their life time subiect vnto bondage Heb. 2.14 Well therefore say the learned Marl. ex Pet. Mart in 1. Cor. 15.17 Ipse bellum nostrum pugnauit nos victoriae illius per fidem redditi sumus perticipes Hee hath fought our battaile and through faith wee are made partakers of his conquest So that we may say and not vse the Apostles words much amisse Wee know that hee which hath raised vp the Lord Iesus shall raise vs vp also 2. Cor. 4.14 Euen when Christ which is our head shall appeare then shall we appeare with him in glory Collos 3.4 Then Sciant fideles se ex mundo migrare Calu. in 1. Thess 4. vt tandem colligantur in regnum dei The faithfull doo know that they depart out of the world that at the last they may bee receiued into the kingdome of God And then God shall wipe away all teares from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shall there be any more paine for the first things are passed Reue. 21.4 So that euen in this world Insultare morti licet Seb. Mai. in 1. Co. 15. tanquam subactae quia Christi victoria nostra est Wee may triumph ouer death as conquered because the victorie of Christ is ours Then to end this thankes bee vnto God which hath giuen vs victorie through our Lord lesus Christ Therefore my deare brethren be ye stadfast and vnmooueable and alwaies rich in the workes of the Lord. Why shuld you tremble at the remembrance of death Further there may be added a sift consideration which may make death comfortable vnto vs and though it be here last in order yet see thou too it as to one of the first chiefe which must goe before the rest And this is in thy whole life time carefully to expresse the truth and soundnesse of thy faith by thy good workes Iam. 2.20 Which GOD hath ordained that wee should walke in them Ephe. 2.10 because the bloud of Christ hath purged our conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God Heb. 9.14 Which seruice of good workes must be done not as causes but as fruites that follow iustification Quia opera bona ex ipsius iustificatione operamur Aug. de Gram. Nobi Test ad Honorat ca. 30. Aug. ad Simpl. li. 1. Quest. 2. because our good workes doo spring from our iustification as light from the sunne And whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne And without faith it is impossible to please God But if thou haue this oyle in thy Lamps of faith and keepe not thy conuersation in the lusts of thy flesh fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the mind thou shalt be redaie for the Bridegroome with the fiue wise Virgins and death can doo thee no harme Nisi peccatum habueris non est quod mortem timeas Stella in Luk. 12. Tom. 2. fol. 73. c. except thou haue sinne thou needest not feare death but when thou doost transgresse the commaundement of the Lord then doest thou arme death and make it able and strong to fight against thy selfe Stella in Luk. 12. Tom. 2. fol. 37. But Mors sinullum adsit peccatū imbecillis inarmis venit Death where sinne is absent comes weake and vnarmed as I hope the Spaniard will if we haue no Traytors at home Well Amb. de bono mort cap. 5. Qui vicerit non laedetur a morte secunda He that ouercommeth to wit by the blood of the Lambe shall not be hurt of the second death Therefore Quod eam timeamus quae animae nocere non scleat Why should we be afraid of her that vseth not to hurt such a soule Feare ye not them saith Christ that kill the bodie but are not able to kill the soule Can the Bee hurt thee haue lost her sting And can death wound thy soule without thine owne sin The sting of death is sinne Resist the diuel and he will flie from thee and keepe death from thine owne sword of sinne and she shall not hurt thee The fire flameth and fumeth like a tyrant whilest it hath matter and the Diuell hath great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time But as God hath set the sea boundes which it cannot passe though it rage and swell horribly and as the strong winde may shake off the leaues from the greatest Oake but the stocke standeth firme euen so death the diuel and the world may a little trouble nature experience heerein hath taught me something but they cannot beate downe faith As examples of many doo teach Of holie Iob Sydrach Misach and Abednego Daniel the Prophet the Apostles and holie Martyrs Therefore saith the Apostle Paul I am perswaded Rom. 8.38.39 that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor thinges present nor thinges to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lorde But flie thou from sinne as from a Serpent the matter of this sire the baite of the Diuel and the sting of death by which thy soule is so wonnded that without the mighty worke of God thou canst not be saued Then cease to doo euill learne to doo well Proue your owne workes take the brest-plate of righteousnesse the shield of faith and helmet of saluation c. and fight a good fight None is crowned except hee striue lawfully Non datur Nobilitati palma sed cursui There is no respect of persons with God he seeth not as man seeth Therefore so runne that ye may obtaine do well and haue well For God rewardeth euerie man according to his workes not of due debt but of his louing and free mercie This is briefe One droppe of the Sea dooth taste the saultnesse of the whole and by this thou maiest sauour the truth Which beeing not to be withstood what maner of men ought we to be in holie conuersation and righteousnesse Why do we not shewe forth our faith by our good works Ambr. li. de Nab. Iezr cap. 14. Qui dines est in misericordia diues est in deo He that is rich in the workes of mercy is rich in God and this sacrifice pleaseth him But he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother haue neede and shutteth vp his compassion from him as the mysers of the world doo that will not abate one penny in a bushell of corne to helpe the poore how dwelleth the loue of God in them Euen as Christ abode among the Gargesens he departed out of their coastes Therefore let not your Religion be in words as of most it is but in deeds as of all it should For pure Religion and vndefiled before God euen the Father is this to visite the fatherlesse and the widow in their aduersitie and to keep himselfe vnspotted of the world This beloued is Comes defunctorum Ambrose A
and whatsoeuer is vilde which shee once disdained should touch her shall now tread vpon her Yea stinke and rottennesse shall so preuaile against that bodie which was once so proud that none may abide it like Herods and Antiochus but all men readie to get her into the ground to auoyd her noy some smel which once abounded with Pomanders and must-balls Thus wee see a foule fall of filthie Pride neuer thought vpon before it come of the most Like Diues who neuer remembred hell vntill hee was in it Then he cried But if thou once be there Luk. 16.24 then neuer hope for helpe for Ab inferno nulla est redemptic thou shalt neuer come out Amend then before death come Ambr. lib. de bono Mortis c. 2. et in oratione de fide resur Aug. in Io. Tract 42. lib. Q. 2.65 32. Oreg in Epist ad Rom. lib. 6. Of death the auncient and learned Fathers haue gathered from the holie scriptures as the painfull Bees dooth hony from the flowers not only for themselues but for others Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boues Therefore because that which is written is written for our learning I haue gathered from them both foure kindes of death 1 The death of sin generall 2 The death Mysticall 3 The death Naturall 4 The death Eternall 1 The death of sinne as Saint Ambrose calls it is the depriuation or losse or darkening of the Image of God in man like vnto which hee was creared Thus Adam dyed so soone as he had eaten of the forbidden fruit as God promised vnto him hee should And in Adam All die 1. Cor. 15.22 like as the braunches of a tree doo wither when the roote is dead Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 3.23 All haue sinned and are depriued of the glorie of God Ephe. 2.3 And were by nature the children of wrath and were dead in our sinnes Of this death many places testifie As Let the dead bury the dead Math. 8.22 Arise thou that sleepest stand vp from the dead c. See Galathians 3.22 Psal 14.1 Further search and thou shalt finde 2 Death Mysticall is to forsake sinne Quando quis peccato moritur deo viuit When one dyeth vnto sinne and liueth vnto God It is Qua a peccatis moriuntur whereby men die from sinne Of this Paule speaketh saying How shall wee that are dead vnto sinne yet liue therein Againe Ye are dead to sinne but are aliue to GOD in Iesus Christ our Lord. Of this death Christ speaketh saying The houre is come and now it is when the dead shall heare the voice of the sonne of GOD and liue Thus Paul dyed And so should we therefore hee saieth Mortifie your earthly members 3 Death Naturall S. Ambrose saith is Animae corporisque secessio The departing or seperating asunder of the body and the soule Thus Adam dyed and all we must die Only Elias those that shal be found aliue at Christs comming to iudgement die not thus but they shall be chaunged Which shall be in stead of death 4. Death eternall is the seperation of the soule and body from God and the kingdome of heauen and that for euermore Quae stipendium peccati nominatur Which is called the reward of sinne This Christ remembreth saying If a man keepe my word hee shall neuer see death Which the Euangelist calleth the Second death 1. The lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Into which the great Iudge of all the world will send all the wicked saying Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire Ioh. 8.51 which is prepared for the diuell and his angels Of these two last my text speaketh for Nabuchadnezzar and all the proud and abhominable of the world But know that wee all must to the first and third Math. 25 41. and they that come not to the second shall be sure of the fourth For the first the King cared not to the second he came not to the third hee was forced and in the fourth hee with all such shall neuer haue rest Cruciabuntur die ac nocte They shal be tormented day and night and that for euermore Now of these two last in order CHAP. IIII. What death is DEath naturall is described of many in seuerall maner but the sence or meaning is all one One saith death is Metoicesis tes psuches euthenthe eis allon topon A remoouing Translatio Abret ex Plat. Act. 7.59 Chrysos popu ad Antioch Hom. 7. Aug. in Iohn Ambr. li. de bono mort ca. 1 3. or translating of the soule from hence to another place An other Depositio sarcinae grauis An easing or vnlading one of a heauie burthen S. Ambrose saith death is Spirandi munere priuari To bee depriued of the benefite of breathing Againe Mors est absolutio animae corporis quaedam hominis seperatio Death is an absolution or discharge of the soule from the body and a certaine seperation of man It is like vnto a bill of diuorcement betwixt man and wife seperating that which before was one flesh Adultery is the cause of the one and the diuell sinne and thine owne consent thereto is the cause of the other But the most affirme that Mors aliud non est Aug. de cōso mort lib. 2. ca. 1. quam animae seperatio à corpore Death is nothing else but the seperation of the body and the soule It is like enuy that parteth friends asunder Therefore Ambrose vseth this saying of the Psalme he speaking of death Thou hast broken my bonds asunder Abr. li. de bono Mortis cap. 3. Because death breaketh open the prison of the soule Augustine saith That euen as famine is the defect of foode thirst the want of drinke and darknesse the absence of light c. euen so death is nothing else Aug. contra Pelag. Hyp. lib. 1. Nisi Nomen recedente vita But a name the life beeing gone To be short the Apostle Paul spake of death when he said I desire to be loosed So did Ionas when hee said Take my life from mee And Iob when he desired To be cut off This loosing taking away of life or cutting off is death By which the soule departing Paulatim saith Ambrose by litle and litle Ambr. de bono Mor. cap. 2. Soluat se vinculis carnis ore emissa euolat tanquam carcereo corporis huius exuta gurgustio She looseth her selfe from the bandes of the flesh and beeing got out at the doore of the mouth as the spies escaped through Rahabs windowe shee mounteth as being freed from the close darke dungion of the body as one bestirreth his heeles that is broke out of prison And this is death whither all must come But I thinke some scarce beleeueth it and therefore I wil proue it vnto them CHAP. V. That all men must die and when THat all men must die it is plaine for it is written Iosuah
certaine as is shewed Now for Hezechias The fifteene yeares are said to be added not that his time to die appointed from the beginning was then come for though the Prophet told him Thou shalt die and not liue It is true yet hee told him not when and at his repentance and contrition those fifteene yeares were added as a blessing not to the definite time of his age which was vnchangeable but to that time of his sicknesse Then what vse is there of phisicke 1. Euen to preserue health and to prolong thy daies in ease which else should be consumed in paine For as thy end is appointed of God certaine so are the meanes vnto the same end and they must not be despised 2. To helpe nature to ouerthrow that disease in short time which she her selfe will ouercome by good order and dyet in the end Therefore saith the wise man Eccles 38.4.7 Honour the Phisitian with that honour which is due vnto him because of necessitie For the Lord hath created him and the Lord hath created medicines of the earth and hee that is wise will not abhorre them For with such doth he heale men and taketh away their paines In ipso corpore alia praecipitur medicina ne bona valetudo amittatur alia verò vt amissa recuperetur Aug. lib. 80. Quest q. 45. In mans body one medicine is giuen to preserue health an other to recouer that which is lost But we see wicked men liue long a grieuous burthen to the poore c. Their long life is to them a curse and the same is their reward the poore must trust in God for God will be their deliuerer if they fight firme in faith Secondly such wicked men haue their pleasure in this world to make them most inexcusable and their damnation sure in the life to come with Diues CHAP. VII Why wee know not when wee shall dye WEll if our end be so certaine why is it not made knowne vnto vs when it shall bee Why Dixit dominus the Lord hath so determined and that should suffice thee Deut. 28.66 For hee saith Thou shalt haue no assurance of thy life And to this end it is said 1. Thes 5.2 The day of the Lord shall come euen as a theefe in the night Againe hee which hath the seuen spirites of GOD saieth I will come vpon thee as a theefe Reue. 3.3 and thou shalt not knowe what houre I will come vpon thee This then beeing so why shouldest thou aske any moe questions Secondly for the knowledge of thy end it is not opened in the word of God and therefore it appertaineth to his vnreuealed will and thou must not seeke further and busie thy selfe in the secrets of God as coniurers and figure-flingers and starre-tooters doo Therefore I answere thee as Christ did his Disciples enquiring of him to know the like matter saying Act. 1.7 It is not for you to knowe the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power Thirdly the knowledge of our last end is hidden from vs to the ende men should not encourage themselues to sinne and presume of repentance a litle before their end Therefore well saith Augustine Aug. in Ps 34. conc 1 Diem nobis nouissinum mortis nostrae abscondit ne nobis de futuro aliquid promittamus The effect is God hath not reuealed vnto vs the last houre of our death least wee should sinne of presumption Againe hee saith Ne de speveniae peius viuerent Idem in Ps 101. fecit diem mortis incertum God hath made to vs the day of death vncertaine least vpon hope of pardon we should liue the worse Fourthly it is most certaine that GOD hath kept from vs the knowledge of our dying day because wee should continually watch and be prepared for it with the oyle of good workes in our Lampes of faith clearely burning to light in the Bridegrome whensoeuer hee knocketh Therefore it is written 1. Pet. 1.13 Math. 24.42.44 Luk. 12.35 to 47. 2. Pet. 3.1 Gird vp the loynes of your minde awake and be ye also readie with your lights burning and ye your selues like vnto men that waite for theyr maister And Peter the Apostle saith Seeing that all things must be dissolued what maner of persons ought wee to be in holy conuersation and righteousnesse Againe 1. Pet. 4.7 8.9 The ende of all things is at hand bee yee therefore sober and watching in prayer but aboue all things haue feruent loue among you O some of you cannot abide this but loue couereth the multitude of sinnes Bee you harberous one towards an other without grudging These and such like good workes done in and for Christ are those garments which wee must keepe Our lights that must shine before men to glorifie our father which is in heauen and that same treasure which wee must lay vp for our selues in heauen And blessed shall that seruant bee whom his maister when hee commeth shall finde so doing Moyses doubtlesse knowing this hee euen reproouing the stubberne negligence of the Iewes and beeing desirous that they should make right vse of the consideration of theyr owne deathes saith Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise then they would vnderstand this they would consider their latter ende Euen by it to bee kept and guided from sinne as Israel was from the sight of the Egiptians in the day time by the pillar of a cloud Againe Moyses knowing that to all those that bee wise and haue any true feare of God in them the remembrance of death dooth effect the same thing Ps 90.12 hee prayeth saying O teach vs to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts vnto wisedome Therefore Aug. de discip Christ Latet vltimus dies vt obseruentur omnes dies Serò parantur remedia quum mortis imminet periculum Our last end or dying day is kept secret from vs because wee should watch and be readie euery day For the medicine comes too late when death is knocking at our gate This is that which the Apostle meaneth and would haue vs to doo when hee saieth Eph. 5.15.16 Take heed therefore that yee walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise redeeming the time for the dayes are euill And againe Gal. 4.5 Walke wisely towards them that are without and redeeme the time So that Moses the man of God praieth that we may be taught to nūber our daies And the holie Apostle of Iesus Christ would haue vs To redeem the time That is to remember consider how vainly we haue spent yesterday and to day to make amends for it by walking in Holines and righteousnes before God all the dayes of our life To this the consideration of death should guide vs. And therfore it is compared of some to the stern of a ship which though it be in the hinder part of the ship yet it guideth the whole whither soeuer the lust of the Gouernour
for himselfe he sheweth his minde euen that hee desired to be loose hand to be with Christ which is best of all Thus holie men after they once beginne with Henocke to walke with GOD Wis 4.10 that is in godlinesse to please God as he did they iudge none blessed before their death Which the verie Heathen confessed Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Ouide li. 3. Met. The meaning is to be accounted blessed none should before their last end TheÌ„ though the righteous be preuented with death Wisd 4.7 Luk. 16 22 23.43 Luk. 2.28 yet shall he be at rest in Abrahams bosome in Paradice with Christ that is in the kingdome of heauen Therefore when death commeth these do say ioying with Simeon when hee had seene Christ Psal 4.8 Lord now lettest thou thy seruaunt depart in peace according to thy word Or with Dauid Psa 116.7 I will late me downe and sleepe in peace for thou Lorde onely makest mee dwell in safetie therefore returne vnto thy rest ô my soule Thus peaceably and ioyfully of such faithfull men death is louingly imbraced And euery day the Apostles desire to bee with Christ How death is and is not to be wished for is preferred to any worldly consolation or ioy Not as wishing the determinate decree of God concerning our end to be altered as those blasphemous people do who vpon euery occasion or crosse wish themselues out of the world or that they had neuer bene borne with such like like kinde of cursed speaking but expressing our choyse and loue betwixt life temporall and death 2. Cor. 5.8 and therein submitting our selues vnder the mightie hand of God Thus death is imbraced and louingly entertained of the children of God for diuers considerations CHAP. XIII Why death is neuer feared of the godly FIrst because with that aged Father the Patriarke Iacob Gen. 47.9 Heb. 11.13 1. Cron. 29.15 Ps 39.12 1. Pe. 2.11 Gen. 15.13 47.4 we make account that our life is but as a pilgrimage and our selues straungers Pilgrimes or soiourners on the earth as the seed of Abraham were in a land that was not theirs Straungers continue not in a place and we looke for a better home For as the Tabernacles of the Israelites were to be remooued euen so are ours Exo. 33.7 2. Cor. 5 5. Num. 15.2 2. Cor. 5.4 Their abiding place hoped for was the land of promise and ours is the kingdome of heauen figured by theirs where mortalitie shall be swallowed vp of life Therfore it is written Heb. 13.14 Here we haue no continuing citie but we seeke one to come For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed we haue a building giuen of God eâ—â— an house not made with hands but eternall life in the heauens So that whilest we are strangers in the body 2. Cor. 5.1.6 we are absent from the Lord. Therfore we forget that which is behind Phil. 3.13 14. and indeuour our selues vnto that which is before and followe hard towardes the marke vnto which death guides vs as is before shewed Therefore it is called a Waye 1. Reg. 2 2. Iob. 16 22. Aretius de Morte that brings vs vnto God A quo in hunc mundum sumus peregrinatum missi of whom we are sent into the world to abide there as straungers vntill death come And then Anima ad caeleslia colligitur corpus suis restituitur elementis ad suuÌ„ vsque tempus The soule is taken into the heauens and the bodie is dissolued into his elements vntill his appointed time An other writer saith that death Oslij instar est Gualt in Has 13. Hom. 44. aut viae per quam nos ex hac vita mortali in immortalitatem transire oportet is like vnto a doore or a waye through which wee must passe out of this mortall life into immortalitie And it may not amisse be compared vnto the starre Mat. 2.9 10. that guided the wise men till they came to the stable where the blessed babe Christ lay in the manger and death brings vs to behold Christ glorified in the heauens at the right hand of his father Ioh. 20.20 When they saw the starre they reioyced with an exceeding great ioy like the Disciples which were glad when they had seene the Lord. And shall we be sorrie to meeâ—e with death that brings vs vnto God Christ healing one lying vpon his bed sick of the palsie Mat. 9.6 said Arise take vp thy bed and goe to thine house Euen so when death commeth she may say to our soules in our bodies sick vpon our beds as the Prophet of God did to Israel in an other matter Arise and depart for this is not your rest Mich. 2.10 He that had bene sicke arose and departed to his owne house And beloued why should not we at the commaundement of God when he saith by death come Loue to remoue out of the bodie and to dwell with the Lord 2. Cor. 5.8 being here but strangers in a vaile of miserie One saith Vita quid est hominis nisi vallis plena malorum Principio medio fine dolenda suo What is mans life but a vaile of griefe still tumbled in strife His springtime's woe Autumne is so Winter hath sorrow as rife And therfore Mors pro remedio data est quasi finis malorum Ambr. in orat de fide resue Chris de popu Antioch Hom. 7. Death is giuen vs for a remedie as the end of all troubles it being A vitae curis absolutio The absolution froÌ„ the cares of this life And therefore carefully to be expected and willingly imbraced without any feare Secondly we haue great cause to reioyce at the comming of death because by it we passe from infinite troubles to the end of our faith euen the saluation of our soules long hoped for Which is an inheritance immortall and vndesiled that fadeth not away reserued in heauen for vs. 1. Pet. 1.9 c. Vnto the hope whereof wee are begotten by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead So that we account of death but as of an happy hauen wherin we do arriue and are at ease from infinite turbulent stormes which we haue suffred in the surging seas of this wicked world Morborum vltimus medicus mors Aret. Stella Chrysost vt ante tantum corporis tollit mala Death is the last Phisitian or helper of our paineâ— which onely riddeth away the griefes of the body Portus est mortalibus mors Of Chrysostome it is called Tranquillus portus Death a calme hauen for mortall men where they arriue to behold the faire beautie of the Lord and to visit his Temple In many places of holy scripture Death is called a Sleepe Because that euen as sleepe and quiet rest is to a painfull honest labouring man at night most sweete and comfortable so lkewise is Death to a