A WINDING-SHEET Wrapped vp in a Letter from an onely liuing Brother sent to his few suruiuing Sisters DENOVNCING Vnto them the sad Sentence of Death and directing them how to bee prepared for the happie Entertainment of it IOB 17.13 14. Though I hope yet the Graue shall bee mine house and I shall make my bed in the darke I shall say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the Wormes Thou art my Mother and my Sister PHILIP 1.23 To bee loosed and to bee with CHRIST is best of all MAT. 24.46 Blessed is that Seruant whom his Master when hee commeth shall finde so doing LONDON Printed by B. A. and T. F. for F. C. and are to bee sold at his Shop on new Fishstreet-Hill 1626. A TO MY DEAREST AND MOST LOuing Sisters M.W. D.B. and E.G. an holy Life and a blessed Death in CHRIST IESVS SISTERS vnto your Brother all as deere As Sisters ought to bee vnto a Brother A token of my loue I send you heere True loue will flame or at the least will smother Though it bee but a slender paper-scrowle It further may the safety of your Soule Should J wish to you Coffers packt with Gold Or wish you noble Ladyes at the Court Should I you wish more dayes then can bee told And with long dayes all meriment and sport What would these great these glorious wishes proue But the vaine breath of a meere carnall loue Could J you make all these things which I write Nay should I you aduance to state of Queenes With Beauties grac'd procure you all delight With length of dayes the richest Judian Mines And yet the care of your poore soules omit This were nor loue nor honesty nor wit Life ends in Death and death will quite vndoe The goodliest frame of earthly happinesse What then would all this glory come vnto What come of vs and of our outward blisse All vanish would and in that wofull houre If wee preuent not Hell might vs deuoure From which most dreadfull dolefull dismall place GOD of his mercy deare your soules deliuer And you vouchsafe his rich and sauing Grace Jnto this gulfe that you doe tumble neuer Oh therefore while this gracious time doth last Make your saluation sure and hold it fast Make sure make fast and in your health prepare Against the houre of your most certaine Death Thrice happie you if you prepared are When you must render vp your fatall breath This I doe pray for this J doe contend For this to you this little Scrowle I send A Winding-Sheete 't is call'd which you I send Refuse it not let it as welcome bee As euer was from your best loued Friend Your Wedding-gowne your Ring or better fee The Wedding-gowne you must be hind you leaue The Winding-sheete your body must receiue The Wedding-gowne in time away doth weare And oft with it the wedding comforts fade Fresh springing comforts fall vnto their share Which in their Winding-sheet in peace are layde And there in peace who doe desire to lye Let them oft put it on before they dye Doe so with this vse it and on it muse Read it and to your reading practice adde So Death shall neuer bring you heauy newes But bee a welcome guest a message glad A day wherein to CHRIST you shall bee wed Your Sheet a Gowne your Graue the Marriage bed Your Brother in the flesh and in CHRIST J. E. A WINDING-SHEET DEARE Sisters wee haue all beene a good while vpon our journey to our long home and there is none of vs which is not past or at least come to the middle way of this journey though wee were certaine that wee should fulfill the Age prescribed vnto Mankind Psal 90.10 But of this it were folly for any of vs to promise or presume any thing The terme of this our mortall life is vncertaine and vnknowne Whosoeuer is most backward vpon this way by reason of yeares may by the sudden stroke of Death get the start of his or her fellowes Wee haue seene both of our neere Friends as our Brother W. E. and Sister D. C. some good while since more lately our Sister A. E. and these younger then our selues goe before on this way whose staffe standeth next the doore wee know not And certainly Death hath giuen lowd bounces at some of our doores who haue beene brought so neere vnto it that our recouery was beyond our owne and others hope You will say wherefore doe you write these things which wee all so well know Why but to tell you all and my selfe that we must make better vse of these things then I feare wee yet haue done It standeth vs vpon to labour our hearts that wee may be touched with some deepe and serious sense of our mortall case and not slightly to examine our selues how wee are fitted for that houre It is an ordinary fashion for vs vpon the death of Friends or others to breath out a sigh or two with some such words or wishes Thus wee see what wee are and whereto wee must or God make vs ready for him But I doubt our care to make tryall of our fitnesse and to make our selues fit doth vanish with our words and is nothing but the smoake of a suddaine passion But good Sisters wee must know that there is no trifling in a businesse of this nature Death is an aduersary with whom perforce wee must grapple and a thing which first or last wee must vndergoe And as once wee shall dye and that but once so vpon that once dying doth depend our euerlasting weale or woe Marriage is said to bee a mighty thing which wee are with much aduisement to thinke of ere wee attempt For oft our Wedding-day doth proue the first or last of all the good and pleasant dayes of our life but much more is it so with the day of our Death For haue wee beene vnhappie in our match If nothing else at length Death will vntie the knot and release vs of that misery but after Death no change or alteration of our estate can bee expected Dye wee well wee are for euer as wee say made men nay for euer blessed and glorious Saints in Heauen Dye wee ill woe be vnto vs that euer we were borne Wee shall for euer bee out casts from the Blessed presence of GOD and companions with all Damned wretches and Diuels of Hell Alas then that wee should make so light account of this houre that wee should spend so few thoughts about it and cast away so much of our precious time on other things of no moment Would wee not hold him a very sot and idle fellow who hauing some great businesse in hand whereon his whole Estate or his Life did depend neglecting that should spend his time and money in walking London streets seeing the Lyons Beares Exchange and other Monuments of the Citie Loe what is this but our owne case There doth lye vpon vs the most weighty businesse that can bee and whereon doth
which I finde in Heathen men wanting the knowledge of GOD and of his Word touching this subiect But how speake they hereof Much as a Grammer scholler writing or declaiming on a Theme which hee doth not well vnderstand vttereth many things wittily and pretily to the purpose but they are such things as hee hath gathered out of some Authors or haue suggested vnto him by others or fell from him at vnawares more by hap as wee say then by cunning Amongst many shafts shot by a blind man it chancheth that some flye toward the marke Wee haue read of some ignorant man who in a trance or sleepe haue spoken Latine and Greeke made Verses and talked of wonders which for the present they minde not nor when they awake are they able to call to minde Such like is the Discourse of learned Heathen men concerning Mortalitie which they learned rather by Ocular obseruation then Diuine instruction and of which they let fall some true and graue speeches but without thorough apprehension or full vnderstanding of the point For they had but a darke glimpse of that future state which ensueth Death and knew nothing of the true cause of this our vanitie and frailtie which they pored after in the warre and contrarietie of the Elements whereof our Body is framed but was truely in sinne that hath put emnitie betweene GOD and vs and cut vs off from GOD which was our Life And for the vulgar knowledge of our Mortalitie what is it but a fleeting fancie and swimming conceit that maketh no deepe impression nor constant apprehension of Death and the issue of it in our hearts It is with vs as with a man viewing himselfe in a Glasse as Saint IAMES speaketh in another case who for the present doth see what his face and figure is but vpon the turning of his backe doth forget it Euen so if some spectacle or speech of our mortalitie bee offered wee entertaine some slight thought of it of the nature and sequell thereof but in a moment it doth vanish and is shlipped out of memory ere it can take any firme footing in vs. Finally there is a naturall knowledge of our Mortalitie gotten from experience of what wee see daily from the principles of nature and literall instruction of the word A carnall man doth attaine to this but with no benefit while it doth shew to him onely the out-side of this mysterie and giue him but a slight view thereof that doth neuer enter his heart nor enlarge it to a serious meditation of his fickle state And there is a spirituall knowledge also of this thing which doth lay open our Mortalitie with the circumstances of it to the full and doth present to our mindes with such a cleere and constant view thereof that wee cannot but thinke vpon it and lay it to our heart An Image of it doth still stand before our eyes and a silent voyce euer whispereth in our eares that wee dwell in houses of Clay haue our foundation in the dust and perish from the Morning vnto the Euening Job 4.16.19 20. Whosoeuer hath gotten this vnderstanding hee hath learned it of GOD who awaking him out of the spirituall sleepe that oppresseth carnall men hath giuen him eyes and senses to see beyond them and pry more exactly into the mysterie of Mortality then they can do who doe but superficially know and more slightly lay to heart their mortall case with the cause and issue of it This then wee may resolue for certaine that wee are in a good way of readinesse for Death if once wee bee come to a thorough vnderstanding of these things and doe deeply ponder them There is none of common sense that doth know and take speciall notice of the comming of a friend or foe and their intent therein that it is for his singular good or vtter vndoing but will looke about him to bee in some readinesse to receiue the one and resist the other Euen so if the LORD haue once well enformed our mindes of these things I meane the certaine comming of Death the vncertaine time thereof together with the blessed issue of a good end and miserable of a bad it will at once in some degree make vs ready for Death and awake vs to a speciall care more and more to prepare our selues See touching this a worthy passage in CALVINS Institutions Lib. 3. cap. 9. sect 2. A second thing which will further vs in this worke is to watch for and against this houre of Death If wee will not haue the day of the LORD come on vs as a Thiefe in the night saith blessed PAVL Thes 5.8 let vs not sleepe as others doe but let vs watch and bee sober And blessed is hee that watcheth saith the Holy Ghost Reuel 16.15 Watching is a word of larger sense in these and such places of Scripture But by Watching I heere meane which sense is also in them included an expectation of Death and such a one as that wee looke for it euery moment and make account that wee may nay that wee shall meete therewith wheresoeuer wee bee The flocke is quickly wearied of the Woolfe and the House is soone broken vp and spoyled of the Thiefe if the Shepheard and Good-man of the house keepe not good watch against them The Watch not well kept hath oft giuen an opportunitie to the Enemie to enter and sacke a Towne to surprize an Armie and cut the throates of the Souldiers sleeping but the Enemie which is well Watched doth much the lesse hurt Thus wee must make sure reckoning that Death will take vs at some aduantage and ouertake vs at vnawares to our vnspeakeable hurt if wee set not a good and continuall spirituall Watch against him As then the carefull Sentinell doth expect the Enemie all the night long suspecting that if hee come not at one houre hee may come at another if not one way yet another and dareth not let sleepe to seaze on his eyes no not for a moment so are wee to bee in a like watchfull expectation of our Death at all times and places Make wee account that if hee haue vs not by the backe in our Child-hood hee will in our Youth if hee baulke vs in youth that wee shall heare of him in our riper Age if not then yet surely in our Aged yeares Doth hee spare you at home expect him abroad Are you layd in your bed looke for him there to disease you Feed you at your boord looke for him there to bee a guest with you Bee it day or night bee you alone or in company in the field or in the Towne at your sport or about businesse let this bee your thought heere may Death come and arrest me This hath beene the ruine of many men that as sometime carelesse Souldiers stragling abroad without order or armour presuming not to meete with any Enemy haue beene caught in an ambush and cut off when they least expected so they not looking for Death then and
there haue beene set vpon at vnawares and taken away vnprepared as they were It is then extreame folly for vs in any place or time to promise to our selues securitie from the stroke of Death an Enemy that like the Iewes against PAVL hath vowed our destruction that will make no league or take no truce with vs that no brazen Tower can exclude no Guifts winne no Prayer intreat an Enemy that doth chase vs continually sometime in visible forme of open danger and sicknesse sometime in an inuisible figure of secret perils and diseases that hath a thousand wayes to assault and as many weapons to kill vs being neuer farre from vs and oft neerer then we thinke of whose mortall stroke no fence can ward off nor armour resist What then can wee doe other if wee will doe wisely but euer meditate of our Death and expect it alwayes Euen as well in the Prime of our yeares as the Winter of our age in Health as Sicknesse at a Banquet and in the middest of our mirth as in a Battaile and amongst the carkasses of dead and cryes of dying men Yea but you will say this will marre all our mirth For who can laugh and bee merry if his heart bee euer taken vp with the sad memory of Death and such a ghastly Image bee still before his eyes It may bee that this meditation will indeed quell and coole our Carnall mirth which wee take in laughing gaming dauncing and such outward things And if it doe so farewell such mirth Some affirme of Oxymel a syrupe pleasantly tart compounded of Water Honey and wine Vineger boyled together that where Flegme doth abound it auayleth prettily to extenuate and cleanse it away but if that bee wanting it preyeth on the substance and strength it selfe of Nature and the frequent vse of it rotteth the Teeth dulleth the Sight hurteth not seldome the Stomacke alwayes the Sinewes It may bee then wholesome as a medicine to them that are circumspect in the vse of it but it is ineuitably hurtfull to them that turne it into a vsuall food Euen so this worldly mirth is highly prized and praised as a soueraigne medicine to preserue our bodily health and to put ouer sorrowes and qualmes off the heart wherein also perhaps it may doe somewhat wisely and warily vsed but it is perillous yea pernicious to the sound state of our better part our Soule I meane chiefely if it bee followed as a Trade and taken vp as a dayly Diet. For what doth it but steale our hearts from GOD our time from his seruice make the Diuell a faire way to ensnare vs and giue Death an opportunitie to seaze vpon vs at vnawares And then what commeth of all our merriment and sport but euerlasting woe and lamentation As CHRIST hath it in Luke 6.25 Woe bee vnto you that laugh for you shall mourne and lament No good seed doth prosper in ground that is too ranke and rich Nor is there any place in an heart disposed onely to this Carnall mirth for godly sorrow true repentance feruent and frequent prayer serious meditation of GODS Word nor finally for this serious Spirituall wisedome in making ready for Death of which the heart carnally merry cannot endure the sight or thought Anger or griefe saith SALOMON Eccles 7.5 is better then laughter for by a sad Countenance the heart is made better Our Children learne not most where they laugh most and haue most sport and play The best Schoole for learning is a place of sober and moderate Discipline to restraine Children from wanton liberty and sometime to make them smart for it and other faults So the schoole of CHRIST where wee are to learne true wisedome is not the House of mirth and feasting but of godly sorrow and mourning Wee shall then sustaine no losse if by this meditation of Death wee leese and abate any thing of this worldly mirth which is the bane of our soules health But for our true spirituall Ioy in GOD it will further that making vs so much the more to minde and seeke heauenly things to solace our hearts in the hope of them to hasten our repentance and labour for the assurance of a life more stable and certayne by how much the more wee minde the vncertainty and end of this our Mortall life and all the comforts of it And as for lawfull and Christian solace in outward blessings it will not hinder that but direct and keepe it within compasse that it bring not an obliuion of GOD and better things on vs and a securitie in the neglect of our saluation and the meanes thereof It is not briefely the Christian expectation of Death that will marre our good and honest mirth but a seruile feare thereof and vnreadinesse for it The more that wee shall in a Christian sort expect Death the more ready shall wee bee for it and the lesse shall wee stand in feare of it As a man forewarned is thereby also well fore-armed so a godly expectation of Death is a good degree of preparation thereunto In the third place this wee must take heed of that wee bee not farre engaged into the world nor deepely plunged into the affaires of it if wee will bee in a readinesse for Death The approach of the Enemy and the allarme vnto the Battaile is vnwelcome and heauy newes vnto a Souldier who is turned Merchant that hath great Trade by Land and Sea hath got his houses full of Merchandize and Coffers of money or is become a iolly Farmer hauing about him a great stocke of Corne or Cattle And so will Death bee vnto vs if wee keepe our hands full of worldly businesse and haue our hearts set on the cares and pleasures thereof No man sayth PAVL 2. Timoth. 2.4 that goeth on Warre-fare is intangled with the businesses of this Life that hee may please him which hath chosen him for a Souldier It is a speciall point of a good Souldier to bee alway ready at his Captaynes call bee it neuer so sodaine Such a one will therefore keepe himselfe free from other imployments that all times hee may attend his Captaynes pleasure in going whether hee shall send him and doing what hee shall Command What are wee but GODS Souldiers vnder IESVS CHRIST our Generall whom to please ought to bee our speciall care and to that end must wee keepe our hearts and hands free from the intanglements of this worlds affaires and delights that wee may at all times bee ready for whatsoeuer seruice hee shall put vs to bee it to hazard our liberty credit or wealth for his names sake or at his call though very suddaine to lay downe and giue vp our liues Surely to meddle farre with worldly matters and hamper our selues with them must needes bee a maine impediment to this readinesse For these cares and pleasures if once they insinuate into vs will so intrench themselues in our heart that it will not bee easie to expell them Nay they will justle
out of place or much hinder this most speciall and greatest care to make ready for Death drowning all thought thereof by their continuall buzzing in our hearts and eares and taking away our time by worldly employments which they will one after another without rest put vpon vs. Good-fellowes as they are misnamed and Ruffians cannot brooke the presence of sober and ciuill men nor will they admit of such into their Chamber where they intend to bee frolike and merrie or at least will not rest till they haue thrust them out of doores if by chance they bee amongst them As ill can worldly cares and pleasures consist and agree with spirituall and religious which they will eyther greatly disturbe or vtterly put out of place as whose fellowship is vnpleasing to them Nay to say truth godly thoughts and purposes cannot thriue and grow vp to their maturitie among worldly cares and pleasures Which as Thornes and Bryers ouershadow and choake vp the good seed of GODS Word sowen in the Hearts of men Luk. 8.14 Besides this vnspeakeable mischiefe how vnwilling doe they make vs to depart this Life when our time approacheth O Death saith one how bitter is thy remembrance to a man that hath pleasure in his Riches But how much more terrible is the presence it selfe of Death to such a one Did not the backwardnesse of the Guests which were inuited to the Kings wedding Feast come from hence euen from their worldly cares pleasures and businesse One had a Farme which hee must needes goe out and see Another had a yoake of Oxen to proue A third had married a Wife whom hee must Wayte on and a Family growing on him which hee must care for Luk. 14.18 c. Thus for one thing or other none could finde leasure or get their goodwils to come vnto the Feast that is to embrace the Gospell of IESVS CHRIST From the sound profession whereof if worldly profits and pleasures doe keepe vs when yet it doth permit vs soberly to vse and enioy the same much more will they make vs vnwilling to dye when wee must leaue all such things and appeare before our Iudge Almightie GOD to giue account how wee haue gotten and vsed them Is it not an ordinary complaint of men that Death doth come too soone vpon them And whence growes it but hereof that they are too much ensnared and entangled with the World For what doth the Young-man complaine of but that hee is taken away in the flowre of his yeares before hee doth know the world and haue thoroughly tasted the pleasures of it And what doth the Elder alledge but that hee dyes in the middest of much businesse and hottest pursuite of his game The one could bee content hee thinkes to dye if hee had well satisfied himselfe with the delights and pleasures of the world and the other if hee had brought about the world to his minde for his Wife and Children It is then a great let vnto our readinesse to remoue hence when wee step too farre into the world and hamper our selues with the affaires thereof Wherein also wee are deceiued by a vaine confidence that wee can at our pleasure and on short warning vnwinde our selues from these intanglements and rid our hands of them But how alas was poore SAMPSON beguiled with this conceit When suffering DALILAH to shaue off his lockes against his vow and to fetter him hee thought as at other times the Philistims assailing him to breake all and free himselfe but the Lord beside his expectation being gone from him he was not able so to doe but was taken prisoner by them and his eyes being put out he became a drudge to grinde in prison and a May-game vnto his enemies No lesse feare is there that they who suffer themselues to bee intangled and fettered with worldly occasions shall finde it much harder to cleere themselues then they imagined For earthly cares and pleasures are very heauy stuffe and presse downe yea oppresse such soules as vndertake them Luk 21.34 And they doe further beside their weight beset vs with such cunning and hang so fast vpon vs as it is Heb. 12.1 that wee cannot escape from them and shake them off at pleasure If wee haue made them our familiars in our health they will not in sicknesse be cast off but like importunate companions will then hang about vs presse vpon vs hinder our best consultations about our last passage distract our thoughts to thinke and dispose of them and dull our spirits that wee shall not be able to pray to receiue and apprehend any spirituall instructions and comforts or constantly and cheerefully to meditate on the future life As a poore bird caught in a snare at vnawares feedeth securely not mistrusting her owne freedome vntill vpon the sight of the Fowler shee assailing to flye away findeth her selfe to hang fast and that the more shee struggleth and fluttereth to get loose the more she doth intangle her selfe and so beating her selfe to extreme wearinesse shee at length falleth into the Fowlers hands Euen so our soules being entangled with cares and pleasures as it were snares wee all the time of our health nothing doubt but that wee are free enough vntill that vpon the approach of Death when wee would get loose wee finde our soules so fast hung and fettered that with all their struggling and contention they cannot escape but vnlesse God of singular mercy set them free they become a prey to death and to him that hath the power of death that is the Deuill The Lord therefore giue vs wisedome to keepe our hearts free from these snares to haue our conuersation without couetousnesse and to be content with things present The Lord teach vs to keepe within compasse that wee doe not ouerload our hearts and heads with worldly cares nor out of an inordinate loue of the world thrust and ingage our selues further thereinto then that with ease and at the first call wee may retire It were an happy thing for vs I am sure if wee would imbrace that good aduise of St. Paul 1 Cor. 7. that is hauing wife and children to bee as if wee had none Hauing bought or otherwise gotten large reuenewes to be as if wee possessed no such thing and to vse the world as those that did not vse it or would not abuse it Whatsoeuer comforts as wife children wealth credit dignity GOD shall beslow vpon vs there is no doubt but that hee doth allow vs to vse them as some solace to vs in this land of our Pilgrimage occasions of honest labour and trauaile and furtherances of doing good and our better seruing him But such a loose affection ought wee alway to carry toward them that the inordinate loue of them doe neyther cause vs to make any breach in our Conscience to get or keepe them nor to encumber our selues with worldly businesse while wee heere sojourne nor at GODS summons to bee vnwilling eyther to hazard them all for the