shall be Ecâ—le 11. 3. As Ishbosheth being found asleepe was killed by Rechab Baanah 2. Sam. 4. 6. 7. euen so if we be asleepe in sin and vnprepared we shall be killed by Sathan Because the fiue foolish virgins had not oyle to maintaine their lampes the Bridegroome said I know you not Mat. 25. 12. Because the man which came to the wedding was not prepared he was cast into vtter darknesse Mat. 22. 13. As he is left behind that is vnprepared when the winde serueth and the ship vnder saile euen so he is left in damnation that is not prepared for the Lord when death commeth Many men prepare for life which is vncertaine and forget death which is certaine I say vnto all men Watch Mark 13 37. The day of the Lord will come as a thiefe in the night 2. Pet. 3. 10. a thiefe as well for stealing on vs as stealing from vs he comes in the darke when no body sees treades on wooll that no body heares watcheth an houre that no body knowes It may be he will come when men are banqueting as on the old world Luk. 17. 27. Or when they are drunken as on Belshazzer Dan. 5. 25. Or when they are committing filthinesse as on the Israelitish man and the Moabitish woman Num 25. 8. Or when they are coueting as on the rich man Luk. 12. 20. Or when they are gormandising as on the glutton Luke 16. 22. Or when they are lying as on Ananias Acts 5. 5. No thunder now can beat into them a feare of that which then no power shall ease them of We know Christ will come let vs prepare for his welcome We are all housholders our bodies are our houses our soules our goods our sences are the doores and windowes the lockes are faith and prayer The day of our death will come as a thiefe a thiefe commeth when men do not looke for him so the day of death commeth suddenly A thiefe commeth not when the maister of the house is watching but when he is asleepe so many times the day of the Lord commeth on men not when they seeme to watch but when they are secure and carelesse let our repentance watch let it neuer sleepe least we perish But men now put farre away the euill day and they flatter themselues with the remotenesse the vision that he seeth is for many dayes to come and he prophesieth of the times that are farre off Ezek. 12. 27. Surely there is no peace to the wicked Esa. 57. 21. Their rose buds are not withered their dances are not done sleepe conscience lye still repentance they will not prepare for death God made garments for Adam of dead beasts skins Gen. 3. 21. to put him in minde that he was condemned to dye and to make the remembrance of death familiar vnto him that the losse of life might not affright him who alwayes ware the liuery of death vpon him so we feed daily vpon dead creatures this should teach vs to prepare to feed dumbe creatures Secondly because our liues are short and sinfull it should worke in vs a willingnesse to dye Blessed are they which die in the Lord. Reu. 14. 13. First they are blessed in respect of the place for if we consider the world wherein we liue it is a vale of misery a prison and a place of vexation and trouble as the Apostle saith Wee know that euery creature groaneth with vs also and trauelleth in paine together vnto this present Rom. 18. 22. But heauen is a place of ioy rest and of comfort This place is of no certaine continuance here we haue no abiding Citty but wee looke for one to come Heb. 13. 14. But heauen is of continuance for the foundation thereof is God Secondly they are blessed in regard of their company for here we liue among the wicked and sinfull men but there we shal enioy the company of innumerable Angles Heb. 12. 22. It was an excellent change when Dauid was called from a Sheepheard to be a King so was it an excellent change in Saul when hee was called from seeking his fathers Asses to be a King yet this is nothing in respect of their estate which are called from this world to heauen where there is light without darknesse wisedome without ignorance vnderstanding without error reason without obscuritie memory without obliuion and ioy without sorrow where whatsoeuer shall be desired shall be present neither shall any thing bee desired which is not comely where God shall be seene without end loued without lothing and praised without wearying Thirdly in regard of their condition they are blessed for they rest from all their labours for they which dye in the Lord or for the Lord are with the Lord. Paul desireth to be dissolued and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. Death considerd in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage Phil. 1. 21. nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his Why is any man vnwilling to dye Death doth not separate vs from God but it maketh vs draw neere to God then doe wee draw neere to God when we are separated from the body As Pharaohs Butler could not see the face of the king when hee was in prison but beeing loosed from his bonds he both saw him and gaue the cup into Pharaohs hand Gen. 40. 21. So as long as we are in the prison of our bodies we cannot see the face of God but being loosed we shall see God face to face 1. Cor. 13. 12. and enioy that vnspeakable good which God hath prepared for them that loue him 1. Cor. 2. 9. Hast thou feared God in life then do not feare death for the sting of death is taken away by Christ so that as hony is not truely hony when it hath lost its sweetnesse nor vinegar truely vinigar when it hath lost its tartnesse nor Aloes truly Aloes when it hath lost its bitternesse so the death of the righteous is not truly death hauing lost his sting fearfulnesse and terrors in the godly The dying out of this world is not a death but a life rather and therefore as Iulian said to Christ O Galilean thou hast ouercome me so may death say to them O Christian thou hast ouercome me What is death that thou fearest it it is a departure from this wicked world a dissolution of the bodies of the godly from bonds that they may be with Christ it is a returning to our heauenly Countrey from this pilgrimage it is a deliuerance from the misery of the world it is a returne from banishment to our fathers house it is a preparation for the glory of the resurrection Why dost thou feare death Death hath onely the name of death not the
a Tragedy of transitory shewes and disguised persones Sometimes to a birds nest made of straw and dung that the winter soone dissolueth There is another calleth it a childs game that buildeth houses of sand on the shore where euery waue washeth them away Is our life so short then it is better to die then to liue and the day of death is better then the day of birth Eccles. 7. 3. The day of death is not a perishing but a parting The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy If the soule bee painefully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Through our natiuity wee come to the race through death to the reward through birth to the floud through death to the hauen through birth to the fight through death to the victory through birth to labour through death to rest by birth to sorrow by death to ioy by birth to life which is full of all sorrowes and troubles by death to life eternall which is free from all sorrows Death is rather the flight of sinne then the detriment of man dying because to the iust death is not the end of nature but of sinne as a Father saith To leaue this world and inherite a better should seeme nothing Death is a passage from sinne and corruption to glory and immortality from this earth to heauen from the company of sinners to the company of Saints from sorrow to solace from paine to peace from sicknesse to safety from persecution to triumph from the bondage of Pharoah to the liberty of the sons of God The consideration heereof made Salomon who for wisedome might seeme a God for gouernement deseruedly might be King and for learning might bee a Prophet to say All things vnder the Sunne are vanity and vexation of spirit Eccl. 2. 11. Seeing all things in the world are vanity better is a good death then a bad life and the day of death better then the day of birth When we are borne wee are mortall but when wee shall rise againe wee shall bee immortall wee are aliue in the wombe to die in the world but dead in the graue to liue in heauen Our life is not compared to an ell or yard to a pace or to a cubite to a mile or to a furlong to a fathome or to a foote but to an hand bredth a very short measure Man that is borne of woman is of short continuance Iob. 14. 1. Few and euill haue the daies of my life bene Gen. 47. 9. The time of our life is three score yeares and ten if a man come to foure score then there is nothing but weaknesse As Ionah his gourd was soone come and soone vanished Ionah 4. 6. so man is soone borne and soone dead This world is as a Stage and man as an Actor when he hath plaid his part hee is gone Our liues shorten as if the booke of our daies were by the pen-knife of Gods iudgement cut lesse Before the Floud they were in Folio they liued almost a thousand yeares Methushelah liued nine hundred sixty and nine yeares Gen. 5. 27. the whole chapter will shew vs how long the men liued before the Floud After the Floud in Quarto then they liued an hundred and twenty and an hundred and seuenty Gen. 25. 7. In Dauids time in Octauo three score and foure score yeares but with vs in the daies of the Gospell in Decimo sexto in the least volume now at forty fifty or sixty yeares old men and so we are dying almost so soone as we beginne to liue The Elements are more mixed drossie and confused our new sins call for new plagues the aire is more infected and contagious and our sinnes of drunkennesse and surfeiting do not want to second all the rest we may obserue that neither planers aboue nor plants below yeeld vs expected comfort So God for our sinnes doth cause the heauen to be as Brasse and the earth as Iron and the aire with the winds to bee tempestuous and so almost euery thing which was created for mans vse is become his enemy and all because wee turne all things to vices corruption which were giuen for natures protection and therefore what wee haue diuerted to wickednesse God hath reuerted to our reuenge Wee are sicke of sinne and therefore the world is sicke of vs. How soone doth the sand runne downe in the houre-glasse how quickely doth the Sunne beginne to set so speedily doth our time passe away Future things are alwaies beginning present things alwaies ending and things past are dead and gone while wee liue we die and then we leaue dying when we leaue liuing Better it is therefore to die to life then to liue to death because our mortall life is nothing but a liuing death and life continually flyeth from vs and cannot be with-held and death hourely commeth vpon vs and cannot be with-stood No armour resisteth no threatning preuaileth nor no entreaty profiteth against deaths assault If all perils spare our life yet time and age in the end will consume it As a riuer that riseth in the Forrest passeth by many rockes runneth and tumbleth and maketh a noise yet in the end entreth into the sea so fareth it with mans life he commeth into the world with paine and beginneth his course with pittifull cries and is daily molested with sicknesses and neuer ceaseth running till in the end he fall into the sea of death As euery man hath his Genesis so hee must haue his Exodus and as we are borne to liue so we are borne to die Our dying on earth is but the taking of our iourney to heauen Why are we vnwilling to loose that which cannot be kept The good Pilot sitteth at the sterne to guide his ship and so a good Christian to direct his life must thinke on death death is the dore whereby we must go out of bondage and therefore as he that is in prison taketh great comfort to sit vpon the threshold that when the doore is opened he may the sooner get out so we must alwayes haue our mindes fixed vpon death for passe wee must but how or when wee know not Emosinarius hauing his Tombe in building commaunded that it should bee left imperfect and that his seruants euery day should put him in minde to finish the same that so hee might prepare to dye The vse of this doctrine is forasmuch as our life is short and nothing almost shorter let vs prepare for death for we must dye Bee yee prepared for the sonne of man will come at an houre when yee thinke not Luk. 12. 40. All estates of men are exhorted to prepare old and young rich and poore Prince and Peasant the danger is great if men be found vnprepared as death leaueth men so the day of iudgement shall finde them If the tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the place that the tree falleth there it
participatton here and by fruition in heauen Our Sauiour said I will be with you to the end of the world Math. 28. 20. that is hee will be with the godly as long as any be on earth and hee will be with them for euer in heauen Christ will not be light to the wicked in this life and therefore he will be no light to them in the life to come Hee will bee life to none that are appointed to death nor the bread of life to such as had rather the Onions and Garlicke of Aegypt then Milke and Hony in the heauenly Canaan To whom God doth giue the light of Grace heere to them hee will giue the light of glory in heauen to whom hee denyeth the one hee will neuer giue the other If God make vs partakers of Christs Ignominy he will make vs pertakers of his Glory Secondly seeing all things are mutable in this world let vs lay vp our rest in the world to come There is nothing vnder the Sunne which is perpetuall but all subiect to diuers mutations kingdomes are subiect to mutability as we may see by Israel and Iudah how did they flourish for a time now they are gone and their Kingdomes possessed by others How often hath the gouernement of Rome beene changed Famous Citties haue come to nought One Generation passeth and another succedeth Eccl. 1. 4. In another place he saith Surely the light is a pleasant thing and it is a good thing to the eyes to see the Sunne Though a man liue many yeares and in them all he reioyce yet hee shall remember the daies of darkenesse because they are many all that commeth is vanity Eccl. 11. 7. 8. Man is not perpetuall for man is borne to die as we see daily by experience Houses built with great cost and charge become ruinous Trees haue but a time and then wither What is there vnder the Sunne that is perpetuall The light of our eyes is but for a time but the happinesse of the godly lasteth for euer The rich man can haue his riches but for a time nor the great man his honours nor the King his Crowne nor the wanton his pleasures but the godly mans happinesse lasteth for euer The true difference betweene earthly things and heauenly consisteth in this earthly things are much desired but being obtained they content little heauenly things are desired little but once gained satisfie much and therefore lay not vp treasure vpon earth where the moth and canker corrupt and where theeues dig through and steale Math. 6. 20. Surely euery man in his best state is altogether vanity Euery man of what sort or fashion so euer hee bee is vanity Salomon saith All is vanity Eccl. 1. 2. and Dauid saith The children of men are vanity the chiefe men are lies to lay them vpon a ballance they are altogether lighter then vanity Psal. 62. 9. And man is like to vanity Psal. 144. 4. That is vaine which is subiect to diuers changes which is mutable fraile and passing away so euery man rich and poore noble and ignoble Prince and people are changeable like a bubble made of vanity This doth teach vs that all sorts of men and all sexes are fraile and changeable To day liuing to morrow dead as some of our neighbours round about vs to day rich to morrow poore as Iob. 1. 21. To day in honour to morrow in the dust One cryeth mine head as the Shunamites child did 2. Kin. 4. 19. another is sick with a fall as Ahaziah was 2. Kin. 1. 2. Another cryeth in his feet as Asa. 2. Chro. 16. 12. Another sicke to death as Hezekiah Esa. 38. 1. Anothers soule panteth as Dauids did Ps. 42. 1. As that part of the wheele which is highest is presently lowest againe so that man which the world lifteth vp one while anone after casteth downe againe so mutable is the estate of euery man All things in the world wil either leaue vs or else we must leaue them They will leaue vs Riches taketh her to her wings as an eagle Pro. 23. 5. Honours leaue many as Haman dignities as Bellisarius We leaue them As the Partridge gathereth the yong which shee hath not brought forth so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leaue them in the middes of his daies and at his end shall be a foole Ier. 17. 11. The vse of this doctrine serues to humble all sorts and sexes that they wax not proud Art thou a king thou art subiect to mutability thou art vanity Art thou noble art thou rich thou art but vanity like a Venice glasse soone broken thy daies are but as an hand bredth thy time is nothing if it be compared with the eternity of God and thou in thy best estate whether youthfull or in prosperity thou art fraile and subiect to diuerse mutabilities and changes thou art mortall and thou must die And now beloued least I should tire my selfe and your Christian patience I will but lap with Gideons souldiers Iudges 7. 6. and touch the hony as Ionathan with the tip of my rod. 1. Sam. 14. 43. and so brifly will speake as the present occasion and your expectation requireth that as I haue hitherto spoken of death so now I may say something also of this dead subiect presented here before your eyes This worshipfull Gentleman descended from worshipfull parents who were well knowne to many liuing among vs. His education was in learning first in schooles in the countrey then to Oxford where he became so studious that he excelled many of his ranke From thence hee was sent to the Innes of Court there he made such proceedings that hee might haue been inferior in nothing to such as are right honorable if he had continued but he chose rather to liue priuately with contentation then in great places where contentment is hardly to bee found I will speake with your fouourable patience somthing of his learning of his life and so of his death First touching his learning he was a good Grammarian he did both write and speake good latine touching his writing his booke written in latine dedicated to the Kings Maiesty will testifie the truth thereof Touching his speaking of latine readily such as haue conferred with him can relate He was a good Phylosopher a good Historian some Grecian a man well read in Physicke and for distillations and secrets few can second him Touching diuinity he had read the Bible and expositors thereon both old and new ancient and moderne Diuinity was his study now for the most part wherein he did so busie himselfe that he intended if it had pleased God to haue printed a booke of the grounds of Christian religion collected in latine wherein hee shewed great reading good iudgement and multiplicity of knowledge It were to be lamented were it not that the good pleasure of Almighty God was such that