are as corrupt by nature as the rest vntill they be reformed by the santified meanes ordained of God 15. Mans sinne maketh his life a due debt to death 17. The Diuell is the father of Sinne and Sinne the mother of Death ibid. The corruption of our flesh did not make our soules sinfull but the sinne of our soule did make the flesh corruptible ibid. CHAP. V. DEath is threefold corporall spirituall and that which is common both to body and soule Sect. 2. The description of Death according to the seuerall parts 3. The soule cannot properly dye being life it selfe illustrated by examples 4. How the soule is said to dye 5. The seperation from God is the death of the soule as the departing of the soule is the death of the body ibid. The nature of Death 6. Gods Spirit is the soule of our soules ibid. Man by sinne lost his life and found out death 7. It is agreeable to Gods iustice that a spirituall death should beget a corporall ibid. So soone as man had sinned so soone did the armies of death besiege his life 8. The very life of sinners is a death 9. Gods spirit must quicken and reuiue the soule or else it must needes dye and be damned 10. The degrees of the spirit in Gods elect 11. The wicked in this life doe liue in death and conuersing in earth they are bondslaues of hell 12. An effectuall faith in Christ is the life of the soule 13. What it is to be dead in sinne 14. Death is diuersly deriued with the reasons thereof 15. CHAP. VI. IT is enacted in heauen that all men must dye Sect. 1. The Registers of the death and buriall of men from the beginning witnesse the execution of Gods decree herein 2. Death is the way of all the world and the house of all men liuing ibid. Death is the Lady and Empresse of all the world 3. Balthasers Embleme is written vpon euery mans wall 4. Death respecteth no mans person place or qualities 3. Dayes and yeares and times no plea against the graue but a fitter prey for Death ibid. Death as Dan the gathering hoast sweepes all away 4. Mercilesse Death doth exercise her cruelty vpon all alike 5. Nothing can preuaile against Death or ransome our life 6. Gods hand a man may escape but Deaths dart no man can shunne 7. No force can resist it nor meanes preuent it ibid. Death is the common road-way of all the world 8. We must needes yeeld our selues to the law of Death ibid. Men may be distinguished by times but all are equall in the issue 9. As we grow our life decreaseth This whole life is but a death ibid. Man cannot be ignorant of his death since all creatures and actions proclaime his mortalitie 10. Experiments of death on euery side most apparant 11. The law of Nature conuinceth it amongst all nations 12. Our liues as our garments weare of themselues they are eaten with the Moaths we with the Time ibid. The course of our life runneth without pause to the period and end 13. An exclamation against Death most hideous and pittifull 14. 15. The Christian vse of our mortalitie with a reproofe of the carelesse Christian 16. 17. Death to the faithfull is as an hackney to carry and hasten them from earth to heauen ibid. CHAP. VII SInne brought in a sea of miseries Sect. 1. Life and misery are two twinnes which were borne together and must dye together 2. A description of infancy and old age with their miseries 3. The miserie of all estates Here death is liuing and life dying 4. There is no contentment in this wretched life 5. A description of mans sinfull mortall body 6. The frailty and brittlenesse of mans body with the reason thereof 7. See the manifold dangers of our life and how easily it is lost 8. The mutabilitie and inconstancie of mans life 9. This life is little better then hell were it not for the hope of heauen 10. This world is an Ocean sea of troubles See how fitly it resembleth it hauing a mercilesse maw to swallow vp all 11. It is a dungeon of ill sauours and a puddle of vices 12. Mans life is short and swift like a poste a ship and a shadow ibid. Our dayes passe swiftly as the Eagle to her prey and all mortall men are a prey to death 14. We are as flowers and grasse and Death in the hand of God as a sythe to cut vs downe ibid. All things dye but our sinnes which reuiue and grow young againe in despight of nature ibid. The cares of this life are like the Flyes of Egypt which giue men no rest neither day nor night 15. They are like mercilesse Tyrants which take away our peace ibid. Man and his labour are fitly resembled to the Spider and her web 16. All things are as snares to sinners to draw them to destruction 17. The meanes for Christians to auoid the snares of this life 18. It is as naturall for corrupt man to sinne as for water to run downe the channell or a Coach downe a hill 19. The best men liuing amongst the wicked are aptly resembled to Colliers and Millers ibid. The manifold engins of Sathan to enthrall vs. 20. No man can liue peaceably in this world among so many enemies of peace ibid. The warfare of Christians both outward and intestine with the occasions thereof 21. 22. Our life is as a tempestuos sea and death the onely port of tranquilitie and rest 23. CHAP. VIII MEN by dying proue they had sinned and sinne conuinceth there is a Law Sect. 1. The Law conuinceth man of sinne who without it knew not sinne 2. Sinne by the Law grew out of measure sinful with the reason thereof 3. The Law detecteth sinne as a hidden sicknesse that so we may seeke to Christ the Physitian 4. It is holy and righteous in it selfe though an occasion of euill to those that are corrupt ibid. How sinne is said to be dead without the Law 5. The Law anatomiseth sinfull man and setteth him out in his colours 6. The Law slayeth the sinner before Gods Spirit quicken him 7. Sinne and the Law are the strength and sting of Death 8. The Law not onely conuinceth man of sinne but iustifieth God in the punishment thereof 9. The horror of death with the reason thereof 10. CHAP. IX GReat and heauy was the tribute which God imposed vpon man for sinne Sect. 1. The death of the body is nothing to the damnation of body and soule in hell 2. As diseases are the maladies of the body so death is the maladie of diseases ibid. The death of the reprobate is a liuing death and a dying life 3. The life of the damned is an immortalitie of torments and euill 4. The torments of hell are vnspeakable 5. They are euerlasting and endlesse 6. Death to the vnregenerate is the very gate of hell 7. Death cannot be so feared as it ought of wicked men 8. CHAP. X.
borne a man and not an Angell Death is the common road-way of all the world there is no by-paths any nearer or nearer way no not for Kings and Emperours themselues What worlds of men are gone before vs yea how many thousands out of one field How many Crownes and Scepters lye pyled vp at the gates of Death Men are here as in a voyage the which wee must one day finish yesterday we came into this vale of teares and to morrow if our Maker will we shall goe out One goes before another followes one man rots in the graue and makes it empty that he which is yet aliue may haue place therein Or if we should continue here long yet can wee not escape for that all mortall men are enclosed in Deaths Parke Whether wee goe softly or runne swiftly whether wee dye willingly or end our dayes grudgingly when the appointed time is come wee must yeeld our selues to the Law of Death Doe wee flye Death yet followes vs and catcheth vs behinde in retyring backe shee approacheth neare vs turning from her shee surpriseth vs sodainely and ceaseth not like a greedy Beare and hungry Lyon vntill shee hath broken our bones and torne our flesh in sunder Death equally drags away all men which haue beene are or shall be We are distinguished by times but made equall in the Issue Some are sent before others come after but all goe the same way without exception In all these reuolutions of humane things there is nothing certaine but Death and yet euery one complaineth of that which neuer yet failed any Wee dye hourely and as we grow our life decreaseth for what is the beginning of Youth but the death of Infancie the entrance of Manhood but the end of Youth and what is the beginning of to morrow but the death of to day Wee are no sooner entered into the earth but wee are constrained to returne to the earth againe as it were from one sepulchre to another euen from the wombe to a beginning to liue and die together so as the most part of the time Death giues vs no warning but by the blow it selfe Many thinke they neuer dye but when they yeeld vp the last gaspe of Death but if wee marke it wee dye euery day and moment for our very liuing as I said is a continuall dying wee no sooner set a step into life but wee enter a step into death Of our life all the time past is dead the present liues and dyes at once and the future likewise shall perish The time past is no more the future is not yet the present onely is and no more This whole life I say is but a death It is like a candle lighted in our bodies in one the winde maketh it melt away in another blowes it cleane out ere halfe it be burned in others it endureth vnto the end but looke how much soeuer it shineth so much it burneth her shining is her burning her light a vanishing smoake her last fire her last wyke and her last drop of moysture So is it in the life of man his life and death are all one But how should man be ignorant of his death vnto whom all creatures and actions preach his mortalitie We see it by experience that all earthly things haue their end our yeares are limited God hath measured out our months the daies of our liues are dated how long wee haue to liue so that the first lesson that we haue to learne is to think of our end We see that the longest day passeth and the night succeedeth how Sommer followeth Winter and Winter Sommer the Sunne hath both his rising and his setting his shining and his shading the Spring couers and cloathes the ground with fruits Sommer ripeneth them Haruest gathers them and Winter spends them Thus one thing followes another and both one and another passe swiftly to their end The generation of one thing is the destruction of another and the death of one thing is the life of another First is our generation then our conception after comes our birth in wonderfull weakenesse The cradle at the first is our castle when we are crept out of that we come to a little strength yet long is the time ere we come to our ripenesse And here behold we neuer continue in one state for as our strength increased at the first so by little and little it diminisheth at the last as Youth succeedeth childehood and age youth so childehood youth and age haue all their end Wee see by obseruation that the freshest and sweetest flower soone fadeth our garments waxe olde be they neuer so gay our buildings become ruinous be they neuer so stately and as our life is vpholden by the death of Gods creatures so death shall be the end as well of vs as of them The Sunne towards his setting and the Moone towards her wayning haue dimmer beames and light And this is the vniuersall sentence of the world and Gods decree which needes must stand that all things flourishing shall fade all things of force and might shall be feebled all great things lessened and so by little and little being weakened shall at the last dissolue into the first substance and matter whereof it came as the cloudes in the skie into dewes and showers Ice and Snow into water all earthly things that are of the earth shall turne to earth againe and they that are of the waters shall turne into the sea So shall Adam being dust to dust againe returne with all his brood The law of Nature established amongst all nations and people of the world is this that all men come into the world with condition to retire out of it againe He is no great man saith one that thinketh it a great matter for Trees and stones to fall and for mortall men to die I knew saith Anaxagoras hauing intelligence of the death of his sonne that hee was mortall and subiect to die For as it is impossible for any man to die that liued not before so none can possibly liue that shall not die hereafter Our life is as a garment that weares of it selfe and by it selfe for we weare out our life in liuing the more we liue the lesse we haue to liue and still approach nearer death whatsoeuer we are cloathed with is a mortall and perishing merchandise our garments weare vpon our backs and we in our garments they are eaten with mothes and wee with time So in our meates as in a looking-glasse we may learne our owne mortalitie for let vs put our hand into the dish and what doe we take but the foode of a dead thing which is either the flesh of beasts or of birds or of fishes with which foode wee so long fill our bodies vntill they themselues be meate for wormes All this we see by experience we feele it and we taste it daily we see death as it were before our eyes we feele it betwixt our teeth and yet can wee
leaue our worldly beeing therefore to know our selues well we had neede to make some tryall and who can doe this that neuer came to proofe Vertue desires danger and obserues to what it tends what the scope thereof is and not what shee must endure for to attaine to the same for euen her very endurance is a great part of her glory A Pilot may be well knowne in time of a tempest a Souldier in the heate of battell It is alwayes best fighting with a knowne enemie and what shall an vnskilfull warriour doe that knowes not the nature subtilly weapons and policie of his aduersary A good House-holder maketh prouision for himselfe section 5 and family and buyeth before hand all necessary prouision according to his power much more ought a Christian to prepare before for that life that endureth to all eternitie Some doe as the wife that would giue none of her pottage to any till her pot was ouer-throwne and then calleth in the poore With this penaltie saith Augustine is a sinner punished that when hee dyeth hee forgetteh himselfe who in his life time thought not vpon God If a theefe be brought from the prison eyther to the Barre to be arraigned before the Iudge or to the place of execution hee will bewayle his misdemeanour past and promise reformation of life if so be hee might be deliuered In this case we are as fellons for wee are euery day going to the barre of Gods Iudgement-seate there is no stay or standing in the way Euen as the ship in the sea continues in her course day and night whether the Mariners be sleeping or waking therefore let vs prepare our selues betimes that in death we may make a happy end section 6 Many thousand soules as rockt asleepe in the cradle of securitie in this seducing world doe sodainly finde themselues within the gates of hell yet liuing on earth before they be aware For they are led through the vale of this present life as it were blindefolded with the vizard of sensuall lusts like beasts to the slaughter-house and neuer espie their dangerous estate before it be too late And most men are ready to take their farewell of the world before they thinke of their condition in the world and then they would beginne to direct their course aright when the time requireth them to make an end But one saith otherwise of himselfe drawing towards the period of his life When I was a young man my care was how to liue well since age came on my care hath beene how to dye well In this life said Augustine nothing is so sweet vnto me as to prepare for my peaceable passage from this pilgrimage of sinne to life and happinesse Alas wee encumber our selues with many things as Martha did not regarding as wee should that onely needfull thing to serue our God in life and death The tempest before expected doth lesse amaze vs when the storme shall arise Hee that leaues the world before the world leaues him and thinkes of his death as the sicke man harkneth to the clock shall say with Simeon Now let thy seruant depart in peace That which foolish men would gladly doe in the end section 7 should wise men doe in the beginning It is best with Noah to build an Arke while the season is faire and calme with prouident Ioseph to lay vp store of prouision in the dayes of plenty before the time of dearth and penury come to pinch vs while the weather is faire to thinke of a strome and when opportunitie is offered to follow our thriuing husbandry still sowing the seede of godly actions in the field of a repentant heart that so in the Autumne and end of our age we may reape the fruit of euerlasting comfort for our happy haruest and prouision to come It falleth out to vaine men many times in their death as to Pages and Seruitors in the Court who being allowed a candle to light themselues to bed doe spend it in playing and vngodly sports are afterwards constrained to goe to bed darklings So wicked men do waste the light of life by sinne and vanitie and at last are void of comfort and knowledge at the houre of death Therefore as our whole life is a passage to death so should wee make it a preparing for death that how soone soeuer the body returneth to the earth the soule may be as sure to goe to heauen Let vs doe that before death which may doe vs good after death and then sooner or later death shall not hurt vs which is only euill to the euill and good to the good If God offer grace to day thou knowest not whether he will offer the same to morrow and therefore now vse it if thou wilt be sure to vse it at all The light will shine when we shall not see the closing in of the day the euening will come when we shall not see againe the breaking forth of the morning light It behooueth euery one not so much with Ezekiah to set section 8 his houshold in order for that hee must dye as to set his soule in order his conuersation in order for that after death there is somewhat more behinde and that is called a time of iudgement Elisha could say to his seruant Is this a time to take rewards and amidst the pangs of death is that a time to thinke of amendment of life Saint Peter saith Be sober and watch for your aduersary the Diuell goeth about like a roaring Lion c. As if hee should say Watch for you haue a watchfull aduersary if yee respect his old experience hee was in Paradise if his nature a Lion if his cruelty a roaring Lion if his diligence hee seeketh if his intent that is to deuoure we had need then to watch hauing so watchfull an enemie Watch saith Christ because yee know not the houre when the Sonne of man will come As if he had said Because yee know not the houre watch euery houre because yee know not the month watch euery month because yee know not the yeare watch euery yeare Why doe wee not then keepe a continuall watch ouer our soules since we know not at what houre Death will assaile vs section 9 Carnall men are so inchanted with the harlot-like allurements of sinne and so carryed away by the violent streame of sensuall securitie as that they quite and cleane forget all remembrance of their end and become worse then Idols which haue eyes and see not yea a reasonable soule and vnderstand not But this is Sathans slight whose businesse was and is at and since the fall of the first man with this bloudy sword to slay mens soules Tâ—sh you shall not dye at all As if hee would haue vs to thinke the remembrance of death but a melancholy conceipt and lest it should make too deepe an impression of the feare of God in mans heart hee will haue the
will be thy sting O hell I will be thy biting The Grecians also deriue it from a word importing to looke vpwards because it brings vs to God and they tearme it Initiation or Perfection because in ending this life it entereth vs or rather perfecteth our life in heauen And the Latines take the name thereof from mora which signfieth delay or tarrying for a thing because it waiteth and expecteth for all men of all sorts and conditions And this may suffice for the dedescription of Death and declaration of the nature thereof CHAP. VI. At Death is due to all mankinde by the meanes of Sinne so all creatures actions and experience it selfe preach and proclaime the same AS the wages of Sinne is Death so all Adams sonnes hauing sinned must needes dye the death As in Adam saith the Apostle all men dye so in Christ shall all beleeuers be made aliue It is Gods Statute enacted in heauen that all must dye euen this were enough to cast a cloud ouer all our fayrest delights but there is more behinde and after that comes the iudgement The perswasion whereof possessing our hearts should one would thinke more then all penall Lawes deterre vs from impietie Ashes saith one are wont to keepe the fire the remembrance whereof wee beare about in our bodies But I would to God that the knowledge of these ashes I meane our fraile estate would keepe in our hearts the fire of Gods grace that we might neuer forget our graue And as the Law of dying was enacted at the first for sinne so hath it beene and shall be executed vpon all men without repeale vnto the end Neyther saith the Apostle any more then hath beene confirmed by a continuall course from the first creation as the registers of the death and buryals recorded in the Scripture doe declare Adam liued saith the holy Ghost by Moses nine hundred and thirty yeares and so hee dyed Seth liued nine hundred and twelue yeares and after dyed c. And is not this a true table most liuely representing our mortalitie and death Of some others it is said that they were gathered to their fathers of others to their people c. but of none that hee euer escaped For what man liueth and shall not see death shall bee deliuer his soule from the hand of the graue Therefore Iosuah calleth Death The way of all the world David The way of all the earth Iob The house of all men liuing He calleth it also The heape whereupon the liues of all men shall be powred where Kings and Counsellors are great and small Captaines and Souldiers bond and free Wee see how the best and happiest dayes of man slide swiftly away after come diseases and dolefull age and last comes cruell Death the lodge of all estates All must dye without distinction wee came by the wombe and wee must goe by the graue Before wee come to the sweet running waters of Shilo which runne softly we must passe the rough waters of Iorden that runne most swiftly Death is the Lady and Empresse of all the world her seizure is without surrender and from her sentence there is no appeale It is not the Maiestie of the Prince nor the holinesse of the Prophet nor grauitie of the Prelate that shee respecteth Strength of body feature or comelinesse of face or other parts learning riches or any such secular regard can plead against Death or priuiledge any person against the graue be thy dayes neuer so few or thy yeares neuer so full be they many or be they few all is one Dayes and yeares and time are no plea against the graue but a fitter pray for Death The Decree is out All must dye Balthasars embleame is written vpon euery mans wall God hath numbred thy dayes he hath laid thee in the ballance thou art found too light though not thy Kingdome which thou hast not yet thy life which thou possessest is diuided and giuen to death All Princes and the basest Peasants yea all persons whatsoeuer may say with Iob Corruption thou art my father Rottennesse thou art my mother Wormes and Vermine yee are my sisters yee are my brethren All men may truely say Graue thou art my bed Sheete thou art my shrine Earth thou art my couer Grasse thou art my carpet Oh Death therefore demand thy due and thou gathering hoast Dan come last and sweepe all cleane away Death is not partiall but dealeth vprightly with all making the state and condition of all men alike that none can repine for as well died righteous Abell whose sacrifice God accepted as enuious Cain whose seruice he reiected as well Abraham the father of the faithfull as Abimelech the infidell as well Isaack as Ismael as well Iacob whom God loued as Esau whom God hated as well chast Ioseph as incestuous Ammon as well meeke Moses as rayling Rabsheka as well Dauid a man after Gods owne heart as Saul from whom God tooke his spirit as well tender-hearted Iosiah as hard-hearted Pharaoh as well Salomon the wise as Nabal the foole as well poore Lazarus as the rich Glutton as well Iohn the beloued Disciple as Iudas the Traitor as well Simon Peter as Simon the Sorcerer mercilesse Death doth exercise her crueltie vpon all alike Notable is that saying of Agesilaus to diuers Captaines counselling him to walke to the hill Olimpus where hee should see such store of wealthy Merchants vttering a world of riches and precious Iewels If I could saith he buy and sell or exchange there sorrow for mirth sicknesse for health death for life I would then goe thither and spend all that I haue but I see that the buyers and sellers yea and the very things themselues are condemned to dye and to perish Wherefore neyther the sight of any thing there can better my estate or help me at the houre of death when I must creepe into my graue For although honour wealth and riches beare here a great sway amongst men yet can they nothing at all preuaile against the graue and Death it selfe Men by wisedome haue found out how the hardest stones may be broken and softened how wilde beasts may be tamed c. but nothing could be inuented whereby Death might be auoyded Gods hand saith one may a man escape but for Deaths dart no man can shunne it Against bodily enemies there may Fortresses be made Castles and Bulwarkes builded but to Death and his forces all men lye open as vnfenced Cities In other dangers power money flight counsell and policie may serue our turne but as for Death it can neyther be banished with power bought with money nor escaped with flying away nor preuented with counsell nor turned backe with policie All I say without redresse must hasten vnto Deaths home Hee therefore that thinketh it strange to dye forgetteth himselfe and his owne nature complaineth of the God of heauen that suffered him to be
senses faile him yea hee forsaketh as it were himselfe in that the very vse of reason forsaketh him Hee is accompanied with painfull aches griefes and diseases his company and conuersation is combersome in the Family where hee dwelleth This is the marke for sooth at which euery one shooteth vpon which the eyes of all are fixed This is the happy estate so greatly desired this I say is the end of the greedy ambition of long life Take thy Counters into thy hands see what reckoning thou canst make of life what is past frighteth thee with remembrance of it because so much of thy light is spent what is present burdeneth thee with the weight of it because in sweate and sorrow thou doest waste and spend thy time what is to come troubleth thee with the vncertainty of it least the graue doe swallow thee before thou see it what booteth it thee so vnseasonably to ripen thy cares for the tares of this life To conclude childehood is but a foolish simplicitie Youth a vaine heate Manhood a painefull carefulnesse and old age a noysome languishing Our playes are but teares our pleasures feauers of the minde riches are but rackes and torments honours heauie vanities our rest vnresty and so passing from age to age we passe from euill to worse from the lesser to the greater Thus one waue of trouble and affliction driueth vpon another vntill wee be arriued at the hauen of Death Here life is dying and death liuing whiles it increaseth it decayeth all this present life is but a wishing of the future a bewailing of the past a loathing of that we haue and a longing for that we haue not tasted a vaine memory of the state past and a doubtfull expectation of the state to come Nothing in this life is certaine nothing assured but the certainty and vncertainty of Death If any man be long a dying and paying Deaths debt Nature like a rigorous creditour that will be paid at the iust day sueth out an execution against her debtor taking from one his sight from another his hearing and both from some and he that tarrieth longest in the world shee foundreth maymeth and vtterly disableth in his limbes Is not this a goodly place where teares and cares make their residence where pale sicknesse and sad old age haue taken vp their habitation and where of necessitie we must passe our daies with such companions Doe wee not see how many discommodities we vndergoe and how ill this body of ours befitteth vs One while wee complaine of our bellies another time of our breasts and then of our throates sometimes our sinewes and then our feete torment vs Now we haue too much blood anone too little Thus are we haled and harried hither and thither for so it ordinarily falleth out with him that dwelleth in another mans house here teares sooner faile vs then iust cause of complaint with teares and cries we entred and with the same we must passe ouer and end our dayes What other thing is the body of mortall man but a corrupt and tainted vessell which infecteth the soule and soureth incontinently whatsoeuer precious or wholesome liquor is powred into it It is a filthy dunghill couered with snow faire without and foule within What channell is so filthy what sinke auoideth out such loathsome geare as doth mans body by sundry meanes waies The trees hearbes and many beasts doe yeeld forth pleasant smels and wholesome sauours onely Man doth yeelde most loathsome stuffe so that he seemes to be no other thing then a fountaine of filthinesse One fell a weeping that he was here a feeding vpon corruptible meate being created to liue in the company of Angels to feede on heauenly food What glasse is so brittle and subiect to knockes and breaking as is this body of ours Sometimes the very aire and heate of the Sunne is able to bereaue vs of life It shall not neede to draw the sword or to vse any weapon to take it away for the very aire and looke of an infected man is able to doe it Consider the strength of this Castle wherein the treasure of our life is kept seeing the beholding of it a farre off is able to batter the wals thereof to the ground Neither is it to be wondred that Man is so fraile and brittle of himselfe considering the moulde whereof he is made being dust but rather we may admire that being of such fraile mettall and making as hee is yet can endure so long Why is a Clocke so often disordered and out of frame the reason is because it hath so many wheeles and points of curious worke that though it be made of Iron yet euery little thing is able to distemper it but how much more nice is the artificiall composition of our body and how much more fraile is the matter of our flesh then is the mettall of a Clocke Why then should we wonder if some one point or other among so many peeces haue some impediment by meanes of which defect this clocke of our life is stopped course ended for what firmenesse can be in the matter of flesh or what strength consisteth in such a weake subiect Now considering we liue in such a fraile estate as wee doe our time is euer neere saith Augustine because we are mortall nearer because we liue among so many dangers If we were of a glassie matter our feare were the lesse for being kept from knockes there were hope of continuance but keepe we our selues as charily as wee can we shall away Doe we ouercome enemies without diseases within will also surprise vs Can we auoide the stroake of weapons the dart of Death we cannot shunne Mortall man is like a snow-ball in the Sunne his life is soone dissolued He is like an apple hanging on a tree corrupted inwardly by wormes though outwardly beautifull to the eye Man is the bondslaue of Death as a guest in his dwelling as a wayfaring man in his Inne for a night but quickly gone and forgotten Wheresoeuer hee dwelleth or whatsoeuer hee doth Death continually waiteth for him as a sergeant at his gates Oh miserable life how many deceiuest thou which when thou art knowne and learned art nothing when thou art exalted art but as smoake bitter to the wise sweet to the foolish who so seeketh thee knoweth thee not who so knoweth thee flyeth from thee It is reported that the Chamelion changeth himselfe in one houre into many and diuers colours and the Sea called Euripus for the often changing is accounted famous the Moone hath likewise for euery day a seuerall forme and shape But what Proteus was euer changed into so many formes as man altereth euery houre sometime hee is sicke sometime sound sometime angry sometime pleased sometime in hope anone in despayre hee willeth and hee willeth not c. yea many times hee knowes not himselfe what hee would haue Hee altereth and changeth euery houre he tosseth and tumbleth hee
heauenly Canaan wee shall haue a spirituall Pharaoh with his Captaines like Grassehoppers to feed vpon vs yea the libertie which wee haue in Christ the corruption of our heart will labour to inuert to voluptuousnesse the sweetnesse which wee taste in his word the vanity of our mindes will endeuour to ouer-cast with drowsinesse the Faith which we ground on his promises the subtiltie of the Serpent will seeke to vndermine with doubtfulnesse the conscience wee make to offend the lusts of our flesh will contend for to couer with hypocrisie the detestation wee haue of sinne the concupiscence of our eyes will striue to ouer-reach with prophanenesse and the interest wee haue to heauen the pride of our liues will perswade vs to change for trifles Being freed from outward warre ciuill and intestine ariseth vp against vs our Affections against Reason and Will Earth troubleth Heauen and the World in our selues although wee greatly shunne it doe what wee can will haue a pauilion and tent in our hearts Yea those oftentimes who with tragicall and vehement words seem most to detest it are yet made so blinde with the glory thereof that the very shadow of ambition affecteth them Many I dare boldly say seeme to defie the World which meet and welcome the same with the kindest embracings This masking World in her strange disguised vizour not seldome flourisheth among such as seeme most to ahhorre her For alas wee are resident in the World and the World in vs so that wee cannot be free from the World except wee depart from our selues and what is this departure but death Some in flying the contagion of others are corrupted of themselues and in with-drawing from the societie of men yet deny not the olde man possessing them In the great deluge of this life Gods Children are tossed with raging stormes on euery side where no good footing or high place can be found for the Doue of Christ to rest her selfe Here is no sure peace nor secure quietnesse but warres on euery side and in all places contention and deadly foes The tempestuous sea torments vs wee are grieued at the heart and desirous to vomit and to be discharged thereof we remoue out of one ship to another from a greater to a lesse wee promise vnto our selues rest in vaine they being alwayes the same windes that blow the same waues that swell the same humours that are stirred to all there is no other port no other meanes of tranquilitie but onely death See the foolishnesse of the world and the infirmity of our flesh When God saith trouble shall come they say wee would haue ease when God saith be merry and reioyce in trouble wee lament and mourne as though wee were cast-awayes But this flesh which is neuer merry with vertue nor sorry with vice which neuer laugheth with grace nor weepeth with sinne holdeth fast with the world and giueth God the slip Thus wee may see our wretched estate in the flesh still crossing God and the saluation of our soules All our affections and wils with the whole force of Nature helpeth forward our destruction fightings without and terrours within World Flesh and Diuell ioyne together with Death for our damnation CHAP. VIII Of the power strength and sting of Death by meanes of the Law whose nature is here vnfoulded THe originall of Death we haue heard as also what it is who be subiect to it with the fearefull estate wherein they stand Now let vs further obserue that as the Diuell and man together brought in Death by sinne so it now being entred is become the very kingdome of the Diuell wherein hee raigneth By Death he triumphed ouer man whom hee seduced holding him fast in his owne fetters and shackles of sin which himselfe first found out and so leadeth him as his slaue and ruleth ouer him as his head for God did renounce man although hee created him and cast him off by meanes of sinne whom first he had made like vnto himselfe In that men die it proues they had sinned and sinne proues there is a law which law being broken bringeth Death for the wages of sinne is Death Now to conuince sinfull man the better of this his cursed estate God renewed his law first ingrafted in his nature but blotted out by his fall in Tables of Stone to shew the hardnesse of his heart that so as in a glasse hee might see his fearfull fall For amiddest the heapes of all other sins pride so possessed his heart that although he was nothing else but sin yet stil he deemed himselfe as innocent and righteous He was so blinded in his corruption that he knew not sinne in his colours vntill the law descried it And this is the common error of all his lynage that without the publishing of the law wee had not knowne our sinne I knew not sinne saith Paul but by the Law I had not knowne lust except the law had said thou shalt not lust but sinne tooke occasion by the Law and wrought in me all manner of lust so sinne by the Law grew out of measure sinnefull Such is the corruption of mans nature that it most eagerly desireth things that are most straightly denied which if they had not beene mentioned should not so much as haue beene dreamed of For though the flame of concupiscence be restrained by the damme and wall of Gods law yet is it not dryed vp in our mortall nature When the law was giuen to man in whom there is no grace sinne abounded three waies first seeing the law of God giuen vnto him as an helpe sinne laboureth to turne it to his hurt whom it securely before possessing lesse assaulted secondly Man naturally desireth liberty and freedome and flyeth seruitude and bondage by nature mans minde is crosse and peeuish and is swayed to contraries Stolne waters are the sweetest hid bread is pleasant So that by the prohibitions of the law charity in man being decayed the desire of euil increased which once increased made the things forbidden by the law more sweet and pleasant Thirdly for that the inhibition of euill things puts them more in remembrance of the things forbidden which very remembrance to nature corrupted is a prouoker and stirrer vp of filthy lust and desire Againe in that sinne abounded when the law entred it is to be vnderstood by an accidentall consequent for God sent not his law in cruelty and rigour but vpon good aduise and sound iudgement Sometime man seemeth to be whole and is sicke and because he feeleth not the sicknesse hee seeketh not for the Physition but the disease increasing with the griefe the Physition is sought by whose meanes the sicke and sore body may be cured So the law was giuen to such as were infirme and sicke in sinne that so they may seeke to the Physitian Iesus Christ to be healed Againe it entred the better to discouer sinne which without the light thereof
and all assaults It will oppose to this our deadly foe life for death holinesse for sinne obedience for the Law yea all Christs satisfactions to make the whole summe But of this poynt wee haue sufficiently discoursed Then commeth the World and will set abroach his section 3 baites What wilt thou dye O man I pray thee behold thy goodly buildings and stately roomes thy lands and reuenues thy rents and treasures thy credit wealth and fame thy pleasures and delights and all that thy heart desireth But alas O World this thy felicitie is fayned thy loue is counterfeit and thy promise is deceitfull These things I confesse to be good in their kinde and for my vse so long as they stand with Gods fauour Kept they may be so that wee loose not God who now doth call vs and therefore may not keepe vs from him Yet I know O World the vanitie of thy pleasures the frailty of thy glory and the ficklenesse of thy goods and that all these are nothing in respect of the riches of heauen and happy life which after death I am sure to haue wherefore I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ in whom indeede are hid all the treasures of God who also is the keeper of our true life for this our wretched life which now we lead is no life indeede but a very death For we are dead and our life is hid with God in Christ wee walke by faith and not by sight yea so long as wee are at home in this body wee wander and goe astray from God our Lord. And thou O World which bewitchest so many to loue this life what should I gaine if I should serue thee I am sure to be a foe to Christ who loues thee not who prayeth not for thee whose Kingdome is not of thee and therefore to loue thee is to hate my God which to doe is worse then death Thy reward I know is nothing but nakednesse for naked I came vnto thee and naked I shall goe from thee therefore I am willing to forgoe thee and desire to be freed to dwell with Christ section 4 Lastly comes the Flesh with trembling and quaking Why wilt thou dye O man see here thy friends and thy family thy Wife and thy Children thy Father thy Mother weepe and waile cry and call vnto thee and wilt thou thus depart wilt thou needes goe from them It is good no doubt to tarry still among our friends with Gods good will and there is nothing vnder God but it may be kept so that God being aboue all things which we haue be not lost For hee that loueth father or Mother Wife or Children c. better then Christ is not worthy of his presence And though my friends lament the losse of my life yet can they not redeeme it for what man is hee that liueth and shall not see death and shall hee deliuer his soule from the hand of the graue No no neyther riches nor strength neyther power nor policie can preuaile in this poynt Death neyther spareth pouerty nor regardeth wealth it esteemes neyther manners age nor time but walketh in the gates of old men and setteth snares continually for young men no worldly practise can escape the bands of death It alwayes pursueth vs and wheresoeuer we goe it layeth hands vpon vs And though men labor to liue long and desire that they might neuer come to the terme of their dayes yet indeede it is no other thing to liue then to make haste to death Wherefore men doe walke whither they would not come and willingly runne to the end of that course which euermore they haue abhorred for death is the punishment of all men the tribute of all men the rule of all men and the receiuer of all men God hath set vs our bounds which wee cannot passe section 5 And as the greene leaues in a thicke tree some fall and some grow so is the generation of flesh and bloud one comes to an end and another is borne Wee came not altogether neyther must wee goe altogether therefore O Flesh be content O my friends be quiet needes wee must depart though to meete againe wee are full sure And in going from you my earthly friends I shall not yet be destitute of friends but make a good exchange for I goe to the Saints of heauen to the liuing God who is Iudge of all to Iesus Christ my Redeemer to the celestiall Ierusalem to my abiding Citie to the company of Angels to the Congregation of the first borne to the spirits of the righteous and to ioyes vnspeakable beyond all mans conceit Such be the comforts the rewards heritages and exceeding priuiledges that God hath before all worlds prepared and alwayes had in store for his elect And therefore still I desire to be freed from the flesh to liue with Christ Wee haue here no continuing Citie wee looke for one of God And I know that so long as I am in the flesh I cannot please God and that if once this earthly house of this tabernacle were destroyed I shall haue a building giuen me of God a house not made with hands but euerlasting with God in the heauens Not to liue said one but to passe the life well is life section 6 indeede Our life is very short for all good things yet long enough and too long may we thinke it in regard of our miseries A dangerous straite in which the lesse time thou hast to passe the more perill and danger thou hast in the passage But this is a miserie of miseries that being in such a miserable case we liue like men in a phrensie not knowing our misery Heraclitus and Democritus could better discerne this poynt then many Christians of whom it is reported that the one past his life in laughing and the other alwayes in weeping seeing as it seemeth that all our life is nothing else but ridiculous vanitie and lamentable misery Moreouer if this life be a vale of teares a prison of guilty persons and a banishment of them that be condemned how canst thou place such great pompe and pride such gay ornaments and stately furniture of houses and families in such a wretched place how canst thou take here thy pastimes and pleasures how canst thou delight thy selfe in feasting and banketting how canst thou desire so greedily to gather the prouision of this world and be so forgetfull for the life to come As though thou wert onely borne to liue alwayes here with bruite beasts and hadst no portion with the Angels in heauen Such wretchednesse sheweth of what a miserable stocke thou commest if nothing can perswade thee to behold this thy great and palpable blindnesse section 7 Wee maruell much at the rude and ignorant Indians who for glasses and trifles are said to part from their purest gold but wee neuer thinke of our owne folly who forgoe the treasures of heauen for very bables
to pray to be deliuered from a bad and wicked life which maketh the death of the reprobate so sodaine and fearefull And with what reason can we name Death sodaine which euery day manifesteth it selfe to all our sences For what else doe we heare from the cradle then lamentations mourning for the dead What doe we oftner see with our eyes then exequies and funerals of the departed mourners weedes and monuments of men deceased Now if we regard not the burials of others Death commeth home to our owne doores and houses to our friends and kinsfolkes Yea how often are we our selues remembred in our owne persons by the messengers of Death Who hath not sometime or other bin in danger of the same by sea or land by storme or tempest by warre or famine by theeues or Pyrots by sicknesse or some disease or other Wheresoeuer thou turnest thee Death still pursueth thee Euery mans house is as his refuge and Castle yet how many are ouerwhelmed with the ruines thereof how many hath the earth swallowed vp and the ayre choaked Famaine and thirst without continuall reliefe are as Deaths Souldiers still ready to strike vs to the heart What shall I say Man can no sooner be named but his mortalitie is sounded out Death therefore can be sodaine to none but to wilfull ignorant secure and carelesse sots who although they liue a hundred yeares and are daily warned thereof will be still vnprepared section 8 Againe some are so foolishly curious that they would choose their kinde of Death Some require a certaine space and time in their sicknesse for to repent and amend Some desire quickly to be rid out of paine that they be not tormented in themselues or troublesome to their friends but these be notes of our infirmitie and weakenesse True faith maketh a Christian carelesse of these circumstances and constantly to commit both kinde manner space and time of sicknesse and death it selfe to the wise disposing of their almighty and mercifull maker Neither may we be moued as many vniustly are for that the time and houre of death is hidden from vs for herein God manifesteth his goodnesse to keepe vs from presumption to sinne and that we should not deferre our repentance to the latter end By this meanes he cheereth vs and freeth from that griefe sorrow which we should too truely receiue of our death graue Thus he restraineth the wicked that they do lesse hurt to the godly and the godly themselues are feared from doing euill as those that may die to morrow or if God will in a moment and withall inforceth them to doe well as those that should liue for euer section 9 Man knoweth not his end but as fishes are taken with the baite birds with the snare so death commeth vpon them vnexpected Which point condemneth such as will seeke to Palmisters Pythonists to star-gazers and Physiognomists to Calculators birth-Wizards no better then very Witches to Babilonicall or rather Diabolicall Southsayers and Inchanters to know their end and age But what madnes is this to desire to know our end of such as are ignorant of their owne Such are like to King Saul who sought to the Witch at Endor like to Ahazia that sent to Baalzebub but what auayled this but to double their death in hazarding the saluation both of body and soule And as wee may not vse any vnlawfull meanes for the preseruation of life or be too curious in searching out section 10 our death So must none for any distresse be weary of their life or by any wicked course procure their death God hath giuen no man leaue to depriue himselfe of the least space of time allotted vnto him for his repentance nor to shorten the benefit of life which hee hath granted him to gaine an eternall state Hee that brought vs into the world hath onely the calling of vs out againe and when hee calleth thee and not before must thou depart Abridge the time wee may not wee must not for all the crosses and losses this world can lay vpon vs. We must seeke to mortifie our flesh in vs and to cast the world out of vs but to cast our selues out of the world is in no sort permitted vs. A Christian ought willingly to depart but not cowardly to runne away Hee must fight therein as a Souldier in the field but he may not leaue his place without shame and reproach If it please the Generall to recall him let him take the retraite in good part and with good will obay it for hee is not borne for himselfe but for God of whom he holds his life in farme as his tenant at will to yeeld him both house and rent It is in the Land-lord to take it from him not in him to surrender it when a conceit or sullen dislike ouer-takes him We must not twine a-two the little twist of our mortalitie vntill our clew be ended but pray to our God for the thread of his grace to lead vs out of the labyrinth of such a troubled minde ready to destroy our soules Wee should not seeke death death should rather come to vs then wee goe to it before our time Life is precious and it is great impietie to bring it into perill For a man to see the greatnesse of his sins finally and not the greatnesse of Gods grace in the remission thereof is Caines disease and a fruit of Iudas kisse Will God require bloud at the hand of man and beast and shall he not require it at thine owne hand Thou maist not kill another therefore not thy selfe Holy Iob would rather endure in his flesh all extremities then to procure his deliuery by an vntimely death to be free from his miseries section 11 Gods Children alwayes waite in their trials vntill death open the doore for their deliuerance Let no Christian therefore be cast downe by distrustfull thoughts The tempest may rage but stay a while and the calme will follow The Sunne may be ouer-cast for a season but the weather will be fayre againe Christ may hide him a little time as it were behinde the Curtaines but his Spouse at last shall see his chearefull face I will not feare in the euill day saith the Prophet Is not the euill day the day of our end This euill day by the hope of the resurrection is made a good day The wickednesse which our mortall enemy casteth at our heeles is now remoued by him who hath broken his head Christ told Peter that when hee was old they should binde and lead him whither hee would not to shew that hee should suffer of another and not of himselfe God giueth to euery one their hyre in their due time and turne But hee who leaues his worke before God cals him looseth his wages and who importunes him before the time is destitute of reward Wee must rest then in his will who in the midst of our troubles
might know himselfe farre inferiour vnto God that thus had exalted him and acknowledge his subiection by the soueraignety of his Maker It pleased God in his wisedome to set a great difference as betweene the Angels and himselfe in their creation so betweene man made like to God made like I say to himselfe but not himselfe who onely hath this name and nature I am to shew his being of himselfe and vnchangeable nature and to teach vs that all creatures haue not onely their being but their standing and vpholding by him that onely is Therefore he is called the liuing God not onely because hee hath life in himselfe but because hee is the fountaine and originall of life he doth not onely liue but hath life of himselfe and is the cause of life because there is no life besides or without him Though mans nature saith Augustine was vpright and sound and nothing sinfull yet was it capable of sinne and apt to receiue infection Though man in his nature was mortall standing in his state yet was it not of necessitie that he should die and as our flesh is apt to receiue a wound yet euery one is not wounded and as the body of man is subiect to sicknesse yet many often die not touched with sicknesse So the state of Adams body was such that although it was subiect to death yet except sinne had come betweene he might and should haue liued for euer euen as the hose and shooes of the Hebrewes in the desart by Gods mighty prouidence and power neuer waxed olde by wearing or consumption Neither was this vnreasonable in God nor vnagreeable to his iustice to make a distinction betweene himselfe and his creatures for that he himselfe is onely good without change and alteration all his creatures good yet subiect to corruption Man was made of a mutable nature in power of standing and possibility of falling power of standing he had from God his creatour possibility of falling from himselfe being a creature Because the Lord created man of nothing therefore he left possibility in man to returne to nothing If God had giuen Adam an immutable nature he had created a God and not a man being onely proper to God to be vnchangeably good In the very Angels in heauen in respect of God is found imperfection the Cherubs hide their faces with their wings for the brightnesse of his glory Thus God doth humble all his creatures to exalt himselfe euen to teach them this not to goe from him of whom they had and haue their goodnesse nor to trust vnto themselues though by creation good yet subiect to decline Adam then although he was created in goodnesse yet was he made but changeably good for such was the goodnesse and inclination of his will to obey God as might be altered and changed by force of temptation The cause of this mutability was that the creature righteous by creation may remaine eternally and constantly righteous two helpes or fauours of God are necessarily required First a power to perseuere in goodnesse for without this power the creature of it selfe ceaseth to be good the second is an act or deede and that is the will to perseuere or perseuerance itselfe This also is requisite with the former for God giues not onely the power but also the will and deede and the creature doth not the good which it can doe vnlesse God cause it to doe the said good both which helpes the good Angels haue and therefore keepe them standing now Adam receiued the first of God but not the second for besides the goodnesse of his will he receiued of God a power constantly to perseuere in goodnesse if he would yet the act of perseuerance was left to the choise and liberty of his owne will In nature it selfe this truth appeareth God we know creates the eye and puts into it the faculty of seeing yet withall he addes to the eye necessary helpes by the light of the Sunne but for the act of seeing it is left to mans choise for he may see if he will or if he please he may shut his eyes Againe the Physition by Art procures an appetite this done he prouides conuenient foode yet for all this the patient may eate if he will or otherwise may abstaine Now if any reply that Adam receiued not sufficient grace hauing not the will to will that good he could and might the answer is that he receiued sufficient for the perfection of his nature that is for the full obedience of the will of God and for the attaining of euerlasting happinesse if he would not haue bin wanting to himself but he receiued not sufficient grace which might cause the immutability of his nature neither was it of necessitie to be giuen as I haue already shewed to a creature A Goldsmith intends to make a Iewell of singular price and value he compounds it of gold pearles and precious stones when hee hath brought it to perfection he doth not put this propertie to it that if it fall it shall not be bruised or broken Now God created Adam in all perfection and gaue him power and abilitie to continue in the same if he would yet did he not put vnto his nature this condition that it should be vnchangeable when it should be assayled by the force of outward temptation By this we see the weakenesse of the excellentest creature in it selfe without the grace of God Adam could fall of himselfe but he could not stand or rise againe he could not auoide the least assault of euill no further then he was helped by the grace of God We are to God as the sicke man to his keeper who saith Take me vp and I will rise hold me and I will stand helpe me and I will goe c. Which must make vs to renounce our selues and cleaue to God wholly depending vpon his gratious prouidence and protection in all our actions and attempts God I confesse could haue made our first parents of such an vnchangeable nature that they could not possibly haue fallen away but it was not expedient that they should be so made because then the obedience of man should seeme to haue beene forced as it were and so not so acceptable vnto God And albeit the body of man being made of dust and earth and himselfe in respect of his substance and beginning was mortall yet if he had preserued the holy spirit of God within him and giuen him the vpper hand this spirit of God which by sinne he vanquished had farre surmounted all that was mortall in him And to end this point As Sathan tempted Adam to proue God a lyer and to bring him to dishonour and so became the instrument of mans damnation So also Adam tempted himselfe to taste the fruit which as he thought would make himselfe as God Now God most iustly suffered him to be tryed by this meanes to make a way for his iustice
his wayes feareth all his sinnes hee knowes not what sinne to beginne with And where all other euils pursue men but to death an ill conscience not cured endeth not in death but becommeth eternall It is the profession of sinne although fayre spoken at the entrance to be a perpetuall make-bate betwixt God and man yea betwixt a man and himselfe and this enimitie though it doe not continually shew it selfe for that the conscience is not clamorous but somewhile is silent otherwhiles with still murmurings bewrayeth her mislikes yet it doth euermore worke secret vnquietnesse to the heart The guilty man may haue a seeming truce a true peace hee cannot haue The galled spirit doth after the manner of sicke Patients seeke refreshing in varietie and after many tossed and tumbled sides complaines of remedilesse vnabated torment Such a one may change his bed-chamber and remoue his place but not his paines his furies euer attend him are euer within him and as parts of himselfe And what auayles it to seeke outward reliefe when thou hast thy executioner within thee If thou couldest shift from thy selfe thou mightest haue hope of ease for thou shalt neuer want frettings so long as thou hast thy selfe yea what if thou wouldest run from thy selfe thy soule may flye from thy body thy conscience will not flye from thy soule nor sinne from thy conscience the conscience leaues not where the Fiends beginne but both ioyne together in torture Some are of so hard and obdurate fore-heads that in their resolution they can laugh their sinne out of countenance they haue so long and able gorges that in their conceit they can swallow and digest any manner of sinne without complaint But beleeuest thou that such a mans heart laughes with his face Will not hee dare to be an hypocrite that durst be a villaine These Glow-wormes when a night of sorrow comes make a lightsome and fiery shew of ioy when if thou vrge them thou findest nothing but a cold and crude moysture Such as count it no shame to sinne yet count it a shame to be checked with remorse especially to be espyed of others Repentance to them seemes base mindednesse vnworthy of him that professeth wisedome and valour Such a man yet can grieue when none sees it but himselfe can laugh when others see that himselfe feeles not but assure thy selfe that that mans heart bleedeth when his countenance smileth he weares out many waking houres when thou thinkest he resteth As his thoughts afford him no sleepe so his very sleepe affords him no rest but while his senses are tyed vp his sinne is loose vgliest shape and frighteth him with hellish dreames The fire of the conscience may lye for a time smothered with a pile of green wood that it cannot be discerned whose moysture when it hath once mastered sendeth out so much the greater flame by how much it had the greater resistance Hope not to stop the mouth of the conscience from exclaiming whiles thy sinne continues that endeuour is both vaine and hurtfull which is as one should stop the nosthrill in hope to stay the issue when the bloud hindered of the former course breaketh out of the mouth or findes a way downe into the stomacke farre more dangerous The conscience cannot be pacified when sinne is within to vexe it no more then an angry swelling can cease throbbing whiles the thorne of corrupt matter lyes rotting vnderneath Time that remedies all other euils of the minde encreaseth this which like to bodily diseases proues worse with continuance and groweth vpon vs vvith our age Thus wee see that the wicked are in hell liuing yet vpon the earth but what is this to their hell hereafter All their sufferings here are but as their summons to their euerlasting tortures after death all their troubles in this life but a taste of their endlesse torments in the life to come These be but the beginnings of their miseries the dregges of Gods wrath they shall drinke hereafter All their anguish here is but as the porch of hell after comes the maine sea of all their sorrowes for though they haue in this life wallowed in their delights which sometimes through a hardnesse of heart hath delayed their sorrowes yet then they must be turned off as Princes Mules are wont to be at their iourneyes end their treasure taken from them and their galled backes left vnto them For as wee see those Princely Mules goe day by day laden with treasure and couered with fayre cloathes but yet at night bereaued of coyne and couer are turned out into a sorry stable much wearyed bruised and galled so shall this glutted sort with galled consciences bereaued of worldly helpes be thrust to hell Man saith Bernard though thou hast lost all shame if thou feele no sorrow as carnall men doe not yet loose not feare also which is found in very beasts Wee vse to load an Asse and to weary him out with labour yet he careth not for it because he is an Asse but if thou wouldest thrust him into the fire or fling him into a ditch hee would auoid it as much as hee could for that hee loueth his life and feareth death Feare thou then and be not more senslesse then a beast feare Death feare Iudgement feare the endlesse paine of Hell Is it not a grieuous thing for a man beloued and of credit in the world and making merry with his friends and companions to be sodainly apprehended by a Serjeant or officer for a traitor theefe or murtherer and presently without bayle or main-prise to be taken from his companions to be carryed to the Gaole and from thence to the place of execution More grieuous and fearefull is it for a wicked man that liues in the pleasures of his sinne to be taken away by death which is the Lords Serjeant to apprehend and bring him to the prison of hell As his entrance into the world was euill and his continuance in the world worse so his taking away by Death is the worst of all Balaams wish is vsed by many Let me dye the death of the righteous yet they will not liue a righteous life but few of these obtaine their desire Such are taken from the practise of sinne to the punishment of sin from ease to torments from men to Diuels from death to hell At the houre of death Sathan will bring all the sinnes of a wicked man done in his former life like a squadron of enemies all ready set in battell-aray to assault him No Serpents sting doth so pricke and vexe a man as the dreadfull remembrance of his wicked life past shall doe at his latter end Therefore they feare Death as much as the malefactor the Gaoler that leades him with gyues vnto prison till the day of execution They are like the Gibeonites content with any condition to enioy their liues to be bondmen and slaues hewers of wood and drawers of water They are pulled from the
Things present things to come Life Death the world it selfe all is ours and we are Christs Christ in regard of this our vnion with him is not ashamed to call vs Brethren who yet made heauen and earth section 20 and is an immortall and glorious God one with his Father to whom all Angels doe obeysance and the most glorious Princes are but dust and ashes It was a rare thing in Moses being so high in fauour with Pharao that hee would vouchsafe to visite his poore brethren such slaues and bond-men It was singular loue in Ioseph being next to the King in honour and place yet not to be ashamed of his Fathers house being herd-men and sheepe-herds But this is nothing to the kindenesse of Iesus Christ the very shining brightnesse of that most glorious God and his onely begotten Sonne before all eternitie who yet was not ashamed of vs miserable wretched sinners but of his free grace acknowledged vs that were his very enemies in whose person he should suffer a most shamefull and slanderous Death And is it not trow you a iust condemnation if wee wretched men should be ashamed of him who being the God of glory was not ashamed of vs And as they are naturall brethren which are borne of the same Parents so all wee are brethren with Christ which are borne of God through the same spirit by which we cry Abba Father and exercise our loue one towards another in the vnitie of Christian faith section 21 Wee wrastle here with sin as though the steppes of our strength were restrained and looke euen fully vpon death as the Ialour that committeth vs to our graue as a dungeon how be it euen in this doth the Lord reach forth a most approued cordiall to reuiue the faintnesse of our hearts for through the vnion and communion we haue with Christ the vncleanenesse of our birth is washed away in the sanctification of his nature Our transgression remoued in his innocencie our rebellion discharged in his obedience and the vtmost farthing paid in his sufferings And hauing the Image of God which we lost in Adam not renewed onely but a fairer and deeper stampe thereof ingrauen and set vpon vs we may in a Christian resolution challenge at the gates of Hell and Death that nothing can be charged vpon vs as a debt and therefore nothing can light vpon vs as a punishment Wherefore though we mingle here our bread with care and drinke with weeping and haue our lodging in the bed of darkenesse and discomfort it is but to weane vs from the flesh-pots of Egypt till in the heauenly land of Canaan we haue our hearts desire section 22 And though our bodies seeme to perish for euer in in the iudgement of men yet still they haue a being in the sight of God and are members of Christ For the vnion as I haue said betweene Christ and the faithfull is not onely of our soules but of our bodies also all the bodies of the faithfull being vnited to the bodie of Christ And this is such a coniunction as Death can neuer dissolue For though it doth breake the knot betweene Man and Wife yet cannot it infringe the bond betwixt Christ and the faithfull As Death did not make a separation betwixt the two natures of Christ at the time of his suffering though his soule and body were then farre distant in regard of place the one being in heauen and the other in the graue yet were they at that time and in that case personally vnited vnto his god-head no more can Death make a diuision betwixt Christ and the faithfull though there bodies putrifie and rot in their graues yet still they remaine true members of his body And as the Husbandman doth make as great reckoning section 23 of that corne which he hath sowen in his Field and lieth vnder clods as hee doth of that which lieth safe in his barne or garner because he assureth himselfe it will come vp againe and yeelde encrease So Christ our Sauiour doth as highly esteeme of those bodies which are dead and buried as of those which remaine aliue because hee knowes that one day they shall rise againe in honour Their life is but hid for a time and will be found out againe for Christ is able to restore that which nature hath destroyed And God doth deale herein no otherwise with the bodies of his children then Goldsmiths with their old peeces of plate long agoe out of fashion who cast them in the Furnace to refine them and to bring them to a better forme according to his minde Therefore let not the wofull condition of our bodies discourage vs any whit or lessen our hope being ready to die For though the graue deuoure them wormes doe eate section 24 them fire consume them or sea swallow them vp yet being ioyned to Christ in his death and resurrection as Christ and Christians are made one indiuisible body by the bond of Gods spirit they can neuer be seuered from him And although their bodies be as it were rent from the soule by the violence of Death yet in regard of this coniunction with Christ their head neither death nor the graue can separate them from their head For though our bodie be buried in the earth yet our head is in heauen And as one that swimmeth though his body diue and sinke vnder the water yet his head being aboue the streames the whole man is sure and safe from perishing So sure are the faithfull from euerlasting death and destruction though their bodies be entrenched and enterred in their graues being members of their head Iesus Christ ascended aloft aboue the highest heauens to whom they are vnited still by an inseparable bond of his spirit which death can neuer breake CHAP. IIII. The combat and conflict of Christians with Sinne Flesh Death Law and Diuell with their heauenly conquest and triumph ouer them all through Iesus Christ section 1 SVch is the enmitie of the old Serpent in the iust iudgement of God set betweene him and Adams seede that though his head be broken yet still he will labour to bruise their heele Like a coward ouercome he lags behinde for aduantage and not daring to shew his face any more in the field hee dragges in the way and lieth aloofe vpon euery occasion to take them in a trappe Though he cannot preuaile yet prouoke vs still hee will to fight and try our manhood neither can wee otherwise be conquerours then was Christ our Captaine and head who by dying in the field recouered life both for himselfe and his Souldiers for nothing but Death can end this combat Our life is a warfare and that most strange for any section 2 other warre may haue an end either by a conclusion of peace with the enemie or by flying farre from him or by ouercomming him in fight But in this spirituall warre we cannot lawfully make any peace with these our enemies the
within the lists of heauen he neuer came thither to assaile any since he was first cast out Death therefore is the day of triumph to the faithfull ouer all their foes section 22 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death to shew vs that till Death be commed and gone an end of enemies will neuer come When we see so many fall in the field by fight we perceiue there is no peace to be looked for with this enemie but blessed be the dead which die in the Lord they rest from their labours as if the Saints neuer rested vntill rest and blessednes and dying in the Lord meete together Here fraile nature is the field wherein we must be euer toyling and Death as it entred by Sinne so is it the end of Sinne for for feare lest if life had beene prolonged sinne might haue more increased the Lord suffered Death to enter into the world that Sinne might cease and to preuent that nature might not end in Death God hath set downe a day when all shall rise againe so that Death in the end doth extinguish Sinne endeth our warfare and maketh our nature durable CHAP. V. The faithfull redeemed by Christ are still subiect to corporall Death and all other crosses of this life yet being sanctified vnto them they are furtherances and helpes to a blessed life section 1 NEither yet are Gods elect so redeemed from Death as that they shall not taste thereof at all for though Christ hath drunke the dregs of that cup yet euery one must haue his draught It was enacted of old as we heard that all men must die that all must goe to deaths prison without bale or maine-prise No remedy can begot no dispensation purchased Death must giue vs all our last purgation But his strength and sting is gone there is our comfort Death now is but a Physition to cure our maladies and all Deaths factours as crosses and afflictions shall but further and fit vs to a better life And why should this poynt seeme so strange and so section 2 mightily moue and amaze so many millions of men as it doth that mortalitie and death crosses and all calamities in this world are common to good men as well as to bad to the dearest Saints of God as to the vilest sinners for besides the common guilt of sinne which is cause sufficient what thing in this world haue they not common with other men with whom they haue a communitie of flesh and blood Barrennesse and penurie dearth and famine drougth and deluge warres and hostilitie shipwracke and sinking dolours and diseases with all other miseries and maladies in this world doe betide them yea many times here they shall weepe when the wicked laugh till hereafter that their sorrowes be turned into ioy and their teares wiped away Herein is the patience of the Saints the tryall of their faith and exercise of their hope seene and approued of God Christ indeede hath altered the nature of the first Death section 3 to the faithfull but not taken it quite away first it was ordeined as a punishment for sinne now it is made a passage into heauen then it was inflicted as a curse now Christ hath turned it to a blessing It did at the first depriue men of good but now it putteth them in possession of eternall happinesse Iacob not long before his death pronounced this as a curse from the Lord vpon the tribes of Simeon and Leui for their crueltie against the Shichemites that they should be diuided in Iacob and scattered in Israel yet when the children of Leui shewed their zeale and obedience in killing the Idolaters at Moses commandement the Lord turned this curse into a blessing This scattering was a furtherance vnto them to make them more fit to teach the people in euery citie and so to receiue the Tithes of euery Tribe So at the first the Lord threatned death as the punishment of sinne but by faith in Christ it is made the end of sinne and the beginning of glory He that could at the first bring light out of darknes could after bring a blessing out of a curse If Physitians by their art can extract an Antidote or preseruatiue against poyson out of poyson it selfe why may not God by his infinite wisedome and power draw good out of euil mercy out of iudgement and a blessing out of a curse Death saith a learned Father as yet remaineth for the righteous to exercise their faith withall for if immediately vpon remission of sinne there should follow immortalitie of the body faith should be abolished which wayteth in hope for that which is not yet enioyed yea the Martyrs could not testifie their faith and patience their courage constancie and loue to Christ in suffering Death for his sake section 4 Nothing is more grieuous to a Christian heart then the practise of sinne but death destroyeth them all Sinne brought in Death and Death must driue out Sinne. After death our Sanctification shall be perfect and not as here in part Faithfull men shall be like Angels in heauen readily willingly and chearefully to doe the will of God As hearbs and flowres breede wormes by nature yet wormes at length doe kill both hearbs and flowres So Sinne breedeth Death in it selfe and Death at last shall proue the bane of Sinne. As Sampson could not kill the Philistims but by his owne death no more can Christians get the conquest of sinne but by the losse of their liues At the first as was said before Death vvas ordayned as a punishment for sinne now God doth vse it as a meanes to stop the course of sinne It was said there vnto man If thou sinne thou shalt dye the death but now it is decreed thou must dye lest thou continue in sinne That which then was to be feared that men might not sinne must now of necessitie be suffered that they may be freed from sinne Sinne hath taken such a deepe roote in our bodies that it cannot be destroyed without the destruction thereof Like the Leprous houses strongly infected nothing would serue to purge them but needes they must be pulled downe Our corrupt flesh and nature must quite be plucked vp by the rootes lest any spur or sprig remayning the buds of sinne doe sprout afresh from the same our olde house must be plucked downe that so they may be built againe as new Temples to the Lord. Sinne saith one neuer ceaseth to be in our bodies vntill we come to be blessed with a shuffle If there could any humane receipt be prescribed to auoid all crosses and afflictions with death it selfe it would section 5 be purchased of some at any rate but both it is impossible that earth should redresse that which is sent from heauen and if it could be done yet the want of miserie would proue miserable vnto vs For the minde of man being cloyâ—d with continuall prosperity would grow
same Thus are the bodies of the Mariners hardened vnto the Sea thus come knobs in the poore labourers hands so are the souldiers armes strengthened for the Speares and Darts and the members of those that runne made nimble for the race And in very deed that part in any man is the stronggest that most is exercised by paines and toyle There is none so firme and solid a tree as that which the windes oftnest beate vpon for being thus beaten and ballasted it knitteth together and spreadeth the rootes more firmely in the ground The fire tryes the gold and misery men of courage There is no peace without war no rest without toyle no crowne without crosses no raigning without suffering no glory without shame and shaking in this wofull world section 16 Many would feed vpon manchet and alwayes tread vpon Roses I meane in seruing God they would be freed from all afflictions They loue Canaan with the Israelites but they loath the wildernesse The running waters of Shilo they would taste but the rough streame of Iordane they cannot tallage Iames and Iohn would haue the seate of honour but they would not drinke of the bitter cup. But wee must know that the way to heauen is not strewed with flowers but set with thorns yet is it both the straight and the right path to immortall glory The persecutions and troubles of Gods Children shall neuer cease till the World be without hatred the Diuell without enuy and our Nature without corruption Euen the sweetest of all flowers hath his thornes and who can determine whether the scent be more delectable or the pricks more perillous It is enough for heauen to haue absolute pleasures which if they could be found here below certainly that heauen of heauens which is now not enough desired would then by such meanes be altogether feared God here compoundeth our pleasures to the fashion of our selues so as the best delights we haue may still sauour of the earth thus God doth weary vs in the world to weane vs from it section 17 And for Death it selfe which by nature wee so much abhorre God hath mitigated and broken the sorrowes thereof that though they tyre the flesh and amaze it for a season yet they cannot extinguish the hope of a Christian for what can Sinne the sting of Death preuaile against vs being pardoned in Christ The abundance thereof causeth abundance of grace and the greater remission of sinne procureth the greater loue of God What therefore can Sathan gaine by his assaults but to multiply the reward and make the Crowne of Gods Saints farre more glorious by their sufferings Death may put out our carnall eyes yet Sathan hath not whereof to reioyce so long as Faith inlighteneth the minde neuer remouing her eyes from Christ Iesus crucified So forcible and effectuall is the spirituall contemplation and insight of Christ crucified that it turneth despayre into hope and hope into ioy most glorious and vnspeakable The humbing Bee hauing lost her sting in another section 18 doth still notwithstanding make a grieuous noyse by her often buzzing about our eares yet wee know she cannot hurt vs So Sinne and Death hauing lost their sting in Christ doe not as yet leaue their murmuring but with furious stormes of temptations seeke still to terrifie our soules though not able to wound vs to euerlasting death Indeede Death may fray vs at the first sight as Moses rod turned into a Serpent made him flye from it for the present but through confidence in God who hath willed vs not to feare wee shall finde it a blessed meanes to diuide the waters of many tribulations to make vs a passage from the Wildernesse of this world vnto the heauenly Land of eternall rest Neyther can Death separate vs from God though it be fearefull to the flesh to see his prefixed end nay nothing hath greater power to ioyne vs to God through the death of him that conquered Death And must it not needes be ioyfull to a Christian to be freed from this wicked life wherein euery day is the messenger of fresh sorrowes and wherein hee findeth his corruption so burdensome and therefore he is ready most chearefully to imbrace it as the Souldier that commeth after his valour shewed in the field to be made a Knight or the King that goeth to his Coronation for then they shall not haue Reeds but Palmes in their hands to shew their triumph and not to be crowned with thornes as Christ in this world with his members are in mocking but with immortall glory with God and his Angels in the highest heauens section 19 To conclude Death is the key of the King of heauen which in mercy he sendeth to deliuer those that loue him from the irkesome prison of this body of sinne It is the gate through which Gods friends escape from whole troupes and swarmes of euils This whole wretched life rightly considered is nothing else but a continuall crosse and death of the olde man that being once mortified in all our members hee may most gloriously be transformed into the Image of God For like as there can be no generation without corruption for so much as that thing which is must perish that that thing may be made which is not so this spirituall regeneration and transformation of man into God cannot be effected vnlesse the old man be first destroyed by death CHAP. VI. Gods Children in this world as strangers and Pilgrims haue hard entertainment their true heauen and happinesse commeth hereafter section 1 BVt for as much as the faithfull while they liue in this world are as poore strangers in their voyage and passengers by the way in their iourney they must fit themselues for all assayes regarding neyther the winde nor the weather foule nor faire Such as they finde they must take in good part There is small prouision for strangers vnlooked for as they come they must be accounted of Happy sometime they thinke themselues if they may haue any lodging in their Inne if it be but bare house-roome it must serue their turne for the tlme The best lodgings are here taken vp for great States Christ and his Mother must be glad of a Stable The dainties and delicates are prouided for the Nobles and great men the bread of aduersitie and water of affliction are commonly the diet of Gods dearest children vntill the time of their refreshing come in a better life Here for a little they shall weepe and mourne till hereafter God send them such exceeding ioy that none can take away And when Gods children are well vsed in their hosteries section 2 yet no allurements can make them stay long but that after their baite they haste on their iourney Neither will they much be discouraged with their lets and impediments but still comfort themselues hoping this day that to morrow will be better howsoeuer they still lagge on that they were at home And because the
forbidden tree to delight the eye fayre words to please the eare and driue all away Why You shall be as Gods when his drift is to make them all as Diuels What a dangerous Lethargie of the soule is this when so many spectacles of mans mortalitie before our eyes can nothing moue vs or at least our mouing with Agrappa is not much but somewhat which by and by is all forgot and gone and so wee thinke of our end by some running fits and haue done Wee will and wee will not and so with the Sluggard nothing is done Some count it death to meditate of death they like the remembrance of it as Ahab the presence of Eliah to be troublesome to them Let fooles as they doe make but a sport of sinne and section 10 say with the old Epicures What haue wee to doe with Death They shall one day finde that Death will haue to doe with them when hee shall strip them into their winding sheete binde them hand and foot and make their last bed to be the darke and slimy graue Ahab could not abide to heare Micheas speake for that hee neuer prophesied any good but euill vnto him hee would be wicked and yet could not endure to heare any other newes then good So wicked men cannot away to heare of death because they liue a sinfull life Balaam desires to dye the death of the righteous but hee will neuer vndergoe to liue the life of the righteous As Pharaoh said to Moses Depart from among my people so say the vngodly to Death Be banished from vs thy presence thy shadow and the very remembrance of thee is fearefull vnto vs. To muse of their end is the least of most mens thoughts To heare Saint Paul speake of Gods terrible iudgement to come is too trembling a doctrine for our delightfull dispositions to heare with Foelix wee are not at leasure for this is iarring Musicke which sounds not aright in the Consort of our worldly pleasures To thinke of Death is Acheldama saith one euen a field of bloud but wastfully to spend the time in the dangerous delights of sinne and so to be flattered with promise of peace and pleasure is a tuneable Dittie to most mens eares vntill their soules so sleepe in sinne as Sisera slept who neuer woke againe But if any Physitian would take vpon him to make men liue euer in this world what a multitude of Patients should he haue and how well would they reward him Alas poore fooles they are earth and will not know it But will the forgetfulnesse of death preserue them from dying But Plato said truely that there was no more honourable section 11 Philosophy for a mortall man then the daily meditation of his mortalitie and death for the remembrance of death through Gods blessing serues as a sounding Bell to awake vs from the sleepe of our sinnes and as a spurre to pricke vs on to vertue as a bridle to restraine our greedy desires as an oyntment for our eyes to make vs clearely see the foulnesse of our sinne whereof the Diuell is the father Death his fruit and Hell his dwelling place Remembrance of Death is as the match and tinder that nourisheth and inlighteneth the fire of all holy deuotion the Bellowes that kindle all godly affections it is as it were the Fanne that seuereth from our soules the dust and chaffe of all vanitie and sinne it serueth as a Pilot to gouerne the right course of our life who stands euer behinde in the ship to conduct it the better to the desired Port it is better Musicke then that of Dauids Harpe to Saul against all the raging fits and furies of all infernall Spirits section 12 Shew me a promise that you shall liue but to morrow or hauing this assurance that to morrow shall giue you light or if it appeare whether you shall see the light Shew mee I say the promise and liue to morrow But what doe I say It may be thou shalt liue long wilt thou liue a long life and a wicked together and be in danger to end thy life by a miserable and wretched death As the Husbandman is carefull to cast seede into the ground whilest faire weather lasteth and the Merchant to lay out his money whilest the Mart and good Market endureth so must Christians take the time and good opportunitie offered for the night will come when no man can worke We must vse Gods mercies to our gaine and not to our damnation When the third Captaine ouer fifty saw how his two fellow-Captaines were deuoured with fire it went so neare his heart that hee went vp and fell downe and besought the man of God that his life might be precious in his sight But how many thousands of our fellow-souldiers haue wee heard and seene to fall in this spirituall fight How many of our dearest friends haue taken their leaue and yet none or very few maketh supplication I say not to the man of God but to God himselfe that our liues and deaths may be precious in his sight Oftentimes hath God knocked at the doore of our hearts to put vs in minde of our mortalitie for who hath not had experience of his declining nature But yet for all this what little humbling of our selues is there before him whose dominion reacheth vnto the ends of the earth who bringeth to the graue and raiseth vp againe The perfection of knowledge is to know God and our section 13 selues aright and our selues then wee best know when wee haue throughly learned our mortall estate As men wee dye naturally as Christians wee dye religiously wee must first dye to the world that after wee may liue to God By our dying to the world Christ Iesus commeth and liueth in vs and by our dying in the world wee are sure to goe to liue with Christ Wee dye not saith one because wee are sicke but because wee liue so when wee recouer our sicknesse wee escape not from death but from the disease Let vs therefore make that voluntary which is necessary saith S. Chrisostome and yeeld it to God as a gift which wee stand bound to pay as a debt We must not saith Ambrose neyther loath to liue nor feare to dye because wee haue a good and gracious Lord. No good thing can be well and perfectly done at the first seeing therefore it is so great a matter to dye and so necessary to dye well it is expedient that in our life we learne to dye often that we may at last dye well at the very time of death The Souldiers that be appoynted to fight doe first practise themselues in the field to learne in time of peace what they must doe in time of warre The horse that must runne at the Tilt trauerseth all that ground before and tryeth all the steps thereof that when hee commeth to make his course he be not found new
and strange to doe his feate Wherefore since all must runne this race and trauerse this course of death which is so long and large reaching from earth to heauen considering withall the danger that whosoeuer faileth in the way and goeth not vpright shall tumble headlong into the pit of hell it requires our best diligence and endeuour to the vtmost To guide the ship along the seas is a poynt of skill but at the very entrance into the Hauen it selfe then to auoyd the dangerous rockes and to cast our anchor skilfully in a safe Roade is the chiefest cunning To runne the race in a good order is the part of a stout and valiant Champion but so to runne that wee may obtaine the crowne is the very perfection of al his paines What more Christian-like then a good and holy life but after this life finished to dye in the Faith and feare of God what more diuine Wherefore there is nothing so glorious as to order aright the vpshot of our time and farewell from this world To end well this life is onely to end it willingly following with full consent the will and direction of God and not suffering our selues to be drawne by meere necessitie To end it willingly is to hope for and not to feare our death appoynted of God To hope for it wee must certainly looke after this life for a better To looke for it we must feare God whom who so well feareth feareth indeed nothing else in this world and hopes for all things in the world to come section 15 To one well resolued in these poynts Death can be but sweet and agreeable to his minde for what can hee feare whose death is his hope Thinke wee to banish him his Countrey hee knowes hee hath a Countrey elsewhere from whence none can exile him and that all these Countries are but Innes out of which hee must depart at the will of his Host Thinke wee to imprison him a more strait prison he cannot haue then his owne body none more filthy or more darke c. Will we kill him and take him out of this world that is it he hopes for It is all one to him at what gate or at what time he passeth out of this miserable life for his businesses then are for euer ended his affayres all dispatched and by what way hee shall goe out by the same hee shall enter into a most happy and an euerlasting life The threatnings of Tyrants are to him promises the swords of his greatest enemies are drawne in his fauour for as much as hee knowes that threatning him death they threaten him life and the most mortall wounds can make him but immortall for who feares God feares not death and who feares it not feares not the worst of this life Why doe we daily pray that Gods Kingdome may come section 16 seeing we take such delight to remaine in the prison of this world Why heape we prayers vpon prayers that the generall restauration of all things may approach if our greater and more affectionate desires would rather serue here below the enemy of our soules then to raigne aboue with Iesus Christ It belongs to him that taketh all his pleasure in the world who is caught with the baits of earthly delights and the flatteries of the flesh to desire to tarry long in this world But seeing it hateth the Children of God why loue they such an enemy why followest thou not rather Iesus Christ thy Redeemer who so ardently loues thee Let euery day be to thee as the last day since thou knowest not whether thou shalt liue till to morrow or no. For still wee carry death about in our mortall bodies and our life in a continuall motion stil hastneth to an end And yet no man marketh how his time passeth S. Paul saith Idye daily for euen in the midst of life wee are in death and the whole time of our life is but a running vnto death Therefore seeing Death watcheth for vs on euery side wisedome it is to watch for him that he take vs not tardy The remembrance of our end must be as a Key to open section 17 the day and shut in the night this will make young men more heedfull in their waies and old men more fearefull of their works and all men more prouident of the time to come There is no meanes more effectuall to make vs shake off the allurements of this life as Paul did the Viper into the fire then the daily meditation of our end God leads Ieremie into a house of clay before hee instructeth him in his message to teach vs that we are best lessoned where our fraile estate may be best considered Did wee but somtimes behold that pale horse whose name is Death in our musing disposition it would make vs trample vnderfoote many alluring occasions of vanitie and sinne which we pursue fast Die we must needes because our bodies are full of sinne and so die we must willingly that we may be deliuered from this body of sinne Die we must because we are full of corruption and must be changed and die we must willingly as desirous to put on incorruption that so we may behold our God Die we must needs because we beare the image of earthly men die we must willingly that we may be like the new and heauenly man Christ Iesus Die we must needes because God hath so ordained and let vs die willingly to shew our obedience to his wil. Christians must be as Birds on a bough to remoue at Gods pleasure and that without resistance when the section 18 Lord shall visite them Vpon this condition we entred this world to goe out of it againe and this is the law of Nations to restore and pay that which wee haue borrowed and retained for a time Our life is a pilgrimage or iourney when here we haue trauelled much and long at length needes wee must returne to our home Againe it is absurd to feare that which we cannot shun thou art neither the first nor the last thousands haue gone before thee and all that are to come shall follow thee Wee are but Tenants at will in this cleyie farme the foundation of this building is weake in substance alwayes kept cold by an entercourse of aire the piller whereupon the whole frame and building doth stand is the passage of a little breath the strength of it some few bones tyed together with dry strings or sinewes and howsoeuer we repaire patch this simple cottage it will at last fall into our land-lords hands we must surrender it when Death the Lords Bailiefe shall say this or that mans time is come Therefore Christians must haue these temporall things in vse but eternall things in desire It is written of those Phylosophers called Brackmani that they were so much giuen to thinke vpon their end that they had their graues alwaies open before their gates that
how wee should speake whom wee should inuocate In his temptation hee withstood the Tempter to shew vs how to come out of temptation In his Agonie hee prayed to teach vs how and what to pray section 5 Let vs call to minde how wee lost happinesse in seeking to saue ourselues and iust it is that by induring sorrowes wee should recouer what wee haue lost Wee ranne away by committing euill and wee must returne againe by suffering euill Once wee sinned by transgressing righteousnesse and now wee must humble ourselues by induring for righteousnesse Great were Iobs crosses which he endured none of his Sonnes and Seruants were left but onely foure messengers to bring him tidings of sorrow and those not altogether but one after another to increase the same All Iobs comforts goe away together and Sathan was perswaded that this trayne of troubles would haue blowne vp the strongest fort but he is deceiued Iob is the same man still For hee that did truly serue God in time of prosperitie did also blesse him in his greatest aduersitie Here was patience with thankfulnesse well met together Sathan tooke away many things from him but God he could not take away that gaue him all his resolution was too strong for that Though he kill mee yet will I not be kept from trusting in him It is God that knoweth the perils of thy death and can onely defend thee Through his power shalt thou get thorow and drinke the bitter draught Though wee dye yet liueth God before vs with vs after vs and is able to preserue vs for euer Death as one speaketh is euen as a darke caue in the section 6 ground but who so taketh Christs true light and candle in beleeuing on him and goeth into that dimme and darke hole the mist flyeth before him and the darknesse vanisheth away The sweet spices of Christ his buriall expelleth the strong scent and ill sauour of our rotten graues He is our hope our safeguard our triumph our crowne wee may be dead but our life is hid with God in Christ Our true life then is not in this world but laid vp with God in heauen and shall in time through Christ be gloriously reuealed And although after our departure from our soft lodgings and beds of Downe our bodyes must be placed for a time in darke dungeons and loathsome graues there to rot in the earth and be consumed of wormes yet Christians looking vpon them in this so vile estate as they appeare with the Chrystall eyes of Faith and considering them aright as now altered and changed by Christ who hath vanquished Death and pursued her to her denne we neede not to bewayle our euill exchange or thinke our bargaine hard for that our bodies hereafter shall become most beautifull and precious and euen conformable to the glorious body of Christ himselfe And albeit the gate of death be so narrow and hard a passage yet our heauenly Father shorteneth it and though the paines thereof should passe all that wee haue felt vpon the earth it endureth not long but maketh quicke dispatch and when the paine is greatest of all then is it nearest an end and God can then more comfort vs then the most horriblest death with the pangs thereof are able to disturbe or torment vs. Such is the state of this world that one euill cannot be section 7 cured but by another To heale a contusion or bruise must be made an incision All the paines that our life yeeldeth vs at the last houre we impute to death not marking that as our life beganne and continued in all sorts of griefe and sorrow so necessarily must it end in like afflictions Wee marke not as one saith that it is the remainder of our life not of death that tormenteth vs The end of our nauigation that paineth vs not the hauen wee are to enter which is nothing else but a sure refuge against all stormes And thus wee complaine of death when wee should indeed complaine of life as if one hauing beene long sicke and now beginning to be well should accuse his health of his former paine and not the reliques of his disease For what is it else to be dead then to be no more aliue in the world Now simply not to be in the world is it any paine did we then feele any paine when we were not section 8 Nothing better resembleth death then our sleepe and when doe wee euer better rest then at that time Now if this be no paine why accuse we death of the paines our life yeeldeth vs at our departure vnlesse wee will fondly accuse the time when as yet wee were not of the paines wee felt at our birth If our comming in be with teares is it a wonder that our going out be answerable If the beginning of our being be the beginning of our paine is it any maruell that such should be our ending Death is no wayes hurtfull to those that be liuing and for the dead they are out of his reach Such a death is neuer to be deplored which is seconded with immortalitie and euerlasting life Wilt thou feare that once which is alwayes acted Fearest thou to dye once when thou dyest euery day by little and little Death which wee so feare and flye taketh not from vs our life but giueth it truce and intermission for a time Neyther children nor mad-men feare Death and how absurd is it that reason and wisedome should not be as able to furnish vs with securitie as they are fortified by their simplicitie and fury section 9 What hurt is it to the inhabitant to pull downe an old ruinous house to build it vp againe and make it more glorious Now our bodies are as old rotten houses for our soules to dwell in if God cause our soules to depart then out of our bodies for a time and so destroy them to build them vp againe and make them fitter habitations for our soules haue we any cause to mourne Nay rather if we looke not so much on the present condition of our bodies after death as vpon their glorious estate at the day of resurrection by the eye of faith wee haue great cause to praise our God for this our good exchange And why should the faithfull be affraide of Death by which they are deliuered from the slauery of sinne For when Death hath made vs all euen leuell with the ground the graue shall be to vs as a fould vntill our Shepheard come and to the wicked as a shambles till the destroyer of their soules shall haue receiued an endlesse commission to torment them What cause haue wee then to shut our gates against the gaspe of Death Or like trembling leaues to entertaine the gale and blast of sicknesse which doth but prune our feathers to flye both faster and swifter towards heauen itselfe For if neither the waight of our corruption though it sorely presse vs nor the
citie hauing a foundation whose builder and maker is God And all the godly groane in these their earthly tabernacles being laden with corruption that this mortalitie may be swallowed vp of life for they know that corrupt flesh blood cannot enter into heauen Gods children I say are grieued not because they beare about their bodies for it is a griefe for them to lay them downe but they sigh to be clensed from their sinnes and corruption of their bodies which make them so wretched We ought not therefore to long so much for this present life which indeede is nothing else but an image of death but rather loath it to be vnloaden of our sinnes And as for Death it appertaineth to all men as we haue section 3 heard for neither rich nor poore old nor young prince nor people can escape it It respecteth no mans person no sexe no age no condition whatsoeuer No power no wealth no learning no wisedome art or skill can auoide it There is no salue to heale this soare no Physicke to be found for this sicknesse it is the way of all the world and the house appointed for all the liuing It is an Axe that heweth downe not onely the low shrubs and small Osiers but the great Elmes and huge Oakes yea all the high and tall Cedars of Libanon The daies of man are but as the winde and weauers shittle as grasse and flowers which in the morning are fresh and greene but anone towards the euening dried vp and withered We bring our yeares to an end as it were a tale that is told Our life is like a stage on which men play their parts and passe away Man is like a thing of nought his daies are like a shadow God bids Esay to cry All flesh is grasse and that all the grace and goodlinesse thereof is but as a flower of the field O that the Lord would open all our eyes that in this glasse wee might behold our estate What are we all but grasse and shall we wither like hay Alas wee cannot so perswade our selues for if we could it would plucke downe our pride and lay our lofty lookes it would then reforme our disguised ruffes and make our monstrous attire more modest it would mitigate our madnesse and make vs humble minded we would then throw downe our selues with Abraham and say to God we are but dust And to the end that our resolution to death may be more chearefull and this rough way as it seemeth to the section 4 flesh may be made more plaine Let vs comfort our selues with these meditations let vs say vnto our soule why art thou so sad why art thou so vnquieted within vs Put thy trust in God which is the helpe of our countenance and our God For why should a Christian man so feare the violence of Death whose force is broken Can Death depriue him of Christ which is all his comfort ioy and life No but Death shall deliuer him from this mortall body full of sinne and corruption which beareth and beateth downe the soule Faine would the flesh make strange of that which the spirit doth imbrace Oh saith a holy Martyr how loath is this loytering sluggard to passe forth and goe forward in Gods path to heauen So that were it not through the force of Faith plucking it forward by the bridle of Gods sweet promises and of Hope the anchor of saluation pricking still behinde great aduenture there were of fainting by the way section 5 Who would be sorry to forsake this life which cannot but be most certain of eternall life Who loueth the shadow better then the substance who can so loue this life but he that regardeth not the life to come who can desire the drosse of this world but such as are ignorant of the true treasure euerlasting ioyes in heauen I meane who is affraide to die but such as haue no hope to liue eternally A greater assurance next saith in Christ of our election cannot be found then not to stand in feare of Death which like a Tayler putteth off our ouer-worne rags to apparell vs with royall robes of immortalitie incorruption glory If the wals of thy house shake with age if the roofe thereof totter if the whole edifice not being able any longer to stand presage a meere downefall and ruine to approach wouldst thou not make more then ordinary hast to remoue and be gon If thou wert sayling in the maine sea and that a furious storme swelling the waues thereof with the blustering windes should threaten thy shipwracke wouldest thou not endeuour to recouer some cricke or hauen Behold this world how it shaketh and is ready to fall manifesting very shortly her vtter ruine Wherefore thinkest thou not on God why reioycest thou not at thy condition being ready to depart this world seeing thy selfe taken betimes out of those shipwracks warranted frō the blowes that threaten al such as suruiue thee Wherefore to the end that the former perswasions may section 6 better preuaile pierce the deeper let vs further consider for the same abridgement of all that hath been hitherto spoken what this life is which wee so loue what death is which we now so feare and what is prepared for vs after death which we so little regard First therefore concerning this present life we know and haue heard already that it is full of miserie vanitie vexation woe being a plaine exile from God For if heauen be our country what is this earth but a place of banishment If the departing out of this world be an entrance into life what is this world but a graue wherein we are buried what is it else but to be drowned in death If to be deliuered out of the body is to be set at liberty what is this body else but a prison a Iayle and a dungeon If to enioy the sweet fellowship of God be the highest felicitie why then to be kept from it is it not the extreamest misery for certainly til we be escaped out of this life we wander goe astray from the Lord our God If we consider that this vnstedfast faulty corruptible frayle withering rotten tabernacle of our body is shall therefore be dissolued by death that it may afterward be restored againe vnto a stedfast perfect incorruptible and heauenly glory shall not faith compel vs feruētly to desire that which nature feareth If we consider that by death we are called out of banishment to inhabit our country yea our heauenly country shall we not reioyce and be glad therefore Alas this our wretched life is a vapour a smoake a shadow a warfare a wildernesse and a vale of wretchednesse section 7 wherein wee are compassed on euery side with most fierce fearefull foes And should we desire to dwell here should we lust and long to liue in this loathsome and laborious life should wee wish to tarry in this miserable wretchednesse should
resurrection And shall we so lament our death which is so gainefull The very Pagans in some places as it is recorded did celebrate the day of their death with mirth melodie and minstrelcie and shall wee that are Christians be so dismaid and cast downe should such a friend as it is be vnwelcome shall the foulenesse of his face feare vs from his good conditions shall the hardnesse of the huske hinder vs from the sweetnesse of the kirnell shall the roughnesse of the tide feare vs from the banke and shoare and so hazard our drowning rather then the desire of our home driue vs to the land with all expedition shall the hardnesse of the saddle set vs on foote to slacken our voyage rather then wee will leape vp and endure the same a little and so come swiftly to the place wee doe desire section 18 Lastly touching the heauenly life prepared for the faithfull after death if I should goe about to expresse it the more I should so doe the further I should be from it so farre exceeding the sight thought or conceit of man or any creature Behold saith Saint Iohn the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and he their God and he shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor paine for the former things are past O most blessed tabernacle O most safe refuge O region most resplendant and glorious All thy inhabitants weare crownes of glory sit in thrones of maiestie liue in life eternall and possesse a paradise of infinite pleasures Which as Saint Bernard saith are so many that they cannot be numbred of such eternitie that they are endlesse so precious as they cannot be estimated and so great as they cannot be measured This Citie is made of pure gold the very wals of precious stones hauing twelue foundations made of twelue distinct precious stones hauing twelue gates set with pearles the very streetes paued with gold interlaied with precious stones The light of this citie is Christ in his shining brightnesse sitting in the midst thereof from whose seate proceedeth the water of life and there growes the tree of life bearing continuall fruit for the continuall refection of the Saints There is no night in that citie nor any defiled thing but they which are within shall raigne for euer in vnspeakeable glory who shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father If one Sunne can lighten and fill the whole world with section 19 his brightnes if the Maiestie glory of his beames be such and so great that some Ethnicks haue worshipt him for a God and haue called him the father of gladnes the eye of the world and the fountaine of light What shall so many glorified bodies of the blessed appeare that shall be as so many Sunnes so many Lampes and so many shining lights in heauen Then shall we be blessed indeede when we shall be like vnto God which by nature is blessed and we shall be like vnto God when we shall see him as hee is For this onely sight of God is our whole happinesse O what a ioy shall it be when at one view we shall behold the most high and hidden misterie of the inseparable trinitie and of the loue of God therein For what shall not he see who seeth him that seeth all things Then shall mans minde haue perpetuall rest and peace neither shall it desire any further vnderstanding when hee hath all before his eyes that may be vnderstood Then shall mans will be quiet when he enioyeth that felicitie wherein all other good things as in the fountaine of all happinesse are contained Then shall Faith haue her perfect worke Hope shall inioy that which she long desired but Charitie shall indure for euer Then shall be sung continuall praises vnto the Lambe the song although it be alwaies sung yet it shall be euer new The ioy mirth melodie pleasure power wealth riches honour beautie fellowship dainties odors glory wisedome knowledge treasures securities peace quietnesse and eternall felicitie is beyond all vnderstanding and comprehension of man which the faithfull shall haue and inioy world without end with God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost with Angels and Arkangels Patriarks and Prophets with the Apostles and Euangelists with the Martyrs and Confessors and with the Saints of God in the pallace of the Lord in heauen the kingdome of God the glory of the Father Where there shall be an euerlasting Saboath which no euening shall end section 20 There we shall rest and we shall see we shall see and we shall loue wee shall loue and wee shall praise Behold saith Augustine that which is in the end is without end for what other end is there ordained for the godly but to attaine to that kingdome which hath no end Wee call Paradise our Country and the Patriarks our Fathers and the Saints our brethren and friends Why runne we not then with all speede to enioy our Country and to salute our Parents A great number of our friends and kinsfolkes brethren and children already assured of their immortalitie and desirous of our good doe there attend wishing and expecting our comming What ioy will it be both to them and vs there to renew our acquaintance and meete one another What pleasures are there amongst the inhabitants of heauen which now feare death no more and are sure to liue for euer Woe to the blindnesse of our eyes that see not this woe to the hardnesse of our hearts that feele not this woe to the deafenesse of our eares that heare not this in such wise as we should do where through we might be so farre from fearing death that rather wee should wish it with old Simeon Now let thy seruant depart in peace and with Dauid when shall I come and appeare before thee section 21 If true knowledge and faith possest our hearts as they should feare and doubtfulnesse would vanish quite away For assurance of heauenly things maketh vs willing to part with earthly Hee cannot contemne this life that knoweth not the other If wee would dispise this world we must thinke of heauen If wee will make death easie we must thinke of the glorious life that followeth it And if we can endure paine for health much more should wee abide a few pangs for glory How foolish are wee to feare a vanquished enemie Christ hath triumphed ouer death it bleedeth as it were and gaspeth vnder vs and yet doe we tremble It is enough that Christ died neither would he haue died but that we might die with safetie and pleasure How truely may wee say of this our Dauid thou art worth ten thousand of vs yea worth a world of Angels yet he died and died for vs. Who would therefore liue that knowes his Sauiour died Who can be a Christian and would not