miseries incident to the seueral ages of man are from the first comming vp vpon the stage of this world to the last act of going downe Eccles 1.14 in al parts of the life full of vanitie and vexation of spirit For the first entrance is our infancie when wee are in our nurses armes and doth not that begin with teares and feares And is not all that time vnhappie sauing that we want reason that is the vse thereof to apprehend that happinesse When we come out of our nurses armes to goe in their hands or to goe by our selues in our next age doe we not weepe long vnder the rod falling into the subiection of a teacher Amongst the ancient Romanes this was their manner and custome for their youth They let their children suck vntill they were two yeers old till they were foure yeeres old they let them play till sixe they taught them to reade till eight to write till ten they learne the Grammer When a boy was once ten yeeres old he was set straight way to some good trade and occupation or else sent to the warres which was a thing the Romanes gloried in most to bee good souldiers In all which ages they sustained great miseries being all this time vnder Tutors and Gouernours When we come out of the prison of boyes and girles and are set at some more libertie in a yong mans life are wee not tossed as vpon a sea of vnquietnesse sailing betweene reason and passion as between two contrary waters and crosse winds Then commeth perfect age or mans age and what haue wee heere but blastes and stormes of greater vnrest then in any age before From one trauaile we passe to another neuer ending but changing our miseries And when we come to old age and haue liued so long that we are come to dotage is there any thing in these ages exempt from miserie and trauaile that is vnder the Sunne Surely our infirmities do then come vpon vs in multitudes yea so loade vs with their waight and number that they make vs to bowe and goe double vnder them vnto the earth And can there be any comfort in these diseases as I may call them and dayes of euill wherein doe meete and flocke together so many vultures of life the weakenesse of infancie the seruitude of childehood the sicknesse of youth the cares of mans age All which come againe and come all together as many stormes vpon one poore old ruinous house that is sore shaken alreadie by death violently to ouerthrow it for euer Heere the excesse and ryot of youth is exercised with gouts palsies and sundrie fearefull aches the watching and cares of manhood are punished with losse of sight of hearing and of sence except the sence of paine There is no part of man which death in that age of yeares doth not take in hope to be assured of him as of a bad pay-master which greatly feareth and would gladly put off his dayes of payment And therefore it bringeth him low in all parts that he may haue power in none to auoid his Creditor and end so neere And touching the miseries incident to the seuerall ages of man the Prophet Ieremie crieth out How is it that I came out of the wombe to see labour and sorrow Ier. 20.18 that my dayes should be consumed with shame How much more cause haue we miserable creatures to crie out of our calamities and miseries who were conceiued and borne in sinne seeing the Prophet complained so much 51.5 Ier. 1.5 being sanctified in his mothers wombe O vaine miserable and vnhappie men before we sinne we are straite fastened to sinne and before we can offend wee are fast bound with offence Consider O man from whence thou camest blush whither thou goest and feare where thou liuest We are begotten in vncleannesse brought foorth with paines and throwes and nourished in darknesse Wee begin our tragedie with nakednesse and weeping we continue with paine and vexation and take our farewell with sorrow and miserie Our beginning is lamentable our continuance wretched and our departure grieuous The whole life of man is beset and incountred with three capitall enemies Paine Care and Sorrow Paine pincheth vs Care consumeth vs and Sorrow endeth vs. There is no age of man free from affliction calamitie and miserie And to begin againe with the miseries of infancie behold in his birth intollerable is his mothers paine and infinite are the infants calamities who commeth into the world crying and weeping poore and naked weake and miserable without speech without knowledge or strength no sooner is the babe borne but straight is hee bound hand and foote and cast into a cradle as into a prison prefiguring the seruitude hee is to suffer In his childhood he beginneth to warre with the lacke of reason and to fight against his owne folly not knowing what hee is where hee is whence nor for what hee came into the world Now must he be kept vnder the feare of the rod and learne some Liberall Science or some Mechanicall Arte or Trade whereby to maintaine his fraile life hereafter if hee continue it Then commeth youth rash head-strong voluptuous ventrous foolish prodigall passionate In this age he commeth into great dangers fighting against the desires of the flesh against fond affections and vaine imaginations which cause the minde to wauer and bee inconstant and to bee carried away with sundrie phantasies In this age hee becommeth a drunkard a gamester a quarreller a loose liuer and oftentimes to be cast into prison to bee hanged and to lose all that hee hath and to be a great griefe vnto his parents Gen. 42.38 in causing them thereby to end their dayes in sorrow in the sence and feeling whereof the Prophet crieth vnto God saying Psal 25.7 Remember not the sinnes of my youth Afterward as he hath to encounter with manhood to which age is incident the charge of wife children the maintenance of family and care of posterity He that is maried saith the Apostle careth for the things that are of the world 1. Cor. 7.33 how he may please his wife Sometimes he is besieged with a desire and carking care and couetousnesse somtime with feare to lose his goods and other infinite such vanities and afflictions Then lastly commeth old age stealing on vnperceiued yea gray haires saith the Prophet are heere and there vpon him Hos 7.9 Ioel 1.2 yet hee knoweth it not In this age man receiues many incurable wounds as baldnesse bleared eyes deafe cares wrinckled browes stinking breath trembling hands faint spirits leane cheekes corruption of stomacke with like miseries innumerable which neuer leaue to wound the bodie disquiet the minde and torment the conscience And thus are wee tossed all the dayes of our life with griefe compassed with cares and ouerwhelmed with miseries and calamities And therefore Plato well obserued that a man is Arbor inuersa a tree turned vpward his haire of his head the root the
armes the branches and so of the rest So that our infancie is but a dreame our childhood but folly our youth madnes our manhood a combate our age a sicknesse our life misery and our death sorrow How weake is infancie how ignorant is childhood how light inconstant adolescencie how intractable and confident bee yong men how grieuous and irkesome is old age What is a yong boy but as a brute beast hauing the forme only and shape of a man What is a flourishing yonker but as an vntamed horse what is an old man but a receptacle of all maladies and diseases And this age is a degree neerer to death by common course then the former ages for these yeeres take all pleasures from our life wherin affliction followeth affliction as the clouds returne after the raine Eccles 12.2 2. Sam. 19,34,35 and in these stooping yeeres euery steppe is in death and they may say with Barzilla How long haue I to liue when their houses are turned into their prisons and they haue no taste in that they eate or drinke And they hauing thus the markes of age in their face and vpon their heads yet as they that would stil be yong they coÌ„sider not that they draw neere to their graue haue tokeÌ„s vpon theÌ„ of a blasted life in which age they can neither put off nor put on their owne clothes Yong men saith Seneca haue death behind them old men haue death before them and all men haue death not farre from them Experience plainly teacheth and all ages approue that Godâ— plague threatneth sicknesse calleth and old age warneth death suddenâ—… taketh and the earth finally deuoureth Death most commonly hath three harbengers that make way against he come viz. Casualtie Sicknesse and old-Old-age Casualtie telleth me death is at my backe Sicknesse telleth me shee is at my heeles and old-Old-age telleth me shee is before my face Sicknesse is reckoned by Hugo amongst the messengers of death of which there are three Casus Infirmitas Senectus Casus nunciat mortem latentem Infirmitas apparentem Senectus praesentem Casualties shew vs death lurking for vs Sicknesse appearing vnto vs old-Old-age saith death is present and ready to fetch vs. The aged man holdeth his life as an Eele by the taile which he would faine hold fast but cannot because it is so slipperie and slideth from him Many times death taketh for a gage one part or other of our body as an arme or eye or legge or hand finger or tooth or some of our sences or such like for an aduertisement that hee will very shortly fetch away the rest If any man be long a dying and paying Deaths debt Nature like a rigorous creditor that will be paid at the iust day sueth out an execution against her debtor taking from one his sight from another his hearing and both from some and he that tarieth longest in the world shee foundereth maineth and vtterly disableth in his limbes So that as man in respect of himselfe is vaine and miserable so also is hee much more in regard of the qualitie and condition of his life and calling For there is no kinde of life meaning wherby life is maintained but it is mingled with frailetie and many grieuances If thou liue abroad to wit in Offices there are strifes if at home there are cares in the field labours in the sea feare in iourneying if it be void of ieopardie yet it is painefull and tedious If thou art maried then canst thou not be without cares if not maried then is thy life wearisome Hast thou children then shalt thou haue sorrow Hast thou none then is thy life vnpleasant Thy youth is wilde and foolish thy age weake and fraile and infinit are the dangers that depend thereon For one bewaileth his losses another weepeth for lacke of health liberty and necessarie liuing The workman maymeth himselfe with his owne toole while he earnestly plyeth his businesse the idle person is pined with famine the gambler breaketh his limbes with gaming the adulterer consumeth himselfe with botches and leprosie the dicer suddenly stabbed with a dagger and the Student continually wrung with the gout besides infinite more miseries incident to mans life too long heere to rehearse For there is no calling state or degree exempt or free from vanitie miserie and death All are vaine all are vexed all are tormented with worldly tempests all doe suffer the dolefull blasts of miserie and calamitie To begin with the strongest Champion the mightiest Monarch the greatest Emperour or Prince that euer liued on the earth and to come downe to the poorest wretch and meanest miser in the world you shall find that all of all sorts poore and rich master and seruant maried and vnmaried subiect and Prince to conclude the bad and the good are tormented with temptations tossed with tempests disquieted with aduersities and therefore are most fraile most miserable yea and nothing but miserie The poore man he is grieued with famine and thirst suppressed with sorrow and heauinesse and oppressed with cold and nakednesse he is dispised and contemned buffeted and scorned Luke 16.19 he lieth grouelling at the rich mans feete and dying at their heeles as they goe in the streete or at the gates and yet vnregarded Prou. 14.20 he is shunned of his brethren loathed of his friends Iam. 2.3 and hated of his neighbour And as the Apostle saith he is set vnder the rich mans foot-stoole so that none account is maâ—e of him Luke 16.3 To aske for Gods sake he is oftentimes ashamed and if he will not aske he is piâ—…d and therefore meere necessitie constraineth him to begge He accuseth God of vnrighteousnesse and partialitie because hee diuided not the goods of the world equally He blameth his neighbour of vnmercifulnesse and cruelty Matth. 20.11 because he releeueth not his necessitie He fretteth and fumeth hee murmureth repineth and curseth Whereupon it was truely said Eccle. 40.28.30 My sonne lead not a beggers life for better it is to die then to begge Begging is sweete in the mouth of the shamelesse but in his belly there shall burne a fire Againe on the otherside Psal 49.6 the rich man himselfe is ouerthrowne in his abundance he is puffed vp with vain-glory he putteth his trust and confidence in his wealth and substance whereupon he braggeth and boasteth Ezech. 28.5 They trust in their wealth and boast themselues in the multitude of their riches he swelleth with pride and disdaine Their heart is lifted vp saith the Prophet because of their riches Prou. 22.7 The rich saith the Wiseman ruleth ouer the poore and the borrower is seruant to the lender Yet labour in getting feare in possessing and sorrow in losing doth euer trouble and disquiet his minde And so as saith the Apostle they that will be rich fall into temptations and snares 1. Tim. 6.9.10 and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts which drowne men in perdition and destruction
daily bread as if wee should reckon the continuance of our life no longer then a day or a few daies And againe the Lord by his prophet calling vpon sinners saith To day if yee will heare his voice Psal 95.7.8.9 harden not your hearts noting thereby that if we liue this day we are not sure to liue the next Where it is said in the Prophecie of Zacharias That we should serue the Lord without feare Luke 1.74.75 in holines and righteousnes before him all the daies of our life We are to note that the Holy Ghost defines life not by yeares or Moneths or weekes but by dayes shewing thereby that our life is nothing else but a composition of a few dayes which how soone they may bee swallowed vp by that long night of death we cannot tell Psal 19.6 but it will be sooner perhaps then we are aware The Sunne arising in the East and falling in the West and all in one day sheweth our rising and falling our comming and going foorth of this world all which may bee done in a day Ier. 6.4 Woe vnto vs saith the Prophet for the day goeth away And a day consisteth but of a morning and euening and a noone Euening and morning and at noone saith the Prophet will I pray and cry aloud and hee shall heare my voice Psal 55.17 Some are taken away in the morning of their life many feele not the heate of the day he that drawes out the line of his life till the euening liues but all the day What pleasure saith one is there in this life when night and day we cannot but thinke that we must passe away It is but a carkas now which yesterday liued yesterday a man to day none The saying of Chrysostome the Lord hath promised pardon to him that repenteth but to liue till to morrow he hath not promised When Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron to intreat the Lord for him Exod. 8.8 that hee might take away the Frogges from him and his people and Moses asking him when he should intreate for him he said to morrow So many with Pharaoh deferre matters of greatest waight and moment still till to morrow not knowing what may happen to vs before to morrow euen death it selfe for ought we know Is to morrow in thine owne power Canst thou challenge any such promise at Gods hand Happie is that man which of the safetie of his soule can say with himselfe as that olde man Messodamus did who being inuited to dinner the next day answered why inuitest thou me for to morow who of al the yeares I haue liued haue not to morrow day but haue euery houre expected death which alwayes lyes in waite for me The Rich man in the Gospell gathered much possessed much enlarged his garners and promised to himselfe securitie Luk. 12.19.20 with a retired farewell to the world Soule saith hee thou hast much goods laid vp for many yeeres take thine ease eate drinke and be merrie But God said vnto him Thou foole this night shall thy soule be taken from thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided Alas this was it seemeth the first night of his rest and must it be the last too Yes Esay 57.21 Esay answereth them There is no rest to the vngodly He that hath a long iourney to goe in a short time maketh hast and he who remembreth euery day runneth away with his life cannot sit still But where men promise to themselues long life and much time there they waxe wanton and become secure and put farre away the euill day as the Prophet speaketh Amos 6.3 Therefore the Lord doth commend our life vnto vs in all these Scriptures which we haue heard and in other places in a short abstract of dayes and not in a volume of yeeres So Christ saith to Ierusalem If thou hadst knowne Luke 19.42 euen thou at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes not granting a longer terme then the terme of one poore day vnto her Which was to teach her and vs in her to thinke euery day to be our last day and therefore to do that this day as in our tine which we are not sure to doe the next day as in the time that God hath taken to himselfe and from vs as being more properly his then our day Therefore boast not thy selfe saith the Wiseman of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prou. 27.1 And there is one more this day of thy number spent and thou art now nearer to thy end by a day But if any man doth think that he may liue as yet many yeeres his yeares may lacke moneths his moneths may lacke weekes his weekes may lacke daies his daies may lacke houres nay his houres may lacke minutes an houre is but a short time But while one houre by continuall succession is added to another the whole course of our life is finished euery houre runneth away with some part of our life and euen then when our bodies grow and increase our liues fade and decrease yea euen this day wherein we liue wee diuide and part with death There is none saith Saint Augustine but is nearer death at the yeares end then at the beginning to morrow then to day to day then yesterday by and by then iust now and now then a little before Each part of time that we passe if time haue parts cuts off so much from our life and the remainder still decreaseth When childhood commeth on infancie dieth when adolescencie commeth childhood dieth when youth commeth adolescencie dieth when old age commeth youth dieth when death commeth all and euery age dyeth So that looke how many degrees of ages we desire to liue so many degrees of death we desire to die Aske an old man where is his infancie where his childhood where his adolescencie where his youth shall he not say true if he answere alas all these are dead and gone What speake I of ages Euery yeare moneth day houre of our life that we haue liued is dead to vs and wee are dead with them What therefore is our whole life but a long death What is euery day therof but as Petrach saith a degree of death what is euery moment thereof but a motion vnto death Againe that the daies of man are but few and his life very short experience and that which we see in daily vse doth shew besides the word of God which for this speaking of mans short time vseth to take the shortest diuision in nature to expresse it As that it is the life of yesterday as in the Psalme Psal 90.4 For a thousand yeeres in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past a life which is gone as soone as it comes a life of few houres as a watch in the night the life of a thought wherof there may be
Syria was poysoned by his owne Queene Laodicea for that he loued King Ptolomeus sister By fire the Emperour Valentine was burned by the Goathes Acteus King of Lydia was hanged by his owne subiects Diomedes King of Thrace was deuoured of wilde beasts Cleopatra Queene of Egypt was stung to death by Serpents Diogenes was deuoured with dogges Basilius Emperour of Macedon was killed by a Hart. Anacrion died in eating of an egge the Emperour Fredericke going to Ierusalem was drowned Queene Sisigambis King Darius his mother died of hunger Pyrrhus King of Epirus was slaine with a tyle-stone Fabian a Senator was choaked with haire Pope Adrian was choaked with a flye getting into his throate Iulius Caesar Emperour of Rome was murdered in the Senate-house Tullius Hostilius was slaine with a thunder-bolt Acts 12.23 Herod was deuoured of wormes And if none of these yet old age will arrest vs for yong haires doe soone turne gray and actiue youth is soone metamorphosed into crooked old age which is the champioÌ„ of death who neuer grapled with any but at length threw them into the dust which sheweth the comparison of the Prophet to be most excellent Esa 64.6 without comparison that all flesh is grasse and the best of vs but as the flower of the field this day flourishing to morrow fading And we all doe fade as a leafe saith the prophet Esay in an other place Iam. 4.14 Saint Iames compareth our life to a vapor that appeareth for a little while and afterward vanisheth away Can any thing be spoken more plainely to set forth our mortalitie As a vapour a mist a thin watery and aiery substance which a small puffe of winde may disperse or the heat of the sunne dissolue Psal 37.20 Now vnto this if our life may be resembled then as a vapor is but for one morning or euening at the most Psal 109.23 so our life is but a moment for a very short time Againe Dauid compares it to smoake because it is corruptible to a grashopper because it hath but a small continuance Nay he saith man is like a thing of naught Psal 144.4 and lesse then nothing Gen. 4.7.9 2 Tim. 4.7 Iacob calleth it a pilgrimage Paule a course A pilgrimage hath a full poynt a course a stop and our life and end By all which places of scripture wee see that the spirit of God to set forth the frailtie and breuitie of our life compareth it as we haue heard to things of shortest continuance as to the weauers shittle which he taketh and presently casteth it out of his hands againe to the winde which is very swift for the winde bloweth saith our Sauiour where it lifteth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it commeth nor whether it goeth to a post which stayeth not long in a place to a flower which quicklie withereth to a shadowe which soone vanisheth to a thought which is swiftest of all the rest so fraile is our estate so transitorie our life so short are our dayes and vncertaine that as soone as we be borne we begin to dye The breuity and vanitie of our life was so noted of the Heathen men themselues which made the Egiptians compare it to an Inne where lodging for a night we are gone Pindarus and Basil compare this life to a dreame wherein are pleasing and displeasing shewes but at our awaking are all gone Man saith Pindarus is to be compared to the dreame of a shadow Sophocles to a shadowe Homer vnto leaues that bud grow out decay blow away Pythagoras to a stage-play Aristotle to a beast called Ephemeron which is neuer but one day old And many such comparisons wee finde both in sacred and humaine histories poynting out the shortnes and vncertainty of mans life For dreames are but momentarie fantasies of a disturbed braine for a dreame saith the Preacher commeth of the multitude of busines Eccl. 5.3 A shadowe is a shew and not substance A play is but the handling of some stately or base part for an houre then comes the Epilogue and ends all euen so our life is but a dreame to be thought vpon a shadow to be looked vpon and a play to be acted As therefore dreames are forgotten shadowes do vanish and playes haue their conclusion so our liues haue their limits and bounds which they cannot passe For God that hath numbred the haires of our head hath numbred our yeares and dayes also that we cannot passe them Mat. 10.30 Life is nothing else saith the heathen Philosopher but a glew which fasteneth soule and body together which proceedeth of the temperament whereof the body is made It passeth away as a trace of a cloud and as a bird that flyeth through through the ayre and as an arrow that is shot Our life is nothing but a little breath and how easie is it for God to take away our weake life when weake man by stopping of our breath is able sodainly and most certainely to send vs to our dust Therefore the Prophet saith Psal 104.29 thou hidest thy face and they are troubled when thou takest away their breath they die and turne to their dust Our life it selfe is not giuen vs in perpetuity but lent vs for a time for mans spirit is but borrowed The wise man calleth it a very debt which a man doth owe to yeeld vnto death Wis 15.8.16 Therefore we vsually speake and well too I owe God a death for euery mans death is foreseene and appoynted in Gods eternall decree with all the circumstances thereof The Prophet Dauid compareth our life to the fat of Lambes Psal 37.20 which wasteth away in the rosting and to a new coate which is soone wâ—xed old and eaten with moths Iob to the burning of a candle which in the end commeth into the socket and annoyeth and then euery one cryeth put it out What thing else is mans life but a bubble vp with the water and downe with the winde Iob. 8.14 Againe the life of man is compared to a cobweb for as the spider is occupied all his life time in weauing of cobwebs and draweth those threds out of his owne bowels wherewith he knitteth his nets to catch flies and often times it commeth to passe when the spider suspecteth none ill a seruant going about to make cleane the house sweepeth downe the cobweb and the spider together and throwes them into the fire euen so the most part of men consume their whole time and spend all their wit strength and labor to haue their nets and bayts in a readines with which they may catch the flies of honors riches preferment and when they glory in the multitude of flies which they haue taken and promise to themselues rest in time to come and will say with the coueteous rich man in the gospell Soule thou hast much honor Luk. 12.19 goods and possessions laid vp for many yeares liue therefore at ease
or Milo 2. Sam. 23.8 or Dauids three Worthiest when thou commest to graple with Death hee will quickly crush thee and cast thee into the dust For hee will admit of no composition with thee for Death hath feete of wooll but armes of iron it commeth insensible but it hauing once taken hold neuer loseth her prize Is it for thy bewtie These eyes of thine which now are as bright as starres Death will make a horror to the beholders These cheekes of thine wherein now the lilly and the rose striue for the preheminence Death will make pale and earthly these corall lippes of thine will Death change to black and wanne this mouth of thine which in sweetnesse yeelds a cynamom breath will send forth the stinking sauour of a Sepulchre Therefore the Lord saith by his Prophet Isa 3.24 It shall come to passe that in stead of sweete smell there shall be a stinke and in stead of a girdle a rent and in stead of well set haire baldnesse and in stead of a stomacher a girding of sack-cloath and burning in stead of beautie The substance of bodily beauty consisteth in naught else but in phlegme bloud moisture and gall or melancholie which are maintained by the corruptible iuyces of meates hereby the apples of the eyes glister the cheekes are ruddie and the whole face is adorned And vnlesse they be daily moistened with such iuyce which ascendeth out of the liuer incontinent the skinne is dried vp the eyes waxe hollow all ruddinesse and bewtie depart from the visage Now if thou consider what is hidden vnder that skinne which thou iudgest so beautifull what is shut vp within the nostrils what in the iawes and belly thou wilt protest that this brauery of body is nothing but a painted sepulchre which without appeareth faire to men Math. 23.27 but within is full of filthinesse and vncleannesse And if thou see in a ragged cloath the phlegme and spitle that proceedeth from the bodie thou loathest it and wilt not touch it with the typ of thy finger looking askew thereon Therefore this cell and seat of phlegme this bewtiful body will be so much altered that a man may say O how much is he or she changed from that they were And hereof it is that the Wiseman saith Fauour is deceitfull Pro. 31.30 and beautie is vaine But to digresse a little dost thou make thy selfe beautiful and art not contented with that beautie which God thy Creator hath bestowed vpon thee Then hearken to that excellent saying of Saint Cyprian that weomen which aduance themselues in putting on of silke and purple cannot lightly put on Christ and they which colour their lockes with red and yellow do prognosticate of what colour their heads shall bee in hell and they which loue to paint themselues in this world otherwise then God hath created them let them feare lest when the day of the resurrection commeth the Creator will not know them And besides know thou that there be aches feauers impostumes swellings and mortalitie in that flesh thou so deckest and that skin which is so bepainted with artificial complexion shal lose the beautie and it selfe You that saile betweene heauen and earth in your foure sailed vessels as if the ground were not good enough to be the pauement to the soales of your feet know that one day the Earth shal set her feet on your faire neckes and the slime of it shall defile your sulphured bewties dust shall fill vp the wrinkled furrowes which age makes and paint supplies Your bodies were not made of the substance whereof the Angels were made nor of the nature of stones nor of the water whereof the fire ayre water and inferiour creatures Remember your tribe Esay 51.1 and your fathers poore house and the pit whereout you were hewed Hannibal is at the gates death standeth at your doores be not proud be not madde You must die and then your finenesse shall be turned into filthinesse your painted beautie and strength into putrifaction and rottennesse Let him make what shew he can with his glorious adornations let rich apparel and paintings disguise him liuing seare-clothes spices balmes enwrap him lead and stone immure him dead his originall mother will at last owne him for her naturall childe and triumph ouer him with this insultation Hee is my bowels Psal 146.4 hee returneth to his earth His bodie returneth not immediatly to heauen but to earth nor to earth as a stranger to him or an vnknowne place but to his earth as one of his most familier friends and of oldest acquaintance Powders Liquors Vnguents Odours Ornaments deriued from the liuing from the dead palpable instances and demonstratiue ensignes of pride and madnesse to make them seeme beautifull such translations and borrowing of formes that a silly country-man walking in the Citie can scarce say there goes a man or there a woman Is it for thy youth If thou thinke so thou reckonest without thine hoste Ier. 8.11 Iudg. 4.21 Psal 49.14 For thy folly therin may happily cause thee to say Peace peace till with Sisera thou fall into thy last sleepe of destruction and to goe from thy house to thy graue But who can bee ignorant that on the stage of this world some haue longer and some shorter parts to play and who knoweth not though some fruits fall from the tree by a full and naturall ripenesse that all doe not so nay that the more part are pulled from it and doe wither vpon it in the tender bud or yong fruit then are suffered to tarry till they come to their perfect ripenesse and mellowing The corne falles of it selfe sometime is bitten in the spring oft troden downe in the blade but neuer failes to be cut vp in the eare when it is ripe Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree some drop with ripenesse all must fall so doe not more without comparison fall from the tree of time yong eyther violently plucked from it by a hastie death or miserably withering vpon it by a lingring death perishing in the bud of childhood or bea en downe in the greene fruit of youth then come to their full age of ripenesse by a mellow and kindly death Further doth not God call from his worke some in the morning some at noone and some at night For as his labourers enter into his vineyard Matth. 20.1 so they goe out that is in such manner and at such houres some die in the dawning of their life who passe but from one graue to another some die in youth as in the third houre some at thirtie and some at fiftie as in the sixt and ninth and some very old as in the last houre of the day Yet more die yong then old and more before ten then after threescore Besides all this the fresh life which the yongest haue heere is cut off or continued by the same decree and finger of God that the oldest and most blasted life is
of all their hard speeches which vngodly sinners haue spoken against him The tense or time that the Apostle speakeâ—h in noteth the certaintie or as I may say the presentnesse of the Iudges comming where hee vseth the time present for future he commeth for he will come And this is to teach vs that a Iudgement will and must most certainly be ere long So it is said Reu. 6.17 That the great day of the Lords wrath is come not will come as if thaâ— had bin come a thousand and fiue hunddred yeeres agoe that is not come yet The like speech we haue in the Prophecie of Esay Isa 13.9 Behold the day commeth when it was further off In the time of the Prophet Zephany it is said Zeph. 1.14 The great day of the Lord is neere it is neere and hasteth greatly euen the voice of the day of the Lord. And Malachy the last of the Prophets speaketh as Enoch Malac. 4.1 For behold the day commeth that shall burne as an oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall bee stubble and the day that commeth shall burne them vp saith the Lord of Hosts Reuel 3.11.20 The Sonne of God saith Behold I come quickly nay hee saith behold I stand at the doore as if he were come already And indeed as the day will most surely come so it cannot be long in coÌ„ming as may appeare by the signes tokens which should immediatly goe before this day Of which many yea almost all are already fulfilled And although some flatter themselues with an imagination of a longer day theÌ„ God hath set vnto them or perhaps vnto the world for the last houre therof Who are such as the Apostle Saint Peter speaketh of 2. Pet. 3.3.4 That there shall come in the last dayes scoffers walking after their owne lusts and saying where is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers fell asleepe all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation But let such know that though the day of Iudgement were farre off yet the day and houre of euery mans perticular iudgement in death cannot bee farre off it being a common and true saying 2. Pet. 3.10 To day a man to morrow none And vnto such then Death doth specially come when they doe least thinke of it euen as a theefe in the night Reuel 3.3 The Sonne of God also saith Behold I will come on thee as a theefe and thou shalt not know what houre I will come vpon thee And theeues haue this propertie to breake open houses when men sleepe soundly suspecting nothing Amos 8.9 The Prophet Amos saith It shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord that I will cause the Sun to goe downe at noone and I will darken the earth in the cleere day That is to say when men thinke it to be the high noone of their age when they thinke they haue many yeeres yet to liue and when they shall say Peace and safetie 1. Thess 5.3 then sodaine destruction commeth vpon them as trauaile vpon a woman with childe and they shall not escape Matth. 24.48.49.50.51 And hereupon also our Sauiour Christ saith But if that euill seruant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his comming and shall begin to smite his fellow seruants and to eat and drinke with the drunken the Lord of that seruant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an houre that he his not aware off and shall cut him in sunder and appoynt him his portion with the hypocrits There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And for the day of the generall death of this languishing world hee that wisely considereth the wayings and declinings that haue beene found in it within these few yeares and how like a woman with child which hath many pangs and fits before the throwes of her great labour come it is now in paine till it be deliuered hauing much complained in those signes and alterations which haue gone before I say that hee that well obserueth to the true purpose of his saluation these and such like throwes or rather downe-throwes of things in the wombe of this old and sickly world so neere vnto the time of her trauell and appoynted end by fire cannot but say that it cannot continue longer and that the Lord will come amongst vs very shortly When we see a man in whose face wearing age hath made many wrincles and deepe furrowes we say this man cannot liue long so when we see the furrowes of old age to appeare and bee manifest in so many wastes and consumptions as this feeble world is entred into why doe we not see and conclude that the Death of it is neere More particularly and specially as there is no greater signe that a man is drawing towards death then when hee alwaies is catching at the sheetes and blanckets and euer pulling at somwhat so seing â—hat euery one catcheth pulleth all that he can in this griple and couetous age and that there is so insatiable a mind of hauing now in all conditions and callings of people it is a sure signe to the heart of a wise man that this world is sick euen to death so as it cannot hold out long And if there be no greater signe of Death then that the body is so cold that no heat will come vnto it Mat. 24.12 Luke 18.8 surely the cold charitie of the world mens want of zeale in religion our nullitie of faith or poore growth therein in so much as good sermons are seldome heard and with small amendement these things cannot but testifie that the world it selfe can bee of no long life And if it be so should it not much concerne vs presently without delay to turne vnto God to repent and beleeue the Gospell to enter into and keepe the way of truth and vertue and to prepare our selues for our end Which sort of people are rare birds in our dayes The reasons why God would not haue vs to know either the generall or particuler day of iudgment are principally these First to proue and try our faith patience loue preparation for Death and other vertues to see whether wee will bee constant in them till the very day it selfe shall come He that indureth saith Christ Math. 24.13 to the end shall be saued Secondly as it is the glory of a King to know something that no man els can know so it is a part of Gods glory to hide fron men and Angels the particular houres of mans death and this worlds doome which he hath closed vp with the seale of secrecy and put in his owne power In which respect the wise man saith Pro. 25.1 it is the glory of God to conceale a thing Therfore this is hiddeÌ„ from vs to bridle our curiositie and peeuish inquisition after such high and hidden matters aboue our reach and capacity For it is
not in the fadom of mans head to tell or heart to know how neere or farre off the day is onely God knoweth and Christ as God in what yeare month day and moment this frame shall goe downe In an age long since the day was neere now the houre is neere but curiositie is to be auoided in a coÌ„cealed matter in this forbidden tree of knowledge For secret things saith Moses Deut. 29.29 belong vnto the Lord our God Many men beate their heades about friuolous matters some saith Chrysostome being more busie to know where hell is then to auoide the paines of it others pleasing themselues in pelting and needlesse questions as this is to seeme singular amongst men neglecting in the meane time this dutie of their preparation for their end and such necessary things But when they come to their departing they shall finde that they haue beaten their braines about fruitlesse matters and wearied themselues in vaine It is sufficient for vs therefore to know that such a day will come and it shall bee wisdome in vs alwaies to bee readie for it that it come not vpon vs as the snare vpon the bird vnlooked for Therefore our Sauiour Christ saith Luk. 12.34.35 take heede to your selues lest at any time your hearts be ouercharged with surfetting and drunkennes and cares of this life and so that day come vpon you vnawares for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the earth Thirdly if wee knew the day houre or certaine time of our death wee would put off all tiâ—l the comming of that day and it would giue vs too great boldnes and incouragement to wallow in all manner of sinne till that time or houre came The whorish woman because shee knew the iust time when her husband would returne who went into a farre Countrey did the more liberally power out her soule to sinne and wantonnesse Pro. 7.19.20 For the good man saith shee is not at home hee is gone along iourney hee hath taken a bagge of money with him and will come home at the day appoynted Fourthly and lastly It is therefore vnknowne to vs when wee shall dye to the end that all the dayes of our appoynted time wee may waite for this day and all our time looke for this last time and prepare our selues for it Argus as is fained had his head inuironed with an hundred watching eies signifiing thus much vnto vs that he was euery way indued with great wisedome prouidence and singular discretion Therefore if a pagan and Heathen man so excelled in wisedome and prouidence how much rather ought a Christian man to be well furnished with wisedome circumspection for his latter end Be thou therfore an other Argus nay more wary then he more wise and prouident then he more watchfull circumspect then hee that thou mayst learne to know to vnderstand and finally to prouide for thy last end Gregory vpon the watches mentioned by our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell of Marke in these words Mark 13.35.36.37 Watch yee therefore for yee know not when the Master of the house commeth at euen or at midnight or at the cock-crowing or in the morning lest comming suddenly he finde you sleeping and what I say vnto you I say vnto all watch he saith that there be foure watches in a mans whole life wherein it behoueth him to be vigilant and carefull and as a wakefull and warie watchman to keepe his watch and so prepare himselfe for his end The first is childhood the second youth the third manhood the fourth old age In all which ages he must prepare himselfe for death but he which remissâ—ly passeth ouer his childhood without this preparation and watchfulnesse let him be more carefull of his watch in his youth and pray as it is in Ieremie Ier. 3.4 My father be thou the guide of my youth If he hath passed his youth dissolutely let him be more carefull of his watch in his manhood And if hee hath passed ouer his manhood carelessely let him in any case looke to his last watch of his old age Nay if we prepare not for death before we come to this last watch of old age to which verie few doe attaine it is so fraile weake and feeble and decayed by the custome of sinne that it is an age not so fit for this preparation and watchfulnesse For at such an age men for the most part are like to the Idols of the Heathen Psal 115.4.5.6.7 which haue mouthes but speake not eyes but see not eares but heare not c. Therefore put not off this preparation and watchfulnesse to thy old age which is thy dotage but be thou watchfull and prepared in thy childhood youth manhood Eccl. 12.1 Remember now thy Creator saith the Preacher in the daies of thy youth while the euill dayes come not nor the yeares draw nigh when thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them Wherfore not without cause our Sauiour Christ crieth so often in the Gospell Matth. 24.42 Mar. 13.32.33 Take yee heed watch and pray because yee know not the day nor the houre nor when the time is the which is as much as if he had more plainely said because yee know not that yeere watch every yeere because yee know not that moneth watch euery moneth because yee know not that day watch euery day and because yee know not that houre watch euery houre That is to say watch continually yeares moneths dayes houres yea all your life if you haue a care of euerlasting life And let your loynes saith our Sauiour Christ be girded about and your lights burning Luke 12 35.36.37.38 and yee your selues like vnto men that waite for their Lord when he will returne from the wedding that when he commeth and knocketh they may open to him immediately Blessed are those seruants whom the Lord when he commeth shall finde watching Verily I say vnto you that hee shall girde himselfe and make them to sit downe to meate and will come forth and serue them And if he shall come in the second watch or in the third and finde them so blessed are those seruants Prou. 19.20 Therefore heare my counsell and receiue instruction that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end The end of the third Diuision THE FOVRTH DIVISION OF THE RIGHT BEHAVIOVR IN DEATH THis behauiour is nothing else but a religious and holy behauiour especially toward God when we are in or neere the agonie and pangs of death Which behauiour containes foure especiall duties The first is to die in or by faith And to die by faith is when a man in the time of death doth with all his heart wholly rely himselfe on Gods especiall loue fauour mercie in Christ as it is reuealed in his holy word And though there be no part of mans life void of iust occasions whereby he may put faith in practise yet the speciall time
contempt and refusing the time of grace the Lord cast them off and reiect them I deny not but that in respect of vs till God hath manifested his will there is hope but in respect of Gods secret decree the time of Gods mercie may bee out euen during this life therefore when mercie is offered wee must take heed we wilfully cotemne it not lest we prouoke the Lord to be gone and vtterly to reiect vs. One of the most feareful signes of a Cast-away is to delay and put off the Lords gratious offer of mercy as we reade of Pharaoh who when Moses offered himselfe to pray to the Lord for him he put it off till the next morrow Exod. 8.9.10 so he that hath the mercies and graces of God offered him to day and puts them off from his youth to his age and from his old daies till his death-bed may iustly feare an vtter reiection euen then when he hopes for most comfort And as it is most certaine that after death teares are fruitlesse repentance vnprofitable as after death no mercie is to be expected nothing but miserie nothing but wrath so is it doubtfull and very dangerous that our sighes teares and groanes are of little force at the very neere approach of death whether by age extremitie of disease or otherwise For at that time when our powers are distracted or spent when no part is free eyther from the sence or feare of his cruell gripe we may well be said to be in death or at leastwise in such a condition or state that doth lesse participate of life then death And therefore at the least it is doubtfull that at that time we shall not remember God and that our repentance shall come too late What a shame is it that the children of this world are wiser in their kind then the children of light A good husband will repaire his house while the weather is faire and not deferre till winter doth rise A carefull Pilot will furnish his shippe whiles the Seas are calme and not stay vntill tempests doe rage The traveller will take his time in his iourney and will hasten when he sees night approach lest darknesse ouertake him The Smith will strike while the iron is hot lâ—st it coole vpon him and so hee lose his labour The Marriner will not let the tide passe him for as the common prouerbe is the time and tide tary for no man The Lawyer will take the terme because he knoweth that it being ended his clients will be gone So we ought to make euery day the day of our terme and a prouident man will repent him of his sinnes in the seasonable time of health and strength and not protract till hee bee in the very armes and the imbracement of death when many occasions may cut from him either his minde or power or time to repent For we haue iust cause to feare that if we would not when we might we shall not be able when we would and that by our will to do euill we may happily lose the power to doe well Thy very tongue will condemne thee in thy trade if thou trust a man with thy wares thou wilt require a bill or bond saying all men are mortall and at lesse then an houres warning But let the Preacher exhort thee to accept of the gratious time of the Lord and put thee in minde that thy life as a vapour is soone gone yet thou wilt not beleeue him but so lead thy life in sinne as if thou hadst the same in see farme And to thee that callest thy neighbours friends and companions to Cards Dice or any such pastime saying come let vs goe passe the time away Is time so slow that it must be driuen I tell thee there are at this day many thousands in hell who if they had many kingdoms would gladly giue them all for one houre of that time whereof thou hast many not to passe it away or driue it from them but in hope to recouer that which thou dost most gracelessely contemne Alas who dares trust to the broken reed of extreame sicknesse or age bruised by originall but altogether broken by our actuall sinnes We haue good cause not to trust to this deferring of time and late repentance For if Esau could not finde repentance albeit he sought it with teares Heb. 12.17 how may we with good reason suspect our extreame late seeking for repentance Not because true repentance can euer bee too late but because late repentance is seldome true as wee haue alreadie heard Et sera rarò seria that which is late is seldome liuely as proceeding rather from feare then from loue from necessitie then from willingnesse and desire rather outwardly pretended then with the heart intended We all of vs in our iolitie thinke we may doe what wee list and so long as God forbeares to punish we will neuer forbeare to sin but still deferre the time of repentance But God grant we may remember and lay to our hearts what that good Father Saint Augustine saith Nihil est infoelicius c. Nothing is more infortunate then the felicitie of sinners whereby there penall impietie is nourished and their malice strengthened and increased When God doth suffer sinners to prosper then his indignatioÌ„ is the greater toward them saith that Father and when hee leaueth them vnpunished then he punisheth them most of all For the further pressing of this doctrine on our consciences let vs obserue some places of Scripture And first let vs see what the Lord saith to such as despise wisdomes call being of three sorts viz. The first that like fooles content themselues with ignorance The second that scoffe at the Lords offer by his seruants The third which are carried away by their owne lusts Prou. 1.24.28 Because I haue called and yee refused I haue stretched out my hand and none would regard and then they shall call vpon mee but I will not answere they shall seeke me early but shall not finde me Noting to vs that as they did refuse the time in which he called so they should call in hope of mercy but finde none Esay 23.12.13 The like we reade how the Prophet Esay calling Ierusalem to repentance in sack-cloath and ashes for their sinnes shee fell to sporting and feasting despising the Lords message and offer of grace by his Prophet what came of it You may reade presently that their contempt comming to the Lords eares he doth answere Surely this iniquitie shall not bee purged from you till you die saith the Lord of Hostes giuing them to vnderstand that seeing they set so light by the admonitions of the Prophet there should bee left them no time to repent in till hee had destroyed them But of all the places of Scripture for this purpose let vs see what the Lord saith to Ierusalem by his Prophet Ezechiel Ezech. 24.13 Because saith hee I would haue purged thee and thou wast not purged thou
euen against God himselfe I know you will hearken vnto these things Consider saith the Apostle what I say 2. Tim. 2.7 and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all these things It is sufficient to waigh these matters with the waights of the Lords Sanctuarie and not needfull to try them by fetching helpes of humane reason Yet to giue them ouer measure that will not rest satisfied with the comforts which the holy Scripture doth affoord let it bee first considered what humane wit and reason hath said in this case And touching this matter which now is mooued I haue read and you may see what Heathens by learning and naturall light haue said to themselues and their friends in such losses but this did I neuer read neither shall you finde that all their comforts haue counteruailed one promise out of Gods booke I confesse the bookes of heathen Writers doe promise comfort in this case but alas they performe it not but are like a brooke that swels in winter when there is no need of it and is dry in Summer when the passenger fainteth and panteth for heat no if we will haue good gold we must goe to Ophir if good balme to Gilead if good wine to Christ at the wedding of Cana and if good tidings to the booke of God They did say well in many things but neuer like this word that is from the Lord. Iohn 7.46 For neuer man spake like this man as the officers told the chiefe Priestes and Pharisies concerning Christ They considered the necessitie of death the miseries of life the examples of great men that had gone before them and such like But what are these to those that the word of God will shew vs our safety in Christ our resurrection in immortality in the presence of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost with such like yet both good vnto a sanctified mind First the necessitie of death is a true comfort against death be it of our selues or of our friends no liuing flesh but must die as we haue heard in the first Diuision What man is hee saith the Psalmist that liueth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 And shall we feare that in our selues or bewaile immoderatly that in our friends which cannot be auoided This were with witlesse wil to disturbe the peace of our whole life and with a seruile dread of the last houre to bereaue of comfort all the rest of our houres that we are to liue in this present euill world which in your iudgment conceiue how fond a thing it were The carefull view of natures course doth shew vs degrees from age to age till we come to a full and a like decrease by step after step till we come to the change againe Youth followeth childhood and age followeth youth by assured necessitie if we liue But when we are children wee feare not to be men neither when we are men to become olde but many rather wish it why then should we either feare in our selues or lament in our friends death to follow age in his course appointed more then age to follow youth as was said before Surely the one must bee receiued as well as the other without choice And whereas Christ said in the Gospel touching man and wife Matth. 19.9 What therefore God hath ioyned together let no man put in sunder it may be more peremptorily said of this What God hath ioyned or coupled together no man can separate nor put asunder And therfore a wise content both in our friends and in our selues shall become vs best Who will not die let him neuer liue for we receiue the one to endure the other when God appointeth and we must all die both friend and foe to wise men necessitie is a comfort and so I hope to you Secondly the miseries of this life is another head from whence heathen men haue deriued comfort against death be it of our selues or of our friends Consider then with your selfe from the first age vnto the last houre the diseases incident to our bodies to vexe vs with woe according to their seuerall natures some more some lesse and yet the least too much All the changes and chances of this most wretched sinfull world whereunto whilst we liue wee must lye open will we nill we from all which our death doth free vs and our friends Therefore how should wee either feare or sorrow for our selues or for our friends for that which doth so befriend vs If we conceiue hereof as we ought we must needs be of the same iudgment with Seneca and in some sort approoue his speech O men most ignorant saith hee of their owne miseries who praise not death as the best inuention that euer nature had which includeth felicity excludeth miserie finisheth the toyles of age preuenteth the perils of youth to many is a remedie to some a wish to all an end and deserueth better of none then them to whom it commeth before it be called Yea we must confesse these things beeing well considered that it befalleth to men concerning death as vnto young children concerning their friends Litle children if their friends bee disguised with some strange shewes they are afraid of them and crying flie from them Exod. 4.3 as some that would hurt them as Moyses fled from his rod of death when it was turned into a Serpent But take off these vizards that their friends may appeare as they are and then by and by they are comforted and reioyce and imbrace them gladly againe euen so it is of death when we are misled it appeareth vnto vs disguised and couered by ignorance of the truth and his approaching maketh vs shrinke but plucke off that vizard of supposed euill and behold it as it is to vs in Christ and it is then but a painted death and we see him then our great friend that cutteth the thrid that we do weaue and then we neither flie nor feare any more but are truely comforted and imbrace him most willingly as we ought and loue him as Ionathan loued his friend Dauid 1. Sam. 18.1 as his owne soule Thirdly the heathen considered againe the famous and worthy men that died before them and what they endured and could not auoid and therevpon thought great shame either to feare or flie to lament in themselues or in their friends The greatest lights that euer were amongst them died all Socrates Demosthenes Plato Pompey Caesar Cicero learned martiall or whatsoeuer yea what wisedome and knowledge what valour and prowesse what act what gouernement soeuer they had all gifts and graces all pompe and power all empire and maiestie were it ouer thousands or thousand thousands yeelded to death death had his place when his time was come and as well these great lights and loftie gallants as the lowest wretches and poorest wormes the high okes as the small shrubs drunke of deaths cuppe when they were inuited and inioyned Shall it not then euen in reason seeme
left being obedient It was neuer beautifull and cheerefull since it waxed old in youth through manifold attaxes and disorders and at this day lyes bedrid waiting for the comming of the Son of God And we full well know and are taught by the reading of the Scripture and also by experience that men are not so long liued nor of that goodly tall proportion or strong constitution of bodie as in former ages For the world as a voice out of a bush telleth Esdras 2. Esdr 14.14 hath lost his youth and the times beginne to waxe old and we are borne weaker and more feeble then all creatures and had we not some body to receiue vs when we come into the world woe were it with vs wee might make a short and wofull stay or tragedie to bee borne to weepe to die We haue no cause to perswade vs that this is the golden age but rather that according to the dreame of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 2. The golden head the siluer breasts the brasen thighes are long since past and wee now liue in the time of the Iron legges the feete whereof are partly yron partly clay In the fortunate Islands beyond the Atlantick seas in the vttermost borders of Ethiopia where the people that liue there are called Macrobij for their long life a man perhaps may liue a long life but what countrey may bee found where a man may auoid the sickle of Death Hence it was that Hormisda did answere the Emperour Constantine demaunding him of the bewtie of Rome stately buildings goodly Statues and sumptuous Temples if he thought that in all the world were any such Citie Surely saith Hormisda there is indeede none comparable vnto it yet hath it one thing saith hee common to all other Cities for men die heere as they die in all other places And what doth it profite to liue long and wickedly and die at length It were better like Cadmus progeny to die the same houre wee were borne What Duellum is this betweene death and nature And if God should not suffer vs to die alas what a miserable life would this be when we come to be old and full of sorrowes Eccle. 11.1 aches sicknesses diseases and griefes When our sences are gone and we haue no pleasure in any thing And when as the Psalmist saith Psal 90.10 our life is but a labour and a sorrow In which age we had need if we haue our sences then to pray hartily to the Lord. Psal 71.9.18 Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth me And also When I am old and gray headed O God forsake me not And alas if we should not then die we would wish to die and say it were better a thousand times to die then to liue For death saith Iesus the sonne of Syrach is better then a better life Eccle. 30.17 or continuall sicknesse And therefore we reade of a certaine Islâ—nd where they liue so long that they are faine to bee carried out thence that they might die And God hath prouided wonderous well for mankind that whereas any man may take our life from vs yet there is none that can take Death from vs who can stoppe the winde that it blow not Who can hinder death that it come not If Iacob counted his time but short Gen. 47.9 hauing already liued an hundred and thirty yeeres what reckoning may we make of our time which is farre shorter Gen. 5.5.27 In the time before the Floud the age of man was great Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeeres Noah nine hundred and fiftie Gen. 9.29 Methusalem nine hundred sixtie nine yeeres but after the Floud in Terahs dayes who was father to Abraham Gen. 11.32 Gen. 25.7 Deut. 34.7 Iosh 24.29 the age of man was a great deale shortned from nine hundred brought downe to two hundred and twentie and vnder For Terah liued two hundred and fiue yeeres Abraham his sonne not so long one hundred seuentie fiue yeeres Iacob in his time brought it to a shorter account one hundred and thirty Moses 120. and Ioshua one hundred and ten yeeres And yet are wee not truely said to liue any one of these yeeres vnlesse it be religiously and holily in Christ as a certaine worthie souldier seruing in the warres a long time vnder Adrian the Emperour yet in the end returned to his house and liued Christs souldier where and in which manner after he had liued seuen yeares he departed this life and being readie to die commanded that it should be written on his tombe Heere lyeth Similis for so was his name who was a man many yeeres and liued but seuen accounting that he liued no longer then he liued a Christian How many spend their daies in war after the flesh vnder the Emperour of the Ayre not vnder Adrian who yet I cannot say for seuen yeeres I would I could truely say seuen daies or seuen houres before their death cast away these weapons of sinne that it might be written vpon their grauestone for their Epitaph that seuen dayes or seuen houres before their last houre they not only had a being but a life in the world and not onely were but also liued Therefore it is our duetie to liue well that at the day of death we may speede well and to liue well should be the delight and sweete perfume of euery Christian Thus liue well that thou mayest die well and after death eternally speed well Psal 90.12 Yea So teach vs to number our daies saith the Prophet that we may apply our hearts vnto wisdome Where we are to obserue that he speaketh heere not of weekes or moneths or yeeres but of daies noting thereby the shortnesse of our life in this word Daies And the same phrase is vsed of all the holy men of God vpon the like occasion Iacob being asked by Pharaoh how old he was Gen. 47.8.9 tould him That few and euill were the dayes of his pilgrimage speaking of the time to note the shortnesse of the time or of his life he names not yeeres but daies and speaking of the toyles and troubles of life he calles it a pilgrimage as to be euery day hastely iourneying towards our end Iob 9.25.26 Iob 14.14 Iob in like manner numbring his dayes My dayes saith he are more swift then a post and swifter then the ships And againe he saith All the daies of my appointed time will I waite till my change come The time of Iobs attending or waiting on God for his helpe is the whole terme or acte of his life which he calleth not yeeres but dayes so hee measureth his short time by the inch of dayes rather then by the span of moneths or long ell of yeeres teaching thereby that the dayes of man are few and his life short vpon earth Our Sauiour Christ teaching vs to pray Matth. 6.11 bids vs to pray thus Giue vs this day our
eate drinke and take thy pastime But behold God will say to him O foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee For death Gods seruant and handmaide wil be present with the broome of diuers sicknesses diseases and greifes and will sweepe them away and so the worke together with the workmaster in a moment of time do perish and then whose shall these things be which thou hast prouided Our life by an antient father is said to be more fraile and brittle theÌ„ a glasse for a glass with good keeping may abide and continue a long time without breaking but so cannot man be kept from death with all the preseruatiues and good keeping that can be inuented by the art skill and learning of the best most cunning Physitions in the world Luk. 8.43 although with the expence of all thou hast euen with the woman in the Gospell that had an issue of blood twelue yeares but for all this at length thou shalt dye For in this respect as Iob saith in an other case They are all Physitions of no value As the arrow that is shot at a mark parteth the ayre Iob. 13.4 which immediately coÌ„meth together againe so that a man cannot know where it went through euen so man as soone as he is borne hasteneth as fast to his end as the arrow to the mark that little time of stay is full of misery trouble therefore may rightly be called as before a pilgrimage in which is vncertainty a flower in which is mutability a house of clay in which is misery a weauers shittle in which is volubility to a shepheards tent in which is variety to a ship on the sea in which is celerity to smoak which is vaÌ„ity to a thought whereof we haue a thousand in a day to a dreame whereof we haue many in one night to vanity which is nothing in it selfe to nothing which hath no being in the world For the time past is nothing the time to come is vncertaine the time present is but a moment O life not a life but a death to be called and accounted rather death then life because it is accompanied not onely with death but with the very shaddow of death that is with many miseries afflictioÌ„s calamities of this life a liuing death a dying life deseruing rather to be called a true death then the shadow of death a shadow of life then a true life For the time which we haue liued is now no more in the essence of our life for now our infancy and childhood liueth not and that wherein we liue which is but the present time is so short fleeting that it cannot be circumscribed Instans est momentum est ictus oculi est It is an instant a moment the twinckling of an eye Our life is a poynt and lesse then a poynt a figure of one to which wee can adde no cipher it is but the least peece of time that may be measured out a moment and lesse then a moment And yet if we vse this moment well wee may get eternitie which is of greatest moment I am not eternitie saith one but a man a little part of the whole as an hower is of the day Like an hower I came and I must depart like an hower The reasons why our life is become so fraile and short are principally these first iniquitie now aboundeth and more in these latter times then in former ages And because iniquitie shall abound saith our Sauiour Christ Mat. 24.12 the loue of many shall wax cold This know also saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.1.2.3 4.5 that in the last dayes perilous times shall come for men shall be louers of their owne selues couetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers incoÌ„tinent fierce despisers of those that are good traytors heady high minded louers of pleasures more then louers of God hauing a forme of Godlines but denying the power thereof Which must needs prouoke God to cut shorter these our dayes then those better dayes wherein our fathers liued who liued more simple and in fewer sinnes then we their children do at this day Therefore it is said by Moses in the booke of Numbers Num. 32.14 And â—ebold yee are risen vp in your fathers stead an increase of sinfull men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel And ye haue done worse saith the Prophet Ieremie Ier. 16.12 Ier. 7.26 then your fathers Secondly our time is short that the shortnesse thereof might moue vs not to deferre to doe good as the manner is seeing euen the deuill himselfe is busie because his time is short Therefore saith the sonne of God Reu. 12.17 Woe be to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the diuell is come downe to you hauing great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time Therefore the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make warre with the remnant of her seede which keepe the commandements of God and haue the testimonie of Iesus Christ Thirdly our life is as nothing that Gods children might soone be deliuered from their burdens and from those that oppresse them in this life and that the wicked the children of this world might haue a shorter time to keepe in bondage and vnder the whip of malice those poore ones who desire to sacrifice their life to God in a conscience of his seruice and to walke in faith before him For if mans life might now extend to the yeeres which were before the Floud when men liued as we haue heard six seuen eight nine hundred and almost a thousand yeares this cruel age in which we liue would too long torment and too vilely deale with Gods faithfull ones there being no hooke of short time in the iawes of the wicked to keepe them in feare as now when death is such a tyrant and short life such a curbe vnto them that they dare not or cannot doe as they would And indeed how can they doe that in their fortie and vnder fourescore which they might and would bee bold to doe being men of might in their hundreds Also how could the poore Church hold vp the head and continue in good case that should haue so strong and long-liued enemies to incouÌ„ter with And therfore our Sauiour Christ saith in the Gospell Except those dayes should be shortened Matth. 24.22 there should no flesh be saued but for the Elects sake those dayes shall be shortened Esay 51.12 And who art thou saith the Lord that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and of the sonne of man which shall be made as grasse There is no priuiledge that can preserue a man froÌ„ death Art thou strong and doth the conceit of thy strength lift thee vp in pride Consider that if in might vigor and validitie of bodie thou didst excell Sampson Hercules
prolonged or finished For say that a man had in his keeping sundrie britle vessels as of glasse or stone some made fortie fiftie or threescore yeeres agoe and some but yesterday We will agree that the vessell will soonest be broken not that is made first but which is first striken or first receiueth a knocke So for these brittle vessels of our earthly bodies they that soonest receiue the blow of death though but made yesterday first perish not that were first made and haue longest liued What then is our life and how vaine and false is our hope of long life seeing no man can tell who he is that shall receiue the first stroke or knocke to the destroying of this his mortall tabernacle In a prison where are many condemned should some riot and forget death because they are not first drawne out to die or because one goes before another to execution Shall he that commeth last 1. Sam. 15.32 come forth pleasantly with Agag and say Surely the bitternesse of death is past because we die not so soone as others And we shall not all die at once shall we therefore count our selues immortall If wee bee old wee may be sure our turne is neere and if we be yong it may be as neere for they that are old may trauell long but they that are yong may haue a shorter way home For the short liuer runneth his race no faster then hee that liueth long both runne alike both make speed alike the difference is the first hath not so farre to runne as the latter It is one thing to runne further another thing to runne faster Hee that liues long runneth further but not a moment faster Euery man hasteneth to death alike though one haue a lesse way to goe then another Death is come vp saith the Prophet into our windowes Ier. 9.21 and is entred into our Pallaces to cut off the children from without and the yong men from the streetes Seeing then this hope of liuing till we be old is so vaine and deceitfull wee should make as great hast to God at twentie as at fourescore When we heare a solemne knell we say some body is departed Acts 5.9 and why should not we thinke that the feete of them who caried out that bodie is at the doore readie to carry vs out also He was not an old man and had much peace in his daies to whom it was said Luke 12.20 O foole this night they will fetch away thy soule so death worketh in vs whether we will or not Againe the strong constitution in a yong man perswadeth him that hee shall liue long but no constitution in a man can enlarge his charter of life one poore houre Indeed the good complexion of a man may be a signe of long life Exod. 20.12 but he that prolongeth our dayes on earth he only can make vs to liue long Againe the strength and beautie of youth maketh him beleeue that he hath many yeeres yet to liue Therefore the Wiseman saith Prou. 20.29 that the glory of yong men is their strength but how soone is this blighted strucken as the faire flower of grasse with an East-winde For beautie and strength is but a flower which if some sicknesse strike not suddenly yet the Autumne of ripe yeares impaireth and the winter of olde age killeth And what careth death which is indifferent to all for a faire strong and goodly complexion Is not a beautifull face as mortall as a foule hue The like may be spoken of health and stature of bodie for what are they and of what time In their owne nature they are fickle things and without good vse crosses For touching health the devouring vulture of sicknesse doth after some short time wast it to nothing Strength is common to vs with beasts and there are many beasts exceede vs in strength And for our comely stature it may as soone be brought downe to death and as deepely bee buried in the coffin of the earth as one of a meaner size And further if men haue not vsed these to Gods glory but to pride and vaine-glorie nor haue made them helpes to godlinesse but haue giuen them their head to sinne it will be said after death of such that a beautifull person a strong yong man a goodly tall fellow and one that neuer knew what sicknesse meant is gone to hell Therefore of beauty and her attendants as strength health and a goodly stature that may be spoken which vsually is spoken of fire and water that they are good seruants but ill Masters where they are ruled they doe good seruice but where they ouer-rule they make foule worke Or is it for the greatnes But that cannot priuiledge thee from death for Solomon who in wisdome excelled all other men who in riches exceeded euery man who in power as mighty as any man and who in birth was surpassed by no man who for his wisdome was admired of all for his riches beloued of all and for his power feared of all and honored of all for his birth euen he I say could not refraine to confesse for all his wisdome which was angelicall for all his riches which were innumerable for all his power so maiesticall and for all his birth so regall Wis 7.1 2.3.4 5.6 He I say could not chuse but cry out and say I my selfe am a mortall man like to all and the ofspring of him that was first made of the earth and in my mothers wombe was fashioned to be flesh in the time of ten months being compacted in blood of the seede of man and the pleasure that came with sleepe And when I was borne I drew in the common ayre and fell vpon the earth which is of like nature and the first voyce which I vttered was crying as all others doe I was nursed in swadling cloathes and that with care If then Salamon who was begotten by a King and borne to be a King and one whose liuing and conuersation before he fell to Idolatry seemed rather diuine then humane if he I say were subiect to such imbecillity and had no more fauour shewed him by nature then so to what misery and imbecility then should all wee be subiect or what may wee say that are made of a baser stuffe fashioned in worse mould and more obscurely and poorely brought into the world For as much weaknes and feeblenesse in birth by nature is incident to a Prince as to a peasant For sayth Salomon in the same place there is no King that had any other beginning of birth for all men haue one entrance into life and the like going out Iob 31.15 Did not he that made me in the wombe saith Iob make him and did not one fashion vs in the wombe A certaine man desired to see Constantine the great whome intentiuely beholding he cryed out I thought Constantine had bene some great thing but now I see he is nothing but a man Constantine
third rule is that wee must carry in minde the right and proper end of Physicke lest we deceiue our selues We must not therefore thinke that Physicke serueth to preuent old age or death it selfe for that is impossible neither doe we eate drinke and sleepe that we may neuer die but that we may prolong our lâ—fe for a few dayes and to spend those dayes in the seruice of God preparing our selues to die For life câ—nsists in a certaine temperature and proportion of naturall heate and radicall moisture which moisture being once consumed by the heate is not by all arte reparable and therefore Death must needs follow But the true end of physicke is to continue and lengthen our life to his full natural period which is when nature which hath beene long preserued by aâ—l possible meanes is now wholly spent Now this period though it cannot be lengthened by any art of man yet may it easily be shortened by intemperance in dyet by gluttony by drunkennesse by violent diseases and such like But care must be had to auoide all these euils and the like that the little lampe of corporall life may burne till it goe out of it selfe by Gods appoyntment and vntill God hath fulfilled the number of our dayes Exod. 23.26 And this very space of time is the day of grace and saluation And whereas God in his iustice might haue cut vs off and vtterly destroyed vs long before this day yet in his great mercie he doth giue vs thus much time that we might prepare our selues for our end Which time when it is once spent which may be neerer then we are aware if a man would redeeme it with the price of ten thousand worlds Mat. 16.26 it caÌ„not be obtained For what is a man profited saith our Sauiour if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his soule And hauing thus seene what bee the duties of the sicke man to himselfe now let vs see what be the duties which he oweth to his neighbour And they are two First the dutie of reconciliation whereby hee is freely to forgiue all men and to desire to bee forgiuen by all In the old Testament when a man was to offer a Bullocke or a Lambe in sacrifice to God Matth. 5.23.24 He must leaue his offering at the Altar and first goe and be reconciled to his brother if he had ought against him and then come and offer his gift much more then must this bee done when wee are dying to offer vp our selues soules and bodies as an acceptable and reasonable seruice and sacrifice to God in forgiuing of all men And if the partie bee absent or will not bee reconciled yet the sicke partie by forgiuing hath discharged his owne conscience and God will accept his will for the deede in such a case For if yee forgiue men their trespasses saith our Sauiour your heauenly Father will also forgiue you Matth. 6.14.15 but if yee forgiue not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgiue you The second dutie is that those which are Rulers and Gouernours of others must haue great care that they which be committed to their charge and gouernment may be left in good estate after their death wherein are three duties to be handled the first of the Magistrate the second of the Minister of the Gospell and the third of the Master or Gouernour of the family The Magistrates dutie before his death is to prouide as farre forth as he can for the godly and peaceable state and gouernment of all such as are vnder his charge and gouernment and that is done partly by procuring the maintenance of pietie godlinesse and sound religion and partly by establishing of good and wholesome lawes for their safetie peace and quietnesse Whereof there are examples of the practise of these duties in Gods word Deut. 31.1 When Moses was an hundred and twentie yeeres old and was not longer able to goe in and out before the people he called them before him and signified that the time of his departure was at hand and therefore he tooke order for their welfare after his death And first of all hee placed Iosua ouer them in his stead to be their guide to the promised Land Secondly he gaue speciall charge to all the people to be valiant and couragious against all their enemies and to obey the Commandements of their God And Ioshua followes the same course Ioshua 24.1 for he called the people together and telles them that the time of his death is at hand and giues them a charge to bee couragious and to worshippe the true God which being done he ends his dayes as a worthy Captaine of the Lord. And so when King Dauid was to go the way of all flesh 2. King 1.1 and lay sicke on his death-bed he placed his owne sonne Salomon vpon his throne and gaue him charge both for the maintenance of true religion and for the execution of ciuill iustice Touching the dutie of Ministers of the Gospell when they are going out of the world they must cast about and prouide as much as in them lies that the Church of God ouer which God hath made them ouerseers may flourish after they are gone An example whereof we haue in Saint Paul Take heede therefore saith he vnto your selues Acts 20.28.29.30.31 and to all the flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made you ouerseers to feed the Church of God which hee hath purchased with his owne bloud For I know this that after my departure shall grieuous wolues enter in amongst you not sparing the flocke Also of your owne selues shall men arise speaking peruerse things to draw away disciples after them Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three yeeres I ceased not to warne euery one night and day with teares If this dutie had been well obserued and performed there could not haue beene such abundance of errors and heresies in the Church of God as hath beene and are at this day But because men haue had more care to maintaine personall succession then the right succession which stands and consists in the wholesome word and doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles therefore Wolues and vnprofitable teachers haue come into the places and roomes of faithfull and painfull Pastors and teachers not sparing the flocke of Christ but haue made hauocke of the same the Apostacie whereof hath ouerspread the face of the Church Thirdly housholders and masters of families must haue great care to set their houshold and family in good order before they die Which dutie the Lord himselfe by his Prophet Esay doth command that good King Ezechiah to performe Isa 38.1 Thus saith the Lord set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not liue And for the procuring good order in the family after death two things are to be done The first concerning this life and that is touching the ordering and disposing of lands and goods And that
eternall with out time for that they abuse the speciall benefit of time in this world Againe concerning those which post off their repentance til age sicknes or death of these there are specially two sorts viz. The first sort are such as plead the sweete promises of the Gospell Ezech. 18.21 Mat. 11.28 as namely these At what time soeuer a sinner doth repent c. Come vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie loaden and I will refresh you Answer True it is and most true but to whom are these promises made and to what sinners They are made to all repentant sinners that turne to the Lord with all their hearts but thou art an vnrepentant wretch and continuest in thy sinnes therefore those comfortable promises belong not vnto thee And what sinners doth he bid come vnto him Those that be weary and heauie laden that is whose sins pinch and wound them at the very heart and withall desire to be eased of the burthen of them Therefore take not occasion to presume of the promises of the Gospell for vnlesse thou turne from thy euill wayes and repent of thy sinnes they belong nothing at all vnto thee I know the Gospell is a booke of mercy I know that in the Prophets there are many aspersions of mercy I know that out of the eater comes meat and out of the strong comes sweetenesse and that in the ten commandements which be the administratiōs of death there is made expresse mention of mercy I will haue mercy vpon thousands yea the very first words of them are the couenant of grace I am the Lord thy God yet if euery leafe and euery line and euery word in the bible were nothing but mercy mercy yet nothing auailes the presumptuous sinner that lies rotting in his iniquities O but he is mercifull gratious slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquitie transgression and sinne is not here mercy mentioned nine or ten times together It is but read on the very next words and not making the wicked innocent visiting the iniquitie of the fathers vpon the children and vpon childrens children vnto the third and fourth generation is not this the terrible voice of iustice But stay in the 136 Psal there is nothing but his mercy endureth for euer which is the foote of the Psal and is found six and twentie times in 26 verses yet harke what a ratling thunder-clappe is heere and ouerthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red sea and smote great Kinges and slew mighty Kings c. The second sort are such that by reading and hearing of the story of Lots drunkennes of Dauids adultery of Peters deniall doe thereby blesse themselues and strengthen and comfort their hearts yea they haue learned to alledge them as examples to extenuate their sinnes and to presume that they shall finde the like mercy Am I a Drunkard saith one so was that good man Lot Am I an Adulterer saith another so was Dauid a man after Gods owne heart Am I a swearer a forswearer a curser a denyer of Christ So was the holy Apostle Saint Peter Shall I despaire of saluatiō saith the wicked persister in sinne and I read that the theefe repented on the crosse and found mercy at the last houre O vile wretches who hath bewitched you to peruert Gods word to your destruction It is as much as to poyson the soule Look on their repentance Lot fell of infirmitie and no doubt repented with much griefe yet looke vpon Gods iudgment vpon that incestuous seede Looke vpon Dauid Psal 38. Read the 38 Psalme it made him grow crooked his sinnes were as fire in his bones he had not a good day to his death but the griefe of his sinnes made him to roare out thou wouldst be loath to buy thy sinne so deere as he did Looke vpon Peter who wept for his sinnes most bitterly Mat. 26.75 And as for the example of the theefe as wee haue heard already and cannot heare too often seeing it is so often obiected and vrged the Lord knocketh but once by one sermon and he repented but thou hast heard many sermons crying and calling vnto thee and yet thou hast not repented and this is as wee haue heard an extraordinary example and thereof not the like in all the scripture againe and the Lord hath set out but one and yet one that noe man should despaire and yet that noe man should presume by this one example for what man will spurre his Asse till he speake Num. 22.28 because Balaam did so and yet one that no man should despaire but to know that God is able to call home at the last houre And by this he did declare the riches of his mercy to all such as haue grace to turne vnto him where contrary we see many thousands of those who hauing deferred their repentance haue beene taken away in their sinnes and dyed impenitent But this example is for all penitent sinners who vpon their hearty repentance may assure themselues that the Lord will receiue them to mercy Now if thou canst promise to thy selfe the same repentance and faith in Christ that he had then maist thou promise thy selfe the same felicitie which he now enioyes S. Ambrose cals the history of this man pulcherrimum affectandae conuersionis exemplum a most goodly example to moue men to turne to God But looke thou on his fellow who had no grace to repent and who hangs as an example to all impenitent wretches to looke vpon that they despise not the mercie of God nor reiect his call by his messengers and Ministers lest it come to passe that when they would repent they cannot To thee then that art priuie thou hast had many calles many offers of grace yea that hast seene the painfull and faithfull Preachers of Gods holy Word Sacraments spend their wits their strength yea ouerspend themselues for thy good what diuell hath bewitched thee to post off all and willingly to cast away thy selfe To thee therefore that dost strengthen thy selfe in thy sinnes vpon presumption of mercie to others I referre thee to the words that the Lord himselfe speakes in Deuteronomie Deut. 29.19.20 He that when he heareth the words of this curse blesseth himselfe in his heart saying I shall haue peace though I walke according to the stubbornenesse of my owne heart thus adding drunkennesse to thirst the Lord will not spare him nor be mercifull vnto him but the wrath of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall light vpon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from vnder heauen Besides this place there are many others in the Scriptures against those that strengthen their hearts in their sinnes If you presume that a Lord Lord will serue the turne at the close of your life it is nothing else but Infidelis fiducia a faithlesse confidence as
death is of no continuance it is buried in its own birth it vanisheth in its own thought and the paine is no sooner begunne but is presently ended Though the flesh bee weake and fraile yet the spirit is strong to encounter the crueltie of Death and to make it rather a kinde kisse 1. Cor. 4.16 then a cruell crosse We faint not saith the Apostle for though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renued day by day Our Sauiour Christ said at his death and last farewell Iohn 17.1 Father the houre is come glorifie thy Sonne that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee Is there glory in death and is death but an houre It is of no long abode that abideth but an houre and little doe I doubt but that in that houre the soule is more rauished with the sight of God then the bodie is tormented with the sence of death Nay I am further perswaded that in the houre of my death the passion of mortalitie is so beaten backe with impression of eternitie that the flesh feeleth nothing but what the soule offereth and that is God from whom it came and whither it would as Saint Augustine saith with as great hast as happinesse And therefore whether you please to define or diuine of death what it is if it bee rightly broken into parts and passages the elect of God shall finde it a very easie passage euen as it were but a going out of prison a shaking off of our giues an end of banishment a breaking off our bands a destruction of toile an arriuing at the hauen a iourney finished the casting off an heauie burthen the alighting from a madde and furious horse the going out of a tottering and ruinous house the end of all griefes the escape of all dangers the destroyer of all euels Natures due Countries ioy and heauens blisse And from hence doe flow those sweete appellations by which the holy Ghost which is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly in saying that they are gathered or congregated to their people that is to the company of the blessed and triumphing Church in heauen to come to those which haue deceased before them in the true faith or rather haue gone thither before them So that the holy Ghost vseth a most sweete Periphrasis of death as speaking of the death of Abraham Gen. 25.8 Then Abraham gaue vp the ghost and died in a good old age Gen. 35.29 Gen. 49 33. Numb 20.24 Num. 27.13 an old man and full of yeeres and was gathered to his people And of the death of Isaac And Isaac gaue vp the ghost and died and was gathered vnto his people and so likewise of Iacob of Moyses of Aaron c. It is but the taking of a iourney which we thinke to bee death it is not an end but a passage it is not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse things to better a taking away of the soule and a most blessed conueying of it from one place to another not an abolishing for the soule is taken from hence and transposed into a place of eternall rest it is a passage and ascension to the true life it is an out-going because by it the godly passe out of the slauerie of sinne to true libertie euen as heretofore the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt into the promised land And as S. Peter termes it it is a laying downe of the tabernacle 2. Pet. 1.14 2. Cor. 5.4 for so he stiles our bodies And as S. Paul termes it it is an vnclothing or putting off of it and a remouing out of the bodie from a most filthie lodging to a most glorious dwelling They are said to be loosed from a port or from a prison and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 seeing they are led out of the Inne of this present life to the heauenly Countrey and out of the dregs of wicked men to the most blessed societie of Christ and his Saints in heauen They are loosed by death out of the bonds of the bodie for euen as cattell when they haue discharged the labour of the whole day at last about the euening are set free and as they which are bound in prison are loosed from their fetters so the godly are led foorth by death from the yoke of their labours and sorrowes of this life and out of the filthie prison of sinne and by a wonderfull and most sweet translation are caried to a better life Out of all which it clearely appeareth Phil. 1.21 how truely the Apostle hath called the death of the godly aduantage seeing it is aduantage to haue escaped the increase of sinne aduantage by auoyding worse things to passe to better from labour and daunger to perfect rest and security and which is all in all to eternall blessednesse All which appellations of death doe teach vs to be so farre from beeing afraid of it that we ought willingly to welcome it as the easie and ioyfull messenger of our happy deliuerance and not sing loth to depart as all worldlings doe who tremble at the very name of it And thus I passe from the facility of dying to the felicitie of dying of which I may say as Sampson did of his riddle Out of the eater came meate Iudges 14.14 and out of the strong came sweetnesse Now the meat that commeth out of this eater and sweetnesse that proceedeth forth of this strong one is a cessation of all euill and an indowment of all good and by this doore we haue an easie and readie passage to all blessednesse and happinesse where God and with him all good is Man that is borne of a woman saith Iob hath but a short time to liue Iob 14.1 and is full of misery O sweet death that turneth time into eternity and misery into mercie so graciously hath our Sauiour done for vs making medicines of maladies cures of wounds and salues of sores and to his children producing health out of sicknesse light out of darknesse and life out of death Psal 27.13 This made Dauid to daunce in the midst of all his affliction and calamitie when he said I should verily haue fainted vnlesse I had beleeued to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing This hath supported the soules of Gods Saints in the seas of their sorrowes when they thought vpon the day of their dissolution wherein they should be made glorious by their deliuerance For as our Sauiour Christ tooke his flight from the heauen to the Virgins wombe from her wombe to the world from the world to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue vnto heauen againe Euen so from the womb wee must follow his steppes and tread the same path that he hath traced out for vs. Iohn 14.6 I am the way saith our Sauiour the truth and the life He is the way without wandring the truth without shadowing the life without
ending he is the way in our peregrination truth in deliberation life in remuneration the way whereby our pathes are directed the truth whereby our errours are corrected and the life whereby our fraile mortalitie is eternized Therefore you may not looke to leape out of your mothers warme wombe into your fathers hot ioy Matt. 10.24.25 For the disciple saith our Sauiour is not aboue his master nor the seruant aboue his Lord you must for a while endure death that you may be dignified I had almost said deified and surely you shall be neere it Iohn 1.13 For we are borne of God saith the Euangelist and we shall be fashioned like vnto the glorious bodie of Christ for hee shall change our vile bodie Phil. 3.21 that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie and we shal follow the Lambe saith the holy Ghost Reuel 14.4 whithersoeuer hee goeth And now tell me in lieu of all I haue said if death doeth thus diuide vs from all euill and bring vs into all good if death bee like vnto the gathering hoste of Dan Numbers 2.31 Numb 10.25 Ioshua 6.9 that commeth last to gather vp the loste and forlorne hope of this world that they may bee found in a better whether is it better to liue in sorrow or to die in solace Let Agamades and Trophonius assoile the doubt of whom it is writen by Plato in his Axiaco that after they had builded the temple of Apollo-Delphick they begged of God that he would grant to them that which would bee most beneficiall for them who after this suite made went to bed and there tooke their last sleepe being both found dead the day after in token that the day of death is better then the day of life this being the entrance into all misery and that the end of all misery yea our dissolution is nothing else but aeterni natalis the birth day of eternitie as Seneca calles it more truly then he was aware For this dissolution giues to our soules an entrance and admission into the most blessed societie of eternall glorie with God himselfe for what other thing is death to the faithfull but the funerall of their vices and the resurrection of their vertues Christians therefore one would thinke need not as pagans consolations against death but death should serue them as a consolation against all miserie But you will here obiect and say me thinkes I am called backe too timely out of this life Psal 102.24 God snatcheth me a way in the midst of my dayes I might yet liue longer for I am young and in my blood I feare therefore lest this be a signe of the wrath of God Psal 55.23 seeing it is written Bloudie and deceitfull men shall not liue out halfe their dayes I answere there is no time now to consult with flesh and blood but readily to obey the heauenly call And for your few yeeres Seneca saith well He that dieth when he is young is like him that hath lost a dye wherewith hee might rather haue lost then wonne more yeeres might haue ensnared you with more sinnes and haue hardened you in your impenitencie to the hazard of your life in this world and your soule in another And for the flower of your youth if you compare it with eternitie whether now you are going and ought to long after it indeed all are equally young and equally old For the most extended age of a man in this world is but as a point or minute and the most contracted can bee no lesse And Iesus the sonne of Sirach saith Eccl. 41.13 A good life hath but few dayes nothing is too timely with God which is ripe Long life truly is the gift of God and the hoarie head a crowne of glory saith the Wiseman if it be found in the way of righteousnesse Pro. 16.31 Yet short life is not alwaies a token of the wrath of God seeing God sometime commands the godly also and those that are beloued of him to depart timely out of the house of this world that beeing freed from the danger of sinning they may be setled in the securitie of not sinning neither be constrained to haue experience of publike calamities more grieuous oftentimes then death it selfe An immature and vntimely death for a man to be taken away before he be come to the full period of his life that by the course of nature and in the eye of reason he might haue attained vnto is a thing that may betide good men and not be a curse to them Esay 57.1 The righteous man perisheth and no man layeth it to his heart saith the Prophet the mercifull man is taken away namely vntimely For if they died in a full age it were not blame-worthy for a man not to consider it in his heart Iacob knew this full well that vntimely death belongeth to Gods children for when Iosephes party-coloured coat was brought to him all bloudie it is said that he knew it Gen. 37.33 It is my sonnes coate saith hee some euill beast hath deuoured him Ioseph is without doubt rent in pieces So Abiah Gen. 44.28 the sonne of Ieroboam falling sicke Ieroboam sending his wife to the Prophet Abiiah with presents 1. Kings 14.1.2.3.6.12.13.17.18 to tell her what should become of the childe when shee was come the Prophet told her that he was sent to her with heauie tidings Arise thou therefore saith he get thee to thine owne house and when thy feete enter into the Citie the childe shall die and all Israel shall mourne for him bury him for he only of Ieroboam shall come to the graue because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Ieroboam Now this truth is confirmed vnto vs by two arguments the one drawne from the malice of the wicked against the godly the other from the mercie of God to the godly For the first the wicked through their malice seeke by all meanes to cut off the godly because their wickednesse and sinfull life is reproued by their godly conuersation neither can they follow their sins so freely as they would nor quietly without detection or checke The Apostle saith Cain 1. Iohn 3.12 that wicked one cut off and slew his brother Abel and wherefore slew he him because his owne workes were euill Gen. 37.2 and his brothers good The Patriarches sold Ioseph their brother and sent him out of the house of his Father because hee was a meanes that they were checked for their euill sayings And this is that we haue in the booke of Wisdome Therefore the vngodly men say let vs lye in wait for the righteous Wisd 2.12.14.15.16.18.19.20 because he is not for our turne but is cleane contrary to our doings he vpbraideth vs with our offending the law and obiecteth to our infamie in the transgression of our education Hee was made to reproue our
experience by a most memorable example and be comforted with it The husband died being one of the sonnes of the Prophets 2. Kings 4.11 and a man that feared God he died much in debt not by reason of any prodigalitie or vnthriftinesse as many doe but by the hand of God and he left his poore wife and children to the crueltie of the cruell Creditor who came in fierce manner to take away the childreÌ„ froÌ„ their mother to answer the debt by bondage This was a heauie crosse to a man fearing God to liue in debt and dye in debt especially debt being so dangerous to his poore wife childreÌ„ yet this it was that we may not be discouraged our selues or be ouer headie to censure too far 1. Sam. 2.7 if the like befall any one of vs. For the Lord doth make poore and the Lord maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth vp Prou. 27.24 And as the Wise-man saith Riches are not for euer Happily this man wished that he might liue till he had paid his debt as you doe and with condition of Gods good liking 1. Tim. 5.8 it was but well if he did so For a man is tyed and bound to prouide for his owne family But it so pleased not God for he died and left the debt vnpaid and his Creditors will be answered with the bodies of his poore crying children which hee left with a very sorrowfull and heauy mother behind him how now shal this woful widow and fatherlesse children doe Now see if God faile to prouide for that thing he saw this poore widow had need of to relieue her selfe and her children He directeth his Prophet to bid her borrow vessels of her neighbours and himselfe by his powerfull mercie and mercifull power so encreased and multiplied that little oyle which shee had in a cruse that it paid her Creditors and yeelded her further maintenance for her and hers to her vnspeakable ioy and comfort you know the story Thus then behold and thinke of it and write this in the palmes of your hands that you neuer forget it Deut. 11.12 Abac. 2.2 And write it vpon the doore-postes of thine house and vpon thy gates yea write it and make it plaine vpon tables that he may run that readeth it God is not the God of this man alone or of his wife and children which hee left behind him but he is your God and our God yea Iohn 20.17 hee is a God most mercifull to all those that doe wholly rely and depend vpon him If you may liue to free things your selfe it is to be wished and you may with condition aske it if it may stand with the good will and pleasure of God but if it please God to haue it otherwise then grieue not to depart lest you appeare to tye God to your prouidence life and meanes when you see by this example what hee can doe when you are gone and not what he can doe but what he will doe Iam. 1.6 if you wauer not but beleeue God was to this Widow in stead of her husband and farre better so shall he be to your wife God was to these children in stead of their father and better farre so shall hee bee to yours God was the Executor and paid this debt and the ouerseer that all was wel friends were not wanting to mother or children but God was a friend in the greatest need that most fully mercifully and bountifully performed all and suffered not the care of his deceased seruant to be vncared for nor vncomforted Wherefore let it not grieue thee to die but thereby receiue comfort if God will haue it so leaue all to him and remember his promises together with this practise committing your wife and children to God and he will protect and prouide for them Therefore what is vnpaid by thee he will pay as shall be best and effect what you cannot thinke of to giue testimony of his mercy to you and yours So God is not tyed to your leases and liuings when they shall descend vnto you if he please he will vse them if not he can well want them and yet pay all 1. Sam. 2.8 and set vp the poore fatherlesse child euen with the rulers of the people as hee hath done in all ages The end of the fift Diuision THE SIXT DIVISION THE COMFORT AGAINST THE DEATH OF FRIENDS RIght well said Chrysostome of the word of God Rom. 3.2 Hast thou the Oracles of God care not for any other teacher for there is none shal teach thee like them So say I for comfort in this case as Chrysostom doth for doctrine Hast thou the holy Scriptures care not for other comforters for none shall comfort thee as these doe nay without these there is no comfort to be had at all and as Dauid said to Abimelech the Priest concerning the sword of Goliah 1. Sam. 21.9 so let vs say of these holy Scriptures There is none like vnto this giue it me For if these will not serue then nothing will serue For whatsoeuer woe wringeth whatsoeuer sorrow nippeth whatsoeuer crosse grieueth and whatsoeuer losse troubleth there is for them all in the word of God most sweet comfort if it be diligently sought and truly and carefully applied Gen. 27.38 We reade in the booke of Genesis that prophane Esau mourned vpon his father Isaac and cryed out most pitifully to him saying Hast thou but one blessing my father Not one but many and infinite are the consolations of God our heauenly Father for the storehouse of his consolations can neuer be emptied he hath not dealt with vs niggardly or sparingly but a good measure of consolations pressed downe Luke 6.38 and running ouer hath he giuen to vs in our bosome For euery crosse and losse he hath seuerall comforts and consolations in the holy Scriptures 2. Cor. 1.3.4 Blessed be God saith the Apostle euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforteth vs in all our tribulations that we may bee able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we our selues are comforted of God No maruell therefore if Chrysostome saith againe in the true feeling thereof Euer I exhort and I will neuer cease exhorting that not onely here in the Church of God you would attend vnto those things which are there saide and taught and to say as Cornelius said vnto Peter Acts 10.33 Now therefore are we all here present before God to heare all things that are commanded thee of God But at home also that you would daily giue your selues with the men of Beâ—ea to the searching and reading of the holy Scriptures Acts 17.11 Search the Scriptures saith our Sauiour Christ for in them ye thinke to haue eternall life and they are they that testifie of me Iohn 5.39 If you will not vtterly warre against all truth and reason and
were reprobate or saued Of which matter saith he it is not for me to determine Our Iudge is his Iudge who will lay all thinges open when the time commeth This in the meane time is certaine that the deede of the man ought in no wise to bee allowed If wittingly I discommend his reason if in a phrenzie as one out of his wit then doe I greatly lament and pitty his case Yet notwithstanding seeing Gods iudgements be secret and wee be likewise in doubt vpon what intent he did thus punish himselfe nor any man can be certaine whether he repented or not before the last breath I think their opinion herein is more indifferent who doe rather disallow the example of the dead then despayre any way of his saluation Otherwise if we will adiudge all these to hell that haue departed the World after this sort how many examples haue we in the first persecutions of the Church of those men and women who being registred in the Works of worthy Writers haue notwithstanding their prayse and commendation For what shall wee thinke of those young men who being sought for to doe sacrifice to heathen Idols did cast down themselues headlong and brake their neckes to auoyde such horrible pollution of themselues What shall I say of those Virgins of Antioch who to the end they might not defile themselues with vncleannesse and with Idolatrie through the perswasion of their mother casting themselues headlong into a riuer together with their mother did for doe themselues though not in the same water yet after the same manner of drowning as this M. Hales did What shall I say of other two sisters which for the selfe same quarrell did violently throw themselues headlong into the Sea as Eusebius doth recorde In whom though perchance there was lesse confidence to beare out the paines that should be ministred of the wicked vnto them yet that their good desire to keepe their faith and religion vnspotted was commended and praysed Another like example of death is mentioned by Nicephorus in another Virgin likewise whose name is expressed in Ierome to bee Braessila Diraehima who to keepe her Virginity fayned her selfe to be a Witch and so conuenting with the yong man which went about to deflowre her pretended that shee would giue him an hearbe which should preserue him from all kind of weapons and so to proue it in her selfe layde the hearbe vpon her owne throat bidding him smite wherby shee was slain so by the losse of her life saued her Virginity Hereunto may bee ioyned the like death of Sophronia a Matron of Rome who when shee was required of Maxentius the Tyrant to be defiled and saw her husband more slacke then he ought to haue been in sauing her honesty bidding them that were sent for her to tarry a while till she made her ready went into her Chamber and with a weapon thrust her selfe through the breast and so dyed Likewise Achetes biting off his owne tongue did spit it in the face of the harlot Which examples sayth M. Fox I doe not here alledge as going about to excuse or mainetaine the hainous fact of M. Hales which I would wish rather by silence might bee drowned in obliuion But yet notwithstaÌ„ding as touching the person of the man what soeuer his fact was because we are not sure whether hee at the last breath repented againe for that wee doe not know nor are able to comprehend the bottomles depth of the graces and mercyes of God which are in Christ Iesus our Sauiour Wee will therefore leaue the finall iudgement of him to the determination of him who is appointed the onely Iudge of the quicke and dead And thus far M. Fox Touching the Cases wherein it is lawfull to desire death they may bee reduced principally into fiue The first is that if God can bee more honoured and glorified by our death then by our life then in such a case it is lawfull to desire death Iudg. 16.28.29.30 In which case Sampson desired death knowing wel therby that he should slay more of the vncircumcised Philistines the enemies of God at his death then he slue in his life In this case Moses the seruant of God desired to dye yea he went further for hee desired not a temporall but an eternall death for the glory of God in the saluation of his people For when Moses perceyued that the Lord was greatly offended with the people for making and worshipping the golden Calfe and that the Lords wrath waxed hote against them and that hee meant to consume them for the same Exod 32.31.32.33 It is sayd that Moses returned to the Lord and sayde Oh this people haue sinned a great sin and haue made them Gods of gold yet now if thou wilt forgiue their sinne and if not blot mee I pray thee out of the booke which thou hast written Also in this case the Apostle Saint Paul went as farre as Moses in desiring the same death for the like cause as Moses did which was for the glory of God in the saluation of his people Who being exceeding much sorrowfull for the Lords reiecting and casting off the Iewes sayth Rom. 9.1.2.3.4 I say the truth I â—…e not my Conscience also bearing mee witnesse in the holy Ghost that I haue great heauinesse and continâ—al sorrow in my heart for I could wish that my selfe were accursed or separated from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsemen according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertayneth the adoption and the glory and the couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and the promises whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came Who is ouer all God blessed for euer Amne In this case also the holy Martyres greatly longed after and desired death and ranne most ioyfully and gladly vnto it Well knowing with Sampson that they should slay more at their death then they slue in their Life as first that they should slay their last enemie by death which is not slaine but by dying And secondly that by dying they should kill the spawne of all enmitie sinne that causeth death and thirdly they knew that God should be more glorified and honoured by their death then hee could be by their life in that it would thereby bee an occasion of daunting his enemies and of the increasing and flourishing of his Church and Children For the death of the Martyrs was the seed of Gods Church Acts and Monuments 113. In which respect M. Foxe in his Acts and Monuments sayth that in old time Martyrdome was more desired then Bishoprickes be now Secondly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the wicked through zeale to Gods glory to the end that wee may bee freede from their society whereby wee might not bee eye-witnesses nor eare-witnesses of theyr dayly blaspheming and dishonouring of God In which case Rebecka desired death Gen. 26.34.35 for when Esau had taken