so worke security in him exercised the thoughts of Death in himselfe by this fit similitude As man saith he who is led from prison to the place of execution though hee be led about and seems to go slowly yet he feares Death and is as sure of it as he that goes a neerer way and though his legs be strong his eyes quick-sighted his heart lusty though his stomacke be able for digestion yet this one thought turns all into bitternesse that hee is in the way to a certaine execution And what man is not a prisoner in this kind we are all going on towards our long home we are all in the way and parted but by small distances those which are dead have not so much left us onely they are gone before us but perhaps thou mayst say I am healthy and lusty and finde not nor feele any the least sence of sicknesse nor apprehension of Death well flatter thy selfe if thou wilt for certain thou art in the way and wee all are in the way with thee But thou mayst say thou art not yet thirty years old what then thou wast in the way at twenty at ten at five at three nay even at the first yeare and in the first houre goe on perhaps thou mayst a little further but thou wilt shortly come to thy end but yet thou wilt say thy sleepe is sound thy meat and drinke doe excellently well relish and digest Oh fond man Death regards not such things Wee are in the way looke to thy selfe presently thou wilt perceive the place of execution thou art led on there 's but a little time for thee to breath in shortly shall all thy pompe luxury and strength expire as well as thy selfe all our life is but the pathway to death That Death may happy be to live learn I That life may hâ—ppy be I 'le learne to die § 38. To day for mee to morrow for thee Delrii adag Tom. 2. p. 576. FRancis the first King of Francâ— being taken by Charles the fifth comming to Madrid upon a wall he read the Motto of Charles which was Plus ultra Still further and writ under it Hodie mihi cras tibi Mine to day yours to morrow The Conquerour was not offâ—nded nor angry but gave notice that hee understood the meaning for hee writ this in answer to it I am but a Man and know my selfe subject to mortalitie Elegantly spoke Greg Nazianzen My head saith he begins to be an Almond tree flourishing and therefore my Summer of Age is neer the Sickle is made sharp for work all my feare is lest that terrible Mower should crop me off and cut me downe while I sleepe securely and am not ready for his stroke But thou mayst say Old men indeed may feare but I am yong and green be not thou deceived Death is not limited to any certaine age The same Bier to day may carry an old carcasse to morrow a yong one to day a strong aâ—â—e â—n an to morrow a yong Virgin or 〈◊〉 Child Seneca speaks to the purpose Death saith he stands at the door of a yong man as well as at the threshold of an aged man for all men are registred and inrolled in Deaths Records all must pay their tributes when Death cals forth all must goe out no exemption from his Edict This is the last warning and admonishment that dying men groan forth To day for me too morrow for thee and this is the Graves sentence I fell yesterday thou mayst this day Remember Death Oh remember Eternitie which thou mayst either to day or to morrow begin but never End §. 28. If to morrow why not to day THere is a Chaine and that a weâ—ghty one that holds us bound fast to wit the Love of this Life which as it is not to be utterly cast off yet it is daily to be weakned and the vigour of it abated that when it shall be required at our hands to surrender nothing may withhold us but that we be ready presently to doe that which at one time or other must be performed Saint Augustine the Bishop of Hippo went on a time to visit another great Prelate and Father of the Church lying very sick and at the point of Death who had been formerly his familiar friend at Saint Augustines comming the sick man lift up his hand and said that he was departing this world and going into Heaven Possidonius in vita Aug. c. 27 Saint Augustine replyed that the Church would stand in great want of him and prayed that God would lend him a longer life The sicke mâ—n answered again if he never could be well spared but if at any time he should depart why not now The Death of all men is even and alike but the wayes by which it comes are divers one dyes at supper another in his sleepe a third in the commission of some sin One dyes by the sword another is drowned a third is burned some are poysoned and stung to death by Serpents others are kild by some fall and some Consumptions rid away some are cut off in the flower and beauty of their age some are destroyed in their swathling clothes and some in their decrepit years Others onely salute the World and are gone One mans end is commendable anothers dishonorable but let Death come never so gently or favourably yet it never comâ—s without some horrour and affrightment But that which most of all estrangeth us from liking Death is that wee know the things present and delights in them but whither wee are passing by Death and what things wee shall behold in the bowels of the grave wee know not and wee usually tremble at the report of strange sights therefore are our mindes to bee hardned with the daily exercise and meditation of eternity Eternity I say is to be thought upon night and day as he that will learn to endure hunger must attaine to it by fasting by degrees so the mind must be transferd from transitory things that ever will be expert in the study of Eternity Let him every moment salute and imbrace the threshold of Eternity let this one be the onely square of all his actions I read I write I meditate I watch I speak I worke always to Eternity Hee that ever intends to triumph eternally let his meditation be alwayes fixed and setled upon it § 40. Death is suddain yet comely AS Palladius the Bishop of Helenople testifies Cheremon died sitting as hee was at work Hist c. 92. and well Hee was found sitting with his worke in his hand onely hee was dead Any kind of Death is credited by a vertuous life Philemon an ancient Writer of Comedies as hee rehearsed his Comedies with Menander on the Stage Mad. Philos in Florid p 579 and strove with him for the Bays he was not in any thing reputed inferiour to him He acted a part of a play which he lately had made and being come to the second Scene
entertained with an undaunted spirit Whither it sets upon us violently or easily A vertuous life never thought ill of death and that man loses nothing who gets all things § 13. How the Saints of God may desire yet feare Death LEt us behold Saint Paul saiâ—h Saint Gregory how hee loves that which hee avoyds and how hee avoids that which hee loves Behold hee desires to die and feares to put off the tabernacle of flesh Why so Because although the victory makes his heart to rejoyce yet the paine doth trouble him for the present As a valiant man who is to fight a Combate though he be armed yet he pants and trembles and by his palenes discovers feare yet hee is mainly prick'd forward by valour and courage So a godly and holy man being neer to his death and passion is struck with the infirmity of his nature yet is he strengthened with the firmnesse of his hope and doth rejoyce that by dying hee shall live for ever For he cannot enter into that Kingdom but by the interposition of death yet hee doubts and hopes and rejoycing feares and fearing is glad because hee knows hee cannot attain to the prize unlesse he passeth this midway obstacle Hence it is that even the holiest men have in some measure feared deaths encounter King Hezekiah in the increase of his sicknes doth yet in teares lament Esay 38.10 That in the midst of his days he shall go to the gates of Hell What did not the feare of death cause David to utter that speech Psal 102 25. Take mee not away in the midst of mine age What shall we say of Abraham Iacob Elias Who as we are instructed by holy Writt did something feare death Elias flying from death 3. Reg. 19. yet did entreat for it under the Juniper tree Arsenius a man of an hundred twenty yeers old never assaulted with any disease having served God fifty five yeers in a most austere life being now at his dâ—parting began to feare and weâ—p Those that were present wondring at it said And doe you ô Father lâ—kewise fear death to whom he answered ever since I entred into the state of Religion I have always fâ—ared Seneca spoke excellently often is it seen that even the stoutest man though armed yet at the first entrance into the Combat feares so the resolutest Souldier at the signall of Battle his knees and joynts tremble so it is with the greaâ—est Commander as also wiâ—h the famousest Orator at the composing himself to speake This was observed in Charles the fifth Emperour who though hee was couragious in all warlike Expeditions though hee was not overcome with the greatest dangers nor frighted with the furiousnesse of warlike Chariots nor ever shrunke his head out of the maynest hazards yet for all that at the putting on of his Armour hee would something quake and shiver and shew signes of some feare but when once his head piece was on his sword girded to his thigh his Coat of Maile upon him hee was as a Lyon and like a mighty man of valour would set upon the Enemy Even so the best of men do desire and feare death they would be gone out but they tremble at it But it is better to die with Cato then to live with Anthony Hee is Deaths conquerour who quietly gives up his Spirit when he is câ—ld from hence §. 14. An ill death follows an ill life EVen as a tree falls that way when it is cut downe as it leaned when it stood so for the most part as we have livâ—d and bent our courses so doe we depart As we begun to goe so wee continue a commendable death seldome shuts up a dishonest life What things were pleasurable to us in the course of our lives ee seldome dislike at the time of our deaths A great Courtier of King Cenreds who studied more to please his Sovereigne then his Saviour being at point to die he did not onely seeme to neglect the care of his soule but also to put off the time of his death but hee saw before him a great many wicked Spirits expressing the Catalogue of all his hainous sins before him at which sight in horrour for them in despaire he dyed While wicked Chrysaorius called out for a space even for time but till the next morning he departed Herod Agrippa as his life was full of all impieties so his death was miserable So Herodias aâ— History reports who by dancing g t off Iohn Baptists head had her owne head cut off by the ice So Iezabel and Athaliah Queenes so â—ing Benhadad Balihazar and Antiochus with 600 more as their lives were naught and wicked so were their ends w etched and odious The death of wise men is to be lamented but much more the lives of the foolish Psal 34.22 the death of sinners is the worst It being an irrevocable ingresse of a most wofull eternity of torments Foolishly doth he feare death who neglects life He who lives to luxury and rio is dead while alive § 15. A good death follows a good life MOst truly said Saint Augustine That cannot be reputed for a bad death when as a good life hath always preceded For nothing but the sequell of death proves it ill A good crop of Corn doth seldome or never faile a plentifull sowing A good life is the Kings high way to a good Death That is the beginning middle and end I may compare life and death to a Syllogisme The conclusion is the end of the Syllogisme so death of life but the conclusion is either true or false according to the nature of the Antecedents So is Death always either good or bad according to the quality of our precedent lives So Saint Paul doth most severely pronounce it Whose end saith he shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 1. â— 15. It is reported of a certain man of a most devout life who was found dead in his study with his body so seated that his finger was upon the holy Bible and upon that place where it is said if the just man shall be taken away by Death hee shall be in his refreshing Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints whither it be slow or sudden The mellifluous Saint Bernard being now neere to his dissolution Thus spoke to his Schollers because quoth he I leave you no great examples of Religion yet three things I doe seriously commend to you which I have specially at all times observed 1 To trust my own sences lesse then others 2 That being hurt or injured by any I never fought after revenge 3 I never did willingly offend any man whatsoever fell out cross and thwart I pacified as I could Now being nere Death He wâ—it a Letâ—er to Arnaldus of Good-dale to this effect The spirit is ready but the flâ—sh is we k. Pâ—ay you to our Lord Jesus not to defer my exit but keep me when I shall go have
thus there described and after all these things he fell downe on his bed and knew that hee should die Oh what force and energie is there in the words post haec After all these things and in this decidt he fell specially in those morreâ—tur that he should die Alexander had in hopes conquered a World already nay worlds He thought he had done things worthy of everlasting Annals and yet after all these so many so great Trophies hee fell downe not onely into his bed but to his grave he must be content with a small Coffin Petius Alphonsus relates iâ— that Alexander being dead Many Philosophers met to speake some thing to be engraven on his Monument One hee utterd this En modo quatuor ulnarum spacium ei satis est cui spatiosissimus terrarum orbis non suffecerat i.e. behold now foure cubits is room enough for h m whoâ— while ere the whole World would not suffice ano her added yesterday Alexander could have freed any from death now noâ— himself One beholding his golden Châ—st spoke thus Yesterday saiâ— he Alexander of Gold made treasure now change turns and gold makes treasure of Alexander Seâ— the wise men exprest themselves but they all concluded with that of the Machabees Afterward he fell down into his bed and dyed Juvenal sings thus of him Vnus pellaeo Iuveni non sufficit orbis ... i.e. The whole World though 't be was Will not content Philips great son But marke the largnesse of our thoughts while wee prove forgetfull of our own condition oh did we meditate on heavenly immortall things while wee vainly dispose these transitory ones to our Nephews and Kinred Alas all this this while we are extending our thoughts death oppresseth us and this thing which is called old age is but a short circuit of a few yâ—ers Why should wee therefore trust death Consider but for what small matters wee lose our lives It is not our meat nor drink nor watching nor sleep used intemperately but prove deadly our foot hurt a little the griefe of the eares a rotten tooth meat offending the stomach a drop of an ill Humour any of these may open the gate to death Is it a matter of any great consequence or profit whither we live or die Ill sents savours tastings wearinesse nay nourishment it selfe without which we cannot live may bring in and usher in death The body of man is weak fluid rotten diseased wheresoever it moves it is conscious of it's own infirmity It endures not every Climate the Sea alters it the change of ayre infects it the least cause hurts it Let us believe him therefore who said Therefore ô men death is better then a bitter life and eternall rest then continued travell Therefore I say It is better to dwell in heaven then to travell on earth § 22. Death's Blessednesse WRite Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit that they rest from their labours and their works follow them to die in the Lord is to die the servant of the Lord as the holy Scriptures speake of Moses Moses my servant is dead as if the Lord should say although hee sinned sometime and by sin made himself not my servant yet hee died my servant He died in my service Whatsoever hee was whatsoever he did it was mine for all the servants work is the Lords and such a joyfull Verse in that Song waâ— that of old Symeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word In peace altogether at whose entrance all the wars of the righteous men are ended never for all eternity to be begun again Such servants of God do all die in the Lord which dying do as it were rest in his bosome and so resting sweetly are said to sleep in death So blessed Stephen in the midst of that storm and showre of stones in such a great tumult and fury of those that stoned him slept in the Lord. Acts 7.60 Ioh 11.11 So our Lord spoke of Lazarus that h e did but sleep So Moses the servant of the Lord died when God bade him or as some expound it at the Lords speech as if the Lord had kissed him in this sence as a Mother takes her Infant in her Arms and kisseth him being a sleep and so lays him into bed smilingly no otherwise did God with Moses but by sweet embraces and smiles did lay him being falne asleepe into Abrahams bosome Where hâ—e shall give his children peace saith the Psalmist Blessed yea for ever blessed are all they that so die because they shall never be miserable as Saint Bernard saith The death of the righteous is good for the rest Secondly for the newnesse of it Thirdly for the security of it Blessed yea thrice blessed are all such for their works follow them they shal follow them as servants their Lord as sonnes their father as Schollers their Master as Souldiers their Generall as Nobles do their Sovereigne They shall follow us to Gods Tribunall They shall be brought into the highest Courts of the Great King and there shall be admitted for noble Courtiers And as every one which is able for wealth and Nobility is known by the number and adornment of his followers so who desires to appeare before the King of Glory let him be wel and richly furnished with such servants And let him set them before him and look that they be many and richly apparelled and though our good works go before us in some kinde yet they follow us in reward The labour which we spend on them and in them goes before The reward which we have from them follows He never can want comfort that is well stored with such followers § 23. A Dying mans farewell to the living who must follow him the same way MAny are the things for which I am sorry Especially the neglect of grace and the time that I have ill spent Oh how should I how ought I to have beene more patient more submisse more mindfull of my death ô how few and small sparkles of divine love have had irradiations in my soul Have mercy upon me ô God have mercy upon me according to the multitude of thy great mercies ô infinite goodnesse by the precious bloud of thy deare Son be mercifull to mee a sinner and ô you whomsoever I have offended in words or deeds Forgive and pardon mee You have mee now heartily confessing my selfe guilty and sorrowfull and deny not to mee before I goe hence this viaticum even the free forgivenesse of all my offences towards you Doe not I pray you let your courage fall in the time of sicknesse by my example because I am weak Set your eyes upon the actions of holier men and conform your selves to them Emulate with ardency their patience humility obedience And I cannot but give you hearty thanks for all the good offices you have performed towards â—ee either by your hand and work care
pag. 291 16 Like life like death pag. 296 17 The desire of a good death pag. 298 18 Sleep the brother of death pag. 300 19 The forerunners of death pag. 302 20 How we must answer the messenger of death pag. 305 21 A sweet death the worst death pag. 307 22 Deaths blessednesse pag. 312 23 A dying mans farwell to the living pag. 315 24 What should be the words and meditations of a dying man pag. 319 25 Things specially to be observed by a dying man pag. 321 26 What a dying man should do pag. 323 27 Consolation for a sick man pag. 325 28 Holy ejaculations for a dying man pag. 329 29 The dying mans confidence in God pag. 333 30 The last words of a dying man pag. 336 31 Of the conforming our will to Gods will pag. 338 32 The dying mans emulation of the good thief pag. 339 33 Of the Heliotropium pag. 342 34 Prayers for a dying man pag. 345 A YE think DEATH sleeps Take heed he 'll wake ye'll mone B Health makes you skip and dance while sick men grone C Quails shower down to please the gluttons tongue D Sweet Zephyr strows his Flowres Alas how long E Yet Phoebus smiles and walks with goodly grace But clouds ere long will mask his radiant face F When Virtue moves Health gives you stubborn backs Like Rammes when Vice pliant as Virgin-wax G Feast frolick gallants feast drink-swagger rore and kisse But think how on this Point hangs endlesse we or blisse THE FORE-RUNNER of ETERNITIE Or Messenger of DEATH sent to healthy sick and dying men The Remembrance of Death propounded to the Healthy §. 1. Instructions to the Reader and an Introduction to the Work MAny have written comfortable Antidotes against Diseases and Death I determine the same and they are so far from discouraging me that they rather incite my Penne. Some of them with leave be it spoken are too long so that they burthen a sick man with their too too many precepts Others not so much forgetting brevity as a Methodicall Order doe make it too accurate They had not so much offended had they kept their Pens from paper as Apelles desired in Protogenes Plin. l. 35 c. 10. post initium Many have discours'd excellently but as I may say not satisfactory for Practise Theorie is to be commended but here wee must doe and in stead of words set forth action There are others that propose nothing to sick and dying parties but meere terrors and feares and so astonish them yet living I know my Reader that thy desire is to be prepared for Death with small expences I will endeavour to answer thy expectation and Briefly Orderly and Cheerefully I will lead thee to Deaths dore so as thou shalt scarce perceive it 1. Briefly Briefly for I write not a volume but a short Treatise which may be thy dayly companion 2. Orderly I will not observe a strict Order but rather a mixt the way that is plesant seems streight though there be many windings Cheerefully for I will not only treat of Religion 3. Cheerfully but will mix with it verses and fit old Epigrams so that my style shall not only be plaine but relishing of sanctified mirth Thus I thought fitting to admonish thee at the entrance into this subject §. 2. That the Remembrance of Death should be dayly HAppy is that man that spends every day as if it were his last Epictetus doth wisely teach Epictet Enchir. cap. 28. Death saith hee and Banishment and all other evills should be daily before our eyes especially Death So shall our thoughts never be too base nor too ambitious Wretched men why possesse you such large hopes why undergoe you such a great weight of disturbances who to morrow perchance may be dust and ashes Stand sure O man for the sable Goddesse Death daily stands over thy head and when the little remnant of sand in thy houre-glasse shall be runn'd out with a vigilant and undrousie eye expects thy arrivall and canst thou but expect Her as he sung Ortum quicquid habet finem timet i. e. All that a beginning have Doe expect and feare a grave Ibimus omnes i. e. We all must goe To the earth below Nor can any age bribe Death As soone as we are borne we pay tribute and are Deaths hirelings Nay as soone as greedy eyes the first light see Then doe wee even begin to die Death kills the Empresse as well as the Handmaid As the Poet well Horat. lib. 1. ep 4. Because wee dye so fast Think every day thy last Say every Evening This day I stand at the dore of Eternity §. 3. The remembrance of Death is a Medicine against all sinnes THE serious remembrance of Death shakes off all sense of Pleasure and turnes the sweetest hony to Wormwood S. Chrysostome saith Chrysost in his 5. Sermon of wickednesse repulsed pag. 678. The expectation of Death to come will scarcely suffer or give admittance to any carnall delights And truly what doth not the sense of Death work if but entred into the fingers or the pores of the Head much more when it seises upon the whole body it spareth no age no dignity one young man dies another Infant another old man One dies by the sword another by poyson a third by a fall one departs lingringly another suddenly as overtaken with some violent storme or thunder clap Now amongst so many doubtfull changeable and suddain events what security can be expected What courage can there be to sinne amongst such uncertainties And why because we die daily Think of thy houre-glasse though slowly to sense yet certainly by degrees the sands doe runne from the uppermost to the nethermost Cell Apply this to thy fleeting life Every moment some parcell of our life slides away Here 's nothing safe one houre deceives another one moment steales somewhat from another Happy is hee which makes every day his last more happy hee which reckons every houre but most happy that man who accounts every moment He will abstaine from sinne that counts this present moment to be his determined time Oh deceitfull Hopes how many have you deluded While you promise to many the end of their journey old age and yet cut them off in the middest of it in their youth You make men beleeve that may happen to them which many have enjoyed the flourishing of the Almond tree what a number have fallen with innocent hands yet peccant hearts How many have been overtaken by Death whilest they have beene in meditating of wickednesse How many sinners and sinnes hath Death cut off in the middest of their acts How many have smarted for their endeavours to sinne being examples of rashnesse presumption Have not many put a period to their lives and sinnes together What if thou shouldst be one of this number Or why shouldst thou be priviledged beyond others Oh! Scriban in Polit. Christ lib. 1. c. 27. who would think
you see the summe and epitome of al our life Daniel Archbishop of Mentz Elector of the Sacred Roman Empire with his own hands writ these following admonitions 1 Life is short 2 Beauty deceitfull 3 Wealth uncertaine 4 Dominion hated 5 War is pernicious 6 Victory is doubtfull 7 Leagues are fraudulent 8 Old age is miserable 9 Death is felicity 10 The fame of true Wisdome is everlasting To wit of that wisdome which descends from above which establisheth Kingdomes shall never cease but is eternall §. 14. That God doth comfort those that weep HEare the voice of the Comforter and Promâ—ser together Ps 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee Ps 33.19 and thou shalt glorifie me And the Lord is nigh to all them that are of a troubled spirit and he will save the humble in heart Aug. in Tom. 8. in Psal 50. Most excellently Saint Augustine Feare not saith hee when thou art troubled as though the Lord was not with thee The Lord is neere to those that are of a troubled spirit Man may prepare a Crown for the Conquerour but hee knows not how to give him strength to conquer But GOD when he beholds the battaile hee strengthens his Champions for that is the voice of the Psalmist that valiant warriour If I said my foot was moved thy mercy O Lord helâ—t me up Assoone therefore as thou art troubled stirre up thy faith and thou shalt know Hee will not leave thee comfortlesse But thou mayst perhaps think thy selfe forsaken because thou art not delivered when thou wouldest Hee tooke the three children out of the fire but he which tooke those three left he the Machabees Far be it to think so He delivered the one as well as the other the one corporally that his and their enemies might bee confounded thesâ— spiritually that the faithfull might in all ages imitate their valour God is high Every good soule is lowly if yee would that the high God should come neere unto you bee humble these are great Mysteries my Brethren God is above all Doest thou lift up thy selfe thou commest not neere him Doest thou debase thy selfe he will come down to thee Call therefore this faithfull Helper to thy succour by prayer Hee will be propitious even at the first sigh if it be from the soule God wil wipe away all tears from their eyes Apoc. 21.4 neither shall there bee any more weeping or mourning or griefe or sorrow because all these are passed away Most truly said the same Father Aug. in Psal 127 circamed How pleasant are the sighs of the soule to God they are more acceptable than the laughter of Fools or Theatres §. 15. That our death may be as advantageous as our Birth EPaminondas the Theban being at point of death said Val Max. l. 3. c. 2. l. 2. c. 6 Iâ— was not so much to bee accounted the period of his life as the beginning For now fellow souldiers may your Epaminondas be said to be born because he so dyes For whether is better to be pampered under griefe in this life or by death to enter into immortality There are a people neer Thrace Herodoâ— lib. 5. Hist Valer. l. 2. c. 1. Quintil. l. 5. institut called the Trausi which agree with the Thracians in al customs save in this particular That the neighbours when an Infant is born doe with great lamentations rehearse the great calamity the Infant must suffer on the stage of his life And they celebrate the Funerals of their Neighbours with great rejoycing in regard they are by death freed from all the miseries incideÌ„t to this life This Nation of some in this very respect hath bin reputed wise and discreet because they celebrate Birth-dayes with teares and Obits with joy The Getes and Causians are said to doe the same Stobaus in Encomio Mortis and to speak truth let but the seeming pleasures which this life promiseth be but exempt which force and inveigle men to many hazards and inconveniences by their allurements and then our end is to bee judged more happy than our beginning Death is not to be accounted an evill Plin. in praf l. 7. Hist but the conclusion of all evils Plinius Secundus saith There have beene some who have judged it best not to have beene born and next to that an carly Death So Silenus when hee was taken by Midas being asked what was best for man was a good space silent but at last answered thus It is the best not be at all and next to that to be but for a moment I cannot omit that fare and seldome heard of passage pleasant to be related of one Ludovicus Cortusius a Counsellour living in Padua who in his Will at his death forbade all mourning for him at his Buriall and willed that all the Musicians and Minstrels should bee present some to goe before and fifty to follow the Clergymen and the Corps and allowed by Will to each of them for their attendance halfe a Ducat and willed further that his coffin should be carried by twelve beautifull Virgins cloathed in a fresh greene habit and that they should sing melodiously as they passed along and gave to all of them such large Legacies that they served for their Dowry and was attended by an hundred torches and in this manner was sumptuously interr'd in the Church of Saint Sophia in Padua with all the Clergy accompanying his buriall the Black Friers onely excepted whom hee debard by his Testament lest they by their fable weeds might move in some persons mourning or heavinesse so that his Funeral was celebrated with as much mirth as a marriage This merry conceited man dyed in the year of our Saviour 1418 Iuly the seventeenth De modo bene viv Serm 70. Idem de transit mal Saint Bernard spoke worthâ—ly saying Let those mourne for their dead which believe not the Resurrection those are to bee lamented who after their death are punished in Hell by Devils not those who are placed in Heaven with the blessed spirits Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Precious indeed as the period of their labours as the consummation of victory as the gate to life and the entrance into perfect rest and securitie Well spoke that wise Hebrew Eccles 7.4 Better is the day of our death then the day of our birth §. 16. That Death is every where THose Wretches who seeke by what means they shall die to whom death is more welcome then life may vex and distract themselves with griefe and anxious sollicitudes and disturbing encumbrances they may sharpen their swords prepare poysons catch at Gibbets looke out for steep Rocks to fall downe from as though the loving yoke and society betwixt the soule and body could not be parted without such exquisite preparation Death is alwayes laying his snares in all places to catch us wheresoever man passeth Death is alwayes
wee carry about us is not our dwelling but our June it must be left when once the Master is weary of our company Therefore ô my good Christian hasten to live holily and thinke every day an entrance into a new life Who so fits himselfe this way shall meet death with comfort That man never died ill who lived well § 35. That Procrastination is the greatest damage and blemish to our lives WE put off any thing but wickednesse that not onely takes up the present day but is likewise promised the morrow In sin wee are prompt actors in other things usuall promisers and fair-speakers then wee use to say to morrow it shall be done or next week or next yeere without delay so doe dayes moneths and yeeres slide away while we onely delay and promise but performe not Seneca speaks admirably in this point Lib. de Brev. vit c. 4. Many shall yoâ— heare saith hee who say at fifty 〈◊〉 will take mine ease the sixtieth yeerâ— shall discharge me from all encumbranâ—ces and what surety else desirest thoâ— of a longer life but who will suffeâ— things to goe at thy disposing Blushest not thou to reserve the refuse and the dregs of thy rotten yeeres to God and to destinate onely that time for his service which thou art not able to manage in any other manner It is too late then to begin to live when it is time to leave off work What senslesnesse is it to refuse to follow good counsell till a man comes to fifty or sixty yeeres of age and to resolve there to begin to live where most leave off Sigismund the second King of Poland for his delayings and slothfulnesse in matters of weighty consequence was called Rex Crastinus the delaying King such sure are we though wee know not that wee shall be to morrow yet we hazard the mainer work upon such uncertaine probabilities Wee put off all most willingly would weeâ— if wee could put off death too But death's businesse admits of no delay nor putting off when Death knocks the bars must speedily open Therefore as the Proverbe saith The onely way to be long an old man is to be such an one betimes The King of Macedon obtained such glorious Conquests by being speedy upon his actions Wee lose the best nay all by deferring and delaying Chrysologus said well Most men put off to do well Ser. 125. Med. untill death debar them of time Wee come to death by degrees as men who sleep walking The first day wee put off good duties the second day wee doe them slightly the third day wee forget them on the fourth we are not able to performe them O Mortals to morrows life is too late learn to live to day give earnest to day grieve to day for your sins For who except your owne conceits hath promised you the morrow that which may bee ought to bee done to day why should it be procrastinated to thaâ— which yet is not may perhaps not be time or if it be perhaps not thine to deferre good actions hath always prov'd dangerous Deferrings are obnoxious to our lives Iumb vet You seldome see the slothfull man that thrives Let us make hast therefore and let us but seriously thinke how speedily wee would foot it if wee were sure there was a destroying Enemy behind us Wee would strive to be formost that we might be furthermost from our pursuers It is so we are followed close to hasten is to escape so shall wee enter into eternall rest It is the greatest comfort against deaths approach to have done all our worke before he comes to call for us To the Sick A Winter 's at hand leaves fall Death 'gins to snatch His Ax and spies thy Glasse spent Sick man watch B What th' Presse to Grapes that Sicknes is to thee If thou be ripe as Grapes in Autumne be C The stouping Hern oft gores her towring Foe So outward grief oft frees from inward woe D Sicknes lays men along as hail doth corn Better fall well then stand with shame anâ— scorn E Just now 't was cloudy now Sol shew his face Now clouds again This is the Sick man case F To scape the Scorpions sting and th' Archers dart Sicknes and Death I know no meanes 〈◊〉 art G A Sick man 's like an Horse plunging iâ— sturdy waves Who knows if th' one shall scape the floodâ— the other the grave § 36. Deaths haunt WIlliam the third Duke of Bavaria a Patron of the poore and Protector of all religious and godly men being dead though all men should have held their peace yet the cryes and teares of the poore lamenting his losse would have been sufficient Trumpets to have blazon'd his Princely worth this prayse-worthy Prince I say when he He returned from the Councell of Basil where he in the place of the Emperour sate chiefe returning to Munchen dreamed such a dreame as this following Hee seem'd to see a lusty great Stag which carried upon one horne little bels and upon the other divers wax Tapers and Torches lighted there was a nimble Huntsman and a pack of hounds who withall swiftnesse and eagernesse had this Stag in chase at the last the Stag having no other way leapt into the Churchyard in which there was a Grave made for a Mans buriall which was open into which the Stag fell and there was taken and killed at the sight of this the Prince wakened and was wondrous desirous to know what this Dreame should mean on the next day he told it to his Lords and this Dreame was variously interpreted which when Duke William had heard presently replyed I am said he this great Stag which Death so eagerly hunts and will shortly and speedily take me and end my days and I will be buried in that Church All things were ordered accordingly and these presages had their events answerable For in short space after this worthy Prince did yield to Death and commended his soule to God piously and was there interâ—'d where hee desired A good Death is the introduction to a blessed Eternity § 37. Why though wee daily are Spectators of Burials yet we doe not meditate on Death THe Devill being skilful in the perspective art useth this cunning policy that those things which are furthest off hee makes them seem neer unto us and those which are neer unto us he makes seem a great way distant from us Thus he represents Death to us that though it be so neere us that it is ready to lay hold on us yet it appeares a great way off hence in a vaine security wee promise to our selves many yeares and put the evill day far from us to our great disadvantage Hence is it that wee looke upon other mens Burials as though ours were not to be this long time and though we are decaying daily yet for all that we fancy an eternity to our own souls Sir Thomas Moore our Countriman lest any age should promise him a long life and
this and say take heed of sicknesse it is ill to be under it to whom Epictetus answers judiciously It is all one as if one should say and faigne to make three to be foure It is no ill if I rightly esteem of it it cannot then hurt me but rather profit mee So the like use may be made of poverty sicknesse war May not a man gather benefit by any by all of these the same I may say of Death is it not my appointed Steeresman into rest is it not the Messâ—nger that opens the gaâ—e to Eternity is not Death that which takes off all our burthens and easeth us from labour from misery Let Truth honour thee Epictetus how true are all these and squaring with the Law of Christianity This foundation being laid we shal learn to remember Deaths Agony and not to be affrighted at his comming But oh my Reader I would have thee know that these Documents were not onely written for thy use in the time of thy sicknes but I would have thee read these in the time of thy health that they may stand thee in some stead when thou shalt be visited with sicknesse § 42. The sickman speaks to his friends to the Diseasâ— to the entrance into Death it selfe to Christ our Lord. DEpart I pray you as unseasonable with your vaine and fruitlesse mourning Here is no place either for Complaints or Petitions You may thinke I goe from you to soon Too soon look that you bee not deceived I was fit for Death's sicle as soone as I was born nay before I was born Why should I complaine I know what I was born Was I not a weak frail body Cast forth to contumelies the food of Diseases Deaths object whosoever thou art take hâ—pes to thee or undergo thy burthen perhaps thou mayest be dejected to morrow or if no remov'd from hence To the disease ANd is Deaths Harbingâ—r approach'd must I now lie under sicknesse the time is now come I must put my selfe to the triall Valour is not onely seene in a storme or in a batâ—aile Courage may be tried upon a pillow in a bed of affliction I must be sick therefore It cannot be avoided Well I shall either end my Feaver or it me Wee cannot be always together Hitherto I have onely trafficked with health Homil. 13 in Evang. now I must exchange some time with my disease Saint Gregory tels it to me piously and truly The Lord saith he knocks when hee signifies to us that death is neere us by troublous sicknesses to whom we readily open if wee receive with comfort his chastizements Some relations may cause mee to give admittance to this serious Embassadour It is reported of a certaine old man who lay grievous sick and when as Death made an approaâ—h to take him away the sick old man entreated Death to forbeare his blow a little while untill he could make his Will and set things in readines for so long a journey To whom Death replyed ô crooked old man couldst thou not prepare thy selfe in so many years being so often warn'd by me to whom the old man said again I beseech thee lend me thy faith for I doe not remember that ever thou didst admonish me but Death answer'd briefly then I perceive that old men will lie An hundred six hundred a thousand warnings hast thou had from mee when I daily in thy sight to thy griefe not onely tooke away thy equals of which for years there are few left but also before thy eyes young men and little infants Nay I will appeale to thy own soul forgetfull old man didst thou want admonishments when thy eyes grew dim thy haires wax'd white were fâ—lne off thy nose lost its smell thy eares grew deafe and all thy other sences and members grew defective in their performances and thy whole body languish'd wasted these all these were Messengers from me and shoulâ— have been as so many warning pieces to prepare thee to march on These all have knock'd at thy doors though thou wouldst not acknowledge thy selfe to be within Often enough and long enough hast thou bin admonish'd I stay not Come away and enter the Dance of Death now presently He seldome prepares himselfe well which prepares so extraordinary late To his Death-bringing sicknesse WHen I meditate on my life consider the multitude of my sins and the smalnesse of my good duties Alas alas oh my God how am I straitned and how am I beset and encompassed with sorrow but it is better to fall into the Hands of the Lord for great are his mercies and his compassions faile not then that I should adde more days to my years and more sin to my days What an one I would have prov'd thou onely ô Lord knowest Perhaps I might have Apostated and falne from life Since ô death thou art present doe thy message unto me rid mee from misery and the malice of men I am ready and willing to part wi h life onely let me retaine thy Grace ô Lord or rather let it preserve me which I doe earnestly with all my heart beg of thee ô sweet Iesus Christ and through thee Amen To Deaâ—h it selfe DEath why in so long wastings dost thou like What needs there such great charge I doe yield strike What need'st thou empty all thy quivers when One blast w ll drive one puffe will stroy most men For indeed what is man but a tossed and leaking ship which one lusty wave sends to the bottome There needs no furious charge of tempests wheresoever thou ô Death placest thy murthering Ram it will force passage Mans bodie is wove up of weake and fluid materials glistering in outward lineaments impatient of heat cold or travail of it's own inclination apt to languishments gathering corruption even from his sustentation sometimes hurt by want sometimes by excesse his nutriment wants not discommodity a brittle piece of mortalitie preserv'd and upheld with griefe and anxietie holding his very spirit and breath at anothers disposing which easily departs full of innumerable diseases and though he should want diseases to ruine him yet of his own accord he would fall perish and descend to Death Can wee wonder to see that die in which Death is fed and nourish'd and hath a thousand places to enter possesse and if man doth fall is it any such remarkable losse his very smell and taste his wearinesse and watching his humours and food without which he cannot live are all mortiferoâ—s and deadly To Iesus Christ I Would not Death but life hee seeks it right O Christ who in thy love departs to light I am not afraid with them whom thou speakest o in wrath Goe c. I will follow thee ô loving Saviour with will with delight and what should I doe else when as thou thy self callest me to come and approach neerer to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ is much the better This is the height of my desires 1 Phil 1.23
of his fore-head hard and rough with wrinkles his countenance is wanne and pale with some yellows sometimes like lead blacke blew hâ—s lips are loosed hanging with weaknesse whitish his teeth are blacke his neck is consumed and growne lean all things are changed so that hee seems as it were to be another person so when God hath changed a mans countenance he sends him to his long home Passe on ô man passe on to thy house of eternity from such a little-little point of time so many Volumes of Ages depend which are not to bee reckoned up by any date of time § 6. We ought to prepare for Death before it comes IT was a wise man saying Moriendum esse antequam mori cogaris i. e that thou shouldst die before thou be compelled to die S. Paul did â—ot onely do so once or often but daily affirming that of himself I die daily 1 Cor. 15 3. Gregory the Great the higher hee gained preferment in the Church the more glorious beams of Sanctity did he send forth this most vigilant Pastor did seem to be dead before death for not long before his Obit hee himselfe described his own condition Such bitternesse of spirit such an assiduous grievance such molestation of the Gout doe afflict mee that my body is as even dryed up already in the grave so that I cannot rise up from my bed Cosmus Medâ—ces being at the pâ—int of death wheÌ„ as he was ask'd of his wife why he shut his eyes before he was dead Answered I do accustome them to that that when they shal be shut up by death they may bear it well This is an excellent kind of death then to shut our eys especially when any deadly pleasure doth intice them be sure thou doest die lest thou shouldst die ô shut them betimes Wisely did Seneca advise Lucilius Doe that before the day of thy death let thy sins be dead before thy selfe § 7. Those that buried themselves PAcuvius being Governour in Syria for Tiberius Caesar did daily so give himselfe to wine and feastings that as hee was carried to his bed from Supper his servants wiâ—h great applause sung these words to him Vixit vixit i. e. He hath liv'd he hath liv'd What was this but every day to be carried about to his buriall Seneca said well of him That saith he which hee did daily out of an ill conscience let us doe by a good one that when wee are gone to bed and about to sleep with comfort and rejoycing we may say Wee have liv'd if God shal lend us the next morning let us entertaine it with cheerfulnessee His a blessed and secure Possessor of himselfe who expects the next morning without distrust or distraction Labienus the Historian for his inveighing writings termed Rabienus was so hated that all his Books were burnt Labienus not enduring this and not willing to out-live his wit did desire to be carried out and buried in the Sepulchre of his Ancestors where he did end and bury himselfe and what is wonderfull liv'd when he was buried and was buried while he liv'd Storax a Neâ—politan not long since a very rich man delicate and a prouâ— Governour or Overseer for the yeerly pâ—ovision of Corne having got this office by base and indirect means the common people hated him exceedingly so that being overcome with hunger they fell violently upon the man he seeking to esâ—ape their fury and rage did hide himself in a Sepulchre in a Church but at last being found and beaten with stones was cut into small Gobbets and his very bloud was lickt up of many so that his bones wanted a Grave Hee had this Epitaph made upon him Storax qui vivus subjit sepulchrum Mirum defunctus caruit sepulchro i.e. Storax who living went into his grave Strange that being dead no sepulchre could have Albertus the Great leaving Ratiâ—bonâ— came to Collen where though strictly being devoted to Mortification and Contempt of this World so that hee forgat all worldly delights yet would hee continually visit the place of his intended buriall Severus President of Ravenna while hee was healthy went into his Tombe and placing himselfe in the middle betwixt his wife which he had had and his daughter there died Philoâ—omus of Galata is said to dwel six yeers amongst the graves of the dead Palladius c. 13. that by this meanes hee might overcome the feare of death Polemon of Laodicea Suidas V. Pole as Suidas witnesseth the Scholer of Timocrates the Philosopher the Master of Aristides the Orator being 56 yeers of age cast himselfe into a deepe Sepulchre being urged thereunto by the bitter paines of the Gout and there died of hunger and before his death his friends and neighbours lamenting his case desired him to come forth by their help it is reported of him that hee answered them thus Provide me a more healthy body and I will come up Wee may wonder at these but not imitate them unlesse in this manner Colos 3. as Saint Paul speaks ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God That Philosophers counsell is good Vive latens i.e. live hid For as another said Hee lives well that lives retiredly This man may be said to be profitably dead and buried the private life is freest from incumbrances and inconveniences Whose life is to publick often dyes unknowne to himself The private life is fullest of quietnesse § 8. A consideration of our Sepulchre Phthia pro sepulchro TErtia me Phthiae tempestas laeta locabit Englished The third great sicknesse shall Give me a glad funerall Thus said Socrates presaging of his own death this word Phthia is meant for nothing else but the Coffin or the grave to which all must come No house may so truly be said to be ours as our graves This Iacoponus a religious man and pleasant taught by a witty Act of his A Citâ—zen of Todi in Vmbria had bought two young Chickens being about to send them home by chance he espyed Iacoponus in the Market to whom he turning said I pray you doe mee that favour and kindnesse as to car y â—hese two Chickens home to my house and be sure you leave them there and doe not deceive me Trust me saith he I will doe as you have bidden me and I wâ—ll carry them indeed unto the house and so forthwith taking them went directly to his Parish Church and came to his Sepulchre which was reserved for him and in that as well as hee could hee hid the two Chickens Well the Citizen comming home to his house presently asked for his two Chickens his servants all deni d flatly that they saw no such thing brought thither so the Citizen going againe into the Market met Jacoponus again And said to him I thought indeed that thou wouldst not doe as thou shouldst and that thou woulâ—st deceive me but tell me in earnest where are my Chickens to whom Iacoponus replyed I carried them
unlearned rich and poore at length have all one Epitaph which Moses hath writ for them Gen. 5. sapius Et mortuus est i. e. hee is dead Emperours at their first Inauguration were asked what kinde of stone they would have their sepulchre made off The same thing almost doe I ô Reader enquire of thee Choose what forme of Epitaph pleaseth thee best Wilt thou nilt thou some or other will doe this for thee though against thy will and will speak of thee when thou art dead though living thou haddest rather be silent then write Funerall Elegies or Epitaphs I will here exhibit a forme of a sepulchrall Inscription which I doe think profitable for mee for thee ô Reader and for most Christians at least for meditation onely change but a few things and this it is Whosoever thou art ô Reader I have somthing to seek out of thee 9 Knowest thou who may dwell in this narrow prison under ground I am the sonne of corruption and the brother of wormes This is my stock aske not after my name that 's vanished with my life which I spent after many teares and weak endeavours in books which almost I shut up with my life ô Guest would I had now given my selfe more to vertue lesse to vices ô would I had before my death dyed more in my affections now thou mayest I cannot perform it Whosoever thou art for I cannot see in this darknesse whilest thou canst be ripe for death before thy death by this means thy life wil be more comfortable by how oftner thou art in this exercise Farewell Reader till the Trumpet shall sound from Heaven at which time I do expect a joyfull resurrection But least we should be ignorant that it is not purple adornments funerall pompe nor the silken covering nor the long traine of mourning friends nor the brave Coats of Arms nor the greatnes of Kinred nor the prayses of the vulgar not the wives lamentations nor the funerall Sermon nor the title of the dead though seeming to live in Marble for they have their Obitâ— too nor all these make an happy death but grace and vertue and a minde not broken nor terrified withall the threatnings of death to have lived well and uprightly is the fairest Epitaph of all others § 11. Nine Reasons to prswade us to die with a resolved minde ABove all things meditate and seriously thinke on the death of thy Saviour 1 Reas and thou wilt then beare thine comfortably Compare I beseech thy Bed to his Crosse thy Couches with his Crown of thornes thy meat with his gall thy drinke to his Vineger thy griefs with his torments Thou art amongst thy Friends Kinred he in the midst of his enemies thou art among all the hands for help but he was left of all land so died for the recovery of thy health what medicines and helps are not used but hee had nothing to quench his thirst Yet he was Lord and chiefe thou but a servant the lowest the vilest all things that were laid upon him he was guiltlesse off and deserv'd them not All things that thou sufferest thou standest guilty off and more Wherefore thou hast no just cause to complain 2 Cause 2 The chiefest favour of the greatest King is a good death but to die well is to avoid the danger of living ill Now he dyes well who dyes willingly Who would not willingly rise from a rough hard bed onely they refuse it who are laid warme in a soft Feather-bed if thy life here had been full of grievances evils and miseries how willing wouldst thou be to passe to a better if thy life hath bin prosperous and rich it is high time that thou shouldst end for fear prosperity which hath destroyed so many should also ruine thee Death is the most unwelcome to riâ—h men Croesus had not come to the fire but for his wealthy old age Many slaves had they died in their youth had died free-born Ah! how many and how great men who are condemned in eternall flames whom if death had taken from hence in their infancy or youth had enjoyed glory and immortality 3 It is the joy of all the Angels and Saints to have us with them but say you then must wee leave all our friends and associats here O improvidently Thou art going to them Thy parents where are they Hopest thou not that they are in Heaven And that thou shalt also come thither Doest thou not also believe tâ—at many of thy Kindred and acquaintance are in joy Coelestiall And doest not thou live here in hoâ—e to passe from hence to them but these things are not certaine they are onely in hope 't is true neither doth any man hope for what he fecth or possesseth therefore God hath afforded thee matter to exercise this Vertue He hath commanded thee to hope for Heaven never did he will thee or promise thee security but thou mayest certainly know thy self to be carried thither in hope whereinto yet thou canst not see The Creditor hath no reason to distrust a faithfull debtor I say it affirmatively that God hath made himselfe the debtor to thee Consider seriously whose Creditor thou art did not he speak it with joy who said I know whom I have trusted 2 Tim. 12 4 Thinke also ô man whose spirit droops or fails that admirable alacrity and ardent study and prompt willingnesse of the holy Martyrs for death who lightly despised all the great preparations to death who underwent the most cruellest torments even with smiling and rejoycing countenances Surely nor death nor the pain of it is terrible onely the feare of both makes both dreadfull Wherefore wee prayse him who said Death is not an evill but it is evill to die naughtily Children are afraid of Vizards and Spirits because of their unskilfulnessâ— is Death a Vizard turne the inside outwards and thou shalt know it to be so Yet neither Infants nor Children nor distracted folks fear Death It is most absurd that reason cannot perform that resolvednesse in us which folly and childishnesse leads us too Death is a Tribute and Custome that all men must pay Why therefore art thou sad and disconsolate when as thou payest no more then thou owest and doest no more then every man else performs No man here can plead exemption or priviledge No man hitherto hath gone scot-free none ever shall this is that hard Battle where none none I say escape The World saith Saint Basil is mortall In Ps 115 and the Region of dying creatures 5. What is the continuation of the feare of Death but the prolongation and extent of torment Doest thou live long Thou art long under pain but say you I cannot but feare the danger that is imminent although it comes on but with a slow pace Then therefore cease to feare when as there is in it that good that may remove and will for certain take away all feare Tertullian spoke admirably That is not to be
to find sin in that minde which expects Death with the sinne and punishment by that Death No wise man will play in a storme at sea who in such dangerous precipices will or dare meditate transgressions No man unarm'd can be merry in the middest of an Enemies Armie But much more foolish is hee who knowing every houre every moment to be uncertaine and living in a perpetuated feare of Death yet dares doe those things which for ever will make Death to be most miserable Oh unwise men that we are why doe wee plunge our selves into everlasting punishment and why obey we not good counsels Eccles 7.40 In all thy works saith Solomon remember thy end and so thou shalt no sinne § 4. The conclusion of a good life is of great esteeme TEll me ô Seneca whom doth that great Pliny in his Testimoniall worthy to be envied Plin. l. 14. c. 4. medio call a Prince Say what thinkest thou of Death especially of untimely Death Heare ô young men give eare ô old men so full of complaints Seneca ep st 77. in the end our life is as a tale that is told it matters not how long it is but how well it is performed It is not of any consequence in what place thou doest end end where thou wilt only let thy conclusion be well Epictetus in the same manner saith Euch. c. 23. Remember that thou art but an Actor of a play as thy Master appointeth thee if he sets thee a long part thou must performe it if a short one thy dutie is the same to doe it well Varro speakes not in dissonant termes from these two They live not best who live longest but they who doe live the uprightest Our lives are not valued by the duration of time but by the qualification of our actions Goodnesse in mans life is a quality not a quantity It matters not therefore either where or when or by what means wee die for as God our Master pleaseth so vve must depart Only let us pray that vve die vvell § 5. That every man is nothing Heu heu nos miseros quam totus Homuncio nil est i. e. What wretches ah alas are we All men are nothing verily IN truth it is so But much more wretched are wee in that wee know it not Man is nothing said an ancient Satyrist but I dare say wee begin then to be something when wee acknowledge our selves to be nothing O man know thy selfe know and be wise for Death crops off Lilies as soon as thornes or thistles Oh how vaine and wretched are vve what are vve our learning and Honour is but smoake our selves but dust the one is but a fancie the other but a blast And wee which now speake in the present tense we doe live we are strong and doe flourish in a trice all will be chang'd in the praeter-perfect tense viximus wee have liv'd Here all have the same way Our very life in the encrease decreaseth and we may divide the present day with Death There is a dayly diminution in some part of our lives Our glasse may be turn'd but it 's alwayes running The first sand as well as the last may be said to empty our glasse and the last houre in which we die doth not onely make Death but doth really consummate it §. 6. All men are but of a short time and continuance THe Lily is a flower vvhose life and beauty lasts but a day On the Banks of Hiparis Pliny l. 11. c. 36. a River in Scythia there is a bird called Hemerobios which lives not beyond the compasse of one day but ends her life with the same light she first receiv'd it at sunne-setting In the same shee hath experience of youth and old age shee springs up in the morning flourishes at noone growes old and dies at night but that which is most to be admired in that bird is shee doth in that space provide as much sustenance as if shee should live as long as the Raven Mans life is not unlike to this creature It alwayes is by the flood of flying time and more swift then any bird or arrow And oftentimes hath all his honour and worldly pomp terminated to a day sometimes to an houre and often to a moment Why doe wee then so fondly dreame of yeares and ages when wee are but as the flowers or their shadowes or what can be reckoned to be more vaine or short then either Hee that vvas thirty yeares in making curiously the forme of a man in Glasse had in a twinkling of an eye his vaine labour dash'd to peeces with this vvise answer As I have done to this brittle glasse so may Death doe either to you or my selfe in as short a space how vaine therefore are you in your thoughts But it is most wonderfull that though this life hath by so many learned Divines in all ages been proved to be so swift and short and though all Writers in all times have confirm'd the same yet wretches that we are vve heare not all these loud voyces King Hezekiah cries in the Prophesie of Esay From morning untill night thou will make an end of me Esay 38 1◠The Kingly Psalmist cries out Psal 102 17. My dayes are past away as a shadow And that great man in the land of Huz Iob 14.2 Man commeth forth as a flower is wasted and flieth away as a shadow Behold Oh man thou art but a bubble all thy life is but as the passing of a shadow and expectest thou here an abiding place or a quiet habitation Why doest thou heape up thick day oh thou covetous vvretch When as this night they shall fetch thy soule Why thinkest thou on carking and caring as though thou shouldest live Nestors age When as Death is at thy elbow thou shalt be gone from hence before thou thinkest of thy departure hasten the thought of it early Eternity is before thee §. 7. The same point more largely insisted on and confirmed No mans life but is short theirs is shortest vvho forget things past neglect things present feare not things to come Iob saith excellently And they which have seene him shall say where is hee like a dreame that passeth away and flieth hence Iob 2.7.8 so shall he not be found A dreame is vaine a flight is swift Yet man shal passe away as a vision by night Hee speaks of himselfe thus Iob 9 25.26 My dayes are swifter then a post they are gone and have seene no good This uttered that rich man of the East They are passed by as ships of burthen and as an Eagle to the prey For wee be but of yesterday Iob 8.9 and know nothing are not our dayes as a shadow upon earth truly they are so and tarry not We feast banquet dance yet they tarry not Wee are most secure and sleepe till high-noone and yet our dayes tarry not Wee sport away our time prodigally in trifles
1 Reg. 13.1 In the sacred Writ it is recorded of King Saul that he began to reigne when hee was one yeere old and hee reigned two yeeres over Israel Saul when hee began to reigne was as pure from sin as an Infant of a yeere old and he kept this his uprightnesse and integrity but one compleat yeere although in all hee ruled twenty yeeres Many get to old age before they be so Many never see the flourishing of that worke but in their old and decrepid age they too often reteine the sinnes of youth holy Iob doth speak it His bones are filled with the sins of his youth Sen. Epist 49. ad finem et l. de tranquill c. 3. A life is not counted good for the duration of it but the use it may be so and hath come to passe that hee who hath lived a long time may be said to have lived but a short moment there is nothing more grosse than an old man that hath no other argument to prove himselfe old by than his age and multitude of yeeres Saint Ambrose spake elegantly of Agnes a Virgin Serm. 90. qui est de S. Agnes In yeeres shee was a child but in gravity and sobriety of minde shee was an ancient Matron the sacred Scriptures proclaim that old age is reverend and the hoary head when they are furnished with wisdome Wisd 4 8 9. It is therefore that old men are reverenced not for their antiquity and multiplicity of days but for their holinesse of life and abundance of wisdome Whosoever therefore is ancient in wisedome though yong in yeers is as a Daniel and deserves respect an upright life is the best seniority Hee hath liv'd long enough who hath liv'd wel He hath fought enough who hath got the victorie §. 24. A Paradox That any man that will may live long TVlly saith that a short time is long enough to live well Lib. 1. Tusâ— qâ— Hee never dies too early that if hee had liv'd longer would not have liv'd better That youngling hath lived yeeres enough who hath liv'd to get Vertue to get Eternity Hath not he spoke well that perswades his Auditours by one short sentence or beckning Hath not he run well who hath gain'd the prize Hath not he sail'd far enough that is come happily to his desired Haven Onely have a care that death prevents not our meditations and then the swifter our course the happier it is Curt. lib. 9 c. 12. Mod. Truly I say as the King of Macedon said in Cuâ—tius Hee which numbers not my yeeres but my victorious Conquests computes my husbandâ—y of Fortunes gifts exactly will finde I lived long time but much more trulier Hc who hath consecrated his whole life to God and hath onely studied to please and serve him may say with confidence and comfort if my yeers be not numbred but my manifold desires of pleasing God and Gods great and infinite mercies bestowed upâ—n mee in that time I have lived long §. 25. That wee must all die AVgustus the Emperour having taken the City of Perouse in Hetruria observed many Snâ—â—on in Aug. c. 15 how they beg d their pardons or desired to excuse themselves hee answered them all in this short sentence Dio saith 400. We must all die Thereupon hee forthwith commanded three hundâ—ed of them to be sacrificed upon the Altar built to Iulius Caesar Iust Maâ— in Trip. â—ren l. 5. cont Harâ—seâ— Iustinus Martyr and Ireneus famous writers amongst the Primitive times have wittily observ'd that after the sentence pronounc'd of death against our first parents there was never any mortall man according to Gods sacred account that did ever live out one whole day compleat For the Prophets and Apostles beare record Ps 90.4 2 Pet. 3.8 That a thousand yeeres in Gods fight are but as one day and one day as a thousand yeeres But yet never vvas that man found whose life attaind to such a large extent as to a thousand yeeres therefore according to Gods reckoning never did any live a day outright Thou must dy though thy life goes beyond the compasse of 900. yeeres All those registred in the word of God of whom some lived so many hundred and others so many hundred yeeres yet the finall clause of all of them is this and He dyed This will appeare to be most certain by the sacred oracles by reason and experience Gods word hath in the old and new Testament mentioned this 600. times Moriendum We must die Reason convinceth the same by most evident demonstrations because man is compos'd of contraries and obnoxious to ruine and so of consequence at one time or other Moriendum est He must die Experience the Schoolemistris of wise unwise points as it were with her finger at the immeÌ„se heaps of dead corpses and shews by daily examples that yet there was never man that deluded or shifted off deaths wound it is as manifest as the sunne at noon day Moriendum est that man must goe to his long home This word Death sounds in the eares of all as loud as thunder no man can in this thing bee either blind or deafe will we nil we this voice will peirce our ears Deaths thunder will bee Moriendum est we must all die Even divine Justice and divine mercy herein agree in one all men must die Aeschilus said of old Nat. 99. l. 6. in fine Death only refuseth to be bribed by the very deities The Goddesses with their guifts could not asswage Death It admits not the sweetest and fairest hopes and therefore Seneca said wisely let us have that always fixed in our minds let us always apply this to our souls Moriendum est we must die when thou shalt never know better than presently Death is the Law of Nature and thou must pay this â—ribute when death by law requires it wherefore laying aside all other things meditate seriously this one lest when death comes thou shouldest feare his approach Make death by a frequent meditation thy familiar that when it shall so fall out that death shall call thou mayest willingly and readily salute it with cheerfulnesse § 26. The remembrance of Death is divers ways to hee renewed 1. IT is reported that a dead mans scul dryed in an oven and beaten to powder in a morter and so mixt with oile doth speedely heale the Gangrene and Canker To bruise the braine pan and other the bones of dead men by an holy Meditation and Contemplation doth perfectly cure the Gangrene of the Soule 2 Plato is said to out-strip the sages in this respect S. Hiero. hu ut meminit in C. 10. Maâ— in that with vivacity and courage he did contemplate upon death and read lectures to his Schollers of it Therefore he gave this as a law to his Schollers that being entred on their journey they should never stand still or stop their couâ—s he wisely intimated by this that there departure out
of this life should bee daily considered and some progresse to he made every day more than other 3 Nicolaus Christopherus Radzivilius a Prince of Poland affirmes that in Aegypt those which did excell others in age and wisdome did daily carry about them dead mens bones set in ebony or some other thing and did use to shew them to men and by these they did daily exhort men to remember their ends the Aegyptians also use at their banquets to bring in a deaths head and end their merry meetings with this sad Embleme to have presented before them the shoulder-blade of a dead man with this heavie motto Remember you must die 4 The Great Cham of Tartarie in the City of Bagdad upon a Festivall day which they call Ramadam shewing himselfe to the people riding upon a Mule being richly apparelled investments of gold and silver cloth his Turbant being all set with precious jewels yet all his head and ornaments are hid under a blacke veile by which custome and ceremony hee shews that the greatest glory and highest magnificence will be shaded and obscured with death Baron Tom. 7. An. 567. 5 There was laid over Iustinian the Emperour being dead a large Carpet in which in Phrygian work there were woven the lively Effigies of all the Cities that hee had conquered and all the barbarous Kings he had subdued and in the midst of all those great Battails Trophies and Conquests there was the Image of Death For for certain Death doth sport it self in Kingdomes as he said Pallida mors aeque pulsat pede c. Death onely strikes not poore men dead and clowns But lofty Turrets and Imperiall Crowns Martine the fifth Pope of Rome Aulea Otho Column a dictus had this in a Badge or Symbol In a great fire ready kindled in which were throwne a Bishops Mitre a Cardinals Hat an Emperours Diadem the Crownes of Kings a Dukes Cap of Maintenance and Sword with this adnexed Motto So passeth all worldly glory 6 A man asked a Mariner upon a time where his Father died De remed utriusque fortunae l. 1. dial 121. Fran. Petrarch Cujus opera hic saepius utendum the Mariner replyed in the Sea the other asked him where his grandfather and his great grandfather died the Sailer answered again at Sea and quoth the other art not thou then afraid to goe to Sea The Sailor wittily replyed and Sir I pray you tell me where your Father died He answered in his bed but where died your grandfather and all other your Ancestours in their beds replyed the other then are not you afraid to go into your bed seeing all your forefathers died there no said the other why said the Sailor by your owne relation the bed is the more dangerous in this respect for there many more dies in their beds than there doe at sea and you may die there as soon as I may at sea A witty answer and well applyed Let our daily Meditations be as Lipsius said when hee went sick to bed ad Lectum ad Lethum to the Bed and so to the Grave for many have died in their sleep Death being but the elder sister of sleep 7 Iohn Patriarch of Alexandria Leâ—â—â— â—ypâ—or Episc c. 18. in vita Ioanâ—â—s which took his name from hiâ— Almesdeeds in his health he commanded his sepulchre to be built but it was not fully finished in so much that upon a great solemnâ— feast day in the presence of all the Clergie when hee had ended his sacred Charge One said to him My Lord your sepulchre is not yet built up nor perfected command I pray you that it may be made speedily up For your honour knows not how soone the Thiefe may overtake you 8 It was not lawfull for any one to speake to the Easterne Emperour being newly created Idem ibid. before that a Mason had shewed him som sorts of Marble of several colours and had asked which of those he liked best to have his Sepulcher made of What was this else but to say Be not high minded o Emperour Thou art a man and shalt die as the meanest begger Xiphili in Domit. who in this banquet did not seeke to remember death but sport and vanity Looke therefore so to the government of thy Kingdome which thou shalt lose as that thou losest not the Kingdome which is everlasting 9 Domitianus the Romane Emperour made a banquet to the chiefe of his Senators and great Knights after this manner Hee had all the roomes covered with black cloaths also the roofes of the Chambers the walls and the pavement the seats all black promising mourning In the chief place was a funeral bed the guests were brought in by night without any attendants by every one there was placed a Coffin with every mans name upon it there were laÌ„ps added set up as use to be at funerals the waiters at the table they carried the colours of the night in their habits and countenances and compassed the guests with notes and gestures of Death all this while supper was celebrated in great silence and Domitians discours was only of burialls and Death at the table to the astonishment and affrightment of his guests who feared what would be the issue of this his action What followed think you after all this mournfull carriage and deportment onely Domitianus had provided a wholsome document for himselfe and his Senators but never made use of it so that it was rather judged folly than wisedome The Egyptians doe better who alwayes temper their feasts with some seasonable lessons of Mortality § 27. A discourse of New shifts made by Assan Bashaw in Grand Cayro for erecting of a Temple IN Grand-Cayro in Egypt there is a Turkish Temple which they call a Mosque which was builded by this meanes Radâ— Epist 3. Itineris in palastin pag. 176. Assan the Bashaw for the Grand-Seigneur of Turky a man of a cunning head and a covetous Heart being desirous his fame should be spread abroad through the world by some eminent structure but willing to save his owne purse went this way to worke He commanded it to be proclaimed in all places what a mighty Temple he was intended to build to God And that this Temple mighâ— proceed with all happy successe he published what large wages all they that would come and worke should have paid them withall what an huge offering should there be offered thereupon the time and place was appointed This call'd an innumerable company of people out of all Egypt and not onely from thence but a world of people came from all other parts to Grand-Cayro Against this great confluence of peoples comming Assan the Bashaw had prepared a mighty number of new shirts and coats now those which came to the offering as also they which came to receive wages were all coÌ„manded to passe through severall little dores out of one great spacious court into another and at each dore as
soule so enlarge thy thoughts why doest thou possesse so much why gapest thou still after more whom so many Provinces and Kingdomes could not hold this little Cabinet must include and why thinke you he desired to have lime and chalke for his nostrils mouth and eares behold the costly Odours and Unguents in which he would be laid downe Oh Maximilian great once thou wert and thy actions and these very things at thy death speake the same Baron Tom. 3. An. 326. â— 96. What shall I speake of the Coffin of Ablavius which was a Praefect and a great Prince amongst other of Constantine the Great his Courtiers an insatiable devourer of gold who meditated more of gold than his grave or heaven Constantine on a time taking him by the hand spake thus unto him How long how long said he shall we heape together wealth of this kind And as hee had spoke the words with a Speare which hee held in his hand he drew the description of a Coffin on the ground Hadst thou said hee a world full of such treasure yet after thy death thou shalt not have a greater place than this perhaps lesse then this forme which I have drawne out Constantine in this prov'd a Prophet for this Ablavius was cut in small peeces so that there was nothing left of him to put into a Sepulchre Charles the fift Emperour of Germany did imitate Maximilian whoÌ„ I named ere-while long before his death he sequestred himself from administring the affaires of the Empire and having transferr'd the government and management of it to his Sonne who was able for his yeares and of judgement sufficient hee himselfe went into Spaine with 12. followers onely into the Monastery of St. Justus to give himselfe wholly to Gods service and forbade any to call him by any other name or title then Charles onely putting farre off the title of Caesar Augustus with the Imployment and contemned all honours whatsoever And moreover it is registred of him that before he relinquish'd the Empire he commanded his Tombe to be made with all furniture belonging to his buriall and had it carried with him whithersoever he went but privately Hee had this funebrious accoutrements five yeares with him wheresoever he was I even when he went to Millaine against the French and had it diligently every night placed in his bed-chamber Some that were about his Person thought that therein hee kept his treasure others judged that in it he kept some rare books containing some ancient Historys Others thought there was some great matter in it but he himselfe knowing for what purpose he carried it would smiling say He carried it about for the use of something which was deare unto him So did this Charles daily meditate of death that at every night he should say Vixi I have lived and so every morning rise with profit and comfort Many others have piously imitated this Emperour Zach. Lippol tom 3. in vit S. Re. 1. Octob. that for long time together have carried their Coffins the monuments of their death with them for contemplation Genebaldus for seven whole yeares together had his bed made like a Coffine in which for that space he lived austerely and exercised himselfe in Mortification There was one Ida Idem tom 3. in vita S. Idae 4 Sept. Hier. Epist 103. a woman famous for holinesse which had likewise her Coffin made long before her death which she filled twice a day with food and nourishment and so often distributed it to the poore liberally The study of piety is the preparatory for death No death pollutes a vertuous soule he will easily despise all earthly things who hath his thoughts fixed upon his dissolution § 30. What our life is IT is as a flower as smoake as a shadow and as the shadow of a shadow It is a Bubble Dust froth It is as deaw as a drop as brittle ice As the Raine-bow a blazing Taper a bag full of holes A ruinous house deceitfull ashes a spring-day a constant Aprill as a dash in musick a broken vessell As a bucket for a Wel a Spiders web As a drop to the Ocean weake stubble A Summers herbe a short Fable a flying sparkle A darke cloud a bladder full of wind as a little Dove a taking her slight a brittle Glasse a fading Leafe a fine weake thred a Sodemes Apple c. And if a shadow bee nothing tell me what is the dreame of a shadow wee may make sixe hundred thousand of such similitudes of frailty and inconstancy and all like to mans life Me thinkes of all others he spake wittily that calls it a very short dreame of a shadow in briefe let us see what life is it is as one hath described it in this distich Somnus umbra vitrum glacies flos fabula foenum Vmbra cinis punctum vox sonus aura nihil i. e. Life 's like a dreame a bubble ice or glasse Like fading flowers vaine fables with'ring grasse It is a shadow dust a point a voice a sound It 's empty ayre well look'd too Nothing found Ah wretches how seeme we to heape up wealth to get honours to follow and hunt after pleasures when all these are as soone vanished as our selves Any of these all of them are but as a dreame and how short and vaine is that Psal 76.5 true is that saying of the Psalmist the proud are robbed they have slept their sleepe and all the men whose hands are mighty have found nothing they dreamt that they were mighty and rich but what have they retain'd or kept of all they gaped after or hoped for these are but meere dreames and fancies indeed and wakening they shall find their losse and grieve in their punishment What therefore is life I will declare it compendiously the time and length of our life is a point our nature is inconstancy our senses are obscurity Our whole body is but a rotting Concretion our mind vagrant Honours are but smoke Riches are thornes Pleasures are poysonâ— And that I may summe up all in word All things belonging to the body are but a passing streame all the minds endowments are emptinesse our life is a warre the loâ—ging of a traveller in a strange City the shop of all miseries and our fame after death is but oblivion Ausonius delivevers this well unto us Mieremur periisse homines Epigr. 3. momenta fatiscunt Mors etiam saxis nominibusque venit i. e. Men being as moments no wonder though they 're gone Death makes our names to faile and Marble-stone It 's a vertue to consummate our life before death knocks at our doores §. 31. That our life is a play OUr life is a Comedy we the stage-players one acts a King another a Beggar a third a Prince another a Physitian another a Clowne What part is imposed upon us we must performe we get no Plaudite unlesse we act well Well said Epictetus Euch. c. 23 Thou art called upon
for Chrâ—st is to mee both in life and death advantage § 3. Not always sweet things IN times past as Pliny reports on the Latines solemne dayes when as they strove for victory in their Charâ—ots in the Capitoll Who conquered drunke Wormwood be thou willing to take downe a cup of this bitter drinke that thou maist conquer He scarce deserves to tast the sweet Who with the sowre did never meet § 4. To contemne Death is Christian valour NO man rightly governs his â—ife but he that knows how to leave it Wee cannot be so stupid but thâ—t we must needs know some time or other we must die Yet when Deaâ—h comes wee are frighted tremble grieve But would not hee seeme to be a very Ideot that would weepe because he liv'd not untâ—l a thousand yeers and is not hee his equall who would liâ—e beyond a thousand Thou wast not thou shalt not be Past and future tiâ—e are both at anothers Regimen Wast not thou born to diâ— Diâ— no this happen to thy Father to thy Ancestors to all that were before thee Shall it not be laid upon all that come after thee why should thy shoulders be exempted from the coÌ„mon burthen Thou wouldest not fear to drink to eat to play to sleep with others why then fearest thou to die with others Look but upon the long troop of those before thee of those that follow thee and those that goe along with thee in the same houre with thy self This is a faire prospective View the known and unknown World and it is certain that thousands each moment are born and die and by the same kinde of Death Death perpetually hath bin a safe passage to rest And there is nothing ill in Death but the feare of Death If therefore we would be in quiet hereafter it is best to have our souls ready Shall I feare my end when I know I am not without end But you will say it is an hard thing to bring a mans minde to such an high passe to slight his own soule It is easie to him who knows to live as he sung well A just man's first or last Comes not too slow or fast We deny not but death hath some terrour in it but therefore we are to learne how not to feare it This is an infallible signe of a truly couragious soule not to feare his going out Hee truly knows whither he goes with comfort that knows from whence hee came in teares Theodosius of whom Saint Ambrose makes mention was such an Emperour who used to say I love that man who when he is to die is grieved more for the Churches hazard then for his own dissolution That therefore thou mayst never feare Death always think on it §. 5. Examples of Death contemned NInachetus a great Ruler in Malaca in the Indyes being commanded to leave off his office hee took it for so great a disgrace being ignorant of true honour vertue that forthwith he of Aloes and other sweet precious wood builded a great funerall-fire hard by his seat of judgment all covered with rich Arras from whence hee shining in his Robes of gold and decked with Jewels discoursed to the multitude abouâ— him of all the actions and passages of his life and having laid open and declared the benefits which hee had done for and conferâ—'d on the Portugals in their extremitie he complained that without any demeriâ— on his â—art he was deprived of his dignity then detesting the Portugalls plots such Fire-brands doth ambition inject into the souls of men hee as a contemner of their injuries and of his own death cast himselfe into the fire Aelian l. 5. Var. Hist c. 6. Aelianus records another example not unlike to this former saith hee the end of Calanuâ— is not onely strange but to be counted a wonder which was on this manner Calanus an Indian Philosopher who had bidden adieu to Alexander to the Macedonians and to this life built him in the large Suburbs of Babylon a funeraâ—l Pile of costly sweet wood as Cedar Cypresse Myrrhe anâ— Lawrell and having finâ—shed his daily constant exercise went into the Pile and stood there encompassed with the wood and the Sun shining bright upon him Which dâ—ne he intreated the Macedonians to kindlâ— the fire which burning Calanus stood still and fell not untill hee was dead It is reportâ—d that Alexandâ—r should say of him That Calanus had overcome stroâ—ger enemies than himselfe For Alexander had onely wâ—ged warre and conquered Porus Taxita and Darius but Calanus had overcome travell and Death And shall there be such courage in vain men against Death and shall Christians assisted by God droop their sâ—irits Let us but examine the mat er narrowly if we will believe Seneca Death is Natures best devise the sure remedy of all evils And therfore let us make that a vertue that otherwise will be necessity Certainly every wise ChristiaÌ„ wil do nothing unwillingly hee doth avoid all necessities pressures who is willing to doe what he must Let us therfore with a good heart expect our end or rather our beginning Hee is always of an upright heart who knows how to despise Death § 6. A minde ready for Death ZEno the Stoick as Suidas records it dasht his foot and wounded one of his toes as he went out of Schoole but hee supposing that he had beene called by others struck his hand upon the earth with this word I am comming why ô earth doest thou call me and so without any sicknesse at ninety six yeeres of age the old man died Zeno had so accustomed himselfe to hunger that hee would say hee would eat but little that he might â—ie the easier and sooner This did Zeno that his old age might be the freer from diseases and griefs Hee obtain'd both according to his desired wish Wee need not wonder that our lives are so short and our health so uncertain when as wee wast both health and life at feasting and drinking Large Suppers may please the appetite but they make work for the Physician a ful gluttonous belly is the Embleme of a swelling moving grave O fools by that way wee should prolong wee cut off and shorten our days And it proceeds from hence that wee will not be perswaded of the vertue of a Christian abstinence Vid. Leon. Less Hyg But experience pronounceth that saying to be true the lesse thou eatest the lonâ—er is â—hy life but to the purpose this by the way Vrsinus as Saint Gregory relates it being comforted with heavenly Meditations would often in his sicknesse cry out I come ô I come I give thanks to thee ô God and as hee related to those that were about him the joyes of Heaven and the beauty of those Celestiall souls he reiterated the same words Behold I come and so surrendred up his soule and died A mind willing to surrender to Death speaks in the present tense I doe come without any demurring or delays It is too late to
to thy selfe And why turnest thou away from those who tell thee of thy approaching danger I beseech thee imitate not those old men whom thou knewest before abroad to whom it was death to heare Death to be spoken off I Pray thee hast thou learn'd no further yet but still to fear death Hast thou got so much knowledge in so many yeares to die freely peaceably and without vexatiâ—n Why tremblest thou Commit thy self wholly to the will of God and so thou hast done the hardest piece of thy work Even our whole life is but a punishment That wise Roman Seneca will counsell thee We being saith he cast into the deep and troublesome sea of this World which is always tossing her waves and billows now lifting us up with sudden advancements now againe leaving us in the lurch to our greater losse Continually tossing us never are we safely setled We are alwayes in suspence and inconstantly floating now and then dash'd one against another sometimes making shipwrack always fearing thus wee saile along this boysterous Ocean exposed to all tempests and there is no Port or Haven till we arrive at Death Many mens credulitie deceives them especially in those things whiâ—h they love being willing to forget the remembrance of death Daily before our eies we see spectacles and objects of Mortalitie as well of our friends as strangers but we still are otherways imployed and thinke that sudden which might have have hapned every moment of our life This is not the iniquitie of Natuâ—e but the pravitie of our minds being insatiable in that which it cannot enjoy and altogether disdaining to go out from thence whither he was admitted to enter by request Hee is unjust that leaves not the Donor the disposing of his owne gift He is greedy who doth not account that a benefit which hee hath received but says it is losse to restore it Hee is ingrate who calls the end of pleasure an injury He is foolish which thinks nothing but things present have prâ—fit in them He too much pens up and straitens his jâ—yâ— who thinks hee enjoys no more then what he hath and seeth Suddenly doth all pleasure leave us it flows and passes and is in a manner â—aken away before it come to us Let us â—ll therefore contentedly enjoy what is bâ—stowed and suâ—render it when it shall be demanded Death snatcheth away all some one time some another none escapeth him Let our souls then continually watch never dreading it because necessary lways expecting it because â—ncertain It is hard to say whether it be more folly to be ignorant of or impudent to stand out against the Laws of Mortality All men yea all creatures whatsoever look towards death Whosoever is born to the World is ordained to die and to passe to Eterniâ—y § 17. Three speciall Rules to be observed by the sick I Concerning God IT is grand impietie to murmur any thing against God our h avenly Fathâ—r as though the disease hee l yeth upon us were extreame and unreasonable Wee ought rather to say with holy Iob Even as it pleaseth the Lord so come things to passe Blessed be the name of the Lord and to cry out with that devout multitude He hath done all things well For whethâ—r God wound or heal us certain it is hee ever beareth towards us the tender care and affection of a most loving Father II Concerning himself In the extremity of sicknesse there is not so much need of long and continuall prayers as of constant and unwearied patience For thereby that which is heavie and intolerable becommeth light and easie Our chiefe cordials and sweetest comforts in our sicknesse are frequent sighes breathed up to Heaven the Remembrance of the patient suffrings of the Saints holy Prayers and Ejaculations sent up to Goâ— for constant patience and an happy departure out of this life III Concerning others The sicke man must be tractable to his Physicians whether corporall or spirituall If any come to visit him he must shew all patience and calmnesse of spirit and though his disease gripe hâ—m many things trouble him some displease him others rellish ill wiâ—h him all things be not done aâ— his beck yet he must never murmur but allaying the bitternesse of his afflictions with the sweet expectation of a reward expresse Christiâ—n submissiâ—n and patience in all his words and actions § 17. Wherewith the sickman should quench his thirst MOst sick folk complain much of th rst those especially who are sick of Feveâ—s Here therefore wee wâ—ll shew them a Fountain whence they may drinke as much as they please An. 1590 In lower Austria there was a Thiefe who had kild maâ—y men being taken and brought to the Wheele onely had his legs broken which was done the more to torment him with a lingring death and to make him the more terrible spectacle to all such Malefactors bu this tormented person pâ—oved himself a valiant man and a stout Christian in the height of his torments For all his words argued patience penitence He began seriously to supplicate God to entreat pardon for his sins to be a Preacher of Mortification and to dehort all other men from the like hainous sins And the day being almost spent when as there was a World of people assembled there were likewise present some that knew him and comforted him being glad to see him so patiently to suffer for he being laid flat for his punishment that hee might get another life he asswag'd his present suffering with the hope of future happinesse and not onely so but gave thanks to God who in his anger had remembred mercy and had chastened him that hee might save him In that space of his punishment which lasted for above three days hee requâ—sted two things that he might die maturely and Christianly and that it would please God to send a showre of rain seasonably to mitigate his heat and thirst It is recorded that he obâ—ained both these requests for about Evening there fell a plentifull showre of raine and afterwards he ended his pains and his life Behold here ô my Christian thou thy selfe here hast also thy wheele but a farre softer one thou rollest in thy bed as on a wheele and without doubt though perhaps thy torment may be lesse yet thy thirst is as great that there may come down into thy soul a comfortable showre look up to Golgotha and behold with the eye of faith thy Saviour upon the Crosse from whose bodie flows Rivers of saving waters here drink here refresh here satisfie thy selfe The more freely thou drinkest of this the more healthy will thy soule be § .18 The sickmans Napkin or Handkerchief CHrotildis Queen of the Franks as Gregorius Turonicus relate it being cruelly used by Amalaricus her husband sent to King Childebert her brother a white linnen cloth all besmeared with her bloud in stead of a Letter and as though she spoke thus to her Brother Canst Thou ô Childebert see this
flesh by these delays we make a preparation for that Eternall and better life For as the wombe of our mother holds us nine moneths and prepares us not for her selfe but for that place into which we are sent being now fit to take breath and to live abroad so from the space of our infancie to our old age wee are fitting for another birth another spring expects us wee expect another state Wee are not here fit for Heaven but by distance yet here wee are fitted for it Wherefore undauntedly looke for that decretory houre though last to the body yet not to the soule Whatsoever things thou doest here behold looke upon them as bundels of trumperies not worth transportation Wee must passe The day which thou so mightily fearest as thy last is but the birth-day of Eternity The day will come that shall reveale thee and will bring thee out of thy rotten and flitting tent Meditate now on diviner matters Natures secrets shall once be disclosed to thee this darknes shall vanish and light shall shine bright for ever No cloud shall dim or obscure the serenity of that day Heaven shall then perfectly be seen day and night are the courses of this lower Region thou wilt then say thou hast but liv'd in darknes when thou shalt cleerly behold that light which now thou hast but a glimpse off and yet admirest at though afar off What will that â—ivine Light seem to thee when thou shalt behold it in its owne place the thought of this will permit no base or sordid no abjected or inhumane thing to reside in thy minde What can be more holy ô Christians let us always thinke on and mediâ—ate these things no good man dies ill no ill man well Death is the nearest way to Eternitie § 32. Constantly COnstantly I beseech you constantly there is no patience where there is no constancy but some may say this is the second third fourth or fifth or ninth week in which I have layn sick Anothâ—r may say this is the second third fourth â—ifth or ninth moneth since I fell sick There will not want others to object that this is the second third four h fifth or ninth yeare or more that hee hath bâ—en visited Oh good men it is not the signe of a patient man to call to mind and calculate so exactly his days monetâ—s and yeares of visitation Endure I pray you Endure and loose not the recompence of reward for a little suffering res rve your selves for better â—hing That 's but a point of time in which I suffer If I looke upon Eternity All our travaile is short our rest is everlasting There have beene those who have been sick all their life long Saint Gregory commends one Servulus who from his childhood to his dying day was troubled grievously with a Palsie so that he could not lift up his hands to his mouth or turn in his bed and yet he got all the Bible by heart by hearing it read to him what was his life but a lingâ—ing death and as he was daily dying so hee usually had this speech ready God be thanked All his yeeres though so full of misery and pains yet he held them as nothing to Eternitie There was a Virgin at Scheedam called Lydwina who for 38 yeares together was afflicted with divers diseases even as that Beggar was at the fish-poole thou mightest trulyer have said this Maid to have beene dead then alive who spent so many yeares in and amongst so many sorts of troubles and diseases Diversity of torments seemed to have jointly set upon her scarce for those 30 yeers did she eat so much bread as one able man would have done in three days and she was not onely troubled with extream sicknes but also with great povertie and exigencie Yet in her sicknes this Lydwine cried out constanâ—ly Oh! good Jesus have mercy upon mee She was wont to say that these 38 yeers of sicknes wee nothing reckoned to Eternity But I will record another that past Servulus or Lydwina in the number of to ments and sicknesses One Coleta a Viâ—gin of Corbeâ—a who indured an incredible measure of pains for the space of 50 yeers without intermission patiently and scarce slept one houre in eight dâ—ys togeâ—heâ— she was tormented in her minde as well as in her bodie and that which shee reckoned amongst the kindnesses and favours of the Lord was that her torments were answerable to those of the blessed Martyrs One being still sent upon another she would usually say ô could I at once patiently suffer the furie of all Feavers together This fearfull continuation of diseases for above 50 yeeres did this female creatuâ—e patiently go under and bore comfortâ—bly and to her they seemed nothing to Eternitie This blessed Maid said as once Saint Bernard â—y worke is but for one houre or if a little longer I count it â—s nothing for the love I beare to my Saviour That as well the sound as the sick may determine holinesse in their minds and bring it forth in thoir works and actions and from good words proceed to good deeds wee have added â—hese prayers following for the confirming and establishing them in those holy duties A Prayer to be said continually of the sound sick and dying men MOst sweet Lord Jesus Christ in the union of that love by which thou offeredst thy selfe up to thy Father doe I offer up my heart and soule to thee that thy good will and pleasure may be done of me and by me Sweet Jesus I desire and choose thy will to be done let my sufferings be never so great let sicknes and death approach yet I commit my selfe wholly to thy faithful providence and divine will For I hope and entreat that thou wouldst direct me and all that belong unto mee to thy glory and everlasting salvation Amen 2 A Prayer to conforme our selves to Gods will O Lord Jesus Christ which for thy own glory and our salvation minglest jâ—y with heavinesse and for our progresse in grace dost suffer us to partake of adversity and prosperity I give thanks unto thee that thou of thy goodnesse hast caused mee to be troubled and to beare this affliction I desire thy favour ô Saviour to let such fruit and benefit grow from it as thou approvest and desirest and thâ—t it may not be hindred by my impatience or unthankfulnesse Strech forth thy hand ô Lord and come and helpe mee â—hy sicke servant as once thou didst stretch it forth and sav'd Peter thy Apostle from drowning in the waves So let I beseech thee thy arme of power save mee from sinking under this present cross sicknes according to thy power so let thy will be ô Lord I entreat thee to let this present bitter Cup so troublesome to flesh and bloud to passe away from me as thou diddest heare and deliver Ezekias when hee cryed unto thee Notwithstanding not my will but thine which is always righteous and holy be done Thou onely
a wise man will expound the old mans thus This old man saw many Summers and Winters and â—eath seem'd because it deferd so long as though it would have spared him for he had experienc'd many things he had gone through maâ—y miseries and changes of this life but yet at length through all these yeers hee is brought to his Coffin and dust Et mortuus est And is dead Now he that will wisely understand the young mans Epitaph must read it Interrogatorily thus This young man was eminent for wealth for beauty for strength of body beloved of the Muses and Apollo the White Chicken both of the graces and fortune not yet 20 yeers old secure from the Grimface of pale Death hee looked as if hee would have prou'd immortall and as though hee would have deceiv'd all the Fates and is he dead That that old decrepit man should be dead few grieve none doe wonder but that this flourishing young man should bee taken away all men wonder most men sorrow and could such a beautifull gracious active young man dies and is he dead all men seeke and blame the destinies for being so impartiall To his I doe adde another not to be numbred amongst the rest but onely place it to exercise the wiâ—s of some as well as it hath tired the wits of others it is to be seen in Bononia the words of the Epitaph are these A M. PP D. Alia Laelia Crispis nor man nor woman nor Hermaphrodite not a maid not a young man not an old woman not shamefast nor shamelesse but all things not â—aken away by famine not by sword nor by poyson but by all things nor is buried in the aire nor in the water nor earth but every where Lucius Agatho Priscius nor an husband nor a lover nor a servant nor sorrowing nor rejoycing nor weeping who knows and knows not nor this heap nor this Pyramis nor this Sepulchre but all things that are placed This is a Sepulchre having nobody within it this is a carcasse not having any Sepulchre without it but the carcasse and the Sepulchre are the same to themselves Some have taken this Enigmaticall Epitaph to mean the soul of man some the water of the clouds others Niobe turn'd into a Stone others have imagined otherwise Some have written Commentaries on it as Ioannes Turius of Brudges and Richard White of Basingstoke in England a Lawyer whose booke was printed at Dordrecht by Iohn Leo Berewout Anno 1618 But to let these shadows and clouds passe we wil put our wit to exercise in more plainer paths and the reason why wee interlace our discourse with these is 〈◊〉 because we would not too deeply affright or terrifie our studious Reader and that wee may keepe him from disdain or disliking when he is weary that wee may therefore behold the customes and the wholsom admonitions of the dead look upon another Epitaph which is to be seen at Naples in these words 2 This Marble memory is here placed for mee yea Reader for thee also whosoever thou art watch whilest thou wakest and make seasonable hast to thy work no man knows the set time Farewell 3 The stone of Cajeta exhibits this short Inscription Fui non sum â—estis non eritis Silvius Palladius Vt moriens viveret Vixit at moriturus I was am noâ— You are shall not be Silvius Palladius Who that He might live dead Did live as alwayes dying I will not omit that most short yet pleasant one of M. Posthumius a Knight M. Posthumius a Knight Whither I goe I know not I die of necessity Farewell all that are behinde 5 To learne us in the first place wisdome and to make us despise vanity this Epitaph following bestowed on a religious and nobly descended Gentleman will serve fitly Ah Traveller stay and read I desire a word with thee In my life I plac'd this stone here against the time of my death who lye here in a narrow space and here in the dust and darknes do expect thee ô my Guest and the last Trumpet of the Angell at the day of judgment but perhaps thou mayst aske my of-spring I am one of the latter sons of Red Earth So thou mayst enquire my Country It was the World My learning it was a shadow my reputation It was smoake my Age Alas a point or if a little more produced a minute Wouldst thou know my wealth 'T was poverty My Honours 't was contempt My liberty it was flattery My desire 't was death and true life after death which I hope I and thou shall enjoy Be gone and remember death 6 I will annex that sad and truly lamentable one an Epitaph of a Brother who was killed by his brother Alas alas Here I am laid a young man before my time Deaths scorne a Brothers Funerall a Fathers grief a Mothers teares the Muses lamentation an example to young men a sigh for old men rottenesse ashes nothing to my self but what to God Ah! Traveller why enquirest thou alas now shall I heare what I feare what I hope for to morrow thou mayest know travell on oh curious Citizen Richardus de Marisco Bishop of Durham writ his own Epitaph an holy one and in those times witty and pleasant It beares this inscription Culmina qui cupitis laudes pompasque sititis Est sedata sitis si me pensare velitis Qui populos regitis memores super omnia si is Quod morâ— immitis non parcit honore potitis Vobis praepositis similis fueram bene scitis Quod sum vos eritis ad me currendo venâ—tis Englished You who preferments doe desire Who for high prayse are set on fire Your Thirst would quickly quenched be If that you would consider mee You by whom people stout are check'd Be mindfull always ne're neglect That cruell death no whit regards Your Honours or your rich reward For I have been like you in grace Grave Prelats and as chief in place For you shal be even as I am You run and hast unto the same This in those times was of singular wit and learning and savours still of mortification now I adde the Monument of a learned man Iustus Lipsius knowne by his writings speaks thus from his sepulcher to the living Seekest thou who lyes here buried I my selfe will reherse it to thee I was one who of late spoke with style and tongue now it shal be lawfull for another I am Lipsius whom learning and thy favour may cause to live But I dying am gone so shall this also and this world possesseth nothing that is everlasting Wilt thou that I speake in a higher voyce to thee All humane things are but smoke shadows vanity the Image of a Play and to speak in a word nothing this is my last conference with thee I would have thee hope I am in glory Iustus Lipsius liv'd 59 yeers hee dyed in the yeere of Christ 1606 on the passion day of our Saviour So then both learned and
feared that frees us from every thing that is fearfull But thou wilt say it is a most fearfull thing in a disease to see death creeping upon us by degrees Oh thou worme what wouldst thou Did not thy Saviour for thirty three yeeres and more foresee his death And art thou better then he but because thou doest not fear death but the fore-running incommodities of it Hear Epictetus who saith Thou goest not out with a good courage but trembling because of thy riches silver vessels and great friends Oh unhappy man Hast thou so hitherto lost all thy time What if thou be sicke thou shalt learn to be vertuous by thy sicknesse But who shall care for thee wilt thou say God and thy friends but I shall lye hard thou shalt but lye as a man but I shall not have a commodious house then knowest thou not how to be sicke in inconveniences but who shall prepare my dyet for me They who provide it for others but what will be the issue of my sicknâ—sse What should be but dea h thou therefore canst not but know that it is the signe of a degenerate spirit and of a fearfull heart to feare not death but the fear of death Exercise thy self therefore against this to this mark let all thy â—isputatioâ—s tend and all which thou hearest or readest then thou shalt know that death is the onely way to plant men into liberty 6. How many evils doth death free thee from to die is but to shut up the shop of al miseries So that Pliny spoke well Such is the condition of humane life that death to the best men is the best Harbour and the chiefest good for nature Caesar speaks in Salust In al miseries death is the Rest not the augmentation of them and that it concludes all the mischiefs that Mortals suffer Therefore a wiseman esteems his life by the quality not by the extent of it For nature hath afforded us an Inne to lodge in not to dwell in and the usury of life is like that of money to be alwayes paid at the set time Why how canst thou complain if money be taken in when the Creditor pleaseth if he limited not the time It was but the condition upon which thou receivedst it to repay it at the pleasure of the lender 7 In the passage to death the prison is set open why fearest thou to goe out rather be glad and be gone Hitherto thou hast been a Captive now thou shalt be free the prison is now open hast out Why hast thou so long studied Phylosophy if yet thou fearest this Phylosophy to die therefore receivedst thou this body that thou shouldst restore it And therefore shalt thou restore it that thou mayest again receive it with great advantage Oh how foolish is that mans hope not to endevour for that happinesse to depart with joy from hence to that which always remayns The prison is open flye aloft to better felicity 8 Death is the rode way yea it is the gate by which wee are admitted into our Country to eternall life to immortall joy Death is not so much the end of life as it is the passage to life Saint Bernard spoke true and elegantly 'T is true indeed the righteous man dyes but securely because his death as it is the Exit of the present so it is the Introite to a better life 9 But the cause of causes is the divine will of God whom it hath pleased from all Eterniâ—y that thou shouldst dye at such a time such a place such a disease What wouldst thou more so it pleased God so it seem'd good in his sight This is that will which cannot will not will that which is ill Therefore as the sonne of Syrach said Ecclus 18 21. Humble thy selfe before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Therfore I briefly reckon up all the Reasons thus 1 Christs death 2 The favour of God 3 the joy of Angels and Sainâ—s 4 The examples of those that have gone before us 5 It is the end of all things to be feared 6 It is the end of all evils 7 It is going out of prison 8 It is an ingresse into paradise 9 It is the will of God § 12. Death is not to be feared PErforme therefore ô Christian that with willingnes which must be done though against thy will Those actions though difficult if done willingly seem easie and feazable and where the will concurs there it leaves to be necessity A wise man instructs thee â—hus Agree to what thou canst not withstand go on securely without feare Nature is a bountifull parent and makes not any thing dreadfull nor delights in it It is the errour of men not provident Nature that makes Death seeme terrible Wee feare death not for that it is evill but because we are not acquainted with it but if thou hast any generous thoughts or any noble or high resolutions slight those vulgar and base conceits and looke upon high and imitate those religious spirits whose footsteps have beene setled in the rode-way to Glory Wee have innumerable examples and patternes of men whose deaths have bin cheerfull and happy Be not daunted with the words of them which affirme death to be neere at hand Rather folâ—ow him amongst the Ancients who gave this reply to Deaths Monitor without any the least show of anger Morieris Thou shalt dye It is the nature not the punishment of man Thou shalt dye I entred upon this condition that I should goe out Thou shalt dye It is the Law of Nations that what thou hast lent thee that thou must restore Thou shalt dye Thy whole life is but a pilgrimage It is but comfortable when thou hast walkt long abroad that then thou shouldest return home Thou shalt dye I thought thou wouldst have told mee some new or strange thing but as for this I came for the same purpose hither every dayes travell invites me hither Nature laid me out this stint at my birth Why should I be angry I am sworn to this Thou shalt die It 's folly to feare what thou canst not avoid Thou shalt die Nor the first nor the last Many are gone before mee some go with me all shall follow Thou shalt die This is the conclusion of all our work Whither the Universe shall passe thither must I. All things are begotâ—en to this state What hath had a bad beginning must come to an end Thou shalt dye That is not so grievous which is but once suffered It is Eternall that vex us Certainly death is to bee lesse feared now then heretofore For then the way to Heaven was block'd up and all men griev'd and sorrowed at this that Noctes atque dies patet atri janua ditis Hell gates are never shut nor night nor day But wee may sing this with joy that Noctes atque dies patet alti janua Coeli At all times unto Heaven's a ready way Death therefore is to be
expecting that hee was come to the mark of his life was suddenly snatcht away by a contrary sicknesse before his death one of his friends gave him a Visit and found the good old man falne into a sleepe When hee wakened hee asked him how hee did find himself to whom Gorgâ—as replyed this sleep begins to deliver mee up to his brother meaning death Whosoever is a good Christian will never permit sleepe to passe upon him before he hath convented his own conscience and haâ—h washed away his offences by a godly sorrow many have begun to sleepe and to die at once and have ended their lives with their sleep and therefore we are to look well to sleep which is deaths brother and as strictly as we can not to go to it warily onely but also chastly Hee which sleeps not in chastity shall not rise in chastity § 19. The Fore-runners of Death DEath is the fore-runner of Eternity dolours and diseases are the most knowne Harbingers of deaâ—h If wee will credit Pliny one manifest signe of death is in the height of sicknesse to laugh in some diseases an unequall and prickling striking of the veins and the eyes and the nose afford to us certain signes of death according to Plinies experience these are Indexes of approaching death when the sick party discourseth of journeys when hee will not abide in his bed when he folds the coverlid or when he puls haires out of it There are beside these many other signes of death not counted vain or false Augustus the Emperour a little before he died complained that he was taken away by forty young men That was rather a presage as Suetonius reports of death then of a distracted mind for when he was dead hee was brought forth by forty Pretorian Souldiers When Alexander the Great was about to saile to Babylon there was a great winde which took away the ornament of his head and the Dia em bound to it the tire fell into the water and the Diadem hung unto a Fen-cane one of the Saylors went to fetch this and because he would not have it wet put it upon his head and so brought it to Alexander the Saylor had a Talent given him for a reward but presently after by the advice of the Chaldees his head was struck off nor did Alexander long escape death which the Diadem taken from his head portended In the yeer of Christ 1185 when that great and last overthrow was neer to Andronicus Cominaeus the Emperour the Image of S. Paul placed by the Emperour in a Temple in Constantinople wept abundantly nor were those teares false presages for presently after the Emperours bloud was shed Moreover Princes and great men have had strange presages of their deaths as the howlings of Dogs unusuall the roaring of Lions the strangnesse of the striking of Clocks Nightly noyses in Towers and many other infallible signes of ensuing deatâ— How innumerable are the signes of death saiâ—h Pliny and certain but not one of security or health What do al they teach us but this one thing let us remeÌ„ber that we are but men Thinke on Eternitie whi her thou art poasting thou must be gone shortly thou art but a guest Enquire the way Looke thou beest ready fit hy selfe for to appeare before the Lords Tribunall How thou hast lived so even so shalt thou be judged § 20. What we must answer to Deaths Messenger BLessed Sainâ— Ambrose having received the Embassadour of death when as his friends wept and sorrowed and desired him to pray to God to spare him a longer life he answered them I have not so liv'd as that it shames mee to live longer nor do I feare to die because wee have such a Good Lord. Saint Augustine did much regard this wise saying and commended them to his Schollers as pure and savoury words And S. Augustine himselfe was nothing troubled at the hearing of death but said what great man can conceit any proud or great thing when as men do die well as trees do fall and other creatures That golden-mouthed Father Saint Chrysostome a little before his death when he was in banishment writ thus to Innocentius this now is the third yeere that wee have endured banishment being exposed to pâ—stilence famine war to continuall incursions to unspeakable solitarinesse to daily death to the Heathens swords and being about to die hee fairely pronounced these words Glory be to thee ô Lord for all things Saint Cyprian being condemned to death for Christian Religion with a noble spirit said thus Thanks be given to God who vouchsafeth to take me out of the bonds of this boâ—y Let the dying man imitate these holy Fathers let him often say this God be thanked Glory be to God for all things I have watch'd long enough amongst thorns I have fought enough with beasts I have toild enough in tempests Now because I see an end of my watâ—hings of my fightings and of my labour God be thanked Glory be to God for all things For certain Death is an advantage to the wise and a gain to them whose lives are irksome § 21. A sweet death but the worst death of all GEorge Duke of Clarence was by his brother Edward the fourth King of England for suspition of aâ—eâ—ting the Crown commanded to die yet he had liberty given to choose his owne death and hee chose a most sweet death for hee caused a Butt of Malmsey to be filled and so placed himselfe in it and others softly and leasurely let him bloud and hee all the while â—ucking in leasurely the sweet liquour So hee left this life being at last drowned in this sweâ—t but fatall ba h. If wee look but upon the manners of men alas how many by ingurgitating themselves with pleasures intemperately by drinking and gluttony do even drown themselves but while they so doe sucke in with eagernesse while they give their whole souls to draw in these vaine short filthy irksome delights alas wretches as they are they doe by little and little drinke downe their own destruction making themselves slaves to their bellies and filthy lusts and by how much the more greedily they doe swallow downe these sugred baits the sooner goe they to the land of darknesse aâ— Iob hath it They spend their days in mirth and in a moment goe down to Hell Most elegantly S. Augustine all things saith he are utterly uncertain but death a child is coÌ„ceived perhaps it is born perhaps not but perisheth an abortive if it be borne perchance it groweth perchance not it may be old perhaps not it may be rich it may be poore it may be honoured it may be an abject It may marry perhaps not it may have children perchance none it may bee sicke it may be devoured by beasts it may escape But amongst all these perhaps and perchances â—in we truly say perhaps or perchance it shall die It is recorded in the Machabees of Alexander 1 Mac. 1 6. and his fate is