Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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B00565
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The meane in mourning. A sermon preached at Saint Maryes Spittle in London on Tuesday in Easter weeke. 1595. / By Thomas Playfere Doctor of Diuinitie.
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Playfere, Thomas, 1561?-1609.
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1596
(1596)
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STC 20015; ESTC S94747
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56,543
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134
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Iezabels bloud This is meate and drinke to him l Dulce diabolo peccare nos Hila. Enarra in p. 118. He loues it a life to see vs sinne euen as cursed Cham did to see Noahs nakednes And as flies are alwaies busie about a sore place so sayes Theophilact m ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In cap. Luk. 16. p. 320. That is a sport or a pleasure to Sathan which is a sore or a paine to man Especially if he be a godly man For this Behemoth the deuill eateth grasse as an oxe n Iob. 40.10 Whereupon Gregory noteth that a sheepe or any such other beast will eate any manner of grasse though it be trampled and stained neuer so much but an oxe will eate no kind of grasse but that which is green and fresh And so the deuill will be sure to haue his feede of the very finest and best o Esca eius electa Abacuc 1.16 For the angell of the Lord reioiceth most when one that is a sinner conuerteth He eateth grasse as a sheepe But the angel of sathan reioyceth most when one that is a conuert sinneth Hee eateth grasse as an oxe If the deuill can not keepe a man from liuing long then hee will hinder him from liuing well p Aut impetrat mortes aut impetit mores Leo. If hee can not kill him then hee will corrupt him And indeede hee takes greater pleasure in corrupting one godly man then in killing a hundred wicked He was more delighted when Dauid slew but Vrias then when Saul slew himselfe wheÌ Peter did but deny Christ then when Iudas betrayed him So that the life of man by reason of his sin is the delight yea it is the very life of the Deuill It is on th' other side the death of himselfe O miserable wretch that I am saies one who shall deliuer me from this body of death The life of the godly is a very body of death But their death is onely a shadow of death Thales a Philosopher being demaunded what difference there is betweene life and death Answered They are all one Then being asked againe if he had not rather liue then die No saies he as before for they are al one But Ierome saies farre more excellently They are not all one That is not true For it is one thing to liue in continuall daunger of death an other thing to die in continuall assurance of life q Aliud viuere morituruÌ aliud mori victurum Therefore Ecclesiastes saies that the day of our death is better then the day of our birth For when we are borne we are mortall but when we are dead we are immortal And wee are aliue in the wombe to die in the world but wee are dead in the graue to liue in heauen Hence it is that the wicked are merrie at their birth day as Pharaoh made a feast at his birth day when his chiefe baker was hanged r Gen. 40.20 and Herod likewise made a feast at his birth day wheÌ Iohn Baptist was beheaded but they are sory at their dying day as Iudas was sorie when he went about to hang himselfe Cain was afraid euery one would kill him that met him Contrariwise the godly are sory at their birth day as Iob Let the day perish wherein I was borne and Ieremie Let not the day wherin my mother bare me be blessed Å¿ Ierem. 20.14 But they are merrie at their dying day as SimeoÌ Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace Paul I desire to be dissolued to be with Christ Therfore we also keep holy daies and celebrate the memorie of the Saints not vpon their birth-daies but vpoÌ their death-daies to shew that these two are not all one but that the day of our death is better then the day of our birth For whereas there are two waies the one hauing in it first a traÌsitory life theÌ an eternall death the other hauing in it first a transitory death then an eternall life the wicked choose to liue here for a time though they die for it hereafter eternally but the godly choose to haue their life hid with Christ here that they may liue with Christ eternally hereafter Therefore the wicked neuer think of death but the godly think of nothing els As Alexander the monarch of the world had al other things saue only a sepulchre to bury him in wheÌ he was dead he neuer thought of that But Abraham the heire of the world had no other possession of his own but only a field which he bought to bury his dead ãâã he thought of nothing else We read that Daniel strowed ashes in the temple to descrie the footesteps of Bels priests which did eate vp the meate So did Abraham strow ashes in his memorie saying I will speake vnto my Lord though I bee but dust and ashes So doe all the faithfull remembring they shall one day be turnde to dust and ashes That so seeing and marking the footesteps of death how it continually commeth and stealeth away their strength as Bels priests did the meate how it dayly eateth vp wasteth and consumeth their life they may be alwaies prepared for it Our first parents made them garments of figge leaues But God misliking that gaue theÌ garmentes of skinnes Therefore Christ in the Gospell cursed the fig tree which did beare onely fig leaues to couer our sinne but coÌmended the Baptist which did weare skins to discouer our mortalitie For not onely as Austin sayth Our whole life is a disease t Vita morbus but also as Bernard saith Our whole life is a death u Vita mors The life of man by reason of his sinne is a continuall disease yea it is the very death of himselfe It is lastly the death of Christ The prophet Esay calleth Christ a sin or a sacrifice for sinne x Asham Esay 53.10 prefigured by all those sin-offerings of the old lawe Because indeede when Christ was crucified at the first he was broken for our sinnes According to that of Tertullian y Propter peccatum mori necesse habuit filius dei Vide etiam Aug. Medita cap. 7. vbi docet hominem esse causam passionis Sinne it was which brought the sonne of God to his death The Iewes were only instrumeÌts and accessaries to it sinne was the setler and the principall They cryed Crucifie him in the courte of Pilate but our sins cryed Crucifie him in the court of heauen Now as the death of Christ was not efficient to saue the wicked so the sinne of the wicked was not sufficient to condemne Christ But the scripture sayth of them which either are or at least wise seeme to bee godly They say they know God but by their works they deny him and Saul Saul why dost thou persecute me and They crucifie again vnto themselues the sonne of God Zacharie prophecieth of Christ * Zach. 13.6 That when one shall
peace not cried the very stones would haue cried for the death of Christ Or rather indeed as soone as euer these women left weepinge because Christ bad them straightwaies the stones fell a weeping before Christ bad them And what heart of man then could here haue refrayned from weeping though it had bin harder then any stone seeing the hard stones before his eies thus dissolued and distilled into teares Yet behold the benignity and louing kindnes of Christ Christ died not for the sunne not for the temple not for the graues not for the stones but for vs men and for our saluation he dyed Yet he suffereth these senceles creatures to weep and to haue a liuely feeling of his death though they had no benefit by his death But beeing content himselfe to shed his dearest and his best bloud for vs yet will not suffer vs in recompence to shed so much as one little teare for him No no saies he I will beare all the sorrow you shall haue only ioy and though I dye and shed my very heart bloud for you yet you shall not so much as weepe or shed the least teare for mee NOT YOV VVEEPE NOT FOR ME. Thus much for his benignity Lastly for magnanimity he saies NOT FOR MEE Straunge stoutnes and courage Especially in him that was otherwise so mild and so meeke a lambe But here the cause quarell beeing ours he fighting for the saluation of our souls there is no rule with him hee plaies the lyon whersoeuer hee goes For holding nowe in his hand the cup of trembling and beeing ready to drinke vp the very dregs of it yet neither his hand nor his heart trembleth Ennius the poet as Tully testifieth could say thus much Let no man weep for my death a Nemo me lacrymis decoret And S. Laurence the martyr as Prudentius witnesseth Doe not weep for my departure b Desiste discessu meo fletum dolenter fundere But as Ennius or any other pagan could neuer come neere christians in true magnanimity so S. Laurence or any other christiaÌ could neuer come neere Christ The blessed Apostle S. Paul of any that euer I heard of commeth neerest to him Going toward Ierusalem what do you saies hee weeping breaking my heart for I am ready not only to be bound but euen to die also for the name of the Lord Iesus Euen so saith Christ here or rather indeed not so but a thousand times more couragiously Going out of Ierusalem what do you saies hee weeping and breakinge my heart for I am ready not only to bee bound but euen to dye also for the saluation of man He knewe well enough his passion would be a new kind of transfiguration vnto him For at his transfiguration he was accompanied with his deare disciples Peter Iames and Iohn but at his passioÌ Peter denied him Iames Iohn forsooke him And there he was vpon mount Tabor which smelled sweetly of hearbs and flowers but here he was vpon mount Caluary which smelled loathsomly of bones and dead mens sculs And there his face did shine as the sun but here his face was couered nay it was buffeted and spit vpon And there his garments were white as the light but here his garments were parted nay they were like Iosephs coate all embrued in bloud and hee himselfe stript starke naked And there he was between two famous prophets Moises Elias but here when they thought hee called for Elias to help him Elias would not come nay he was between two theeues the one at his right hand the other at his left And there his father spake most ioyfully to him from heauen This is my beloued sonne in whom only I am pleased but here hee screeched most lamentably to his father from the crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Yet behold behold the magnanimity of Christ Christ knewe well enough before hand of all this fearefull horrible passion prepared for him wherin he was not transfigured as before but disfigured so as neuer was any man Yet nothing could moue him This cowardlynes of his disciples this noysomnes of the place these diuelishe buffets vpon his bare face these bloudy wounds vpon his naked body these vile theeues these hydeous screeches could not one whit daunt his heroicall heart But euen as a noble champion hauing already had a legge and an arme slasht off when all the stage in admiration of his valour and manhood cryes saue the man saue the man yet puts out himselfe and standing vpon one legge and strikinge with one arme fights still as stoutly as if he had neuer bin hurt at all so Christ hauinge bin scorned and scourged already when the whole theater of heauen and earth wept for him yea when the powers aboue the heauen came down and the dead vnder the earth rose vp to moue and pitty him only he himselfe would neither aske any fauour of others nor yet shewe any fauour to himselfe but was very angry called him Sathan that gaue him such counsell Yea though all the saincts in heauen and earth did bleed at the very heart (c) Caelum terra compatiuntur ei Anselmus in speculo Euangel sermonis cap. 13. in a manner as much as he himselfe did vpon the crosse to see so good ãâã man so shamefully despited yet nothing could stay him but still he went on forward as pleasantly and as cheerefully is to any banket or feast to this most ruââull and dreadfull death O sweet Iesus O my deare Lord forgiue me I humbly beseech thee for thy mercy sake forgiue me this one fault Thou wilt neither weep thy selfe nor yet suffer me to weep for thy death But I am contrariwise affected Though I doe not see thee at this present led as a lambe to the slaughter yet only meditating of thy death so many hundred yeeres after I can not possibly refraine from weepinge Yea by so much the more do I lameÌnt and mourn by how much the more I see thee ioyfull glad Come forth ye daughters of SioÌ saies he d Canticae 3.11 and behold king SalomoÌ with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his mariage in the day of the gladnes of his heart As if hee should haue sayd come forth yee daughters of Ierusalem and behold Iesus Christ with the crowne of thornes wherwith the sinagogue of the Iewes crowned him in the day of his passion and in the day of his death vpon the crosse He calleth the day of his passion the day of his mariage and the day of his death vpon the crosse the day of the gladnes of his heart Thus you see in this seauenth part the wisdome the benignity the magnanimity of Christ in that hee sayth Not weep not you not for mee VVEEP NOT FOR ME. VVEEP NOT FOR ME BVT VVEEP FOR YOVR SELVES THe eyght part which is the last now only remaineth BVT VVEEPE FOR YOVR SELVES wherein