue and blessing SA WARD THE LIFE OF FAITH IN DEATH THat which hath bin already spoken of the Life of Faith is to the naturall man aboue all Faith And yet if that bee all it can doe then is all little better then nothing Say it could fill the minde of man with all content satiate his life with all delight and sweeten the bitternesse of all afflictions yet if for all this there lurke in his breast a secret and slauish feare of Death the least peece of this leauen but in a corner of the pecke is enough to sowre the whole lumpe of his ioyes the least dram of this Coloquintida will marre the relish of all his sweetes and make him crie out There is death in the pot And Oh Death how bitter is thy mention and memory Aske Nature and call to Philosophy and see if they can affoord any ayd must they not confesse themselues heere quite posed and plunged hath not death set foyled their whole army for pouertie shame and sicknesse and other such pettie Crosses some poore cures and lame shifts haue they found out but when death comes all their courage hath fayled and all their rules haue left them in darke and desperate vncertainties It is possible for Pharaoh with much a do to stand out the stormes of Haile the swarme of Flies and Lice but when once the crie of Death is in the houses then is there no way but yeelding his Enchaunters and Mountebancks could abide the crie of Frogs and other such vermine but this Basiliske affrights them Onely Faith takes it by the tayle handles it and turnes it into an harmlesse wand yea into a rod budding with glory and immortalitie Quartane agues are not so much the shame of Phisicke as Death is of all naturall skill and valour Death is Faiths euill Faith onely professeth this Cure vndertaketh and performeth it with the least touch of Christs hand and that as familiarly as the richest Balme doth the least cut of the finger Faith turneth feares into hopes sighings and groanings into wishings and longings shaking and trembling into leaping and clapping of hands Alas all troubles are but as Pigmyes to this Gyant who defies all the hoste of Infidels holds them in bondage all the dayes of their liues and makes their whole life no better then a liuing Death and dying life Only Faith encounters this Gyant singles him out for her chiefe prize and grapples with him not as a match but as with a vanquished vnderling insulting ouer him as much as he doth ouer the sonnes of vnbeliefe sets her foot vpon the necke of this King of feares and so easily becomes Conquerour and Emperour of all pettie feares which are therefore onely fearefull because they rend to Death the last the worst the end and summe of all feared euils Here and here onely is the incomparable crowne of Faith here only doth she euidently and eminently honour her followers and difference them from all others with a noble liuery of true magnanimitie and alacritie It is true if wee had windowes into the breasts of men a difference one might see in the inward bearing of aduersitie but for the face and outside both may seeme alike hardy both may seeme alike resolute But when it comes to the poynt of Death then the speech the behauiour the countenance palpably distinguish the dull patience perforce of the worldling from the cheerfull welcome of the Christian. Let Death put on her mildest vizards come in the habit of the greatest sicknes to the stoutest Champion on his owne Downe bed yet shall his heart tremble and his countenance waxe pale Let her dresse her selfe like the cruellest Fury Come with all her rackes fires strappadoes wilde beasts all her exquisite tortures Faith will set a woman or a childe to make sport with her to dare and to tyre her and her tormentors Alas what doe they tell vs of their Socrates their Cato their Seneca and a few such thinne examples which a breath will rehearse a fewe lines containe their poore ragged handfull to our Legions whose names or number one may as soone reckon as the sand of the Sea shore their 's a fewe choyce men of heroycall spirits trayned vp either in arts or armes Our of the weakest sexes and sorts onely strong in the Faith their 's either out of windy vaine-glory childishly reckoning of a short death and a long fame or out of blockish ignorance venturing vpon Death as Children and mad men vpon dangers without feare or wit Ours out of mature deliberation and firme beliefe in Christ who hath drunke out of Deaths bitter Cup an eternall health to all mankind taken the gall and poyson out of it and made it a wholesome potion of immortalitie Faith heere proclaimes her challenge and bids nature or arte out of all their Souldiers or Schollers produce any one who hauing free option to liue or die and that vpon
equall tearmes haue embraced Death Whereas infinite of hers haue bin offered life with promotions and yet would not bee deliuered expecting a better resurrection If any shall challenge these for Thrasonicall flourishes or Carpet vaunts I appeale and call to witnesse not the Cloud now but the whole skye of witnesses such I meane as haue dyed either in the Lord or for the Lord who in the very poynt and Article of Death haue liued and expressed liuely testimonies of this their life partly in their incredible sufferings partly in their admirable sayings For their Acts and Monuments if they had all been penned all the world would not haue conteined their Histories the very summes would swell to large Volumes The valour of the Patients the sauagenesse of the Persecutours striuing together till both exceeding nature and beleefe bred wonder and astonishment in beholders and Readers Christians haue shewed as glorious power in the faith of Martyrdome as in the faith of Myracles As for their last Speaches and Apothegmes pitie it is no better marke hath been taken and memory preserued of them The choyce and the prime I haue culled out of ancient Stories and latter Martyrologies English Dutch and French The profite and pleasure hath paid me for the labour of collecting and the like gaine I hope shall quit the cost of thy reading Sweetly briefly they comprise and couch in them the foundation the marrow of large manifold precepts prescribed by the learned Diuines for preparation against Death The Art of dying well is easier learned by examples then by directions These chalk the way more plainely these encourage more heartily these perswade more powerfully these chide vnbeleefe with more authoritie if some worke not others may some will affect some some another Read them ouer to a sicke or to a dying Christian if they quicken not if they comfort not it is because there is no life of Faith in them if there be the least sparke these will kindle it cherish and maintaine it in the doore in the valley in the thought in the act of Death The Liuing Speeches of Dying Christians PART 1. OLd Simeons Swannes Song Lord let thy seruant depart in peace c. The good Theefe the first Confessor Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome Steuen the first Martyr Lord Iesus receiue my Spirit forgiue them c. Peter the Apostle None but Christ Nothing but Christ. Andrew the Apostle Welcome Oh Christ longed and looked for I am the Scholler of him that did hang on thee long haue I coueted to embrace thee in whom I am that I am Polycarpus to the Proconsull vrging him to deny Christ I haue serued him 86 yeares and hee hath not once hurt mee and shall I now deny him When hee should haue been tyed to the stake he required to stand vntyed saying Let me alone I pray you for hee that gaue mee strength to come to this fire will also giue me patience to abide in the same without your tying Ignatius I am the Wheat or Graine to be ground with the teeth of Beasts that I may bee pure Bread for my Masters tooth Let Fire Rackes Pulleyes yea and all the Torments of Hell come on mee so I may winne Christ. Lucius to Vrbicius a corrupt Iudge threaning death I thanke you with all my heart that free mee and release mee from wicked Gouernours and send mee to my good God and louing Father c. Pothnius Bishop of Lyons to the President asking him in the midst of torments what that Christ was answered If thou wert worthy thou shouldest know Cyprian God Almighty be blessed for this Gaole deliuery Ambrose to his Friends about him I haue not so liued that I am ashamed to liue longer nor yet feare I Death because I haue a good Lord. And the same to Calligon Valentinians Eunuch threatning death Well doe you that which becomes an Eunuch I will suffer that which becomes a Bishop Augustine Boughes fall off Trees and Stones out of Buildings and why should it seeme strange that mortall men dye Theodosius I thank God more for that I haue beene a member of Christ then an Emperour of the world Hilarion Soule get thee out thou hast seuentie yeares serued Christ and art thou now loath to dye or afrayd of Death Vincentius Rage and doe the worst that the spirit of malignity can set thee on worke to doe Thou shalt see Gods Spirit strengthen the Tormented more then the Deuill can doe the Tormentor Iubentius and Maximinus Wee are ready to lay off the last Garment the Flesh. Attalus answered to euery question I am a Christian being fired in an Iron Chaine Behold oh you Romans this is to eat mans flesh which you falsely obiect to vs Christians Basill to Valens his Viceroy offering him respite No I shall bee the same to morrow I haue nothing to lose but a few Bookes and my body is now so crazy that one blow will ende my torment Gordius To the Tyrant offering him promotion Haue you any thing equall or more worthy then the Kingdome of Heauen Babilas dying in Prison willed his Chaines should be buried with him Now saith he will God wipe away all teares and now I shall walke with God in the land of the Liuing Barlaam holding his hand in the flame ouer the Altar sung that of the Psalmist Thou teachest my hands to warre and my fingers to fight Iulitta Wee Women receiued not onely flesh from men but are bone of bone and therefore ought to be as strong and constant as men in Christs cause Amachus Turne the other side also Least raw flesh offend The like Lawrence Symeones Thus to dye a Christian is to liue yea the chiefe good and best end of a man Marcus of Arethuse hung vp in a basket annoynted with hony and so exposed to the stinging of Waspes and Bees to his persecutours that stood and beheld him How am I aduaunced despising you that are below on earth Pusices to Ananias an olde man trembling at Martyrdome Shut thine eyes but a while and thou shalt see Gods light Bernard Fense the heele voyd of Merite with Prayer that the Serpent may not finde where to fasten his teeth The second part EDWARD the 6. King of England Bring me into thy Kingdom free this Kingdome from Antichrist and keepe thine Elect in it Cranmer Archbishop Thrusting his hand into the fire Thou vnworthy hand saith hee shalt first burne I will bee reuenged of thee for subscribing for feare of Death to that damned scrowle Latimer Bishop To one that tempted him to recant and would not tell him his name Well saith he Christ hath named thee in that saying Get thee behinde mee Sathan And being vrged to abiure I will saith hee good people I once sayd in a Sermon in King Edwards time confidently that Antichrist was for euer expelled England but God hath shewed mee it was but carnall confidence To Bishop Ridley going before him to the Stake
Haue after as fast as I can follow wee shall light such a candle by Gods grace in England this day as I trust shall neuer hee put out againe To whom Bishop Ridley Bee of good heart Brother for God will either asswage the fury of the flame or else strengthen vs to abide it Bishop Hooper to one that tendered a Pardon vpon recantation If you loue my Soule away with it if you loue my Soule away with it one of the Commissioners prayed him to consider that life is sweet and death is bitter True saith hee but the death to come is more bitter and the life to come more sweet Oh Lord Christ I am hell thou art Heauen draw me to thee of thy mercy Iohn Rogers to one that told him hee would change his note at the fire If I should trust in my selfe I should so doe but I haue determined to dye and God is able to inable me Being awakened and bidden to make haste to Execution Then saith hee shall I not need to tye my poynts Iohn Philpot I will pay my vowes in thee O Smithfield Thomas Bilney I know by sense and Phylosophie that fire is hote and burning painfull but by faith I know it shall onely waste the stubble of my bodie and purge my spirit of it corruption Glouer to Augustine Brenner He is come He is come meaning the Comforter Gods Spirit Iohn Bradford embracing the Reeds and Fagots sayd Strayte is the way and narrow is the gate and few that finde it And speaking to his fellow Martyr Bee of good comfort Brother for wee shall haue a merrie Supper with the Lord this night if there be any way to heauen on Horsebacke or in fiery Chariots this is it Lawrence Saunders I was in prison till I got into prison and now sayes he kissing the Stake welcome the Crosse of Christ welcome euerlasting life my Sauiour began to mee in a bitter Cup and shall I not pledge him Iohn Lambert None but Christ none but Christ. Baynam Behold you Papists that looke for myracles I feele no more paine in the fire then if I were in a bed of Downe it is as sweet to me as a bed of Roses Hugh Lauerocke comforting Iohn A Pryce his fellow-Martyr said vnto him Bee of good comfort my Brother for my Lord of London is our good Physition he will cure thee of all thy blindnesse and me of my lamenesse this day William Hunter to his Mother For a momentany payne I shall haue a crowne of life may not you be glad of that To whom shee answered I count my selfe happy that bare such a Champion for Christ and thee as well bestowed as any childe that euer I bare Adam Damlip to his fellow-prisoners wondring at his cheerefull Supping and behauiour after the message of his execution Why quoth hee thinke you I haue beene so long in the Marshallsea and haue not learned to dye And when they told him his quarters should bee hanged vp then said he shall I need take no thought for buriall Priests wife to one offering her money I am now going to a Countrey where money beares no Mastery when sentence was read Now haue I gotten that which many a day I haue sought for Kirby to Master Wingfield pittying him Be at my burning and you shall see and say there is a Souldier of Christ I know fire water and sword are in his hands that will not suffer them to seperate me from him Doctor Taylor I shall this day deceiue the wormes in Hadley Church yard and fetching a leape or two when hee came within two miles of Hadley Now saith hee lacke I but two Stiles and I am euen at my Fathers house Walter Mill vrged to recant at the Stake I am no chaffe but corne I will abide Wind and Flayle by Gods grace Bishop Farrar to a Knights Son bemoaning his death If you see me stirre in the fire trust not my doctrine And so hee stood holding vp his stumps till one Grauell strooke him downe with a staffe Rawlings to the Bishops Rawlings you left mee Rawlings you finde mee and so by Gods grace I will dye Iohn Ardley If euery haire of my head were a man it should suffer death in the Faith I now stand in The like Agges Stanley and William Sparrow Thomas Hawkes being desired to giue a signe whether the fire was tollerable to be borne promised it to his friends and after all expectation was past hee lift vp his hands halfe burned and being on a light fire with great reioycing striketh them three times together Lawrence Ghest to his wife meeting him with seauen children on her hand Be not a blocke to me in the way now I am in a good course and neere the marke The Lady Iane Grey requested by the Lieutenant of the Towre to write her Symbole in his book before her beheading wrote this Let the glassie condition of this life neuer deceiue thee There is a time to bee borne a time to die But the day of death is better then the day of Birth Alice Driuer when the chain was about her necke Heere is a goodly Necker chiefe God be blessed for it Iohn Noyes kissing the stake Blessed bee the time that euer I was borne for this day To his fellow Martyrs We shal not lose our liues in this Fire but change them for a better and for coales haue pearles c. Iulius Palmer To them that haue the minde linked to the body as a theeues foot to a payre of stockes it is hard to dye indeed but if one bee able to separate soule and body then by the helpe of Gods spirit it is no more mastery for such a one then for mee to drinke this Cup. Elizabeth Folkes embracing the Stake Farewell all the world Farewell Faith Farewell Hope and welcome Loue. Roger Bernard being threatned whipping stocking burning answered I am no better then my master Christ and the Prophets which your Fathers serued after such sort and I for his names sake am content to suffer the like at your hands so immediatly he was condemned and carried to the fire Thomas Sampal offred a pardon in the midst of the fire Oh now I am thus far on my iourney hinder me not to finish my race Latimer Bishop when they were about to set fire to him and Bishop Ridley with an amiable countenance said these words God is faithfull which doth not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength Bishop Ridley to Mistris Irish the Keepers wife and other friends at Supper I pray you be at my Wedding tomorrow at which wordes they weeping I perceiue you are not so much my friends as I tooke you to be Tankerfield when hee had put one Legg into the fire The Flesh shrinkes and sayes Thou foole wilt thou burne and needest not The spirit sayes Hell fire is sharper and wilt thou aduenture that The flesh saies Wilt thou leaue thy Friends The Spirit answers Christ and his Saints society
Horse issuing out Thirdly the Colour of the Horse Fourthly the Rider and his Followers Death and Hell This horse is vnder seale Seales wee vse commonly to confirme and conceale to make things sure and to keepe things secret And thus death as all Gods iudgements are said to bee sealed Iob. 35. and that with a firmer seale then of the Medes and Persians In which sence this Horse Zach. 4. issueth from betweene two brasen mountaines that is Gods ineuitable vnalterable Decree hee rusheth not out rangeth not abroad at the will of man or Satan at hap or by blinde Destiny but at the pleasure and by the appoyntment of the great Master of these Gods horses Iesus Christ one of whose chiefe royalties is to keepe the locke and key of Death and Hell Reuel 1. else would he be euer trampling vnder feete the sonnes of men Looke how naturally and continually the Sea would ouerwhelme the whole Earth if the waues were not bounded by prouidence So would this horse ouercome the Inhabitants of it were hee not tyed short and restrained by his and our Lord. You see him heere limited to the fourth part of the Earth else had not one been left aliue For all are sentenced and haue deserued to dye and it's fauour that all dye not In a word men dye not by chance course of Nature influence of Starres but then and therefore because it is appointed A million of Aethiopians perish in one day in one battell 2. Corinth 14. not because all were borne vnder one aspect of Planets but because such a slaughter was sealed of God And though there be one way in and twenty out of the world yet all falls out as God determines and disposeth That Christian which beleeues this though hee may desire Dauids Arithmeticke to number his dayes aright that is to know the breuity of them yet will hee neuer study the blacke and senselesse Art of calculating his birth and death None but fooles are curious and inquisitiue to know that which is vnder Gods priuy Signet We are all as Souldiers sent to Sea with Commission vnder seale not to be opened till wee come to such and such a point To guesse and conclude we shall dye at such an age in such a Climaterical yeere what is it but to make a league with Death not vnlike to that frenzie Merchant that would make and strike vp matches of hundreds and thousands with parties absent as if they were present A fond itching humour and such as would for the most part what euer wee thinke doe vs hurt rather then good if the day and houre were far off it would breede securitie if neere hand horror Sicknesses are sufficient summons and warnings Marke such as sentenced by Iudges and Physitians fore-know their death yet without speciall grace fore-fit themselues neuer the more carefully Some deaths indeede as some Clockes giue warning before they strike which symptomes and signes infallible and so extraordinarily God giues to some Moses and Hezekiahs a presage and hearts to prepare but generall God hath seene this the best for vs that it should be for the generall most certaine for the perticular most vncertaine to him sealed to vs concealed of which hee would haue vs make these vses First for our bodily health not to bee too carefull nor too carelesse with all our Physicall dyet and miserable anxietie wee cannot adde one cubite to the length of our dayes or measure of our health Wee are all sealed vp no otherwise then the measure of our wealth of our crosses and blessings for the hauing or auoyding of which the meanes wee must vse without carking care or cowardly feare cheerefully relying on Christ the Lord Keeper of the Seale not wittingly and desperately preuenting that sealed date by surfeits of toyle or pleasure by wilfull neglect of dyet contempt of Physicke by griefe or by melancholy nay not by haste to glory with Cleombrotus the Heathen or with hastie selfe-murthering Christians such as Augustines times were full off but with Iob patiently all the dayes of our life during the terme of our sealed lease till the very day and date expire and appointed time of dismission and dissolution come And secondly for our soules prouision not to do as most that haue set dayes of truce and peace and in which they hang vp their Armour a rusting and their Beakons vnwatched but as people that liue in perpetuall hazard of war haue all things in a daily readinesse for seruice at halfe an howres warning vpon the least Alarum Who would liue one howre in infidelitie or irrepentance least in that hee bee taken napping as the foolish Virgins and that rich foole that reckoned of many yeares and had not one night to continue Grant it were enough to repent and belieue the last day of life yet how can a man be sure to doe that vnlesse he doe it euery day considering that euery day may for ought he knowes be the last The seale may be opened in a day and houre one least thinkes of it as it is to most that dye Lastly when euer this Horse comes to fetch away vs or any of ours children or friends A beleeuer stamps not and rages not as mad Marshall Birom murmures not repincs not as the wild Irish men without hope expostulates not with Destenie as Alexander for his Hephestion but with Aaron layes his hand on his heart and mouth for his sonnes suddaine Death knowing what God hath sealed shall be and must bee If the Dreames of a blind fatall necessity could quiet Heathens how much more should a Christian be chearfull at the disposall of a wise and louing keeper of the Seale A minute sooner or later it shall not be then hee hath fore-seene and foresealed for thy especiall good who hath times and seasons and seales in his ordination Worthy was the speech and resolution of an vnderstanding Diuine If Christ hath the key and seale of Death then a figge for Death This though it be an ordinary notion yet well digested it is a singular stay to a beleeuer The Seale being thus opened Come and see the Creature that issues forth Behold an Horse a fierce a strong a warlike a speedy Creature so described by God himself Iob 39. Looke therefore how easily Iehu stamped Iezabell into peeces and Tamberlaine his Troupes of Horse the Turkish Foot-men or as the sturdie Steede dashes out the little Whappets braines so easily doth Death with the least kicke and spurne of his Heele the haylest Complexion the stoutest Constitution tryumphing like an Emperour ouer all sorts of people treading in the neckes of Kings and Princes as Iosua ouer them in Cane insulting in the tearmes of Rabshakeh Where is Hamath the Kings of Arphad Iuah and Sepharuaim Elam Meshech and Tubal whose feare was vpon the liuing are they not descended into the graue made their bedds in the slimy valley and layd their Swordes vnder their heads Where is Goliah with his brazen Bootes
policie and our grossest simplicity and euen this is the cause of our sottish and foolish liuing and dying Oh that my head were a Fountaine of teares to weepe for and bewayle the stupiditie yea the desperate madnesse of infinite sorts of people that rush vpon Death and chop into Hell blindling How bruitish and beastly are the preaemises and conclusion of the Epicure and his brood Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye Who knowes whether the soule of the beast descend and mans ascend who euer saw the one goe downeward and the other vpward and then what matter if the life of the one differ not from the other What need a man care whether hee bee a Sadduces Swine an Epicures Horse or himselfe The one many times hath lesse care and more pleasure then the other if Death be the last line the full point and finall cessation of the Creature These â—ruits thanke Phylosophie that 〈◊〉 taught them not to feare any such Hobgoblins spirits or old Wines tales as Hell But such Phylosophie Socrates Plato and the wiser sort euen of the Heathen haue hissed out of Schooles as belluine Yea the most sauage and vnlittered peoplè the lesse soiled with Art the more confidently doe they out of Natures instinct and diuine impression conclude of an eternall place of well and ill being after death for the soules of men But these Monsters wilfully shut their eyes deface and obliterate these stamps and principles of nature and so dance hood-winke into perdition Miserable it is to see how boldly and blindly they thinke and venture on Death Theramenes he writes Bookes in praise of Death as the end of all calamities Augustus hee dyes in a iest calling for a Plaudite Tiberius â—n dissimulation Diogines hearing Antisthenes cry out in his paines Who shall ease mee offers him a â—nife to dispatch himselfe withal Caninus called to execution bids his Fellow remember hee had the best of the Game The Earle of Kildare seeing his Writ of Death brought in when hee was at shouelboard throwes his cast with this in his mouth Whatsoeuer that is this is for a huddle Little list would these blind bayards haue for such idle mirth if their eyes were opened to see this follower of Death How pittifull is the frenzie of those braue Spirits as they deeme and terme themselues as much as they scorne pittie our Duellists I meane who as if they neuer had heard of Hell are as Prodigall of their liues as Cockes or Dogs are of theirs powring them out vpon euerie drunken quarrell I pittie not the losse or misse of such good for little but to seâ— in the front of a Battell or tâ— stop breaches and Canons withal but I pitty the losse of their soules who serue themselues as the Iesuite in Lancashire followed by one that found his Gloue with a desire to restore it to him but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience leapes ouer an Hedge plunges into a Marlepit behind it vnseene and vnthought of wherein he was drowned I maruell not that they feare not a Rapier or Pistoll Who would not chuse it before a lingring and paineful sicknesse Were it not for the after-claps of Death No Coward need feare the encounter of it alone in a single combat But Death hath a Second a Page tenne times more dreadful then himself with whom we haue to begin when we haue done with Death which is but the beginning of sorrowes Death is pale but his follower is a blacke Fellow a terrible monster neuer enough feared In which respect how lamentable also is the blindnesse of all selfe-murderers who make Death the remedie of euery griefe and cure of euery violent passion If they finde themselues inwardly vexed or perplexed in Conscience they seeke Death as a present ease not considering how they leape out of the smoake into the flame out of the flame into the fire out of a curable momentany disturbance into an endlesse inrecouerable woe without the extraordinary mercy of God to which vsually the Deuill speeds them that hee might get them into his clutches and so passe out of doubt all meanes of preuention and euasion by Faith and Repentance Oh senseles Achitophell how did thy wisedome fayle and befoole thee when thou settest thine house in order and disposest of thy goods forgettest thy soule hangest thy selfe which durst thou or wouldest thou haue done had but one belieuing thought of an eternall fire come into thy head How blockish is the manner of dying of many a Naball who strucken with the feare of Death and Hell become as insensate as stocks and stones haue no mind nor power to thinke of one thing or other Cannot abide to heare any mention of the danger of that which they feare whose senses the Deuill bewitches and benumms lest they should see and auoyde such was Lewes the eleuenth who straightlie charged his Seruants that when they sawe him sicke they should neuer once dare to name that bitter word Death in his eares So doe Cowards and Crauens shut their eyes and chuse rather to feele blowes then to see and shunne them Little better is the common course that most people take Scared some are with a confused and preposterous feare of Death and flashes of Hell in their Consciences and yet take no course to get pardon and Faith in CHRIST but either taking it to bee some melancholly humour send for merry companions to driue it away or being giuen vp to hardnesse of heart and impenitencie wilfully shake off all thoughts of repentance shut their eyes and eares against all good aduise and desperately put all at aduentures and chop into the iawes of that roaring Lyon Some of them ridiculously fearing Death they knowe not why more for the pangs of it which often are lesse then of the Tooth-ake then for the Hell following like fooles that feare the thunder Cracke and not the Bolt the Report of the Peece and not the Bullet the Serieants arrest and not the Gaolers Imprisonment Labour to escape Death which they cannot and Hell which they might Others of them scarred with some terrible apparisions affrighted as Cardinall Crescentius a little before his death with a blacke Dog in his Chamber A Presage and Preludium of Hell approaching they crie out they are damned the Deuill the Deuill doe they not see him c. And so Spira-like desperately and disconsolately depart in hellish horrour Other of them a little wiser and yet little the better for it admit a colde thought or two and it may bee a little parley about the matter but when they haue fetched a sigh or put all vpon a Lord haue mercie on them trust it shall goe as well with them as with others euen as God will haue it and thinke they doe much if they send to a Minister to pray with them or for them neuer giuing all diligence to make their saluation sure and to escape so great a condemnation Oh if wee could consider how
quake and tremble to thinke of them How faine would I snatch thy soule out of this fire Vndoubtedlie know that if this warning doe thee no good it is because thou art of old iustlie ordained to perish in thy impenetency and to bee a fire-brand in these euerlasting flames Now on the contrarie if thou beest a vessell of mercie and honour it will doe thee no hurt but driue thee to Christ in whom there is no condemnation who onelie is perfectlie able to saue and deliuer thee out of this Lake If thou be est alreadie in him it will cause thee to reioyce in thy Lord and Sauiour who hath deliuered thee from the feare of two such enemies that now thou mayst with the Ostrich in Iob despise the horse and his rider and triumph by Faith ouer Hell and Death O Death where is thy sting Oh Hell where is thy victorie Death is to men as he comes attended To Diues he comes followed with Diuells to carrie his soule to Hell To Lazarus with troopes of Angels to conuey him to Abrahams bosome So that we may in earnest say that Death is the Atheists feare and the Christians desire Diogines could iestingly call it The Rich mans enemie and the Poore mans friend This this is that which makes death so easie so familiar and dreadlesse to a belieuer he sees Death indeede but Death is not Death without Hell follow him and Hell he sees not but onely as escaped and vanquished and therefore is said not to see Death Now sayes the belieuer comes death and the Prince of this world with him but he hath no part in mee all the bitternesse and teares of death lye in the feare of Hell which thanks be to Christ hath nothing to do with me nor I with it and therefore I taste not of death now comes Gods Sergeant pale death whom I know I cannot auoyde but this I know he comes not to arrest me to carry me to prison but only to inuite me to a feast attend and conuey me thither Let such feare him as are in debt and danger mine are all discharged and cancelled he comes with his horse to take vp me behind him and to fetch me to my fathers ioyes to a Paradice as full of pleasures as he carries the wicked to a prison full of paines Pharaohs Baker and Butler were sent for out of prison the one to promotion the other to execution hee that had the ill Dreame expected the Messenger with horror the other longed for him with comfort The latter is my case therefore though I be reasonably wel in this world as a child at board yet home is home therefore will I waite till this pale horse comes and bid him heartily welcome and with him the Angels of my Father who haue a charge to lay my body in a bed of rest and to bestow my soule vnder the Altar as it followes in the next seale which is so pleasing a vision that we neede no voice or preface such as we had in the former inuiting vs to Come and see the very excellency of the obiect it self is of force enough to draw and hold the eies of our minds vnto it The second Sermon VERSE 9. And when hee had opened the first Seale I saw vnder the Altar the Soules c. WHen Death hath bin viewed in the palest and Hell in the blackest colors that may be yet if wee haue Faith enough to see Soules in their White roabes vnder the Altar there is comfort enough against the horror of both enough to enable the belieuer to despise and trample ouer them â—ooth In the opening of this fifth Seale I hope to finde more sollid Antidotes more liuely Cordialls against the feare of Death then in all the dead and drie precepts of Bellarmines doting Art of dying For this part of the vision was shewed Iohn of purpose to sweeten the harshnesse of the former that his spirit grieued and amazed with the sight of the calamities and mortalitie vnder the persecuting Butchers rather then Emperours might yet be relieued and refreshed with a sight of the blessed estate of such as died either in or for the Lord. Wherein was proposed to his sight and to our consideration these seuerals First the immortall subsistence of soules after their seperation from the body Secondly their sure and secure condition vnder the Altar Thirdly their dignity and felicitie clothed with white robes Fourthly their compleate happinesse at the last day when the number of their bretheren shall be accomplished Of all these Christ meant Iohn should take notice and al beleeuers by his testimony to their full consolation First Iohn being in the spirit could see spirits men indeed clad in flesh can hardly imagine how a soule can haue existence out of the flesh Eagles can see that which Owles cannot so is that visible and credible to a spirituall man which to a naturall is inuisible incredible And yet euen natures dimme eyes haue beene cleere enough to see this truth Nature I say pure and meere nature not only the Platonists and other learned ones who resolutely concluded it and aptly resembled it to the distinct being of the waggoner after the breaking of the Coach the swimming out of the Mariner in the wreake of the ship the creeping of the snayle out of the shell the worme out of the case not vnto the learned Grecians and ciuilized Romans But euen the rudest Scythians and vnlettered Sauages yea though there bee many Languages and sundrie Dialects in the world yet is and hath this euer been the common voyce of them all That soules die not with the body And howeuer the bodies resurrection hath to them been a Problem and Paradoxe yet is the soules eternitie an inbred instinct sucked from natures breast or rather an indelible principle stamped in the soules of men by the finger of God And indeed to right reason what difficulty or absurditie is there in it What lets mee to conceiue a being of it in the Ayre in the Heauen or in any other place as well as in the compasse of my body is not one substance as capable of it as another Can it liue in the one and not in another Hath it not euen whiles it is in the bodie thoughts motiues passions by it selfe of it owne different from the body many crosse and contrarie to the disposition of the body chearefull ones when that is in paine or melancholie Cholericke ones when that is flegmaticke Doth it waite vpon the body for ioy sorrow anger and the like doth it not more often begin vnto it Not to speake of Martyres innumerable who haue beene exceedingly pleasant in the middest of torments as if they had beene spirits without flesh How many auncient stories and dailie examples haue wee of chereful minds in distempered pained languishing dying bodies Reason will then conclude that the Soule may well be and be sensible after death without the body which euen in the body can bee wel