all which meanes the Lord brings vs to mortification which be the little Deathes that thereby we may be the better armed and prepared for the great death when it commeth to endure the same with more ease For wee must learne to giue intertainment to the Herbengers seruants and messengers of Death that we may the better intertaine the Lord and Master when he commeth This point that blessed martyr Saint Bylney well considered who oftentimes before his burning and martyrdome did put his finger into the flame of a candle not only to make triall of his abilitie in suffering but also to arme strengthen and prepare himselfe against greater torments and paines in his death which hee did suffer with the more ease And thus you see the fourth dutie which we must in any wise learne and remember because otherwise wee cannot be so well able to beare and endure the pangs of death well except we be first well schooled nurtured and trained vp by inuring our selues to die through the sundrie afflictions and trials of this life The fift and last duety of our generall preparation is set downe vnto vs by the Preacher who saith Eccl. 9.10 All that thine hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power And marke the reason For there is neither worke nor inuention nor knowledge nor wisdome in the graue whither thou goest Therefore if any man be able to doe any good seruice or office either to the Church of God or Common-wealth or to any publike or priuate person let him doe it with all speed and with all his might lest by Death he bee preuented He that hath care thus to spend his dayes shall with much comfort and peace of conscience end his dayes Thus much of the generall preparation for death Now followeth the perticular preparation for Death and this is in the time of sicknesse and in the right and true manner of making this particuler preparation are contained three sorts of duties one concerning God another mans selfe and the third our neighbour The first concerning God is to seek to be reconciled vnto him in Christ and by Christ though wee haue bin long since assured of his fauour all other duties must come after in the second place and they are of no value or effect without this Touching the duties which hee is to performe to himselfe they are two-fold the one concerning his soule the other his body The dutie concerning his soule is that he must arme and furnish himselfe against the immoderate feare of present death and the reason hereof is very plaine because how soeuer naturally men feare Death through the whole course of their liues more or lesse yet in time of sicknesse when death approacheth this naturall feare bred in the bone will most of all shew it selfe euen in such sort as it will astonish the sences of the sicke partie And therefore it is necessarie that we should vse some meanes to strengthen our selues against the feare of Death which meanes are of two sorts Practise and Meditation Practise that the sicke man must not so much regard Death it selfe as the benefits of God whiâ—h are obtained after death He must not fixe his minde vpon the consideration of the pangs and torments of death but aâ—l his thoughts and affections must bee vpon that blessed estate that he is to enioy after death He that is to swim ouer some great and deepe Riuer must not looke downeward to the violent running of the streame but if he would prâ—uent feare hee must cast his eyes to the bancke on the further side to the which place he is to passe and euen so he that drawes neere vnto death must looke as it were ouer the waues of death and directly fixe the eyes of his faith vpon the eternall life and happinesse The meditations which serue for this purpose are principally three the first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the Death of euery man much more of euery child of God is not onely foreseene but also appoynted by God Yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his owne sinnes is laid vpon him by God who in this respect may bee said to be the cause of euery mans death Acts 4.28 The Church of Ierusalem confessed that nothing came to passe in the Death of Christ but that which the foreknowledge and eternall counsell of God had appointed therefore also the Death of euery member of Christ is foreseene and foreordained by the speciall decree and prouidence of God I adde further that the very circumstances of Death as the time place and manner the beginning of the sicknesse the continuance the end of it euery fit in the sicknes and the pangs of Death are set downe particularly in the counsell of God For vnto the Lord saith the Psalmist belong the issues of Death Psal 68.20 The carefull consideration of this one point will bee a notable meanes to arme vs against all feare distrust and impatience in the time of sicknes as also of our Death The second meditation is to be borrowed from the excellent promise that God hath made to the death of the righteous which is this Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Reue. 14.13 this the Author of truth that can not lye hath spoken Now then let a man but throughly consider this that Death ioyned and accompanied with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioyned with it and it alone will be a sufficient meanes to stay the rage of our affections and all immoderate feare of Death The third meditation is that God hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence to his seruants in their sicknes and at their death And the Lord doth manifest his presence three wayes The first is by moderating and lessening the paines and torments of sicknes and Death and hence it comes to passe that to many men the sorrowes and pangs of sicknes and death are nothing so greiuous and troublesome as the crosses and afflictions which they suffer in the course of their liues The second way of Gods presence is by an inward and vnspeakeable comfort of his holy spirit as Saint Paul saith We reioyce in tribulation Rom. 5.3.4 but why is this reioycing Because saith he the loue of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost 2 Chro. 2.5 which is giuen vnto vs. Againe this Apostle hauing in grieuous sicknesse receiued the sentence of Death saith of himselfe that as the sufferings of Christ did abound in him so his consolation did abound through Christ Here then we doe see that when earthlie comforts doe faile the Lord himselfe drawes neere vnto the bed of the sicke and as it were doth visit them in his owne person and ministreth vnto them from aboue refreshing for their soules with his right hand hee holds vp their heads Can. 2.6 and
Christ it ceaseth to bee a plague or punishment and of a curse is made vnto vs a blessing and become vnto vs a friend and a passage or middle way betweene this life and eternall life and is become as it were a little wicket entrance or doore whereby we passe out of this world into heauen And then in this respect this saying of the Preacher is most true for in the day of birth men are brought forth and borne into the vale of misery but afterward when the children of God goe hence hauing death altered vnto them by the death of Christ they enter into eternall life and happinesse The third obiection is taken from the example of most worthy men who as it should seeme haue made their prayers against death Mat. 26.39 as our Sauiour Christ We reade when our Sauiour Christ was borne it was a ioyfull time at whose birth there was great ioy and mirth Simeon and Anna Luke 2.10.13.28.38 Luke 19.41 Marke 16.10 Luke 23.28.45 Matth. 27.51 yea and the Angels of heauen did sing and they bid the Shepheards sing because they brought them glad tidings of great ioy which should be vnto all the people But when our Sauiour Christ suffered death then it seemed that it was a dolefull time for then there was as much lamentation and weeping Our Sauiour Christ himselfe wept whom we reade to haue wept three times at the destruction of Ierusalem Iohn 11.35 at the raising of Lazarus and in his agony the disciples wept the daughters of Ierusalem wept Heb. 5.7 the Sunne was darkened the vaile of the Temple was rent the stones were clouen in sunder Yea all these and all sencelesse creatures in their kind did weepe and lament the death and passion of their maker And so it should seeme that our Sauiour Christ prayed against death on this manner Psal 6.4.5 Father if it be thy will let this cup passe from me Wee reade also that the Prophet Dauid prayed against death Returne O Lord saith he deliuer my soule O saue me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall giue thee thankes Againe Esay 38.1 wee reade that King Ezechiah prayed against death for when the Prophet brought him word from the Lord that hee should die and not liue this good king at this newes wept very sore and prayed for further life Now by the examples of these most worthy men yea by the example of the Sonne of God himselfe it should seeme that this should not be true which the Preacher doth heere auouch That the day of death should bee better then the day of birth but rather that the day of death should be the most dolefull and terrible day of all Answ We are heere to vnderstand that when our Sauiour Christ prayed in this sort as we haue heard he was in his agonie and he then as our Redeemer stood in our roome and stead to suffer and endure all things which wee our selues should haue suffered in our own persons for our sins if he himselfe had not vouchsafed to suffer for vs and therefore hee did not pray simply against the bodily or naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse for he feared not death it selfe which is the separating of soule and bodie but the curse of the Law which went with death as namely the vnspeakeable wrath and iudgement of God which was due for our sinnes The first death troubled him not but the first and second ioyned together Therefore the Author to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 5.7 That Christ in the daies of his flesh wheâ— he had offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death that he was heard in that he feared By which place it appeareth that Christ did not pray simply against the naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse which was the second death Concerning Dauids praying against death we are to vnderstand that when he made that sixt Psalme hee was not onely sicke in bodie but also perplexed with the greatest temptation of all in that hee wrastled in conscience against the wrath of God as appeares by his owne words For hee there saith Psal 6.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger c. Wherein wee may see that he prayed not simply against death but against death at that instant when hee was in that grieuous temptation for at other times he had no such feare of death And therefore in another Psalme he saith Psal 23.4 Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I wil feare none ill c. Wherefore he prayed against death onely in that sixt Psalm as it was ioyned with apprehension of Gods wrath as our Sauiour Christ did Lastly touching king Hezekiah wee are to vnderstand that he prayed against death not onely because hee desired to liue and to doe seruice to God in his kingdome but also it was vpon a further and more special regard because when the Prophet brought him this message of death he was then without issue hauing none of his owne body to succeede him in his kingdome But then it wil be obiected What warrant he had to pray against death for this cause Answ His warrant was good for God had made a particular promise vnto Dauid and his posteritie after him 1. King 2.4 that as long as they feared him and walked in his commandements with all their heart and with all their soule there shal not faile thee saith he a man on the throne of Israel Now this good king Hezekiah at the time of the Prophets message of death remembring what promise God had made to Dauid and to his seed and how that he for his part in some poore and weake measure had kept the condition in that he had walked before God with an vpright heart and had done that which was well pleasing and acceptable in his sight as he himselfe saith in the same place Isay 38 3. therefore hee prayed against death not for that he feared it but he desired to haue issue of his own to succeed him according to the Lords promise to his seruant Dauid Which prayer of his was so well accepted of God that hee gaue him his request and added vnto his daies fifteene yeeres and three yeeres after God gaue him Manasses Isay 38.5 Againe beside these examples it will be further obiected that the godly haue feared death 1. Kings 19.30 or esse why did Eliah flie from it in the persecution of Iezabel and Christ teach his to flie it in the persecutions of men Mat. 10.23 and Christ himselfe as we haue alreadie heard did pray against the bitter cup of it in his agonie Mat. 26.39 and before his apprehension Answ Those Saints did not nor were to flie from death as it is the end of life and a most blessed end
of a good life but vsed the meanes of flight onely to preuent violent and hastie death till the houre appointed should come that they were to giue their spirit in peace into the hands of him that made it and because such vntimely death was enemy to the good they had to doe and course they were to finish therefore they went aside by flying for some time and till the time of their departure come that they might doe the good to which they were appointed and finish the course for which they were sent For if a remouing or flying for thine ease in this respect may be effected by shifting thy place that may both be desired and vsed without sinne Isaak sent his sonne Iacob away from his brother Esau when Esau in his anger had sworne to slay him Dauid fled from the hand and iauelin of Saul and shifted for himselfe by remouing from place to place and conuayed all his fathers house into the land of Moab from Sauls reach The Lord Iesus oftentimes withdrew himselfe from the rage of the Iewes and he gaue his Disciples a rule for times of persecution saying When they persecute you in this city Mat. 10.23 flie into another And many honest men haue remooued their habitations to auoide euill neighbours and free themselues from beeing troubled by hem But where it is againe alledged that Christ himselfe prayed against the cup of death for the further satisfying of this point I answere further two wayes First that hee prayed without sinne against it seeing that in his supplication of teares and much feare hee submitted to his Fathers will alwayes Mat. 26.39.42 Neuerthelesse said he not as I will but as thou wilt And againe O my Father if this cup may not passe away from me except I drinke it thy will be done Also death was not to him as it is to vs for to vs the sting of it is conquered and the force broken but to him it was in full power he felt the sting of it and wrastled with the force of it in soule and bodie Secondly I say as was said before that it was not meerly a bodily death though vnsubdued saue where himselfe subdued it that he trembled at but by the burthen of our sinnes which he was to vndergoe in which hee beheld the whole There he saw his Fathers countenance turned against him and there knew that he must beare his wrath because he bare our sinnes And besides Christ feared death beeing cloathed with our flesh to shew that he tooke our infirmities Isay 53.4,5,6 and bore our sorrowes and was perfect man And so death may in some case be feared and at sometime prayed against but euer vnder the correction of Gods will For the rod of death turned into a serpent made Moises feare Exod. 4.3 and the best haue moderately declined and shrunke at the stroke of death when it came in some tempest and who doth not dread all Gods terrors whereof death is one and feare that which is the punishment of sinne and curse of sinners and decline that which is the ruine and destruction of humane nature and shrinke at that which hath made the strongest the wisest the greatest the richest to fall downe flat before it Therefore the feare of death thus reproued is not the naturall feare of it which is in all but the seruile feare of it proper to euill doers and common to those who can haue no hope in death because they neuer cared to liue till they were compelled to die The fourth obiection is that those who haue beene reputed to be of the better sort of men haue oftentimes miserable ends for some end their dayes despayring some rauing and blaspheming some strangely tormented It may therefore seeme that the day of death is the day of greatest woe and miserie To this I answer first of all generally that wee must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by outward things whether they be blessings or iudgements whether they fall in life or in death For as the Preacher saith Eccles 9.1.2 No man knoweth either loue or hatred by all things that are before them all things come alike to all and the same condition is to the iust and to the wicked and to the good and pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Againe the Preacher saith Eccles 8.14 There is a vanity that is done vpon the earth that there be iust men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked and there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the worke of the righteous Secondly I answere to the particulars which be alleaged in this manner First for despaire it is true that not onely wicked and loose persons despaire in death but also godly and penitent sinners who often in their sicknesse testifie of themselues that beeing aliue and lying in their beds they feele themselues to bee as it were in hell and to apprehend the very pangs and torments of it and I doubt not for all this but that the child of God which is most deare vnto him may through the gulfe of desperation attaine to euerlasting life and happinesse Which appeares to bee so by Gods dealing in the matter of our saluation For all the workes of God are done in and by their contraries In the creation all things were made not of something but of nothing cleane contrary to the course of nature In the worke of redemption God giues life not by life but by death And if we consider aright of Christ vpon the Crosse wee shall see our paradise out of paradise in the midst of hell for out of his own cursed death hee brings vs a blessed life and eternall happinesse Likewise in our effectuall vocation when it pleaseth God to conuert and turne men vnto him he doth it by the meanes of the preaching of the Gospel which in reason should driue men from God for it is as contrary to the nature of man as fire to water and light to darknesse For the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 1.21.22.23.52 After that in the wisdome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue For the Iewes require a signe and the Greekes seeke after wisdome but we preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling block and vnto the Greekes foolishnesse And yet for all this though it be thus against the nature and disposition of man it preuailes with him at length and turnes him vnto his God it hee belong vnto him Furthermore when God will send his owne seruants vnto heauen he sends some of them a contrary way euen as it were by the gates of hell For our way to heauen is by compasse euen as the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt into the Land
THE ANATOMIE OF MORTALITIE Deuided into these eight heads viz. 1 The Certaintie of Death 2 The Meditation on Death 3 The Preparation for Death 4 The right behauiour in Death 5 The Comfort at our owne Death 6 The Comfort against the death of friends 7 The Cases wherein it is vnlawful and wherin lawfull to desire Death 8 The glorious estate of the Saints after this life Written by GEORGE STRODE Vtter-barister of the middle Temple for his owne priuate comfort and now published at the request of his friends for the vse of others MATTH 13.52 Euery Scribe which is taught vnto the kingdome of heauen is like vnto an housholder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things both new and olde Vita mihi Christus mors lucrum patria coelum LONDON Printed by William Iones and are to be sold by EDMVND WEAVER dwelling at the great North-doore of Saint Pauls 1618. TO THE HONORABLE SOCIETY OF THE MIDLE TEMPLE ALL HEALTH AND PROSPERITIE WHen it came neere my turne to reade and that I had entred into the choice of my Statute euen then my body wasted with long sicknes and disease called vpon me to consider rather of my death and that so withdrew my minde from the positiue Lawe I had in hand as that it setled my thoughts vpon that eternall law of God wherby Statutum est hâ—minibus c. It is appoynted vnto men that they shall once dye and afterward come to iudgement and when I had spent some time thereon it did not only disswade me from mine intended enterprise to reade and perswade me to giue way to a more fit Reader but gaue me also such comfort and content as that thereout I straight way affected to impart it vnto you to whom I shall euer wish as your Foster-brother all satisfaction in the things of best vse toward your prosperitie in this life and glorious estate in the life to come excuse I pray you the forme it coÌ„meth to you in as issuing from a minde affected at that instant with the order of a Temple reading and therefore could receiue no other impression then of the same kinde which neuerthelesse as it is I doe not presume to addresse vnto you for your instruction but for your incoragement and incitation that you knowing me to be heauie and slow by nature and little bettered by any art and yet to haue by constant and diligent hearing of godly sermons and that only at our appoynted houres and by addition of some things sorting with the matter collected out of my readings gathered such store of Diuine notes as that thereout I may present you with such a common place as this might from thence consider what excellent things may be compassed by you who as well for your naturall endowments as your liberall bringing vp doe farre exceede not only my selfe but many other every way afore me and this also you may performe without the least preiudice to your prescribed studies for if your indeauours this way be but accompanied with delight the one will be a recreation yea a very apt helpe to the other For what maxime of the Common Law of this kingdom can you cite whereby our infinite and those most variable poynts and questions are decided that is not grounded or originally deriued from the eternall law of God either by direct precept or by consequent implication What I haue done in this my poore and simple labours is a part of my negotiation with that one Talent I haue receaued from the Lord which I am desirous to put to the vttermost profite And although perhaps for my selfe to be seene in the presse in a matter of this kinde will be to some as great a wonder as Saul among the Prophets yet had I rather by doing of some good this way lay open my infirmities to the censure of men then with the idle seruant to hide my Talent in the earth Accept therfore I pray you this my present with that kinde affection I doe intend it and then I hope it shall either profit you in the reading as it hath done me in the compiling or at least stirr you vp to correct and amend it by your owne endeauours for your better vse and comfort And so wishing to you as to my selfe I rest euer at your seruice GEORGE STRODE The eight Diuisions 1 The certaintie of Death page 1 2 The meditation on Death 61 3 The preparation for Death 90 4 The right behauiour in Death 130 5 The comfort at our owne Death 176 6 The comfort against the Death of friends 228 7 The cases wherein it is vnlawfull and wherein lawfull to desire death 241 8 The glorious estate of Gods children after Death 276 THE ANATOMIE OF MORTALITIE THE Statute which I haue chosen to reade vpon wanteth neither time to settle authoritie to bind nor notice to auoid excuse For in time it precedeth all time for it was and is from all eternitie in authoritie of the Law-maker it exceedeth all that euer were for all the three Estates in that Parliament were now are and euer shall be infinite in power glory wisdome foresight mercie and Iustice and hath beene proclaimed to the World by many meanes first in Paradise then by the Prophets and lastly by this holy Author to the Hebrewes where it is thus written Heb 9.27 THE STATVTE It is appointed vnto men that they shall once die and afterward commeth the Iudgement MY reading vpon this Statute may for the better apprehension of the Law-makers meaning be aptly put into these eight Diuisions following viz. 1 The certaintie of death 2 The meditation on death 3 The preparation for death 4 The right behauiour in death 5 The comfort at our owne death 6 The comfort against death of friends 7 The causes wherein it is vnlawfull and wherein lawfull to desire death 8 The glorious estate of the children of God after death THE FIRST DIVISION OF THE certaintie of Death THis first Diuision containing the certaintie of death is properly subdiuided into three parts The first is into the death which is naturall of the bodie the second is the spirituall death of the soule in sinne and the third is the eternall death of both body and soule in hell To these three deaths are opposed three liues the life of Nature of Grace and of Glorie Naturall or bodily death which is called the first because in respect of time it goeth before the third in our vnderstanding is a dissolution or separation of the soule from the bodie for a time namely vntill the resurrection The spirituall death which is termed the second is a perpetuall separation of the soule principally but consequently of body and soule from God of which Sinne is the mother the Diuell is the father and Damnation is the daughter and this is when men die not to sinne but in sinne Eternall death is the hire and wages of the second and this euer followes the reprobate after the first Both these
latter are a separation of the whole man bodie and soule from the fellowship of God The first is an entrance to death the second and third are the accomplishment of it The first is temporarie the second and third are spirituall and eternall The first is of the body onely the second and third are of both bodie and soule The first is common to all men the second and third are proper only to the Reprobates But touching the naturall and bodily death which is the proper subiect of this Diuision it is as we haue said before the seperation of the soule from the bodie with the dissolution of the bodie vntill the resurrection as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for sinne though to the godly the nature of it is chaunged For when God had setled Adam in Paradise a place of pleasure giuing him such libertie as these words import Thou shalt eate freely of euery tree of the garden Gen. 2.16.17 yet left hee should presumptuously equall himselfe with his Creator he gaue him this bridle to champe on But of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt not eat for in that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Adam had soone forgotten this saying thou shalt die and harkened vnto that lying speech of the Serpent Yee shall not die Matth. 15.14 The man gaue eare to the woman the woman to the Serpent they eate of the forbidden tree so the blind led the blind and both fell into the ditch But now when Father Adam hath tasted of that forbidden fruite O how was he bewitched He was once in the state of grace but now of disgrace hee was once the childe of God but now in danger for ought he knoweth to be the slaue of the Serpent God did once care altogether for him but now hee must care and shift for himselfe hee was warme without apparell naked without shame satisfied without labour or paine his meat was put into his mouth But now it is come out of his nostrels and is loathsome vnto him Numb 11.20 And now hee must be pinched with cold and scorched with heate Gen. 31.40 he must trauell hard and in the sweat of his browes must eate his bread Gen. 3.19 While hee kept himselfe within his compasse hee was a happie man for which he was to thank God and now being in miserie hee is accursed and vnhappie for which hee may thanke himselfe A lamentable fall a pitifull case the wrath of God ouerrunneth the whole world as a gangrene through all Adams posteritie for his disobedience his treason hath attainted all his children his whole bloud is corrupted his fall redoundeth to all of vs that came of him Alas then how shall we doe Adam is dust hated of God and ashamed of himselfe he is accursed hee is sicke with sinne hee is dead twice dead subiect to mortalitie and subiect to eternall damnation his children bee in the same case Woe therefore bee vnto vs we are so benumbed with our sinnes that wee feele not the sting of death fixed therein the impostume of sinne lieth hidden in our hearts so pleasingly to our carnall sence as that we thinke our selues whole and sound as if we presumed we should neuer die The incredulous and rebellious broode of Adam will not acknowledge their corruption and mortalitie such and so great is their selfe-love and pride of heart Adam the Father of all Nations was once a free-man a blessed man the childe of God the mercie of God imbraced him on euery side In the earth there were blessings for him ingrauen as it were in the herbes flowers and fruits yea in the heauens and in the waters he saw innumerable tokens of Gods loue towards him But alas wretch that he was when he was in honor he forgot himself he denied God his seruice yea he obeyed his Enemie and therefore became accursed and debarred of all his former blessings He became a bondman a cursed creature the seruant of sinne and Satan ashamed of his nakednesse and trembled at Gods voice So that death and the graue haue obtained the victorie for Adam and his wife are become a cursed couple yea not onely they but all their posteritie they be the roote we be the branches If the roote bee bitter the branches must bee so also they bee the Fountaine we be springs if the fountaine be filthie so must the springs be Sinne and corruption bee the riches that wee bequeath to our children Rebellion is the inheritance that we haue purchased for them Death is the wages that we haue procured vnto them such as the father is such bee the children For wee are all of the same nature and haue eaten the same sowre grape Ezec. 18.2 The fathers haue eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge By one man sinne entred into the world Rom. 5.12 and death by sinne and so death went ouer all men in whom all men haue sinned In sinning with Adam wee must all die with Adam and this is the onely difference betwixt him and vs that hee did it before vs and for vs. For if any of vs had beene in Adams stead we had done that which Adam did if not more to procure death And wee receiuing from Adam the infection of our flesh we receiued from him also the corruption of our flesh And this is the cheifest and most principall cause why all must die As the goodnesse of God hath lent vs life so our owne deserts haue wrought our death It is a true and a heauie sentence spoken to euery man Thou must die verified not in one in few in many but in all and vniuersall is this saying in respect of the elementarie creatures All must die A short clause of a long extent containing in it the estate of all mortall creatures whatsoeuer As there are certaine common principles which doe runne through all Arts so this is a generall rule that concernes euery man All must die The truth thereof is daily to be seene and all of vs hereafter shall proue the Lord knoweth how soone by his owne experience Therefore it is said in the second booke of Esdras Esd 2. v. 3.4.5.6.7 O Lord who bearest rule thou spakest at the beginning when thou diddest plant the earth and that thy selfe alone and commandedst the people and gauest a bodie vnto Adam without soule which was the workmanship of thine hands and diddest breath into him the breath of life and he was made liuing before thee and thou leddest him into Paradise which thy right hand had planted before the earth came forward and vnto him thou gauest commandement to loue thy way which he transgressed and immediately thou appointedst death to him and his generation of whom came Nations Tribes and Kindreds out of number And in another place of that book it is said And when Adam transgressed my Statutes Esd 2. v. 7.11.12 then was decreed
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
answered with thankes thou onely hast looked on me with open and true iudging eyes Saint Ambrose saith How far will ye great men stretch your couetise Will ye dwell alone vpon the earth and haue no poore man with you Why put you out your fellow by kinde and challenge to your selfe the possession common by kinde in common to all for high and lowe rich and poore the earth was made Why will ye rich change proper right herein Kinde knoweth not riches that bringeth forth all men poore for we be not got with rich cloathes and borne with gold ne with siluer naked he bringeth them into the world needy of meat and drinke and cloathing naked the earth taketh vs as she naked brought vs hither She cannot close with vs our possession in sepulcher for kinde maketh no difference betweene poore and rich in comming hither ne in going hence All in one manner he bringeth forth and in one manner he closeth in graue Who so will make difference between poore and rich abide till they haue a little while lyen in graue then open looke among dead bones Lam. 4.5 who was rich and who was poore but if it be thus that more cloathes rot with the rich then with the poore and that doth harme to them that are then liuing not profiting them that be dead And it may be that the wormes shall feede more sweetely on the rich Iob. 24.20 then on the poore But thou wilt say saith Saint August I am not such a one as he is God forbid I should be so he is base and beggerly I am high honorable and rich tell me not saith Saint August The ods of your apparell or other externall things but marke ye the qualitie of nature remember the day of your birth and the day of your death There is no difference in the one or the other both weake both miserable for all of all sorts and conditions are made of one mold and one matter of clay and earth whose foundation is in the dust which shal be destroyed before the moth It is true that as there is difference of starres though all made of the same matter and difference of mettals some gold Iob. 4.19 some siluer some lead some tinne but all made of one earth and differences of vessels some gold some siluer 2 Tim. 2.20 some wood some earth and some to honor and some to dishonor but all made of the same mould so are there differences of bodies some more excllent then other and made of purer earth but yet all subiect to corruption as the matter is whereof they are made It being the body then that dyeth and seeth corruption one must dye as well as an other For as great men haue no priuiledge from error nor protection from reproofe for their faults blameable so haue they no priuiledge from Death For all men haue one entrance into the world a like danger in life the same necessity of death respect cannot change nature nor circumstance alter substance a great man is a man a man hath a body and a soule both haue their diseases which greatnesse can neuer diminish but oftentimes augments And therefore in a bodily infirmitie of some noble personages the Phisition takes them in hand not as noble men but as men Physick they must haue although with better attendance more exquisite and costly medicines and skilfuller Doctors then the poorer sort haue Therefore doe they thinke because they liue better and are in better estate and haue better meanes to preserue life then poore men that therefore they shall liue longer and what difference concerning death betweene a noble man and a begger when both goe to one place All goe to one place saith the Preacher all are of dust Eccl. 3.20 and all turne to dust againe When in these acts and scenes of seeming life as at a game at chesse the highest now vpon board may presently be lowest vnder board And the breath in the nostrels of the rich man may as soone be stopped and they as soone turne to the dust as other men Deaths cold impartiall hands are vsed to strike princes and pesants and make both alike Therefore in this respect the case of the rich and poore great and small high and low may be resembled to the play or game at Chesse Heare this therefore all ye people giue eare all yee Inhabitants of the world both low and high Psal 49.1.2 rich and poore together For while the play indureth there is great difference in the men greater respect had to some then to others but whē the Check-mate is giuen play ended then the men are tumbled together and put vp into the bag frō whence they were taken out and the lesser men vppermost many times there being no difference And so it is in this world There is great differēce in men greater respect had to some then to others as it is meet to be but when death cōmeth as surely it will come to all sorts then there will be no such differēce in the graue neither doth Death know any such difference for hee spareth none the yong as well as the old dyeth the Lambes skinne is brought to the market as well as the olde Crones the rich as well as the poore the Prince as wel as the subiect for there is no difference in the mould from the rich Crowne of Kings to the poore beggers crutch from him that sitteth on a Throne of glory vnto him that is humbled in earth and ashes from him that weareth Purple and a Crowne Eccle. 40.3.4 vnto him that is cloathed with a linnen frocke Reu. 20.12 Saint Iohn in his vision in the booke of the Reuelation saw the dead arraigned at the barre of the great Iudge both great and small Matth. 27.33 olde and young In Golgotha are skulls of all sizes saith the Hebrew prouerbe Death attendeth youth behinde vshereth old age and walketh before it and it is hard at hand to all and to all sorts All must grinde to greete Princes are old cold and chillerie Princes as well as others must decay and weare away Againe in this respect they may be resembled to Actors of a Comedy vpon a stage wherein one acteth the part of a prince an other of a Duke another of an Earle another of a Nobleman another of a Gentleman another of a Magistrate another of a Merchant another of a Countreyman another of a seruant euery one acteth a seuerall part And so long as they are vpon the stage so long there is respect according to their parts had one of another but when the Comedy is ended and the stage pulled downe then there is no such respect had amongst them Yea many times he that plaies the basest part is the best man So likewise so long as men doe act sundry parts vpon the stage of this world that is so long as men doe liue in seuerall vocations and callings so long
warning And experience sheweth the truth of this plentifully The rich Churle in the Gospell Luk. 12.19.20 that boasted of store for many yeeres euen that very night had his soule fetched from him when like a Iay he was prouning himselfe in the boughes hee came tumbling downe with the arrow in his side his glasse was runne when he thought it but new turned the axe was lifted vp to strike him to the ground when he neuer dreamed of the slaughter-house Wee had need of monitors of Philips boyes to put vs in minde of our end not the oldest man but thinkes he shall liue a yeere and the yong man in the April of his age when his breasts are full of milke and his bones runne full of marrow full little thinkes of the slimie valley and that he shall shortly remaine in the heapes Certainly we dwell but in houses of clay and Corruption is our father Iob 17.14 the wormes our mother and sister We are creatures but of a dayes life and the foure Elements are the foure men that beare vs on their shoulders to the graue Assure thy selfe ere many yeares or months be past pale Death will arrest thee binde thee hand and foote and carry thee whither thou wouldest not to a land darke as darkenesse it selfe What then remaineth but that thou make thy graue presently with Ioseph of Arimathea in thy garden the place of thy delight to put thee in minde of thy death and mourning euery day amongst thy entising pleasures as if the sun of thy life were to sette at night For time past is irreuocable time present momentary and time to come full of vncertaintie When thou goest to bed and art putting off thy cloathes remember and meditate that the day commeth when thou must be as barely vnstript of all that thou hast in the world as now thou art of thy cloathes And when thou seest thy bed let it put thee in minde of thy graue which is now the bed of Christ which he hath sanctified and warmed for the bodies of his deere children to rest in and let thy bed-cloathes represent vnto thee the mould of the earth that shall couer thee thy sheets thy winding sheete thy sleepe thy death thy waking thy resurrection for when wee rise in the morning we must remember thereby that we shall rise out of the graue of the earth at the last day For all these things appertaining to Death yea and Death it selfe Christ Iesus hath sanctified vnto vs by laying his blessed bodie three daâ—es and three nights in the graue from whence the third day he rose againe ouercomming thereby Death it selfe and all the difficulties thereof and the miseries incident to the same for vs most miserable distressed sinners With this key of meditation we should open the day and shut in the night and what befalleth others in the dust of their bodies we must thinke will come to vs we know not how soone in our owne dust and mortalitie here And therefore as the third Captaine sent from the King of Israel to Eliah to bring him 2. King 1.13 and perceiuing that the other two Captains with their fifties were deuoured with fire from heauen at the request of Eliah grew wise by their experience and therefore fell downe and besought fauour for him and his fiftie so we hearing and seeing of so many fifties yong and old that in these late yeeres of mortalitie haue ended their liues in a fire of pestilence sent from the Lord should make supplication day and night not as that Captaine to the man of God but as true Christians to the Man and God Christ Iesus that our lâ—ues and deathes may be precious in his eies And that wee may not forget that what is done to others may come to our selues Againe the meditation of Death is a most soueraigne and effectuall medicine against dâ—seases of the soule if we would well practise the same and applie it to our spirituall wounds Other medicines are auaâ—leable to some certaine and particuler diseases and serue for their seuerall vses and seldome doth one medicine profit for many diseases though it excell Triacle of Venice Mythridatum or the herbe Moly so much extolled by Homer but only the meditation on Death is profitable to the extirpation of all the diseases of the soule Of this it may be said as Dauid said of the sword of Goliah 1. Sam. 21.9 there is none to that giue it mee and I by the grace of God will bee a conquerour of vices As bread is necessarie for a man before al other elements so the serious meditation on Death beareth the prize aboue all other good exercises of pietie and vertue And surely as wings are to the bird to fly to the Mariners their sailes CoÌ„passe Pole-starre gouernment and direction for their nauigation to fishes their tayles and finnes to swimme to a Chariot wheeles to carrie it to horses hoofes and shooes for their trauell So necessarie is the meditation on Death to the leading of a holy Christian and godly life The Wise-man saith Eccl 7.3 Remember thy end and thou shalt neuer doe amisse and Seneca could say That nothing profiteth so much to keepe vs within the bounds of temperance in all our actions as the often meditating on our short and vncertaine life Aptly and elegantly speaketh the golden mouthed Doctor Iohn Chrysostome of sinnes saith hee are borne two daughters Sorrow and Death but these two daughters destroy their wicked mother as the worme which is bred in timber or cloath doth by little and little consume the same As the Viper killeth his Dam and the Dam the male in conceiuing and as the Naturalists affirme the biting of a Viper is cured with the ashes of a Viper the stinging of a Scorpion with the oyle of a Scorpion the biting of a dog with the burnt haires of a dog as Achilles speare cured Tellephus whom before it had wounded the rust thereof being cast into the wound so sinne which is more hurtfull then any Viper or Scorpion or other thing hath begotten Death which hath stung and hurt vs and of immortall made vs mortall but the meditation on Death doth wound and kill sinne which begate it The wound of this Viper Scorpion Dogge Speare that is our propension and greedinesse to sinne the ashes of this Viper the oyle of this Scorpion c. that is the remembrance and meditation on Death doth wound and slay in vs in as much as Sinne is the parent and author of all euill And shall a Christian man then bee so sencelesse and doltish to intertaine and embrace sinne in his heart which hath beene the murtherer and paricide of mankinde and will also be our destruction vnlesse by time we banish it by often meditation on our end Had it not beene for sinne Death had neuer entred into the world and were it not for Death sinne would neuer goe out of the world Basil saith God made not death
both man and tree fall into the bottom of that deepe pit This hungry Vnicorne is swift death the poore traueller that flyeth is euery sonne of Adam the pit ouer which he hangeth is hell the arme of the tree and slender twigge is his fraile and short life those two wormes are the wormes of conscience which day and night without intermission consume the same the hiue of hony is the pleasures of this world to which while men wholly deuote themselues not remembring their last end the roote of the tree that is the temporall life is spent and they fall without redemption into the pit and gulfe of hell If thou thus seriously ponder this thy vnstable estate I suppose thou wilt take little pleasure in ryot and dissolute liuing Giue those that are condemned to dy Nectar giue them Ambrosia giue them Manna the bread of Angells and will they tast it No they can neither eat drinke laugh or sleepe and wilt thou that art already condemned and guiltie of death perchance this very moment to be inflicted vpon thee securely addict thy selfe to drunkennesse gluttonie excesse and to al manner of riotous and intemperate liuing Remember rather the rich glutton in the Gospell Luke 16.23 who after he had pampered his body all the dayes of his life in the end Death made him a fat dish for the wormes his flesh and bones were consumed into dust but which was most terrible his soule was cast into hell the burning lake of brimstone and at this time calleth for one drop of cold water to coole his tongue which yet is denied him What adamantine and flinty heart can thinke vpon this without relenting I speake not here of the harmes and hurts that intemperance in meates and drinkes bringeth to the body for meate should be vsed as oyle put into a lampe to keepe it burning not to quench it And Galen the Prince of Physitians saith that abstinence is the whole summe or abridgement of Physicke How then can they liue long that liue by so many deaths whose bellies are sepulchers of lusts and very gulfes and sinckes of the shambles to their owne destruction For as he that allowes lesse to his body then he owes to his body kils his friend so hee that giues more to his body then he owes to his body nourisheth his enemie If the glutton did remember that God is able to come against him yea at the very disburdening of nature he would not make his kitchin his Church gurmandizing his Chamberlaine his Table his Alter his Cooke his Preacher the odours of his meate his sacrifice swearing his prayer quaffing his repentance and his whole life wanton fare Did the Drunkard but remember this that God is ready to come quickly against him yea euen in his drunkennesse he would not rise early to follow strong drink Esa 5.11 which doth trouble the head ouerthrow the sences cause the feete to reele the tongue to stammer the eyes to roule and the whole fabrick of his little world to be possest with this voluntarie madnes losse of many friends credit and time It would make too great a volume to insist vpon all other sinnes for the subduing wherof the meditation on Death is a most soueraigne remedy Are we strangers vpon earth and is our countrey in heauen and must we all dye Yea verily this necessitie thē should inforce vs to aspire to our heauenly countrey and let vs rather meete Death in our meditation thē carelesly attend it lest we be surprized by it at vnawares Before thy miserable spirit resigne ouer his borrowed mansion bethinke with thy selfe what thou art and whether thou goest the remembrance whereof will breede in thy heart sorrow sorrow remorse remorse repentance repentance humilty humility godly affection and loue to God-ward And here assure thy selfe that nothing in all the world can inforce a man sooner to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present euill life then the due consideration of his owne infirmities the certaine knowledge of his mortality and the often and continuall meditation and remembrance of his last gaspe death and dissolution when as a man then becommeth no man For when once he beginneth to wax sicke and still by sicknes groweth more sickly then doth a wretched man despaire of life hauing onely his paine griefe in remembrance His heart doth quake his minde is amazed with feare his sences vanish quite away his strength decayes his carefull brest doth pant his countenance is pale neither willing nor able to call for mercy his fauor out of fauor his eares deafe his nose loathsomely foule and sharp his tongue furred with phlegme and choller quite flattereth and faileth his mouth vnseemely froathing and foming his body dyeth and rots at length his flesh consumes his shape his beautie his delicacy leaue him and he returnes to ashes and in stead and place of these succeede filthy wormes as one sayth elegantly Next after man doe wormes succede then stincke in his degree So euery man to no man must returne by Gods decree Behold here a spectacle both strange and dreadfull and assure thy selfe that there is neither skill nor meanes of art nor any kinde of learning that can be more auaileable to quaile the pride of man conuince his malice confound his lusts and abate his worldly pompe and vaine-glorious vanity then the often remembring of these things For in all the world there is nothing so irksome nothing so loathsome and vile as the carcasse of a dead man whose sent is so tedious and infectious that it may not lodge and continue in a house fower dayes but must needs be cast out of doores as dung and deepely buried in the mould Ioh. 11.39 for feare of corrupting the ayre Then blush for shame thou proud peacocke who in death art so vile and wormes meat and shortly shall become most loathsome carrion Thinke therefore vpon these things and thou shalt receiue great profit thereby When the Peacocke doth behold that comely fanne and circle of the beautifull feathers of his taile hee jetteth vp and downe in pride beholding euery part thereof but when he looketh downe seeth his black feete with great misliking he vaileth his top-gallant and seemeth to sorrow Euen so many know by experience that when they see themselues to abound in wealth and honor they glory much are highly conceited of themselues they draw plots and appoynt much for themselues to performe for many yeares to come This yeare say they we will beare this office and the next yeare that afterward we shall haue the rule of such a prouince then wee will build a pallace in such a Citty whereunto wee will adioyne such gardens of pleasure and such vineyards and the like And thus they make a very large reckoning before hand with the rich man in the Gospell Who if they did but once behold their feete that is if they did but see how fast they stoope toward death Luk. 12.16
excellent fruits in the life of man For a worldling surfeted with vanities a proud man in the midst of his aspiring thoughts the couetous man in the dogs-hunger of his auarice the voluptuous man in the fury of his fornication the enuious man in the torment of his malice if they can be so happie as once to prepare themselues for Death in a holy meditation into what amazement will they be brought to consider of their wondrous folly in their dangerous estate Then pride will strike her sailes couetousnes will be satisfied voluptuosnesse more continent and enuie more charitable Gen. 18.27 Iob. 42.6 it will make vs say with Abraham I am but dust and ashes and with the holy man Iob to abhor our selues and to repent in dust and ashes The second dutie in this generall preparation is that euery man must daily indeauor to take away from his owne Death the power and sting thereof Iudg. 16.5 The Philistimes saw by experience that Samson was of great strength and therefore they vsed meanes to know in what part of his body his strength layâ— and when they found it to bee in the haire of his head they neuer ceased practising with Daliah till it was cut off and then they had their will of him In like manner the time will come when we must incounter hand to hand and grapple with cruell death and therefore the best way is before hand while we haue a breathing time to learne where the sting of Death which is his strength doth ly which being once knowne we must with all speed cut off his Samsons locks bereaue him of his power disarme him and make him weake and vnable to destroy vs. Now to finde out the way we neede not vse the counsell of any Dalilah but we haue the oracles and counsels of God which direct vs plainely wherein the strength and sting of Death consists namely in our sinnes 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of Death saith the Apostle is sinne And seeing we now know that the power and force of euery mans death doth lye in his owne sinnes the wages whereof is death as the same Apostle telleth vs and the body is to dy because of sinne Rom. 6 23. Rom. 8.10 wee must therefore indeauour before Death come vpon vs to pull out this sting and take froÌ„ him his power strength by humbling our selues in the time present for all our sinnes past and by turning our selues to God for the time to come and to labour to haue our sinnes pardoned and forgiuen by the pretious death and blood-shedding of our Sauiour Iesus Christ by which meanes and none other the power of Death is much rebated For Christ dyed not to take away Death as yet but to change Death not to overthrow the being of death but to plucke out the sting of Death not quite to stop vp the graue but to remoue and quell the victorie of the graue By which meanes Death cannot now sting them that haue their sinnes forgiuen nor the graue triumph ouer them Death in it selfe is the way to hell vnto the wicked but it is altered and changed vnto the children of God by grace and is become vnto them a portall by which the soule passeth out of the fraile body into heauen In it selfe Death is as a Sergeant to arrest men and bring them to iudgment but to the elect children of God by the Death of Christ it is as the Angell which guided the Apostle Peter out of prison Acts 12. and sets them at liberty and leads them from the vale of teares into the land of righteousnes and by this meanes of a mighty and bloudie enemie is so far forth made tractable and friendly that wee may now with comfort encounter with Death and preuaile seeing now it is become a peece of our happines Exod. 8.8 Acts 8 24. The most notorious wicked person wheÌ„ he is in dying perchance will pray and with Pharaoh desire others â—o pray for him and will promise amendement of life with solemne protestations that if he might liue longer he would become a practiser of all the good duties of faith repentance and reformation of life although God knowes there be too many that after recouery do with Pharaoh breake this promise This therefore is a dutie which you must be carefull to doe euery day Num. 23.10 Wicked Balaam that false Prophet would faine dye the Death of the righteous Let mee saith he dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like his buthe by no meanes would liue the life of the righteous But this preparation will bring thee to liue the life of the righteous and then no doubt but thou shalt also dye the death of the righteous The third dutie in our generall preparation is in this life to enter into the first degree of life eternall for eternall life and happines hath three degrees one in this life and that is when a man can truly say with the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I liue and yet not I but Christ liueth in me and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by faith in the sonne of God who loued me and gaue himselfe for me and this all such can say as doe vnfainedly repent and beleeue and that are iustified from their sinnes sanctified against their sinnes and haue the peace of a good conscience with other good gifts and graces of the holie Spirit being the earnest peny of their saluation The second degree is in the end of this life that is when the bodie goes to the earth from whence it came and the soule returnes to God that gaue it and is carried by the angels into Abrahams bosome The third degree is in the end of the world that is at the resurrection and last iudgement when bodie and soule being reunited together who were ancient louing familiers liuing and suffering together and from their first conuersion did draw together as sweete yoke-fellowes in the Kingdome of grace doe now ioyntly enter together into the Kingdome of glory So that the first of these three degrees is in this life into which we must enter For he that will liue in eternal happinesse must first begin in this life to rise out of the graue of sinne in which by nature he lyes buried and then liue in newnesse of life by grace The fourth dutie in our generall preparation is to exercise and inure our selues in dying by little and little before we come to that point that we must needs die indeed For he that leaues this world before the world leaue him giues Death the hand like a welcome messenger and departs in peace Wherefore as they in open games of actiuitie as running shooting wrestling and such like long before hand breath their bodies and exercise themselues that in the day of triall they may winne the game c. Euen so should wee beginne to die now while we are liuing that we may
nothing where I loued nothing and I haue my whole portion when I haue Christ my onely loue and ioy with me Let vs not therefore build where we cannot long continue but let vs make our provision for that place where we may liue and remaine for euer It is wisdome then in euery one to labour to be fitted for this passage Let vs be prepared for this iourney as Chrysostome saith for we haue neede of much prouision because there is much heat much drought much solitude no Inne no resting place no place of aboade there is nothing to be bought by him who hath not taken all things here Heare what the Virgins say Mat. 25.9 goe yee rather to them that sell but going they found not What ought we then to doe Euen that we doe not so labour for the things of this life from which we must be taken and which we must leaue behind vs but for those things which concerne a better life which we may carry with vs not for those things which shall haue either finem tuum vel finem suum as Bernard speaks an end of thee if thou haue not an end of them Either shall they be taken from vs as they were from Iob Iob 1. Luke 12.20 or else we from them as the rich man was from his substance and wealth but for those things which we may carry with vs and â—…ay either bring vs to or adorne vs where wee must bee perpetually euen for euer It were a very foolish part and sencelesse practise for strangers when they are in exile or farre from their owne Countrey in a forren soile where they are sure either to be called by their owne Prince or cast out by the prince of the Countrey to lay out all their wealth vpon some land there neuer prouiding for that which they may carry with them to their Countrey for to adorne them when they come there especially if the so imploying of themselues and their estate be a meanes to keepe them from enioying the happines of their Countrey yea a cause why they shall be cast into prison or plunged into miseries So is it meere madnesse for vs to imploy all our care and spend our time and indeauours for this life and things pertaining to it and the body which wee found here and must leaue here and being here from home strangers in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 absent from the Lord and our owne land as the Apostle speaketh whence we know we shall be called either by a naturall or violent death ordinary or extraordinary taken away by God or thrust out by the cruelty of man neuer prouiding for that which must adorne vs there or further our passage yea procure our entrance specially when such things and the care for them which was ioyned with the neglect of so great things even of so great saluati n shall procure misery and punishment where the other would procure mercy and happinesse here these things are left behinde vs those other goe with vs of these we shall giue an accompt of those there wee shall reape a reward as Chrysostome saith Luk. 16.2 We must therefore imitate strangers who prouide for their departure and store themselues with such things as are both portabâ—e and profitable and may stead vs in our passage and possession of our Countrey so must wee prouide for things spirituall and store our selues with them which we shall onely carry with vs and cannot bee â—aken from vs and shall bee onely commodious to vs when wee come to our Countrey Chrysostome sayth he that is indued with vertue hath such a garment which as moaths cannot so neither can Death it selfe hurt And not without cause for the vertues of the minde take not their beginning from the earth but are fruits of the spirit They are then eternall riches and we shall be eternall by them and though Death dissolue body and soule and destroy our present being in this life yet as Iustine Martir spake for himselfe and others to their persecutors you may kill â—s but you cannot hurt vs so Death may kill vs but it cannot hurt vs whilest it comes expected and prouided for it will be to our great commoditie and aduantage And thus shall Death when it commeth be lesse hurtfull as a tempest before-hand expected Death is compared to the Basiliske which if shee see before shee be seene is dangerous but if a man first descrie the Basiliske the Serpent dieth and then there is no feare So if Death be not seene and prouided for before-hand there is great danger but if it be seene and prouided for the danger is past before their death come And they who with the glorified Virgins wait for Christ in the life of the righteous Mat. 25.10 are alwaies prepared for Death when it knocketh to open vnto it and what is a prepared death but a happie death and what followes a happie death but a happie life neuer to die againe Such go in with Christ to his mariage and haue euerlasting life Let vs not therefore forget heauen for earth the soule for the bodie and heauenly ioyes for earthly toyes one moneth or day for one houre or minute let vs not depriue our selues of that euerlasting happinesse that shall neuer bee taken from vs if we prepare our selues for it O that men would be wise to vnderstand know what Acts 1 7. that the great and generall day of Iudgement cannot be faâ—re off as that likewise of their owne death that they might in time prepare themselues for the same And although this day cannot be knowne of mortall men For it is not for you saith our Sauiour to know the times and seasons Mark 13.32 which the Father hath put in his owne power and is vnknowne to the Angels and to the Sonne as he is man yet neuerthelesse they must know that this day cannot be farre off As Daniel searched and found out by the bookes of Ieremiah not only the returne but the time of the returne of Israel to their owne land from their captiuitie So by the studie of the Scripture ought they to search and so may they come to know the time of their returne from their exile on earth to their countrie in heauen And though they cannot finde the particuler day or yeare yet shall they finde it to bee most certaine and in short time to be finished Man should be wise to vnderstand and know the reasons of the certainty of this day of Iudgement they are these First it is the will and decree of God For the Apostle saith And the times of this ignorance God winked at Acts 17.30.31 but now coÌ„mands all men euery where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giuen assurance vnto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now the will and
mournefull funerals and the reading of inscriptions ingrauen on sepulchers doe make the the very haire to stare and stand on end and strike many with an horror and apprehension of it which is a reproofe to those who can see nothing in their owne deaths but what is dreadfull beyond measure and simplie the end of man Such conceiue Death not as it is to the righteous and as Christ hath made him to bee by his glorious death but as fooles iudge of him who behold him through false spectacles as he is in his owne vncorrected nature considered out of Christ Amos 6.3 that is most vgly terrible hideous so did they behold him in Amos who put the euill day of his comming that which they call euill and the godly long for and iudge happie as farre from them as they could by carnall delicacie and wantonnesse So did Baltashar looke vpon him Dan. 5.5.6.30 whose heart would not serue him to read the hand writing of his owne end so neere 1 Sam. 25.37.38 And Nabal who had no heart to dy when hee must needes dye dyed like a stone that is dyed blockishly and so faintly that he was as good as slaine before Death slue him He had no comfort in Death beeing churlish and profane and no maruell for this aduersary Death armed as Goliah 1 Sam. 17.10.11 and vaunting as that proud Giant of Gath commeth stalking toward such in fearefull manner insulting ouer weake dust and daring the world to giue him a man to fight withall Therefore at the sight of him the whole host of worldlings bewray great feare turning their faces and flying backe as men readie to sinke into the earth with abated courages and deiected countenances stayned with the colours of feare and Death trembling like leaues in a storme and striken with the palsie of a sodaine and violent shaking through all the body But the true child of God armed as Dauid with trust in God and expectation of victory by the Death of Christ who by Death ouercame Death as Dauid cut off the head of Goliah with his owne sword dares and doth boldly and obediently incounter with this huge Philistime Death supposed inuincible and seeming great but neither with sword nor speare but in the name of the God of the host of Israel by whose might onely he woundeth and striketh him to the earth trampling vpon him with his feete and reioycing in the returne of his soule to the place from whence it first came he singeth this ioyfull and triumphant song of victory O Death where is thy sting c. 1 Cor. 15.55 he hath the eyes of Stephen to looke vp into heauen and therefore in obedience and a willing minde he dyeth But a wicked man dying may say to Death as Ahab said to Eliah hast thou found me O mine enemie 1 King 21.20 but when it is told the child of God that Death is come within his dores begins to looke him in the face he to shew his courage and obedience may say as Dauid saith of Ahymaaz 2 Sam. 18.27 let him come and welcome for he is my friend and a good man and hee commeth with good tidings so he Death is my friend let him come he is a good man and bringeth good tidings As for the wicked they doe with Felix tremble Acts 24.26 if they doe but heare of death and of iudgment and are like vnto Saul hauing no strength in them but fall into a sound when they heare of death and if they could but see it they would cast a jauelin as Saul at Dauid 1 Sam. 18.11 to slay it But the children of God doe willingly welcome Death as Gods seruant and messenger and applaud it as Iacob applauded the Chariots that Ioseph his sonne sent for the bringing of him out of a Countrey of misery into a land of plenty Gen. 45.27.48 where he should haue food enough the best in the land So the hope and expectation of the Saints is that they shall see God and come to Christ by Death presently in their soules and in their bodies at the last day So they may say of Death as Adoniah said vnto Ionathan the sonne of Abiathar the Priest come in for thou art a valiant man 1 Kings 1.42 and bringest good tidings Cruell and vnmercifull Death makes a league with no man Esay 28.15 and yet the Prophet Esay sayth that the wicked man doth make a league with death how may this be There is no league made indeede but onely in the wicked imagination of man who falsely thinkes that Death will not come neere him though all the world should be destroied And therefore the seperation of the soule from the body will be bitter to the wicked which cannot bee seperated without great griefe woe and lamentation As the Oxe doth commonly lowe and mourne when his yoke-fellow wont to draw with him is taken away so the wicked then mourne when the soule shall be seperated from the body then will the soule and the bodie with teares repeat againe and againe dost thou thus seperate vs bitter Death O Death c. Then griefes follow griefes and sorrow comes vpon sorrow and then what a wound doth the heart of the wicked receiue which loueth this present life When the Physitian saith vnto him thou must from henceforth thinke no more on life but of Death at the hearing of which heauie newes the body shall dye once whether he will or no but the heart shall dye so often as the things and sinnes be in number which he loued Then shall the most cleere light be turned into darkenesse because those things which aforetime were occasions of great ioy shall now become most horrible vexations and torment which will make the wicked set their throates vpon tainter hookes and lift vp their voyces like trumpets and cry out at that time vpon Death as the deuils did vpon Christ in the Gospell saying what haue we to doe with thee O cruell Death Mat. 8.29 Iob 2.4 art thou come hither to torment vs before the time And therefore well said the deuill pellem pro pelle skin for skin and all that euer a man hath will hee giue for his life so that he may enioy that although but for a moment longer As Pharaoh said to Moses depart from among my people so say the vngodly to death bee banished from vs thy presence thy shadow the very remembrance of thee is fearefull to vs to heare Saint Paul speake of Gods terrible iudgment to come is too trembling a doctrine for their delightfull dispositions to heare with Felix they are not at leasure for this is iarring musicke which sounds not arright in the consort of their worldly pleasures to thinke of death is Aceldama saith one euen a field of blood but if any Physition would take vpon him to make men liue euer in this world what a multitude of patients should he haue And
ready and prepared for it O what an excellent thing it is for a man to end his life before his death that at the houre of death he hath nothing to doe but only to be willing to die that he haue no need of time nor of himselfe but sweetly and obediently to depart this life shewing therby his obedience to the ordinance of God for wee must make as much conscience in performing our obedience vnto God in suffering death as wee doe in the whole course of our liues Our Sauiour Christ is a notable example and paterne for vs to follow in this case And therefore the Apostle saith Let this minde be in you Phil. 2.5.6.7.8 which was also in Christ Iesus who being in the forme of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God but made himselfe of no reputation and tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant and was made in the likenesse of men and being found in fashion as a man hee humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto death euen vnto the death of the crosse And although the wicked bee ill affected vnto death as we haue alreadie heard and would if it lay in their power most villanously intreate and handle death 2. Sam. 10.4 as Hamon the sonne of Naash King of the Ammonites did the messengers of King Dauid yet let euery good man when Death shall come for him as it may seeme to him vntimely before the threed of his life be halfe spunne out be heere informed to entertaine it kindly Gen. 19.1 as Lot did the Angels who came to fetch him out of Sodom For though he bee pulled from his seate which was to him as the plaine of Sodom seemed to Lot as a pleasant Paradise yet shall hee finde with Lot that hee is taken away from the iudgement to come howsoeuer he be taken away either by the malice of wicked men or by the mercie of God and that he is separated from the sinnes of this world which grieued his soule yea from sinning himselfe and from his owne sinnes which grieued the Lord his so gratious and kinde Father How can it be but that Death should be a welcome guest this a choice blessing which as a gentle guide leades vs to Christ carrieth the soule to her beloued Husband The resolution of Saint Ambrose was neither to loath life nor feare to die but obediently yeeld vnto Death because saith he we haue a good Lord to goe vnto The third duetie is to die in repentance which must bee performed by vs at all times and especially at this time Tertullian saith of himselfe that he is a notorious sinner and borne for nothing but repentance and hee which is borne for repentance must practise repentance as long as he liues in this sinfull world into which hee is borne vpon this condition that hee must leaue it againe and repent at his end also Repentance is a very sore displeasure which a man hath in his heart for his sinnes euen because they are the breach of Gods holy Lawes and Commandements an offence to God his most mercifull and louing Father which ingendreth in him a true hatred against sinne and a setled purpose and holy desire to liue better in time to come ordering his life and death by the will of God reuealed in his holy word Repentance consisteth of foure parts the first of confession by which the Prophet Daniel saith Dan. 9.4 We acknowledge our owne wickednesse and the wickednesse of our fathers for we haue sinned against thee righteousnesse therefore belongeth vnto thee but vnto vs shame and vtter confusion Father saith the prodigall childe I haue sinned against heauen and in thy sight Luke 15.21 and am no more worthy to be called thy sonne He that couereth his sinnes saith the Wise-man shall not prosper Prou. 28.13 but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall haue mercy 1. Iohn 1 9. If we confesse our sinnes saith the Apostle he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnesse Secondly Contrition Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God saith the Prophet are a broken spirit and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not dispise Isa 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie one that inhabiteth eternitie whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit to reuiue the spirit of the humble and to reuiue the heart of the contrite ones For all these things hath my hand made Isa 66.2 and all these things haue beene saith the Lord but to this man will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words So that this contrition is the bruising of a sinners heart as it were to dust and powder through vnfained and deepe griefe conceiued of Gods displeasure for sinne and this is Euangelicall contrition and is a worke of grace the beginning of renewed repentance Therefore the Apostle saith 2. Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh repentance vnto saluation not to be repented of The third is faith For without faith neither by repentance nor by any other meanes are we able to please God neither indeede can there bee any true repentance without faith The fourth and last point is amendment To amend is to redresse and reforme faults repentance is as the roote amendment the fruit Matth. 3.8 Bring forth therefore fruit saith Saint Iohn meete for repentance or answerable to amendment of life Repent saith the Apostle Paul and turne to God Acts 26.20 and doe works meet for repentance so that first there must be a change of the heart from euill to good by the gift of repentance put into it of God and then will follow amendment of our liues and manners There is no part of Christian religion of that maine importance wherein men doe more voluntarily deceiue themselues then commonly they doe in this dutie of repentance In respect whereof it will not be amisse but very materiall to deliuer certaine infallible signes and vnseparable fruits whereby we may assure our selues that wee haue repented The Apostle Saint Paul nameth seuen fruits which in some measure alwayes follow where true amendment goeth before 2. Cor. 7.11 Behold saith he your godly sorrowes what care 1 it hath wrought in you yea what clearing 2 of your selues yea what indignation 3 yea what feare 4 yea how great desire 5 yea what zeale 6 yea what punishment Those then who are true conuerts who do vnfainedly amend their liues they are not sluggish or secure in sinne but carefull to redresse what is amisse not hiders or excusers of euill but confessors and by humble supplication clearing their offences they are not contented to dwell in wickednesse but vexed in soule and full of indignation against themselues for their sinnes committed they stand in awe and are afraid of Gods iudgments they desire his fauour as
we shall enioy the fellowship of the Angels the societie and company of the Saints and where wee shall liue eternally obey God perfectly and raigne with him triumphantly And besides all this if we spend the time of our health of our sicknesse and of our death in this sort we shall leaue a good name and report behinde vs Eccles 7.1 which is better saith the Preacher then pretious oyntment and is rather to be chosen saith the Wiseman then great riches Prou. 22.1 and it will be like the coates and garments which Dorcas made Acts 9.36 that will remaine behinde vs after that wee are dead and gone for the good example and incouragement of all others which are to follow vs. The end of the fourth Diuision THE FIFTH DIVISION THE COMFORT AT OVR OWNE DEATH THe Preacher saith Eccles 7.1 That the day of our death is better then the day of our birth In which parcel of holy Scripture for our comfort at death three points are to be considered First what is death that is heere mentioned Secondly how it can be truely that is heere mentioned said that the day of our death is better then the day of our birth Thirdly in what respect it is better For the first Death is a priuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne It is a priuation of life because the very nature of death is an absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shew that it was ordained as the meanes of the execution of Gods iudgement and iustice Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocēcy by a solemne law then made in these words In the day that thou eatest thereof Gen. 2.17 thou shalt die the death The Executioner of this punishmēt is also God himselfe as himselfe testifieth in the Prophet Esay in these words I make peace and create euill And this is materiall or naturall euill Esay 45.7 to the latter of which Death is to be referred which is the destruction and abolishment of mans nature created The procurer of this punishment is not God but man himselfe in that man by sinne and disobedience did put vpon himselfe this punishment Therfore the Lord in the Prophet Osea saith O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe Hosea 13.9 but in me is thy helpe Against this it may be obiected that man was mortall in the estate of his innocencie before the fall Answere The frame and composition of mans body considered in it selfe was mortall because it was made of water and earth and other elements which are of themselues alterable and changeable yet if we respect the grace and blessing which God did vouchsafe mans bodie in his creation it was vnchangeable and immortal and so by the same blessing should haue continued if man had not fallen and man by his fall depriuing himselfe of this gift and the blessing became euery way mortall And hereof it is that the Preacher saith Loe this onely haue I found that God made man vpright Eccles 7.29 but they haue sought out many inuentions Againe before the fall mans bodie was but subiect to death and could not then be said to be dead but after the fall it was then not only subiect to death but might also be said to bee dead And therefore now in this respect the Apostle saith Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sinne Againe mans bodie in his innocencie was like vnto the bodie of Christ when he was vpon the earth that is onely subiect vnto death for he could not be said to bee dead because in him there was no sinne and this was mans case in his innocencie before his fall Thus it appeares in part what death is And yet for the better clearing of this point wee are to consider the difference betweene the death of a man and a beast The death of a beast is the totall and finall abolishment of the whole creature for the body is resolued to the first matter and the soule rising frō the temperature of the body is but a breath and vanisheth to nothing But in the death of a man it is otherwise For though the bodie for a time be resolued and turned into dust out of which it came yet it must rise againe at the last day and become immortall but the soule subsisteth by it selfe out of the body and is immortall The reason of which difference is for that the soule of man is a spirit or spirituall substance whereas the soule of a beast is no substance but a naturall vigour or qualitie and hath no being in it selfe without the body on which it wholly dependeth The soule of a man contrariwise being created of nothing Gen. 2.7 it is said God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then man became a liuing soule and so as well subsisting forth of it as in it But when God made the beasts of the earth he breathed not such matter into them but their bloud is as their soule Leuit. 17.14 and their life for the life of all flesh is the bloud thereof Psal 49.20 So that when beasts die they perish as the Psalmist saith and that is their end and their spirit goeth downeward to the earth Eccles 3.21 but the spirit of man goeth vpward saith the Preacher Saint Ambrose takes occasion by this difference from the shape of mans bodie to aduertise our minde what our affections should be It is well ordained saith he that man hath onely two feete with birds and not foure feete with beasts for by this he may learne to flye aloft with the birds and not with beastes encline and decline to the grosser and earthly things of this world Heere then we see that since the fall of man man is not only subiect to death but also may be said a dead man because he shall as surely die as if he were dead already whereas notwithstanding he hath a forme and shew of immortalitie Other things so long as they retaine their forme so long they doe remaine A house falleth not all the time that his forme and fashion lasteth the brute beast dieth not except he first forgoe his life which is his forme but man hath a forme which neuer is dissolued as namely a minde endued with reason and yet he liueth now but a very short time in respect that his bodie by reason of sinne and disobedience is become mortall whereby man is the procuter of his owne death and punishment Therefore it is a true saying of Saint Gregory Man is the worke of God sinne is the worke of man let vs therefore discerne what God hath made and what man hath
done and neither for the error committed by man let vs hate man whom God made nor for the man that is Gods worke loue the sinne that man hath committed And againe here note we must hate none in respect of his creation but in respect he peruerteth the vse of his creation for they beare the Image of God which is louely but they deface and scratch it out to their owne damnation so that we must hate not virum but vitium the wickednesse of the man and not the wicked as he is man The kinds of death as we haue heard in the first Diuision are three-fold Naturall Spirituall Eternall but they may be reduced into two only as the kinds of life are that is bodily and spirituall Bodily death is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the body as bodily life is the coniunction of body and soule And this death is called the first because in respect of time it goes before the second Spirituall death is the separation of the whole man both in bodie and soule from the gratious and glorious fellowship of God Of these two the first is but an entrance to death and the second is the accomplishment of it for as the soule is the life of the bodie so God is the life of the soule and his Spirit is the soule of our soules Againe this spirituall death hath three distiâ—ct and seuerall degrees The first is when it is aliue in respect of temporall life and yet it lies dead in sinne Of this degree the Apostle speakes when he saith 1. Tim. 5.6 Shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while shee liueth and this is the estate of all men by nature who are said to be dead in sinne Ephes 2.5 The second degree is in the very end of this life when the bodie is laid into the earth then the soule descends into the place of torments Luk. 16.22.23 as the soule of the rich man in the Gospell The third degree is in the day of Iudgement when the body and soule at the resurrection of the last day meete together againe and shal goe to the place of the damned there to bee tormented for euer And this is called by the name of the second death Mat. 25.41 which doth belong onely to the Reprobate Hauing thus found the nature differences and kinds of death it is more then manifest that that place of the Preacher is to be vnderstood not of the spirituall death but of the bodily death because it is opposed to the natiuitie and birth of man The words then must carry this sence The time of bodily death in which there is a separa ion of the soule of man from the body either naturall or violent being called a bodily or worldly death is better to the childe of God then the time in which one is borne and brought into the world Now followeth the second point and that is how this can bee true which the Preacher saith That the day of ones death is better then the day of birth I make not this question to call the Scriptures into controuersie which are the truth it selfe but I doe it to this end and purpose that we might without doubting or wauering bee resolued of the truth of this which the Preacher heere auoucheth for the comfort of all the children of God at their death For there may be sundrie reasons brought to the contrary of this which the Preacher heere auoucheth Therefore let vs now handle the questions reasons and obiections which may be alledged to the contrary which all may be reduced vnto sixe heads The first is taken from the opinion of wise men who thinke it the best thing of all neuer to bee borne And the next best to die quickly as soone as he is borne For Cicero an Heathen man and renowned for his eloquence and learning complaines that nature hath brought man forth into the world not as a mother but as a stepmother with a body naked weake and sickly and with a minde distracted with cares deiected with feares faint with labours and addicted to lusts and pleasures And hence grew this coÌ„mon speech amongst the Gentiles related by Aristotle repeated by Cicero and Plutarch and fathered vpon Sylemus by all three That the best thing in the world was not to be borne at all and the next best to die soonest Now if it be the best thing in the world not to be borne at all then it is the worst thing that can be to die after a man is once borne Answ There be two sorts of men the one that liue and die in their fins the other that doe vnfainedly repent and beleeue in Christ the one goates the other sheepe the one good the other euill Now this sentence and speech of those Heathen men may be truely applied auouched to the first sort of whom we may say as our Sauiour Christ said of Iudas Mat. 26.24 It had beene good for that man that he had neuer beene borne But the saying applied to the second sort is most false For to them that in this life turne to God by true and vnfained repentance the best thing of all is to be borne because their birth is a degree of preparation vnto all ioy and happinesse and the next best for them is to die quickly because by death they doe enter into the possession and fruition of the same ioy and happinesse for their birth is an entrance into it and their death the accomplishment of the same And this was the cause that made Baalam so desirous to die the death of the righteous and to wish that his last end might be like theirs Num. 23.10 And therefore in this respect the Preacher in this place preferres the day of death before the day of birth vnderstanding thereby that death which is ioyned coupled and accompanied with a godly life and this is called the death of the righteous The second obiection is taken from the testimonies of the holy Scriptures and namely these Rom. 6.20 1. Cor. 15.26 Death saith the Apostle is the wages of sinne Death is an enemie of Christ Death is the curse of the Law Gal. 3 13. Hence it seemes to follow that in and by death men receiue their wages and payment for their sinnes and so thereby the day of death is become the dolefull day in which the enemie preuailes against vs for that he which dieth is cursed Answ We must distinguish heere of death it must be considered two wayes first as it is in it selfe in his owne nature secondly as it is altered and changed by the death of Christ Now death by it selfe considered is indeed the wages of sinne the enemie of Christ and of all his members and the curse of the law yea the verie suburbs and gates of hell and so it is still vnto the wicked yet in the second respect it is not so for by the vertue of the death of
of Canaan not through the Land of the Philistims Exod. 13.17.18 although that were neere For God siad lest peraduenture the people repent when they see warre and returne to Egypt but God led the people about thorow the way of the wildernesse of the red sea So God for many causes best knowne to himselfe doth bring his children out of this Egyptian world vnto the spiriutall Canaan which is the kingdome of heauen not the neerest way but by many windings and turnings and the furthest way about euen as it were thorow the red sea of miseries and afflictions that all Gods waues and billowes may goe ouer them Psal 42.7 The Lord can if he please bring them as he doth many other of his children the neerest way to heauen but this further way about is for Gods owne glorie and for his childrens owne good And God as a most wise Father is not euer kissing his childe but many times correcting him and the same God that doth mercifully exalt vs by giuing vs a sweete taste and liuely feeling of his grace and the efficacie of it in vs doth in much loue many times for our health humble vs when hee leaues vs without that sence and feeling in our selues and then doth he cure vs of the most dangerous disease of pride and confidence in our selues settle in vs a true foundation of humilitie cause vs to deny our selues and depend wholly vpon him to cast our selues into the armes of his mercie to hunger for his grace to pray more zealously and with greater feeling of our wants and to set an high price vpon the sence of Gods fauour to make more esteeme of it when we haue it againe and to kill and mortifie some special sinne for which before we had not seriously and heartily repented For when it is his good will and pleasure to make men depend on his fauour and prouidence hee maketh them first to feele his anger and displeasure and to be nothing in themselues to the end they might value and prize their vocation and calling at an higher rate and estimate and wholly and altogether rely and depend vpon him and be whatsoeuer they are in him only This point being then well weighed and considered it is more then manifest that the child of God may passe to heauen euen thorow the very depth and gulfe of hell For the loue fauour and mercie of God is like to a sea into which when a man is cast he neither feeles bottom nor sees banke For thy mercy saith the Psalmist is great aboue the heauens Psal 108.4 and thy truth reacheth vnto the clouds So that touching despaire whether it ariseth of the weaknesse of nature or of the conscience of sinne though it fall out about the time of death it can be but the voice and opinion of their sicknesse and a sicke-mans iudgement of himselfe at such time is not to be regarded and besides it cannot preiudize the saluation of their soules that are effectually called For the gifts and calling of God saith the Apostle are without repentance Rom. 11.29 and those whom God loueth hee loueth to the end and world without end And as for other strange euents which fall out in death they are the effects of diseases Rauings blasphemies and idle speeches arise of the disease of melancholy and phrensies which often happen at the end of hot burning feauers the choler shooting vp to the braine the writhing of the lips turning of the necke and buckling of the ioynts and the whole body proceed of crampes and convulsions which follow after much euacuation and whereas some in sicknesse are of that strength that three or foure can hardly hold them without bonds it comes not alwayes of witchcraft as people commonly thinke but of choler in the veines and whereas some when they are dead become as blacke as pitch it may rise by a bruise or impostume or by the blacke Iaundise or the putrefaction of the liuer and doth not alwayes argue some extraordinary iudgement of God in the wicked it doth but in the godly not Now these and the like diseases with their symptomes and strange effects though they doe depriue man of his health and of the right vse of the parts of his bodie and the vse of reason and vnderstanding yet they cannot depriue his soule of eternal life and happinesse which with the soule of Dauid is bound vp in the bundle of life 1. Sam. 25.29 with the Lord his God in eternall peace and blessednesse And all sins procured by these violent and sharpe diseases proceeding from repentant sinners are sins only of infirmity and weaknesse for which if they knew them and came againe to the vse of reason and vnderstanding they will further repent if not yet they are pardoned and buried in the bloud of Christ and in his death who is their Sauiour and great Bishoppe of their soules 1. Pet. 2.24.25 for he that forgiueth the greater sinnes will also in his children forgiue the lesse And againe wee ought not to stand so much vpon the strangenesse of any mans end when we knew before the goodnesse of his conuersation and life For wee must iudge a man in this case not by his vnquiet death but by his former quiet godly life And if this bee true that strange diseases and thereupon very strange behauiour in death may befall the best childe of God we must then learne to reforme our iudgements of such as lye thus at the point of death The common opinion is if a man lye quietly in his sicknesse and goe away like a lambe which in some diseases as in consumptions and such like lingring diseases any man may doe that then he goes straight-way to heauen though he haue liued neuer so wickedly But if the violence of the disease stirre vp impatiencie and cause in the partie frantick and vnseemely behauiour then men vse to say though hee be neuer so godly that there is a iudgement of God seruing either to discouer an Hypocrite or to plague a wicked man But the truth is farre otherwise for in truth one may die like a lambe and yet goe to hell For the Psalmist saith Psal 7 3.4.5 There are no bonds in their death but their strength is firme they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men And againe another dying in exceeding torments and strange behauiour of the body may goe to heauen examples whereof we haue in that holy and iust man Iob as may appeare throughout his whole booke and in diuers others Gods deare Saints and children Therefore by these strange and violent kinds of sicknesse and death which doe many times happen to the deare Saints of God wee must take great heed that wee iudge not rashly of them in condemning them to be wicked and notorious Hypocrites and offenders for it may be our owne cafe for ought wee know This rash censuring and iudging was the sinne
saith the Wise man hath hope in his death Againe that sudden death is not euill in all respects is apparant For it is not euill because it is sudden but commonly it takes men vnprepared and therefore euill and so makes the day of death a blacke day and as it were a speedie downefall to the gulfe of hell otherwise if a man be readie and prepared to die as he ought alwaies to bee then sudden death is in effect no death but a quicke easie and speedie passage and entrance vnto eternall life and happinesse For why shouldest thou being the child of God vnwillingly suffer a short death that will bring thee to the fruition of life eternall and all happinesse Rather perswade thy selfe that if thou liue in the feare of God thou shalt doe well and so liuing though thou die neuer so suddenly thou shalt doe better and that the worst hurt that sudden death can doe thee if this may be called hurt is to send thee but a little sooner then peraduenture thy fraile flesh would be willing Ioh. 14.2.3 to thy Sauiour Iesus Christ who is gone but a little before thee through great and manifold dangers and temptations to prepare a place as he himselfe saith for thee and to receiue thee vnto himselfe that where he is there thou mayest be also and remember that that worst is thy best hope The worst therfore of sudden death is rather a helpe then a harme Now all these obiections being thus answered at large it doth appeare plainly to be a manifest truth which the Preacher here saith That the day of death is better then the day of ones birth Now I come to the third point in which the reasons and respects are to be considered that make the day of death to surpasse the day of ones birth and they may all be reduced to this one namely that the birth day is an entrance into all woe and miserie whereas the day of death ioyned and accompanied with a godly and reformed life is an entrance and degree to eternall life and glory Which appeareth thus viz. Eternall life hath three degrees one in this life and that is when a man can truly say with the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee And this all such can say as truely repent and beleeue and that are iustified sanctified and haue the peace of a good conscience and are furnished with the giftes and graces of Gods holy Spirit which is the earnest of their saluation The second degree is in the end of this life when the bodie goes to the earth from whence it came and the soule returnes to God that gaue it The third degree is in the end of this world at the last iudgement when bodie and soule being re-vnited do ioyntly enter into the kingdome of heauen Now of these three degrees death it selfe being coupled with the feare of God is the second in as much as death is as it were the hand of God to sort and single out all those that are the seruants of God from amongst the wicked of this wretched world So that death is a freedome from all miseries which haue their end in death and which is the first benefit that comes by death and the first step to eternall life and glory And the second benefit that comes by death is that it giues an entrance to the soule and makes way for it and doth as it were vsher it into the glorious presence of the euerlasting God of Christ of the holy Angels and the rest of Gods Saints in heauen And this is a notable comfort against death for as all other euils of paine are to a godly Christian changed into another nature and of punishments are become fauours and benefits so is it also in this of death for now it is not a token of Gods wrath for sinne but an argument of his loue mercie and fauour to his children It is not properly death but as it were a bridge by which we passe to a better life from corruption to incorruption from mortalitie to immortalitie from earth to heauen that is in a word from vanity and miserie to perfect ioy and felicitie and a way thereby made for the resurrection Now who would not willingly passe ouer this bridge that is so easie whereby he goeth from all cares and sorrowes to all delight and pleasure leauing all miseries behind him and hauing all contentation and happinesse before him The gentiles taking it for granted that either after death we should be happie or not be at all concluded that at least death would free vs from all euill and miserie and thereupon did willingly embrace death as a rich treasure The Egyptians also builded gorgeous Sepulchres but meane houses because the one was to them but an Inne the other as they did thinke an eternall habitation which freed them from all misery And Seneca again exclaimes that our whole life is a penance which the Thracians confirmed by their practise celebrating their childrens birth with weeping and lamentation but their death with great ioy and mirth as diuers ancient Writers record whereby insinuating that our life is nothing but miserie and death the end of miserie But they haue beene all greatly mistaken therin for it is the godly Christian only which enioyeth these benefits by death as namely the exemption and freedome from all cares troubles and miseries For which cause the death of the godly is called in the Scriptures by the names of Bed and Peace Esay 57.2 He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds saith the Prophet It is called by the name of Rest Reu. 14.13 They shall rest from their labours saith the Sonne of God And the Author to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Againe the Scripture entitles death by the name of sleep and speaketh of the dead as of such as are asleepe and therfore the Prophet Daniel saith Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to euerlasting shame and contempt And our Sauiour Christ speaking of Iairus daughter which was dead seeing all the people weepe and lament her said vnto them Weepe not Luke 8.52 shee is not dead but sleepeth Iohn 11.11.12.13 Act. 7.60 And touching Lazarus death our Sauiour saith Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And touching Stephens death it is said He fell asleepe For this cause our forefathers called the place allotted for the buriall of the dead Dormitorium a bed-chamber wherein their bodies rest expecting the ioyfull resurrection Homer calleth sleepe fratrem mortis the brother of death Diogenes awaked out of a deepe sleepe by the Physitian and asked how hee did answered Rectè nam frater fratrem amplectitur Well quoth he for one brother embraceth another The like is reported of Gorgias Leontinus and
the Poet saith Sleepe is the kinsman of death Quid est somnus saith one nisi breuis mors What is sleepe but a short death Et quid est mors nisi longus somnus What is death but a long sleepe By beds the Scripture vnderstandeth the places where the Lord bestoweth the bodies of his seruants after their death whether fire or water or the paunches of wild beasts or the chambers of the earth sea or ayre and these are called beds because they shall rest quietly in them as in their beds till the morning bell or loud trumpet of the last great day warning all flesh to rise shall raise them And therefore it is such an vsuall thing in the Scriptures so soone as men dye to say they fall asleep because therby is meant that they are laid in their beds of peace and they are called beds of rest to put difference betweene these beds of our nights sleepe and those of our sleepe in death for heere be our beds neuer so soft or well made we often take no rest by reason of some distemper in our bodies or fancies in our head but in these sleeping places Psal 4.8 which are called beds of rest wee may lay vs downe saith the Psalmist and sleepe in peace because the Lord our life being our keeper will make vs dwell in safetie Indeed in it owne nature the graue is rather an house of perdition then a bed of rest but being altered to the Iewes in promise to vs in performance by Christs graue who was buried in the earth to change the nature of it it is made to vs a chamber of rest and bed of downe These titles which are thus giuen vnto death is a sweete comfort to the children of God against the terrors of death for the graues of the righteous which by nature are the houses of destruction and chambers of feare are by Christ and the graue of Christ made vnto them chambers of safetie and beds of rest Christ by his buriall hath consecrated and perfumed our graues making them which were prisons to hell gates to heauen At night we take our chambers and lye downe in our beds so when death comes which is the end of life as the night is of the day we goe to the chambers of the earth and there lye downe in our beds till the day of refreshing which is the day of rising come that commeth from the Lord. This is a confutation of that phansie that hath so long deluded the simple world which is that dead bodies walke after their death and appeare vnto men For how can that be when the bodies of Gods children rest in their beds so soone as the breath departeth and the bodies of the wicked are in their prisons till the day of assise Whereof if any make a question let him open their graues and see And seeing the soule returneth not after it hath left the body how can the body walke that wanteth a soule or the soule be seene if it should walke which hath no bodie Phil. 1.23 or if death be a loosing of our soules from our bodies how can there be any death when soule and body are not parted and when the man is not dead but liueth But this phansie came from Pythagoras and is but a Philosophers dreame told by him to the world which was that the soules of men departed did enter into the bodies of other men good soules into good and bad into bad mens bodies The world then beleeued him and since that time Satan who can turne himselfe into all formes did in the dark night of Popery to deceiue that ignorant age change himselfe into the similitude of some person that was lately or had beene long dead and was beleeued by such a transformation to be the partie man or woman that hee resembled So entred the error that spirits did walke and that dead bodies came out of their graues and haunted sundry houses in the night which were not the bodies of the dead but the Diuell in those bodies or shapes as it is to be seene in Samuels counterfeit shape raised by the Witch at Endor 1. Sam. 28.14.15 And this error as it deceiued the blinde world and somewhat troubled the seeing Mat. 14.26 so is it still in the mouth and faith of credulous superstition at this day But God hauing giuen eyes to vs to see his truth Act. 12.15 and the light of iudgement to discerne it let vs not walke in so great darknesse as they that know not the truth nor whither they goe But the especiall drift of the holy Ghost in the holy Scripture by entitling death by the names of bed of peace of rest of sleepe and such like being all names of singuler commoditie and benefit is for the singuler comfort of all Gods children signifying vnto them thereby that they shal feele no bitternesse in death but rather ioy and reioyce in their deliue ance as if they were going to their beds and their liues are not lost but their bodies sleepe as in a bed most sweetely vntill the resurrection How sweete is peace to them which haue bin long troubled with warres and tedious contentions how pleasant is the bed rest and sleepe to them that haue ouerwatched themselues The Laborer is glad when his taske is done the traueller reioyceth when he commeth to the end of his iourney the Mariner is happie when after a dangerous voyage he arriueth in his harbour All men shunne paine and desire ease abhorre danger and loue securitie It were madnesse then for a godly Christian to feare so aduantagious a death and to wish for continuance of such a wretched life Tertullian hath a most excellent and elegant saying That saith he is not to be feared which sets vs free from all that is to be feared and that is death which putteth an end to all feares and miseries But the true Christian hath yet a farre greater benefit by death for it doth not only put an end to euils of paine but also to the euils of faults not onely to the punishment for sinne but to sinne it selfe Now the euils of faults are farre worse then the euils of paine yea the least sinne is more to be hated abhorred and shunned then the greatest punishment for sinne How comfortable then and welcome should death be vnto vs that endeth not only our sorrowes but also our sinnes As long as we liue heere and beare about vs these earthly and sinfull tabernacles we daily multiplie our transgressions and rebellions against our gratious God and sustaine fierie conflicts and continuall combates in our very bosomes O bondage of all bondages to be in bondage vnto sinne The Gentile that apprehended vice only as a morall euil could say that men being in bondage to their lustes were more cruelly handled by them then any slaues were by most cruell tyrants and monsters how much more then should we that feele sinne as a spirituall euill and groane
vnder the burthen therof account that bondage more intollerable and worse subiection then can bee to the most barbarous and cruell tyrant in the world from whose tyrannie hee that should set vs free must needs bee welcome Which death and onely death can doe What great cause haue we then with all willingnesse to embrace death and be greatly comforted when it appproacheth But death doâ—h yet much more for vs then all this for it not onely frees vs from all euills euen sinne but puts vs also into actuall and peaceable possession of all good things and bringeth vs to that good place where if there were any place for any passion we would be offended with Death for not bringing vs thither long before And though the bodie rotte in the graue or bee eaten of wormes or deuoured by beasts or swallowed vp by fishes or burnt to ashes yet that will not be to vs a matter of discomfort not-onely because as wee haue heard before they are at rest and doe sleepe in peace in their beddes till the last day but also if wee doe well consider the ground of all grace as namely our vnion and coniunction with Christ our head it is indeede a spirituall and yet most real coniunction and vnion For we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned and vnited to the body or soule of Christ but the whole parson of man both body and soule is vnited and conioyned to whole Christ For we are vnited wholy to whole Christ who is not deuided euen according to both natures 1. Cor. 1.13 1. Cor. 3.21 by which hee is wholy oure but after this good order as first to be vnited to the manhood and then by the manhood vnto the Godhead of Christ And when we are once ioyned and vnited to whole Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the Spirit we shal so abide and remaine eternally ioyned and vnited vnto him And this coniunction and vnion being once truly made can never afterward be dissolued Hence it followes that although the bodie bee seuered from the soule by death yet neither the soule nor body are seuered or sundred from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue or howsoeuer else consumed abide still ioyned and vnited vnto Christ and is then as truly a member of Christ as it was before death For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the condition of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his body and soule were seuered and sundered for the time the one from the other as farre as heauen and the graue yet neither of them were sundered from the God-head of the Sonne but both did in his Death subsist in his person Euen so though our bodies and soules bee pulled in sunder by naturall or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shal be pulled or disioyned from Christ the head but by the vertue of this coniunction and vnion shall the dead body howsoeuer it bee wasted and consumed arise at the last day to eternall glory For although the dead bodies of Gods Saints are often mingled with the bodies of beasts foules fishes or other creatures that deuoure them yet as the Goldsmith by his art can feuer mettals and extract one mettall out of another euen so God can and will distinguish these dusts of his Saints at the last day of the glorious resurrection In the winter season the trees remaine without fruit or leaues and being beaten with the winde and weather they appeare to the eye and view of all men as if they were withered and rotten dead trees yet when the spring time comes they become aliue againe and as before doe bring forth their buds blossoms leaues and fruits the reason is because the body grayne and armes of the tree are all ioyned and fastened to the roote where all the sappe and moisture lies in the winter time and from thence by reason of this coniunction it is deriued in the spring to all the parts of the tree Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also and this iâ— in death in which time they are turned into dust and so remaine for a time dead and rotten Yet in the spring time that is at the last day at the resurrection by meanes of the misticall coniunction and vnion with Christ his diuine quickning vertue shall streame and flow from thence to all the bodies of his elect and chosen members and cause them to liue againe and that to life eternall For the bodies of Gods elect being the members of Christ though they be neuer so much rotten putrified and consumed yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenant of grace to which because they haue right being dead they shall not remaine so for euer in their graues but shall arise againe at the last day vnto glory And by reason of this vnion and coniunction with Christ we gaine the prayers of the Saints yet liuing with vs the loue of the Saints glorified before vs the ministrie of Angels working for vs grace in earth and glory in heauen And in Christ our gaine is such as that we shall haue all losses recompenced all wants supplied all curses remoued all crosses sanctified all graces increased all hopes confirmed all promises performed all blessednesse procured Satan conquered death destroyed the graue sweetened corruption abolished sanctification perfected and heauen opened for our happy entrance And as for death it selfe we are to consider that it is chiefely sinne that makes it so terrible vnto vs for in it selfe and by it selfe it is the wages of sinne and the reuenging scourge of the angry God but vnto those that beleeue in Christ it is changed into a most sweete sleepe For although the regenerate those that beleeue in Christ doe as yet carry about the reliques of sinne in their flesh from whence also the bodie is dead that is to say subiect to death Rom. 8.10 for the sinne that dwelleth in it yet the spirit is life for righteousnesse that is because they are iustified from sinne by true faith in Christ and resist the lusts of the flesh through the Spirit therefore that sinne which yet remaineth in the flesh is not imputed vnto them but is couered with the shadow of the grace of God Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soule doth not die in them but doth rather begin to which death is constrained to doe as it were the office of a midwife So that now we are deliuered from sinne in Christ that it cannot hurt vs nay it is conuerted to our owne profit and therfore death hauing her strength from sinne is not to bee feared sith sinne the sting of death is ouercome What need wee feare the snake that hath lost her sting shee can only hisse and make a noyse but cannot hurt and therefore wee see that many hauing taken out the sting
what can come in the whole earth or in hell so that I may enioy Iesus Christ in the end One seeing a martyr so merry and iocund in going to his death Luk. 22.44 did aske him why he was so merry at his death seeing Christ himselfe swet water and bloud before his Passion Christ said the martyr sustained in his bodie all the sorrowes and conflicts with hell and death due vnto vs for our sinnes by whose sorrowes and sufferings saith he we are deliuered from all the sorrowes and feares of hell death and damnation For so plenteous was the passion and redemption of Christ as that faint and cold sweat that is vpon vs in the agonie of our death the same he hath sanctified by the warme and bloudy sweat of his agony and making the graue a quiet withdrawing chamber for our bodies and death which before was so terrible to body soule is now by his meanes become the very doore and entrance into the kingdome of glory And hereof Blessed Hillary who from the fourteenth yeere of his age serued the Lord in singlenes of heart and in sinceritie of life to his liues end spake these words vpon his death-bed Goe forth my soule goe forth why art thou afraid Thou hast serued Christ these seuenty yeeres and art thou now afraid to depart Bishop Ridley the night before he did suffer at his last supper inuited his hostesse the rest at the table with him to his mariage for said he tomorrow I must be married shewing thereby how ioyfull he was to die and how little he feared seeing that hee well knew hee was to goe to Christ his Sauiour So by these examples wee see what great troubles the Saints and seruants and martyrs of God endured and how ioyfull they were as at a royal feast in all those troubles and sufferings of Christ that they might enter vpon that comfortable death of the righteous They were so farre from fearing death as worldlings feare it that they ran gladly vnto it in hope of the Resurrection and reioyced in the welcome day of death as in a day of the greatest good that could befall them Why then should we feare death at all to whom many things happen far more bitter and heauie then death it selfe and yet nothing so bitter and heauie as happened to these Martyrs and Saints of God Therefore when thou commest to die set before thine eyes Christ thy Sauiour in the middest of all his torments vpon the Crosse his body whipped head thorned face spitted vpon his cheekes buffeted his sides goared his bloud spilt his heart pierced and his soule tormented replenished on the crosse with a threefold plenitude as true God true man God and man gloria gratia poena full of glorie and all magnificence because true God full of grace and mercy because God and man and full of paine and miserie because perfect man a paine continuing long various in afflicting and bitter in suffering One saith hee continued in his torments twentie houres at the least others say he was so long in paine on the crosse as Adam was in Paradise with pleasure for it was conuenient that at what time the doore of life was shut against the sinner in the same moment the gate of Paradise should be open to the penitent and at what houre the first Adam brought death into the world by sinne in the same the second Adam should destroy death in the world by the Crosse Others report that Christ slept not for fifteene nights before his Passion in remembrance of the paine yea from the first houre of his birth to the last minute of his death hee did cary the crosse of our redemption In the beholding of which spectacle to thy endlesse ioy and comfort thou shalt see Paradise in the middest of hell God the Father reconciled vnto thee God the Sonne and thy Sauiour reaching forth his hand toward thee for to succour thee and to receiue thy soule vnto himselfe and God the holy Ghost ready to embrace thee and thou shalt see the Crosse of Christ Gen. 28.12 as Iacobs Ladder set vpon the earth and the toppe of it reaching heauen and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it to cary and aduance thy soule to eternall life and glory Then seeing wee are thus graced by God both in our life and at our death be not thou afraid to die And sure it is the will of God Matth. 20.22 that you should drinke of the cup that he hath filled for you and therefore pray that you may suppe it vp with patience and receiue great comfort thereby Againe there be three things that make death tollerable to euery godly Christian The first is the necessitie of dying the second the facilitie of dying the third the felicitie of dying For the first that which cannot be auoided by any power must be endured with all patience Eccles 8.8 There is no man saith the Preacher hath power ouer the spirit to retaine it neither hath he power in the day of death The first age had it and therein may pleade antiquitie the second age felt it and may pleade continuance the last age hath it and may plead propertie in all flesh till sinne and time shall be no more Call it then no new thing that is so ancient nor a strange thing that is so vsuall neither call it an euill properly thine which is so cōmon to all the world Wilt thou feare that to be done which is alwayes in doing I meane thy dying and dost thou feare to die in thy last day when by little and little thou dyest euery day Oh well said the Apostle Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.31 I protest by our reioycing which I haue in Christ Iesus our Lord I dye daily Then I may well say yee are alwayes dying and death is still in doing Remember my iudgement saith Iesus the sonne of Syrach for thine also shall be so yesterday for me Eccles 38.22 and to day for thee Salomon saith All things haue heere their time you to day and I to morrow and so the end of Adams line is soone runne out Death is the Empresse and Lady of all the world it seaseth vpon all flesh without surrender of any till the day of restauration no place no presence no time can backe it there is no priuiledge against the graue Eccles 41.4 there is no inquisition in the graue there is no pitie to bee shewed by the graue there is no pleading with the graue For there is no worke saith the Preacher nor deuise nor knowledge Eccles 9.10 nor wisdome in the graue whither thou goest And therefore antiquitie neuer made altar to Death or deuotion to the graue because it was implacable euer found to be cruell and neuer felt to be kinde And heere from the necessitie of dying wee come to the facilitie of dying which maketh it lesse fearefull and more tollerable for that the sence of
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
mee and rise with mee and lyeth all day in my bosome these things considered what comfort can I haue in death dying in such a case Answ Still be patient I pray you and drinke often of the Lords Fountaine some sweete water to refresh you in this case I know this you speake of is a very great griefe and biteth the heart and that euen this maketh many a man and woman more loath to die then otherwise they would bee and because diuers men haue diuers means to rid their debts by some by leases liuings in reuertions some by discharging euery yeere a portion by such helpes as alreadie they enioy euery man wisheth as his case is some to liue till those leases and reuertions come to them and theirs till they may by such yeerely parcels acquit the whole and so forth euery one wisheth life trembling and shaking to thinke on death till these things be so To all which mindes thus grieued and pinched I say this you cannot commit your wife and children into the hands of a more faithfull guardian and ouerseer then God is for he will take them into his charge and protection And therefore hearken and giue eare what the Spirit of comfort speaketh with great comfort in the first Epistle of Saint Peter 1. Pet. 5.6.7 Humble your selues therefore vnder the mightie hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time cast all your care vpon him for he careth for you As if he should say I know your woe and carefull thoughts bee not discouraged nor faint in feare vnder the Crosse you haue care in your heart cast it vpon mee and I will discharge it what you cannot I can and of my will be assured I doe care for you O my God what sayeth thou Dost thou care for me and shall I remoue it from my selfe to thy Maiestie and lay it all vpon thee So indeed thou speakest mine eyes see and mine eares heare Why then will I indeed both beleeue and doe most deare Father heere grouelling in the dust before thee humble my soule and blesse and praise thee for easing me of so grieuous a burden my care be hereafter my sweet God cast wholly vpon thee and as thou hast spoken so do for mee and mine I hunbly beseech thee for Iesus Christ his sake Consider the Rauens saith our Sauiour Christ Luk. 12.24.27.28.29 how they neither sow nor reape which haue neither store-house nor barne and yet God feedeth them Psal 147.9 Hee giues to the beast his food saith the Psalmist and to the yong Rauens which crie Psal 104.27 These waite all vpon thee that thou mayest giue them their meat in due season How much more saith our Sauiour are yee better then beasts or fowles Math. 6.26 Consider also saith our Sauiour of the lyllies of the field how they grow they neither labour nor spinne and yet Salomon himselfe in all his royalty was not cloathed like one of these c. What concludeth then our Sauiour there Surely euen this your heauenly Father knoweth that you haue need of all these things As if he should say let this stay and strengthen you and satisfie and content you euermore that God yea God your heauenly Father knoweth your case what you and yours from time to time and euer are in need of O strange and strong comfort drawne from Gods mercie loue and knowledge how ouerwhelmeth it all that euer fearefull and distrustfull man can obiect Gen. 32.10 I am vnworthy it is true for so wee must acknowledge with the Patriarch Iacob that wee are not worthy of the least of all Gods mercies My debts be great be it so that they are ten thousand talents the Creditors are very cruell and mercilesse yea so cruell as that mercilesse Creditor which our Sauiour Christ speaketh of in the Gospell Mat. 18.28,29,30 Psal 88.18 my selfe void of friends and the like Be it so that all thy louers friends and acquaintance are put farre from thee as the Prophet Dauid complaineth in the Psalme yea let al thy brethren hate thee as Ioseph was of his brethren Prou. 19.7 let all thy friends goe farre from thee and be wanting vnto thee as it is in the Prouerbs or whatsoeuer else it bee put it all off with this saith our blessed Sauiour that your heauenly Father knoweth the same and despaire you of helpe when hee faileth to know and not before I charge you but take it at my hands as a sequele sure he knoweth and therefore he will prouide in fit time for all things and his care shall doe what yours neuer can Psal 10.14 Psal 68.5 both for you and yours if you commit it vnto him It is God which calles himselfe the Father of Orphans and defender of the Widowes commmend them therefore to his patronage and defence Euer in such griefes as these are we should remember the promise of the Lord which hee made to Abraham and to his seed Gen. 17.7 And I will establish my couenant betweene thee and me and thy seed after thee in their generations for an euerlasting couenant to be a God vnto thee and to thy seed after thee All soules are mine saith the Lord both the soule of the father and of the sonne are mine God which is thy God Ezech. 18.4 will also be the God of thy seed thy children are not only thine but also Gods yea more Gods then thine therefore doubt not of the fatherly care of God towards them The Prophet of the Lord doth testifie that hee hath beene yong and also old yet neuer did he see the righteous forsaken Psal 37.25 or his seede to beg their bread not meaning that it was impossible that the childe of a righteous man should go a begging but that it is a thing very rare and that he was now fourescore years old yet did he in all his life neuer see it and so haue many men liued till they haue beene of great yeares and yet seldome or not at all haue they seene any such thing come to passe And againe he saith Psal 112.2 The seed of the righteous shall bee mightie vpon earth the generation of the vpright shall be blessed God hath promised to thy children the heauenly treasures he will not suffer them to perish for hunger hee hath giuen them life and will not deny them maintenance for life he hath giuen them a body which he hath wonderfully framed he will also kindly sustaine hee will neuer forsake his owne nor giue ouer to nourish them whom hee hath created and hitherto by our selues through his blessing prouided for Therefore feare not at Death for if he take you away he will giue some other good meanes to performe his promise by He is your God and their God after you and will not faile them for he hath said it I will neuer leaue thee Heb. 13.5 nor forsake thee In the very matter we speake of see 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-age Casualtie telleth me death is at my backe Sicknesse telleth me shee is at my heeles and 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-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
and griefes thou bringest with thee there is none would stoope so low as to take thee vp from the ground Shewing thereby that the life of Kings is more vnhappie then the life of a priuate man He is subiect to claw-backes and flatterers It comming to passe oftentimes saith an ancient Father that Courtiers are found flatterers and hee is seldome without mendicant and begging Fryers about him Prou. 30.15 which are like the Horseleaches two daughters alwayes crying Giue giue As it is true that Saint Cyprian speaks Gods ordinance is not the midwife of iniquity so is it most certaine that men in authoritie by reason of flesh and bloud doe trauell in infirmitie and bring forth escapes And verily as the sinnes of Princes are neuer small so their great sins require a great and high degree of repentance They may doe wrong punish the good and fauour the bad non voluntate nocendi saith Saint Augustine sed necessitate nesciendi not with purpose to doe wrong but because they cannot come to the knowledge of the right Who could better see with his owne eyes and heare with his owne eares then Dauid yet affections sometimes dazeled his eyes and wrong intelligence his eares The wisest Gouernours that in speculation of iustice are admirable in their practise may bee quite transported They that in the Thesis are sharpe in the application are often very dul and greatest men haue greatest by asses to draw them awry Giue me leaue to produce an instance from forreine histories Vpon a time when the Bithynians before Claudius the Emperour cried against one Iunius Clio their late President desiring that now his time was come hee of all men might no more obtaine that place The Emperour not vnderstanding their desire nor hearing distinctly their words for the confused noise of the multitude demanded of those next him what the people said to whom Narcissus a familier or rather an auricular buzze of the Emperours answered like a false Eccho that the people gaue his Excellencie great thankes for their last President which was nothing so and requested to haue him appointed ouer them againe which was wholly contrary to their suite The Emperour meaning well but ill informed to gratifie them as hee thought assigned them their olde President againe And thus was the Emperour abused and the people continued vnder an Oppressor still whereas they had beene eased but for a crooked Interpreter And this aduertiseth what circumspect care the greatest men should haue to passe no matters of great importance rashly as also to cleanse their trains and houses as Dauid vowed Psal 101. but hardly could performe from all priuie slanderers deceitfull persons and lyers Now as for wicked men they alwayes liue in miserie There is no peace saith the Lord vnto the wicked the worme of conscience shal neuer die Esay 48.22 and the light of reason shall neuer be darkened as they haue forsaken God so hath God forsaken them Rom. 1.28 Iude 1.13 Iob 15.20 Isai 57.20 Prou. 13.21 Iude 14.15 and deliuered them vp into a reprobate sence that they might doe such things as be not conuenient for whom the blacknesse of darknesse is reserued The wicked man saith Iob trauaileth with paine all his daies The wicked saith the Prophet are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast vp mire and dirt Euill saith the Wiseman pursueth sinners And Enoch also the seuenth from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute iudgement vpon all and to conuince all that are vngodly amongst them of all their vngodly deeds which they haue vngodly committed and of all their hard speeches which vngodly sinners haue spoken against him But are good men exempted in this life from misery No verily they are as it were in a continuall furnace by reason of crosses and persecutions they sustaine mocks and taunts fetters and imprisoments Who is weake and they are not weake 2. Cor. 11.29 Act. 14.22 Who is offended and they burne not Wee must saith Paul and Barnabas through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God 1. Cor. 15.19 Therefore the same Apostle saith If in this life onely we haue hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable To conclude with the saying of the Preacher Therefore the misery of man is great vpon him Eccle. 8.6 Ier. 20.18 Iob 5.6.7 And that holy man Iob saith from his owne experience Although affliction commeth not foorth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground yet man is borne vnto trouble as the sparks flie vpward And Iesus the sonne of Syrach saith Great trauell is created for euery man Eccle. 40.1.2.3.4 and a heauie yoake is vpon the sonnes of Adam from the day that they goe out of their mothers wombe till the day that they returne to the mother of all things Their imagination of things to come the day of death trouble their thoughts and cause feare of heart from him that sitteth on a Throne of glorie vnto him that is humbled in earth and ashes from him that weareth Purple and a Crowne vnto him that is cloathed with a linnen frocke Behold the miseries of mortall man behold their vanitie Thought consumeth them heauinesse harmeth them pensiuenesse possesseth them terrour turmoiles them feare putteth them out of comfort horror doth afflict them affliction doth trouble them trouble doth make them sad and heauie miserie doth humble them and at the last death doth end them How many haue died with a surfet of sorrow By the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken A sorrowfull minde drieth the bones Therefore Iacob saith to his sonnes Prou. 15.13 Prou. 17.22 Gen. 43.38 If mischiefe befall Beniamin in the way which yee go then shall yee bring downe my gray haires with sorrow to the graue How many haue died with ouermuch feare And for feare of him the keepers saith the Euangelist did shake Matth. 28.4 and became as dead men Sophocles Dyonisius Diagoras and Chilo the Lacedemonian died with immoderate ioy O man very mortall whom ioy it selfe cannot secure from death ioy being the very friend to life For a merry heart saith the Wiseman maketh a cheerefull countenance Prou. 15.13 Prou. 17.22 a ioyfull heart causeth a good health There is but one way and that very narrow by which we came into life but there be infinite and those broad wayes which lye open for Death to inuade vs through euery member of the bodie yea through euery ioynt of the bodie Death hath found out a way to take away our life Wee that are in the last part and end of the world 1. Cor. 10.11 1. Iohn 2.18 Vpon whom as the Apostle saith the ends of the world are come and which is the last time and houre as saith Saint Iohn wee are lesse in our mariage-bed then our fathers were in the cradle The world left being a world when Adam
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
to all kinde of sinne and wickednesse but not applyed our selues at all to wisdome godlinesse vertue and true piety Democritus was wont to walke amongst the graues that he might become a right Philosopher for true philosophie saith Plato is the meditation on death and thou which art instructed in the true Christian Philosophie how canst thou behold the bones of the dead but thou must needs fall into this patheticall meditation with thy selfe Behold these legges that haue made so many iourneyes this head which is the receptacle of wisdome remembreth so many things must shortly be as this bare skull and dry bones are I will therefore betimes bid worldly vanities adieu betake my selfe to repentance and newnesse of life and spend the rest of my dayes in the seruice of my God and continuall meditation on my ende As the last day of our life leaueth vs so shall that last day the day of Christs comming finde vs. How good were it therefore before we run into desperate arrerages to cast vp our bils of accompt and the rather because we shall be warned out of our office we know not how soone Luke 16.2 Some Emperors amongst the heathen as bookes say were wont to be crowned ouer the graues and sepulchers of dead men to teach them by the certaine but vnknowne end of their short life to vse their great roomes as men that must one day be as they are whose graues they tread vpon The old Saints who liued in a continuall meditation of their short and vncertaine time were wont alwayes like wise merchants to think of their returne homeward and therfore tooke vp their treasure by bils of payment not where they were but where they would be and meant to make their long aboade that is meant to be for euer And the Philosophers who saw not beyond the clouds of humane reason wheÌ„ they perceiued how much men did decline by course of yeares wast of time were wont to say that the life of a wise man was nothing else but a continuall meditation on death the remembrance whereof made the world which wee for want of this meditation so willingly embrace vile and contemptible vnto them and auayled greatly to guide them in all godlines So a Christian mans life is or should be nothing els but a continuall meditation on death All that is within vs and without vs are so many remembrances of Death all things crye out vnto vs that we must hence Ioh. 8.23 as Christ cryed I am not of this world The apparrell which we weare vpon our backs Ioh. 17.14 the meate disgested and egested and returning to putrefaction the graues shrouding so many corpes vnder our feete time the mother of all things and the changeable state of times euen winter and sommer cold and heat seede time and haruest all doe crie vnto vs that wee shall weare away and dy and corrupt As they who were liuing are now dead and lye in the dust first we wax dry then old then cold then sicke then dead So that euery thing doth serue to put vs in minde that our bodies which wee beare about vs are mortall for even on our table we haue moments of Death for we eate not the creatures till they be dead our garments are either the skinnes or excrements of dead beasts we often follow the dead corps to the graue and often walke ouer their bodies and in Churches Church-yards especially men that doe vse to walke there shall doe well to remember that they treade vpon the dead and others shortly must tread vpon them Moreouer in great Citties wee haue almost euery day Death rung in our eares the deadly bell telleth vs that dust wee are and to dust wee must goe againe To this perhaps the old Oracle hath reference of whom the Philosopher Zeno being desirous to chuse the most honest and best rule for the direction of this life demaunded as the manner then was his opinion therein and receiued this answer That if he would frame the course of his life aright he should vse the commerce society of the dead And the Church-yards which are the howses of Christians and as it were the chambers or beds to sleepe in they are the places to which wee may resort to be put in minde of our mortalitie and future mutability But we Christians haue in stead of commerce and societie with the dead Luk. 16.29 Moses and the Prophets to put vs in minde of our death and if we will not heare them Ezeck 3.7 neither will we be perswaded though one rise from the dead to tell vs of our death Adam knew all the beasts called them by their names but his owne name he forgot Adam of earth What bad memories haue wee that forget our owne names and our selues that we are the sonnes of men corruptible and mortall Proud man I say forgets this sentence that earth is his natiue wombe when he was borne and that being dead the earth is his tombe When we looke to the earth it should put vs in minde that earth we were earth we are and earth we shall be the earth prouides for our necessity and feeds vs with her fruits neither in life nor death doth she forsake vs while we liue she suffers vs to make long furrowes on her back and when we dy her bowels are digged vp and she receiueth vs into her bosome here now a pit is digged seuen or eight foote long and so as it may serue for Alexander the great whom liuing the world could not containe And how loftie soeuer men looke death onely shewes how little their bodies are which so small a peece of earth will containe whom before nothing would content and therein the dead carkasse is content to dwell whom at his comming the wormes doe welcome and the bones of other dead men are constrained to giue place And in this house of obliuion and silence the carcasse being woond in a sheete and bound hand and foote is shut vp though it neede not to haue so great labour bestowed vpon it for it would not run away out of that prison though the hands and feete were loose And now if we doe but consider a little of the tombes of noble men and Princes whose glory and maiestie wee haue seene when they liued here on earth and doe behold the skill and sillie formes and shapes which they now haue shall wee not cry out as men amased Is this that glory that highnesse and excellencie Whether now are the degrees of their waiting seruants gone Wheâ—e are their ornaments and iewels Where is their pompe their delicacy and nicenesse All these things are vanished away like the smoake and nothing is now left but dust horror and rottennesse such is mans body now become yea though it were the body of an Emperor King or Monarch where is now that maiestie that excellencie and authoritie which it had before time when men trembled to behold it
and might not come in presence without all reuerence and obeysance Where are all these things become Were they a dreame or shadowe After all these things the funerall is prepared which is all that men can carry with them of their riches and kingdomes and this also they should not haue if in their life time they did not appoynt it for their dignitie and honor For the Psalmist saith Psal 49.16.17 Bee not then afraid though one be made rich or if the glorie of his house be increased for he shall carry away nothing with him when he dyeth neither shall his pompe follow him O would wee could but consider the equall necessity of dying in all and the like putrefaction in all being dead This would plant in our hearts true humility if we call to minde what we are now and what we shall be shortly We are now in our best estate but as a dunghill couered with snowe which vvhen Death shall dissolue there shall nothing be seene of all our pompe and glory but dust rottennesse and corruption The consideration of all which things as a dyall putteth vs in minde that wee must all hence when we haue runne our certaine race in an vncertaine time the course whereof because it shall be intercepted not when we please but when the Lord will it is good that we be forewarned to meditate on Death that we may be the better armed to incounter with Death when it comes When wee looke to the waters to see how swiftly they runne let vs thinke that so our life passeth when we behold the foules flying in the ayre whose passage is not seene so is the path of our life When we see the Sunne and the Moone how they hasten their course euen so doe we We can turne our selues no way but something there is which may put vs in minde of our mortality Cast your eye vpon your houreglasse and consider that as the hower so passeth our life Sit in your chaire by the fire and see much wood turned into smoake and ashes and say with the Poet. Sic in non hominem veritur omnis homo So man will sodainly become no man See in the fields some grasse comming Esa 40.6 some come already and some withered and gone and confesse with the Prophet that all flesh is grasse and all the beautie thereof as a flower of the field when the ayre moues and the winde beates in your face remember that the breath of man is in his nostrels which being stopt his breath is gone and that the strongest tenor of your life is but by a puffe of winde Standing by the riuers side Esay 2.22 confesse that as the riuer runneth and doth not returne so doth your life As the arrow which you see flye in the aire so swiftly conclude that your daies doe passe Psal 32.9 Or if we be like horse or mule without vnderstanding to consider this yet I am sure wee cannot be so sencelesse as to consider that which euery dayes light presenteth to our view And surely if we goe no further then our owne selues and consider how many diseases we continually carry about vs what aches affect our bones what heauinesse our bodies what dimnesse our eyes what deafenesse our eares what trembling our hands what rottennesse our teeth what baldnesse our heads what graynesse our haires all and euery one of these as so many loud alarums would sound vnto vs Death is neere Or if none of these did affect vs within yet how many thousand dangers doe daily threaten vs without and seeme to shew vs present death sitting on horse-back in the slipping of one foot thy life is in danger by an iron toole or weapon in thine owne or thy friends hand a mischance and that deadly may happen The wilde beastes which thou seest are armed to thy destruction If thou shut vp thy selfe in a garden well fenced where nothing appeares but sweete ayre and that which is pleasant there perhaps lurketh some dangerous or venimous Serpent Thy house subiect to continuall windes and stormes doth threaten thee with falling on thy head I speake not of poisonings treasons robberies open violence of which part doe besiege vs at home and part doe follow vs abroad Examples tending to this purpose are infinite whereof some haue beene mentioned before in the former Diuision and I will produce heere some few more thereby to put vs in minde that the same things may happen to our selues For which cause hardly should a moment of our life be spent without due consideration of our death If then we ascend the Theatre of mans life and looke about we shal see some to haue perished with sodaine death Ananias and Saphira others with griefe Ely others with ioy Rodius Diagoras others with gluttony Domitius Afer others with drunkennesse Attilla King of Hunnes others with hunger Cleanthus others with thirst Thales Milesius others in their lasciuious daliances Cornelius Gallus others with ouer-watching M. Attilius others with poyson Phocion Henry 7. Emperour in a feast by a Monke some by fire from heauen the Sodomites Anastacius the Emperour an Eutichian Heretike some by waters M. Marcellus some by Earth-quakes Ephasius Bishop of Antioch some swallowed vp quicke Corah Dathan and Abiran some stifled with smoake and vapours Catulus some with a fall by slipping of their feete Nestorius the Heretike some at the disburdening of nature Arrius the Heretike some with a sodaine fall from their horse Philip King of France others killed and torne in sunder by dogs Heraclitus Lucian the Apostata by horses Hyppolitus by Lions Lycus Emperor by Beares two and fortie children by Boares Ancaeus King of Samos by Rats Hato Bishop of Mentz and the like I speake nothing of others who haue vntimely perished some by one meanes some by another What shal I say then doe so many things within vs so many things without vs so many about vs threaten continuall death vnto vs Then wretched man thou art that doest not meditate on these things seeing thou art so neere thy death and must certainly die Herodotus writeth of Sesostris a King of the Egyptians that he was carried in a Chariot drawne with foure Kings whom he before had conquered One of the foure casting his eyes behind looked often vpon the wheeles of the Chariot was at length demanded by Sesostris what he meant to looke backe so often I see saith he that those things which were highest in the wheele became presently lowest and the lowest eft-soone became highest againe I thinke vpon the inconstancie of all things Sesostris hereupon aduising himselfe waxed more milde and deliuered the said Kings Which Historie putteth vs in minde of our mortalitie and change As a birde guideth her flight with her traine so the life of man is best directed by continuall recourse to his end Doe we not know by Scripture that death stealeth vpon vs as trauell vpon a woman or as a theefe in the night which giueth no
but we our selues by our wicked mindes of our owne accord we haue drawne it on our selues which God did not at all forbid lest it should keepe in vs an immortall disease For he that made heauen and earth ayre and fire Sun and Moone all elements all creatures good surely would not make him euill for whom all these good things were made How comes he then thus bad The words of our royall Preacher teach vs to say This onely haue I found Eccl. 7.29 that God hath made man vpright but hee hath sought out many inuentions Man was created happie but he found out trickes to make himselfe miserable Theophrastus Aristotle wrangled with Nature her selfe as if in a malignant humor shee brought forth men borne to great affaires to be snatched away in a moment whereas to Rauens and Harts shee granteth many ages which can neither prize nor vse their time But the truth is our selues doe shorten our liues with ryot idlenesse dissolutenesse and excesse Kingly treasures committed to euill husbands are quickly wasted Life is short onely to the prodigall of good houres For to speake as the truth is and as the matter deserueth we liue not but linger out a few dolorous daies So much time only wee doe liue as is vertuously bestowed and no more And as Epiphanius brings in Methodius disputing with Produs the Originist saith God as the true Physitian hath appointed Death to be a physical purgation for the vtter rooting out and putting away of sinne that wee may be made faultlesse and innocent and that as a goodly golden image saith he sightly and seemely in all things and all parts if it be broken and defaced must bee new cast and framed againe for the taking away of the blemishes and disgraces of it euen so man the Image of God being maimed and disgraced by sinne for the putting away of the disgraces and repairing his ruines and decayes must by the meditation on death be renewed by weakning of sinne which is the cause of death in vs. As for example if the couetous man would seriously take a view of himselfe in this glasse of the meditation on Death then would hâ—e not so miserably torment himselfe with carking and caring moiling and toiling in the world by falshood deceit and oppression grinding the faces of the poor and all to get a handful of feathers or to catch at a little smoake of vanitie being euery houre in danger to heare this voice of the Lord. Luke 12.20 Thou foole this night they will fetch away thy soule from thee then whose shall these things be which thou hast thus scraped and gathered together Then would they consider that death will depriue them of all their treasures their houses which they haue builded by fraud their rents for which they haue made shipwracke of their soules their fields which they haue gotten by deceit their siluer and gold which they haue gotten by vsury and oppression their life which they haue so lewdly and vnprofitably spent making their pleasures their Paradise and their gold their god Then shall they perceiue their error that they haue chosen drosse for gold grasse for grace rust for siluer losse for gain shame for honor paine for rest yea for heauen hell Come also to this schoole of the meditation on Death you drunkards swearers whore-mongers blasphemers swaggerers prophaners of Gods Sabbathes and all carnall riotous and vngodly liuers small pleasures would you take in these vices nay soone would yee leaue and forsake them if you would giue your selues to this meditation The ancient Egyptians well knew the force of this medicine who in the middest of their mirth at their solemne Feasts were wont to haue the image of Death brought in and laid before them with these words Hoc intuens epulare beholding this Image eate and drinke but within the bounds of temperance for you must all be as this dead carcasse is wheresoeuer yee goe But if we carry not with vs the vglie picture of Death yet let vs carry in our hearts the true picture of our Death and then this meditation will correct and amend these vices in vs. It is written of those Philosophers called Brackmani that they were so much giuen to thinke vpon their end that they had their graues alwaies open before their gates that both going out and comming in they might alwaies be mindfull of their Death and latter end Dionysius the tyrant caused his notable flatterer Damocles who affirmed the life of a King to be most happie to be set in his regall Throne in stately robes and all Princely cheere and dainty fare before him and a naked sword tyed but with a horse-haire to hang ouer his head menacing him Death Could this Parasite thinke you take any delight in this princely fare and pompe No verily but as if he had sat amongst the greatest hagges of hell he durst not once touch the dainty dishes before him and shall not the meditation on Death either present or hard at hand and the sword of the wrathfull Iudge drawne and hanging ouer thine head restraine thee from immoderate and superfluous eating and drinking It is recorded also of a certaine King whose minde was so fixed in the deepe meditation on Death that thereby hee became more sober and modest in all his actions who being incited by his Iester or Parasite to be merry banquet and carowse hee commanded his Parasite to be set on a seate made with rotten wood fire to be put vnder and a sword to hang ouer his head and also princely dishes to be set before him and willed him to eate drinke and be merry but this stomacke would not serue him so much as to tast one of thefe dainty dishes and wilt thou O drunkard or glutton sinne in excesse and make thy belly thy God who sittest vpon a rotten body with the fire of naturall heat continually deuouring within it which the fire of the elementarie qualities on euery side disturbeth hauing the Etna of hell beneath and the sword of Gods wrath aboue Euen thus standeth our case a certaine diuine writer vseth this comparison A poore traueller pursued by an Vnicorne by chance in his flight slippes or falles into the side of a deepe pit or dungeon which is full of cruell serpents and in his fall catcheth hold by one small twig of the arme of a tree As hee thus hangeth looking downeward hee seeth two wormes gnawing at the roote of the tree and looking vpward he sees an hiue of sweete hony which makes him to climbe vp vnto it and to sit and feede vpon it While he thus feedeth himselfe and becommeth secure and carelesse of what may come the Vnicorne being hunger-bitten and byting and brusing on other boughes is each moment ready to crop of the twigge whereon this wretched man sitteth Now in what wofull plight is this distressed creature Then after this the two wormes gnawe in sunder the roote of the tree which falling downe
Moses that they vnderstood this that they would consider their latter end or that wee did conceiue the happinesse and felicitie of our end and this we should doe if we would thus meditate in this sort on our end When Salomon hath spoken of all the vanities of man at last he opposeth this Memorandum as a coūterpoyse against them all Eccle. 11.9 Remember that for all these things thou shalt come to iudgement As if he should haue said men would neuer speak as they speake thinke as they thinke nor doe as they doe if they were perswaded that their thoughts words and deeds should come to iudgement For surely if a man could perswade himselfe that this day were his last day as God knoweth it may bee hee would not deferre this meditation on Death If he could thinke that the meate now in eating is his last meat or his drinke now in drinking his last drinke he would not surfet nor be drunke therewith If he could beleeue that the words which he speakes this day shall bee the last that euer he shall speake Psal 39.1 he would with the Prophet take heed to his wayes that he offend not with his tongue in lying swearing rayling and blaspheming Pambus one without learning came to a certaine man to be taught a Psalme who when he had heard this first verse of the 39. Psalme would not suffer the next verse to bee read saying this verse is enough if I could practise it and when his teacher blamed him because hee saw him not in sixe moneths after he answered that hee had not yet done that verse And one that knew him many yeeres after asked him whether he had yet learned the verse I am saith he fortie yeeres old and haue not yet learned to fulfill it Now then the harder it is to rule the tongue the more care is to be had therein especially seeing the words wee speake may be the last words for ought wee know that euer wee shall speake If he were or would be perswaded that this were the last lesson admonition or sermon that euer God would afford him for his conuersion hee would heare it with more care diligence and profit then euer he had done before Let vs therefore remember our selues whilest it is called to day Psal 95.7.8 lest our meditation on Death come too late For which of vs all can assure himselfe of life till to morrow or what if he should liue one two three foure or fiue yeeres longer or what if twentie yeeres longer who would not liue like a godly Christian so many yeeres for to liue in heauen with Christ for euer Wee can be content to liue seuen yeeres Apprentise with great labour and toile to bee instructed in some trade that we may liue the more easily the rest of our dayes and about this we spend our thoughts and meditations and cannot we then be well contented to labour a little while in the matters of our saluatiō spend our thoughts endeauours and meditations therein that we may rest from all our labours for euer after in heauen Matth. 26.40 Our Sauiour Christ said vnto his Disciples when he had found them sleeping What could yee not watch one houre And so I say vnto all men What can you not meditate on Death some few houres Which meditation on Death we must not make a naked discourse or bare reading onely but a vehement application of the minde to the thing it selfe with an inward sence and feeling of the heart all the distractions of our thoughts being abandoned For meditation is an action or worke of the soule bending it selfe often earnestly and orderly to think vpon a thing and it is either of Gods word or works and Death is one of Gods workes euen a worke of mercy to his elect and chosen children but a work of iustice to the vngodly and reprobate Therefore that thou mayest meditate profitably on Death whereby it may proue a worke of Gods mercie vnto thee put thy selfe humbly in the sight of God who beholdeth thee in all thy actions and thus present begge of him that all thy thoughts words and works yea and all thy meditations may wholly be guided and directed to his glory and thy owne saluation and intreate thy God with heartie affections to giue thee grace that thou mayest take profit by the consideration and the meditation of thy last end And let vs not imitate foolish men who looke and thinke vpon present things only but let vs meditate on things to come and so by the grace of God we shall bring to passe that the same houre which to others that are inconsiderate is the beginning of sorrowes and miseries to vs shall be the entrance into all ioy and happinesse The end of the second Diuision THE THIRD DIVISION OF THE PREPARATION FOR DEATH NOw by way of preparation vnto death let vs obserue that the greatest worke we haue to finish in this world is to die well they which die well die not to die but to liue eternally That man doth finish his daies in his best sort that euery day esteemeth the last day of his life to be present or neere at hand and that a man may die well Gods word requireth a preparation for Death The Preparation for death is an action of a repentant sinner whereby he makes himselfe fit and ready euery day to leaue this life and to die well And it is a dutie very necessarie and of great waight and importance to which we are tied and bound by Gods Commandement and therefore it can in no wise bee omitted of him that desires to make a happie and blessed end Wherefore this preparation is two-fold Generall and particular Generall preparation is that whereby a man prepares himselfe to die through the whole course of his life The reasons are these viz. First Death which is certaine is most vncertaine I say it is certaine because no man can auoid it and it is vncertaine three wayes First in regard of the time for no man doth know when he shall die Secondly in regard of the place because no man knoweth where he shall die and thirdly in regard of the kind of death for that no man knowes whether he shall die of an ordinary or extraordinary death whether of a lingring or sodaine death whether easie or violent Therefore from thence it followes that we should euery day and in all places prepare our selues for death Indeede if wee could know when where and how wee should dye the case were otherwise but seeing we know none of all these but are ignorant therof therfore it stands vs greatly in hand to looke about vs to prepare our selues for our latter end A second reason seruing further to perswade vs to the performing of this duety is this that the most dangerous thing in all the world to the hazard of our soules is to neglect this preparation It must not be put off till sicknesse for then it
be the better prepared for it when it shall come indeed But some may heere obiect say how can this be done The Apostle Saint Paul doth answere it in giuing vs direction by his owne example when he saith 1. Cor. 15.31 By our reioycing which wee haue in Christ Iesus our Lord I die daily And doutlesse this Apostle died daily not only because he was often in danger of death by reason of his calling but also because in all his dangers and troubles hee inured himselfe to die For when men doe make the right vse of their afflictions and doe with their might endeauour to beare them patiently humbling themselues as vnder the Lords chastisement and correction then they are said to begin to die well And he that would mortifie his greatest sinnes must first begin to doe it in his smallest sinnes which being once reformed he shall with more ease be able to ouercome his master sinnes For this is the way to keepe sinne from raigning in our mortall bodies So likewise he that would bee able to beare the crosse of all crosses as namely death which is the end of all crosses must first of all learne to beare small crosses as sicknesses diseases troubles losses pouertie and the like which may fitly be tearmed little deathes and the beginnings of the greater death with which little deaths we must first acquaint our selues before wee can be able to incounter with great Death For as one well saith Death after the crosse is the lesse The world is set vnto vs as a house wherein we are but tenants at will out of which the Lord by sicknesse and crosses giueth vs warning and by death determineth his will and requireth it againe at our hands and willeth vs thereby to prepare our selues for a better house and the new house for which we are to prepare our selues is most pleasant and not so fraile ruinous and weake as our worldly house for the tiles doe sometimes fall off this house the walles doe reele the roofe doth drop the pillars doe leane the foundation doth sinke And what are these but so many warnings of the Lord to vs to depart hence and prepare for a better place Therfore when thou dost perceiue thy falling haires thy watering eyes thy trembling hands thy weake knees and thy stooping bodie what are these but onely the citations of Death which seemes to warne thee to prepare to packe vp that thou maist with more ease be able to goe out of this ruinous house of thine It is a fable but it hath a good mortall A certaine man did couenant with Death that he should neuer surprize him at vnawares or sodainly before that he had first sent a messenger to him to giue him warning that shortly hee would arrest him to which Death assented that though he could not alwaies forbeare him yet before hee did strike him hee would giue him warning Vpon Deaths promise thus past this man liued secure spending his time in all maner of riot and excesse and when he thoughtfull little of Death then came Death to take him away with whom this man expostulating for breach of promise Death in discharging of his fidelitie replied that with none no not those that violate all promises had he broken promise for saith he I haue sent many messenger vnto you from time to time to giue you warning of my comming thou wast sixe yeares since taken with a grieuous Feuer within these two yeeres sore troubled with Rhumes and distillations since that taken with the cough and paine in the head then troubled with the consumption of the Lungs And did I not lately send my brother Germaine vnto thee the drousie sleeping disease veturnosum soporem in which thou didst lye for a while like a dead man All these were fore-runners of my comming to warne thee to make thy selfe ready for mee who was neere at hand Is there any amongst vs that is not sometimes admonished of Deathes approaching by some of these his Apparators that hee must shortly depart The Poet saith truely Mille modis lethi miseros mors vna fatigat A thousand kinds yet but one death Hath death to take away our breath From whence let all men learne that haue care of their saluation what they ought to doe and be warie to prepare themselues for Death before Death doth end their life Often we ought to prepare for Death and doe not at last wee die indeed and would then and cannot Therefore while our feete are at liberty and before we be bound hand and foote let vs runne the way of the Lords Commandements and while we haue tongues and before we become speechlesse let vs vse our tongues well and not suffer them to sinne Mat. 22.12.13 And while we haue hands and armes and before our armes not from our shoulders Ephes 4.28 let vs worke with our hands the things that are good and procure things honest in the sight of all men Psal 150.6 and while wee haue breath before God stop our breath let vs praise the Lord. And while we haue eares Eccl. 12.4 before these daughters of singing bee abased let vs lift vp our eares to heare the word of God and not to vanitie Gal. 6 10. All we therefore saith the Apostle haue opportunitie to doe good vnto all men especially to them that are of the houshold of faith All this is a good preparation for death and by our patience in suffering afflictions it will make Death when it comes the easier for vs and the lesse able to afflict vs. For he that dyeth saith one before hee die shall not dye when he doth die In a temporall building the stones must be broken cut hewen and squared ere they be fit to make vp the worke The corne must bee cut downe bound vp carried into the barne threshed winnowed clensed and grinded before it be ready for good bread And the whirlewinde must first blow 2. King 2.11 before Eliah be rapt vp into heauen And wee must be cut hewen and squared with a number of Deathes messengers before wee can bee made fit for the Lords building We must be tossed with the winde and weather before wee can arriue in the hauen of heauen The very victualls which wee eate must first from life be brought to the fire and bee cleane altered in losing their propertie from the fire to the table from the table to the mouth so to the stomacke and there be concocted and disgested before they can nourish and worke their perfection in vs. Euen so Gods children must be mangled and defaced in this world which is the mill to grinde vs the kitchin to receiue vs and the fire to boyle roast and bake vs to alter the propertie from that wee were at the first that we thereby may bee made fitte to be brought to the Lords table For as raw flesh is wholesome meate for men so vnmortified men bee no creatures fit for God By
with his left hand hee imbraceth them Psal 41.3 yea the Lord saith the Psalmist will strengthen them vpon the bed of languishing and he will make all their beds in their sicknesse The third meanes of Gods presence is the ministerie of his good Angells whom he hath appointed as keepers and nurses for his seruants Psal 91.11 12. to hold them vp and to beare them in their armes as nurses doe their young infants and babes and to be as a strong guard vnto them against the diuell and his wicked Angels And all this is obserued especially in the time of sicknes at which time the holy Angells are not onely present with the children of God to succor theÌ„ but they are ready aâ—so to receiue their soules at their last gaspe and carry them into Abrahams bosome Luk. 16.22 And thus much of the first dutie of a sicke man and the meanes to arme him against the feare of Death Now followeth the second dutie concerning the body and that is that all sick persons must be carefull to preserue health and life till God doe wholy take it away Therefore we must referre our life and our death to the goodwill and pleasure of the Lord. And touching this temporall life it is a pretious iewell and as the common saying is life is very sweete being giuen to man to this end that he might haue some space of time wherein he might prepare himselfe for his happie end and vse all good meanes to attaine vnto eternall life In the preseruation of life two things must be considered the meanes and the right vse of the meanes The meanes is good and wholesome physick which must be esteemed as an ordinance and blessing of God We read that King Asa is blamed for seeking to the Physitians in the extremitie of his sicknes 2 Cor. 16.12 Whereupon a question may rise whether it be lawfull when necessitie of sicknes constraineth to fly to the remedies of Physick whereunto the answere is easie Asa is not here blamed for seeking the ordinary meanes of physick but because he sought not the Lord in his disease but onely to the Physitians Iam 5.14 Is any sicke amongst you saith Saint Iames let him call for the elders of the Chu ch and let them pray ouer him and that is in the very first place bfore all other helpe be sought Whâ—re the diuine ends thâ—re the Physitian must begin and it is a very preposterous course that the Diuine should there begin where the Physitian makes an end for vntill helpe be had for the soule and sinne which is the roote of sicknesse be cured Physick for the body is nothing worth therefore it is a thing much to be misliked that in all places almost the Physitian is first sent for and comes in the beginning of the sicknes the Minister coÌ„es when a man is halfe dead and is then sent for oftentimes when the sick partie lyes drawing on and gasping for breath as though Ministers of the Gospell in these dayes were able to worke miracles The art of Physick therefore nor the Physitian is here disallowed but ouer much confidence in Physick and in the Physitian without relying vpon God the soueraigne Physitian without whose blessing no Physick nor potion can be auaileable to the curing of any maladie or disease neither can the Physitian any wayes profit the sick and diseased patient except the Lord in mercy giueth a powerfull working and operation to the medicine against the disease to predominate ouer it for the curing of the same The doctrine then from hence is that the helps of physick are not to be despised not too much to be depended on but our chiefest hope is to bee fixed vpon God who as hee onely puts the soule into the body so he onely can take it away againe when it pleaseth him Yea these ordinary meanes which God hath appoynted are not to be contemned or neglected lest we seeme thereby to tempt God especially in dangerous diseases Eccle. 38.1.2.3.4.56.78.9.12.13.14 Hereof Iesus the son of Sirach saith Honor a Physitian with the honor due vnto him for the vses which you may haue of him for the Lord created him for of the most high commeth healing and he shall receiue honor of the King the skill of the Physitian shall lift vp his head and in the sight of great men he shall be in admiration The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth and he that is wise will not abhorre them Was not the water made sweete with wood that the vertue thereof might be knowne and he hath giuen men skill that he might be honored in his meruellous workes With such doth he heale men and taketh away their paines of such doth the Apothecary make a confection and of his workes there is no end and from him is peace ouer all the earth My sonne in thy sicknes be not negligent but pray vnto the Lord he will make thee whole then giue place to the Physitian for the Lord hath created him let him not goe from thee for thou hast neede of him There is a time when in their hands there is good successe for they shall also pray vnto the Lord that he would prosper that which they giue for ease remedy to prolong life And hereof also Iesus the son of God saith they that bee whole neede not the Physitian but they that are sicke which speach of our blessed Sauiour commendeth that art Matth. 9.12 and the good seruice done thereby This commendaâ—ion aâ—so the Prince of Poets giueth to the Physitian The Physitian alone saith hee is to be equalled with many other in honor Gen. 17.12 Againe whereas God did not command circumcision of children before the eight day hee followed a rule of physick obserued in all ages that the life of the childe is very vncertaine till the first seuen dayes be expired And vpon the very same ground the Heathen men vsed not to name their children before the eight day 2. Sam. 12.18 And that Physiâ—k may be wel applied to the maintenance of health speciall care must be had for the choosing of such Physitians as are knowne to be well learned and men of experience as also of a good conscience of sound religion in the profession of the Gospell of Christ and of vpright life and conuersation Now touching the manner of vsing the means these rules must be followed First of all he that is to take physick must not onely prepare his bodie as Physitians doe commonly prescribe but he must also prepare his soule by humbling himselfe vnder the mercifull hand of God in his sicknesse for his sinnes and making earnest prayers vnto him for pardon before any medicine come in his body The second rule is 1. Tim. 4.5 that when wee haue prepared our selues and are about to vse the physick we must sanctifie it as wee doe our meate and drinke by the word of God and prayer The
decree of God is vnchangeable Esay 46.10 His counsell saith the Prophet shall stand and he will doe all his pleasure Secondly it is an article of our faith grounded on the word of God and from thence saith the Article he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead Eccles 12.14 Thirdly the Scripture saith That God shall bring euery work vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill But all this is not done heere for heere many matters are cloaked and carried in a mist that deserue iudgement and merit condemnation Therefore that God may be iust in his sayings there must be a sessions of gaole-deliuery which the Scriptures cal the iudgement of the last day Fourthly the godly doe heere groane vnder many miseries the vngodly wallow in many delights and pleasures The rich liue delicately and Lazarus is in paine therefore it is necessary as it is certaine that a day should come wherein the Lord may make knowne his righteousnesse and magnifie his iustice before his most glorious throne that they who haue liued merily and dishonored God might liue in torments of fire and they whose life hath beene miserable seruing the Lord might be comforted for euer Some haue offâ—nded deepely and haue not beene touched by the Magistrate some haue suffered great rebuke and sometimes death who haue done good and deserued not only fauour but recompence and therefore a day must come and is appointed wherein the Lord that is iust 2. Thess 1.6.7.8 will recompence tribulation to all that haue troubled the righteous and rest to them that were troubled On the otherside would it not bee hard for the godly who haue here endured the crosse for the ioy that was set before them if there should not come a time of refreshing from God And would it not too much obdurate the wicked who drinke iniquitie as water if they should escape all punishments and vengeance here and also after death Fiftly this is shadowed out in that Housholder Mat. 20.8.10 Matth. 25.19 who wheÌ„ euening was come called the labourers and gaue euery man his hire and peny And if a wise master will recken with his seruants shal we thinke that Wisedome it selfe will not one day recken with impeniten sinners and call them before him for his money that is pretious graces of wit learning authority wealth and other outward and inward ornaments of life which they haue consumed on their lusts Sixtly euery mans conscience doth by a trembling feare as in Felix at one time or another Acts 24.26 iustifie this point of a iudgement to come And therefore as the Floud of waters once drowned the world Gen. 7.1.7 except a few who were sauâ—d in the Arke so it is certaine that the floud and tempest of the last day with fire shal consume it and all therein 2. Pet. 2.5 except such as Christ hath or then will gather into the little Arke of his Church In the euening of the world and when there shall be no more time he wil cal the labourers before him giuing them the peny or pay of euerlasting life but for the idle and loyterers he will put them out of the vineyard Matth. 7.23 and out of Christ and send them with sinners to the place prepared for them as they haue liued without the Church or idle in it so when the labourers receiue their peny thâ—y shall heare this sentence Depart from mee yee that worke iniquitie I know you not Thus it is proued not onely to be certaine but necessarie that there should bee a iudgement which we are to vnderstand know and wisely prouide for But some will say seeing men come to their account at their death what needeth any other day of audit or hearing to whom I answere That men at their death receiue but priuate iudgement but heere they shall receiue publike sentence then they are iudged in their soules onely heere they shall be in soule and body This first is but a close sessions the other is an open and solemne assise In the first much of their shame is hid heere they shal be ashamed to the full and vtterly confounded If our owne lawes doe not condemne and execute malefactors in prison but in open place and manner for their greater shame it is great reason that wicked sinners should not priuately in the graues as in prison be iudged and led to execution but be brought to the publike skaffold and barre of solemne sessions there to receiue their shame and sentence together and not to be executed by a close death in the gaole but be brought forth to suffer vpon the high stage of the world in the sight of Saints and Angels where all eyes may see and behold them And that this day cannot be farre off it may appeare both according to the prophecies of holy Fathers as also the truth of the Scriptures Augustine in his booke on Genesis saith against the Maniches That the world should last sixe ages The first from Aadam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to Dauid the fourth froÌ„ Dauid to the Transmigration to Babylon the fift from the Transmigration to the comming of our Sauiour Christ in the flesh and the sixt from the comming of our Sauiour in the flesh to his comming againe to Iudgement So that according to this Prophecie we liue in the last age 1. Iohn 2.18 which last age is called by Saint Iohn the last houre And how long this last houre shall continue Reue. 1.11 he onely that is Alpha and Omega the first and the last knoweth The Hebrewes they boast of the Prophecie of Eliah a great man in those dayes who prophecied that the world should last sixe thousand yeeres two thousand before the Law two thousand vnder the Law two thousand from Christs comming in the flesh to his comming againe vnto Iudgement If this Prophecie bee true then cannot the world last foure hundred yeeres But leauing men and comming to the Scriptures which cannot erre Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 10.11 That wee are they vpon whom the ends of the world are come If therefore the end of the world were come vpon them that liued aboue one thousand and fiue hundred yeeres agoe then surely Doomes day cannot now be farre off Saint Iames saith Iam. 5.9 Behold the Iudge standeth before the dore Saint Iohn Baptist preached repentance to the Iewes saying Matth. 3.2 Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Saint Peter saâ—th 1. Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand Though no man can shew the fingers of this hand The Apostle Saint Iude saith Iude 1.14.15 And Enoch the seuenth also from Adam prophecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute iudgement vpon all and to conuince all that are vngodly among them of all their vngodly deeds which they haue vngodly committed and
of all is in the pangs of death when friends riches pleasures the outward sences temporall life and all earthly helpes forsake vs. But put thy trust confidence faith in God which neither fadeth nor vanisheth Psal 118.8.9 but abideth continueth for euer Psal 146.3.4 For if thou bee in amity with God the night will bee short and thy sleepe sweete thy graue wil be to thee as a bed of doune there to rest till the day of resurrection thy prayers at that time wil smel as perfume and thy praises sound in thy soule as the harmonie of the heauens where thou shalt raigne for euer and euer And then true faith will make vs to goe wholly out of our selues and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of any earthly thing and to rest and rely wholly with all the power and strength of our heart vpon the pure loue and mercies of Iesus Christ When the Israelites in the wildernesse were stung with fiery Serpents and lay at the point of death they looked vp to the brasen Serpent Num. 21.8.9 which was erected for that purpose by Gods owne appointment and then were presently healed euen so when any man feeles death to approach and draw neere with a fiery sting to pierce his heart hee must then presently fixe the eyes of a true and liuely faith vpon Christ his Sauiour exalted lifted vp Iohn 3.14.15 and crucified vpon the Crosse which being done he shall by death enter into eternall life It is recorded by the Author to the Hebrewes Heb. 11.13 that the holy Fathers of the old Testament died in faith and so entred into glory And if wee will looke to be glorified with them then must we follow their steps in dying in the same faith with them And because true faith is no dead thing it must be expressed by speciall actions as namely by the last words which for the most part in them that haue sincerely and truly serued God are very excellent and comfortable and full of grace some choyce examples whereof I will rehearse for instructions sake and for imitation viz. The Last words of Iacob Gen. 49.18 O Lord I haue waited for thy saluation The last words of Moses his most excellent song set downe in Deuteronomy Deut. 32. The last words of Dauid 2. Sam. 23.1.2 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue The last words of Zacharias the son of Iehoiada the Priest when he was stoned to death by King Ioash 2. Chro. 24.22 The Lord looke vpon it and require it The last words of the conuerted Theefe vpon the Crosse Luke 23.40.41.44 first rebuking his fellow for railing on Christ then confessing his and his fellowes guiltinesse thirdly his iustification of Christ that he had done nothing amisse and lastly his sweete prayer Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome The last words of our Sauiour Christ himselfe Luk. 23.34.43 when hee was dying vpon the Crosse are most admirable and stored with aboundance of spirituall graces First to his Father concerning his enemies hee saith Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Secondly to the Theefe vpon the Crosse with him Iohn 19.26 I say vnto thee this day shalt thou bee with mee in Paradise Mat. 27.46 Thirdly to his Mother Woman behold thy Sonne and to Iohn his beloued Disciple Behold thy Mother Iohn 19.28.30 Fourthly in his agonie he said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Luke 23.46 Fiftly he earnestly desiring our saluation said I thirst Sixtly when he had made perfect satisfaction for vs he said It is finished And seuenthly when his bodie and soule were parting hee said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and hauing thus said hee gaue vp the ghost Act. 7.56.59.60 The last words of the Martyr Saint Stephen at his stoning First Behold I see the heauens open and the Sonne of Man standing at the right hand of God Secondly as they were stoning of him hee called vpon God and said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And thirdly hee kneeled downe and cried with a loud voice saying Lord lay not this sinne to their charge and when he had said this he fell a sleepe By these and such like examples wee see what a blessed thing it is to learne to die well which is to die in faith at which end true wisdome wholly aymeth and he hath not spent his life ill that hath thus learned to die well For the conclusion of our life is the touch-stone of all the actions of our life which made Luther both to thinke and say that men were best Christians in death and Epamynandas one of the wise men of Greece being asked whom of the three he esteemed most viz. himselfe Chabrius or Ephicrates answered Wee must first see all die before we can answere that question for the act of dying well is the science of all sciences the way whereunto is to liue well contentedly and peaceably But what must we thinke if in the time of Death such excellent speeches bee wanting in some of Gods children and in stead thereof idle talke be vsed Answ We must consider the kind of sicknes whereof men dye whether it bee more easie or violent for violent sicknes is vsually accompanied with frenzies or vnseemely motions or gestures which wee are to take in good part in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case and we must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by his behauiour in death or in a troubled soule for there are many things in Death which are the effects of the sharp disease he dyeth of no impeachment of the faith he dyeth in and these may depriue his tongue of he of reason but cannot depriue his soule of eternall life One dyeth saith holy Iob in his full strength being whole Iob. 21.23.24.25.26 at ease and quiet his breasts are full of milke and his bones are full of marrow another dyeth in the bitternes of his soule and neuer eateth with pleasure they shall lye downe alike in the dust and the wormes shall couer them Wherefore in this case we must iudge none by the eye nor by their deathes but by their liues The second dutie is to dy in obedience otherwise our death cannot bee acceptable to God because else we seeme to come vnto God vpon feare and constraint as slaues to their Master and not of loue as children to their father And thus to dye in obedience is when a man is ready and willing to goe out of this world without murmuring grudging and repining when it shall please God to call him Death is the feare of rich men the desire of poore men but surely the end of all men to this step man commeth as slowly as hee can trembling at this passage and labouring to settle himselfe here the sole memory of Death
died for when Death had seased his bodie he died in prayer Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus saith he receiue my spirit And in such sort as Iacob died who in the seasure of death vpon his bodie raised vp himselfe and turning his face toward his beds head leaned on the top of his staffe by reason of his feeblenesse and so prayed vnto God Which prayer of his at his death was an excellent fruit of his faith For by faith Iacob Heb. 1.21 when hee was in dying blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph and worshipped leauing vpon the top of his staffe God grant when he commeth that he may finde vs so doing that when we shall lye vpon our death-beds gasping for breath readie to giue vp the ghost that then the precious soule of euery one of vs redeemed with the most precious bloud of our sweete Sauiour Christ Iesus may passe away in a prayer in a secret and sweet prayer may passe I say out of Adams body into Abrahams bosome But heere it may be obiected that in the pangs of death men want their sences and conuenient vtterance and therefore are vnable to pray Answere The very sighes sobbes and groanes of a penitent and bleeding heart are prayers before God at such a time euen as effectuall as if they were vttered by the best voyce in the world For prayer standeth in the affection of the heart whereof the voice is but an outward messenger For God at such a time especially lookes not vpon the speech and voice but vpon the heart And therefore the Psalmist saith Psal 10.17 Psal 145.19 That God heares the desire of the humble the Lord will fulfill the desire of them that feare him What prayer maketh the little infant to his mother He weepeth and cryeth not being able to expresse what he lacketh the mother offers him the breast or giueth him some other thing Psal 38.9 Matth. 7.11 such as shee thinketh his necessitie requireth much more then the heauenly Father heedeth the desires sighes groanes and teares of his children and doing the office of a Father hee heareth them and prouideth for them Exod. 14.15 Wee reade in the booke of Exodus that the Lord said vnto Moses Wherefore cryest thou vnto me and yet as it is there said there was no voice heard Wee reade also in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 1.12.13 that Hannah continued praying before the Lord that shee spake in heart onely her lippes mooued but her voice was not heard and yet the Lord heard her heartie prayer and granted her request Yea the very teares of the children of God are loud and sounding Prayers in his eares who will as the Psalmist saith put them into his bottle Psal 56.8 and register them in his booke yea the very bloud of his Saints are crying prayers vnto him And therefore the Lord said vnto Cain Gen. 4.10 when he had slaine his brother Abel What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers bloud crieth vnto mee from the ground If thou canst not pray distinctly and orderly lifting vp thine eyes on high with Hezekiah chatter like the Swallow mourne like the Done For the sorrow of his heart did so oppresse his soule that though he remembred God and looked vp vnto him and had all his desires waiting vpon the hand of God yet he was not able to pray to God in any distinct manner like a well aduised man his praying was all out of order it was more like the mourning of a Done and the chattering of a swallow then like the holy and orderly prayers of a wise and godly man as wee may reade in the Prophecie of Esay Esa 38.14 Luke 22.62 Wee reade not in what words Peter prayed but onely that he wept bitterly let thy teares flow likewise when thy words can find no free passage Which teares of sinners S. Bernard cals the wine of Angels And as concerning the true vigor of praying S. Augustine in one place sayeth It stands more in teares then in words for instructing a certaine rich widow how to pray vnto God among other words hee hath this saying Plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quà m sermonibus agitur plus fletu quà m afflatu This businesse of prayer for the most part is performed rather with groaning then with words with weeping then with speech Let God heare thy sighes and grones let him see thy teares when thou canst not shew him thy desire in words Psal 6.6 Water thy couch with teares as did the Prophet and God will gather vp and put euery drop into his bottle Thus doing when thou thinkest thou hast not prayed thou hast prayed most powerfully For as Saint Ierome saith Oratio Deum lenit lachryma cogit prayer greatly moueth God teares forceably compell him he is allured and wonne with the words of prayer to heare vs but with the teares of a contrite heart he is drawne and inforced to heare and helpe where otherwise hee would not And in this case wee must remember that God accepts affecting for effecting willing for working desires for deeds purposes for performances pence for pounds S. Chrysostome saith That prayer is the soule of our soules and in this affliction growing in thy soule because thou knowest not how to pray heare a notable comfort that the Apostle giues thee saying The spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not how to pray as wee ought but the spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with sighes that cannot bee expressed Where thine owne strength and wisedome faileth in this seruice of prayer vnto God there the wisedome and power of Gods spirit kindleth in thee strong desires and earnest longing after mercie and the meanings of those desires and longings God perfectly vnderstandeth and needes not be informed by thy words So that though thou canst not pray as thou oughtst to doe yet that seruice goeth forward wel while heartily thou desirest Gods fauour Esay 65.24 And it shall come to passe saith the Lord that before they call to me for ayde that is in our purpose of prayer I will answere and whiles they are yet speaking I will heare Remember that many goe to bed and neuer rise againe till they be raised vp and wakened by the sound of the last trumpet 1. Thess 4.16 If therefore thou desire to sleepe safely and securely whether in health or sicknesse goe to bed with a reuerence of Gods Maiestie and a consideration of thine owne weaknes frailty and miserie which thou mayest imprint in thy heart in some poore measure and pray thou thus and say If it bee thy blessed will to call for mee in my sleepe O Lord for Christ Iesus sake haue mercy vpon me forgiue me all my sinnes and receiue my parting soule into the heauenly kingdome But if it be thy blessed wil and pleasure to adde more dayes vnto my life then good Lord adde more amendement to my dayes and weane my mind from
the loue of this world and worldly things and cause mee more and more to settle my conuersation and meditations on heauen and heauenly things And whether thou shalt recouer or not recouer thy former health againe by prayer that belongeth to thy God and resteth altogether in his good will and pleasure For God saith Wisedome hath power of life and death Wisd 16.13 And to God the Lord saith the Psalmist belong the issues of death Psal 68.20 And to speake truth God for the most part seemeth to sleepe that so he might be awakened by our intreaties For God as S. Augustine notes amat nimium vehementes and is so delighted with our prayers as that he doeth many times deny vs our suites that hee might heare vs continue earnest in our prayers And againe if he should vpon euery motion wee make vnto him grant our requests his benefits at last would come to be contemned of vs. For we know it an ordinarie practise amongst men citò data citò vilescunt we account it scarce worth the taking that is not twice worth the asking Therefore before he grant hee would haue vs earnest with him indeed and to awake him with our prayers if perchance he should seeme to vs to be asleepe For God loueth and is especially delighted with an earnest suter and therefore doth many times deny men their requests at the first that hee might find them more feruent and constant in their prayers to him afterwards But if God of his mercie be awakened by thy importunitie and hath at length heard thy prayer or the prayers of others for thee and hath restored thee to thy health againe For the Lord saith Hanna killeth and maketh aliue 1. Sam. 2.6 hee bringeth downe to the graue and bringeth vp And the Lord himselfe saith in Exodus I am the Lord that healeth thee Exod. 15.26 and againe I kill and giue life I wound and I make whole thou hast thy desire or rather perhaps not thy desire seeing the holiest and best men of all encline neither this way nor that way but wholy resigne themselues as in all other things so especially in this case to Gods good will and pleasure or if they determinately desire any thing it is for the most part with the Apostle to be dissolued and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all But suppose thou desirest to recouer and doest recouer indeed consider then with thy selfe that thou hast now receiued from God as it were another life and know that it is but for a short time and therefore spend it to the honour and glory of God that restored it vnto thee and in newnesse of life let thy sinnes die with thy sicknesse but liue thou by grace to holinesse But then as thou obtainest thy desire thou must performe thy promise which thou madest when thy body was grieued with sicknesse and paine euen readie to die and when thy soule was oppressed with heauinesse pensiuenesse and sadnesse Isal 6.6 when thou with the Prophet diddest water thy couch with thy teares And what was that promise namely that if it pleased God to grant thee life and health and adde vnto thy daies some few yeeres more as he did to king Ezechiah 2. King 20.6 then thou wouldest loue him more sincerely serue him more obediently tender his glory more deerely pray vnto him more heartily repent more soundly follow thy calling more faithfully hate sinne more effectually and liue hereafter more warily and religiously then euer thou didst before And if thou hast offended him with pride to humble thy selfe hereafter if with dissolutones to be more sober if with swearing to leaue it if with prophaning of the Sabbaoths to make more conscience in sanctifying it if with vncleannesse to bee chaste and vnblameable it with conuersing with the wicked to abandon their societie and to say vnto them with the Prophet Dauid Depart from mee all yee workers of iniquity Psal 6.8.9 for the Lord hath heard the voyce of my weeping the Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receiue my prayer Psal 119.115 and againe Depart from me you euill doers for I will keepe the commandements of my God Remember that thou hast promised and vowed amendement and newnes of life deferre not to performe the same When thou vowest a vow vnto God saith the Preacher defer not to pay it Eccles 5.4.5 for he hath no pleasure in fooles pay that which thou hast vowed for better it is thou shouldest not vow then vow and not pay Againe When thou shalt vow a vow vnto the Lord thy God saith Moses Deut. 23.21 thou shalt not be slacke to pay it for thy Lord thy God will require it of thee and it would be sinne in thee Thus if these and such other like promises and vowes thou wilt most conscionably and constantly performe then in a good houre as we say and in a happy time thou didst recouer And be thou not then the more secure and carelesse in that thou art restored to health neither with the chiefe Butler be thou forgetfull of thy promises Gen. 40.23 nor insult in thy selfe that thou hast escaped death but call thy sinnes and faults to remembrance with the same chiefe Butler Gen. 41.9 and remember rather that God seeing how vnprepared thou wast hath of his infinit mercy spared thee and giuen thee some little longer time and space of breathing and respite that thou mayest performe thy vowes and promises in the amendement of thy sinfull life and in putting thy selfe in a better readines against another time and how soone thou knowest not for though thou hast escaped this dangerous sicknesse which many others haue not and then canst say with the Prophet The Lord hath chastened me sore Psal 118.18 but he hath not giuen me ouer vnto death yet it may be that thou shalt not escape the next It may bee when a ship is come to the mouth of the hauen a blâ—st driueth it backe againe but there it will arriue at the last so must thou at length at the gates of death though thou hast escaped this Too too many there are that when God visits them with sharpe diseases that wakens vp their consciences and then sicke sicke and then if God will repriue them vntill a longer day oh what Christians courses they vow to take God proues them they mend in bodies yeeres in manners no no more then Pharaoh after the plagues remoueall for many in their afflictions and sicknesses looking for death how liberall are they in their promises but afterward how basely niggardly are they in their performances they play childrens play with God they take away a thing assoone as they haue giuen it When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Ierusalem then the Iewes made a solemne couenant with the Lord to set free their seruants but no sooner had the king remooued his siege but they retracted and repealed their vow and
brought backe againe their seruants into their former bondage Ierem. 34.10 So fareth it with these kind of men when God layeth fiege to them by sicknesses or some other pinching affliction then couenants and promises are made concerning the putting away of their sinnes but no sooner doth God begin to depart and slacke his wrath but we returne with the dog to the vomit and with the so we to the wallowing in the mire like Pharaoh that dismissed the Israelites when death entred within his palaces but presently after in all hast makes after them to fetch them back againe Consider therefore how fearefull a reckoning thou hadst made before Gods iudgment seat ere this time if thou hadst died of this sicknes and spend the time remaining in such pleasing sort to thy gracious God that thou mayest be able to make a more cheerefull and ioyfull account of thy life when it must expire indeed Therefore put not farre off the day of thy death though the Lord for thy good if thou vse it well hath put it off for thou knowest not for all this how neere it is at hand and see that thou being so fairely warned be wiser against the next time For if thou bee taken vnprouided againe thy excuse shall bee the lesse and thy iudgement the greater Thy worke is great which thou hast to doe and thy time can be but short and hee who will recompence euery man according to his worke standeth at the doore Thinke how much worke is behind and how slowly thou hast wrought in the time past The vncleane spirit is cast out Mat. 12.43 let him not enter and come in againe with seuen worse then himselfe Thou hast sighed out the grones of contrition thou hast wept the teares of repentance thou art washed in the poole of Bethesda streaming with fiue bloudie wounds Ioh. 5.4 not with a troubling Angel but with the Angel of Gods presence troubled with the wrath due for thy sinnes who descended into hell according to our Creed that is the extreame humiliation and abasement of Christ in his manhood vnder the power of death and of the graue beeing kept there as a prisoner in bonds vntill the third day to restore thee to sauing health and heauen Now therefore returne not with the dog to thy vomit nor like the washed Sow to wallow in the mire againe 2. Pet. 2.22 and the filthy puddle of thy former sinnes left being intangled and ouercome againe with the filthinesse of sinne which now thou hast escaped thy latter end proue much worse vnto thee then thy first beginning Twice therefore doth our Sauiour Christ giue the same cautionarie warning to healed sinners Ioh. 5.5.14 The first to the man cured of his eight and thirtie yeeres disease the second to the woman taken in adultery goe and sinne no more Ioh. 8.11 hereby teaching vs how dangerous a relapse and falling againe is into our wonted and accustomed sinnes And for this present mercy and health Luke 17.15 imitate the thankefull Leper in the Gospel and from hence forward tarie thou the Lords leisure because the Lord tarieth thine he tarieth for thee till thou change thy euill life tarie thou for him therefore vntill hee crowne thy good life and remember these two things to thy dying day and thou shaâ—t neuer doe amisse First that there is about thee an all seeing eye and an all-hearing eate He that planted the eare saith the Psalmist shall he not heare Psal 94.9 he that formed the eye shall he not see goest thou out he seeth thee returnest thou home hee seeth thee Psa 139.11.12 doth the candle burne he seeth thee is the candle put out hee seeth thee be it light or darkenesse hee seeth thee hee seeth how thou doest conuerse with thine owne heart and how with other men Therefore in this case the counsell of the Philosopher is good Sic viue cum hominibus quasi Deus audiat sic loquere cum Deo quasi homines videant So conuerse with men as if God heard thee so conferre with God as if men saw thee But suppose that thou desirest to recouer and yet neither thy selfe sees any likelihood nor God sees it good that thou shouldest recouer then if thou hast inured thy selfe to repentance heretofore and to prayer it will be the more familiar with thee now at this time Feruent prayer Psal 6.6 heartie repentance and watering thy couch with teares are most of all necessary at this time that the feare of death may not affright thee but be a welcome guest vnto thee For that being truly penitent at thy departure thou mayest bee sure with Simeon to depart in peace Luk. 2.29 And so God granting not thy will but his will may indeed grant both thy will and his will thy will which is not simply to recouer but if God will and his will which is not to haue thee lye lingering and languishing any longer in this short pilgrimage and warfare but to triumph for euer in heauen Therefore when the pangs of death doe come vpon thee and the wormes of the earth doe waite for thee it God giueth thee then thine vnderstanding say thou then inwardly to thy selfe to thy sicke soule Now my pilgrimage is ended my haruest is inned my iourney is finished my race is run my houre-glasse spent my candle burning in the socket Many of the godly are gone before me and I am now to follow after 2. Tim. 4.7.8 I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith hence-forth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not to me onely but to all them also that loue his appearing And O Lord I thanke thee that I am a Christian that I haue liued in a Christian Church that I shall die amongst a Christian people and that I am going to a Christian societie Exod. 33.14.15.16 And whereas the Lord said vnto Moses My presence shall goe with thee and I will giue thee rest let vs at this time pray vnto the Lord as Moses doth and say If thy presence goe not with mee at this time then carry me not vp hence For wherein shall it be knowne heere that I haue found grace in thy sight Is it not in that thou goest with me And if we thus spend the time of our sicknesse in this sort the Lord when he calleth for vs by Death shall finde vs either reading or hearing or meditating or counselling or resisting euill or doing some good or repenting or praying and then wee may bee sure that God will be our guide euen vnto death Psal 48.14 and will also send vs his Angeâ—s to stand at our beds-head Luke 16.22 waiting for vs to carry our soules into Abrahams bosome where we shall see God the Father behold God the Sonne and looke vpon God the holy Ghost where
will carry the snake in their bosomes without any feare Euen so although we cary death about vs in our mortall bodies yea in our bosomes and bowels yet sinne which was her sting being pulled out by the death of Christ shee can onely hisse and make a stirre and ordinarily looke blacke and grimme but can no wayes annoy vs. Which will be the more manifest if we well weigh how Christ our head and Captaine hath quelled and conquered this mightie Gyant for vs whereby none that are Christs members need stand in feare thereof Death saith the blessed Apostle is swallowed vp in victory and Christ was dead and now liueth 1. Cor. 15.54 Reu. 1.18 and that for euer And he hath the keyes of hell and death as he testifieth of himselfe in the booke of the Reuelation Now he that hath the keyes of a place hath the command of that place It is as much then as if it had been said he had the command of death and power to dispose of it at his pleasure And will Christ then that hath such an enemie at his mercie let him hurt and annoy his deare friends nay his owne members and so in effect himselfe Noe noe he conquered death for vs not for himselfe seeing death had no quarrell to him By his vniust death then hee hath vanquished our iust death as Saint Augustine very excellently saith Death could not be conquered but by death therefore Christ suffered death that an vniust death might ouercome a iust death and that he might deliuer the guiltie iustly by dying for them vniustly Whereunto agreeth that speech The vniust sinneth and the iust is punished the guiltie transgresseth and the innocent is beaten the wicked offendeth and the godly is condemned that which the euill deserueth the good suffereth that which the seruant oweth the master payeth that which man committeth God sustaineth For although because he was man he could die and did so yet because he was iust hee ought not to haue died and hee that had no cause to die for himselfe in reason and equitie should not die for others vnprofitably neither did he surely but to the greatest purpose that the Sonne of God dying for the sonnes of men the sonnes of men might thereby bee made the sonnes of God yea that they of bad seruants might bee made good sonnes And this glorious mystery of our Sauiours Incarnation and Passion must needs bring forth glorious effects this strange and vnspeakable loue of God that his onely Sonne should die for vs that the Lord should dye for disobedient seruants the Creator for the creature God for man this strange loue I say must needs bee of strange operation as it is euen to make of sinners iust men of slaues brethren of captiues fellow-heires and of banished persons Kings and to make of death as it were no death but a very easie passage to eternal life for the death of Christ is the death of our death sith hee died that wee might liue and how can it be but that they should liue for whom life it selfe died Surely Death by vsurping vpon the innocent forfeited her right to the guiltie and while shee deuoured wrongfully shee her selfe was deuoured Yea in that Christ hath vanquished death we may be truely said to vanquish it Rom. 8.37 Ephes 5.30 For in this saith the Apostle we are more then conquerours through him that loued vs he being our head and wee his members and where the head is conqueror the members cannot bee captiues Let vs then reioyce that wee haue alreadie seized on heauen in Christ who hath caried our flesh thither in his owne person as an earnest peny and pledge of the whole summe that in time shal be brought thither Wee may then boldly say that there is somewhat of ours aboue already yea the best part of vs as namely our head from which the members cannot be farre yea we may assure our selues that wee being members of such a head yea bodie to it we are in effect where our head is For S. Augustine saith This bodie cannot be beheaded but if the head triumph for euer the members also must needs triumph for euer And that we haue this benefit by Christs ascension into heauen aforehand for vs Bernard excellently sheweth Be it saith he that only Christ is entred into heauen yet I trow whole Christ must enter and if whole Christ then the body as well as the head yea euery particular member of the bodie For this head is not to be found in the kingdome of heauen without his members In a word the head being aboue water the bodie can neuer be drowned although it bee neuer so much beaten and tossed in this world with waues and tempests Oh but life is sweet and death is fearefull how then may I bee prepared against that houre to vndergoe it in a Christian patience without earthly passions I answer this is indeed the infirmitie of our flesh and the propertie of our corrupt nature that we are more desirous of this life fading then of the life to come that is not flitting and hence comes that feare and terror of death Iohn 10.28 Death in it selfe and out of Christ is as we haue heard very dreadfull and we haue reason to feare it as it is an effect of sinne But we speake not of death considered out of Christ or considered in it selfe but of death altered by the death of Christ for so it is no dreadful thing but much to be desired he is our Pastor we need not feare to be taken out of his hands our Aduocate 1. Iohn 2.1 1. Tim. 2.5 Iohn 8.12 Psal 91.1 Iohn 5.22 therefore we need not dread damnation our Mediator therfore we need not feare the wrath of God our light wee neede not feare darknesse our shadow wee need not feare the heat of hell fire our Iudge we need not feare that sentence shall be denounced against vs our life and therefore wee need not feare death Well may the brute beasts feare to die whose end of life is their end of being well may the Epicure feare and tremble at death who with his life looketh to loose his felicitie well may the faithlesse and impenitent sinner feare and quake whose death is the beginning of their damnation well may the voluptuous worldling whose felicitie consists wholy in the fruition of these transitorie things greatly feare death as that which depriueth him of his pomp and preferment of his honours and high calling robbeth him of his iewels and treasure spoileth him of his pastimes and pleasures exileth him from his friends and country and vtterly bereaueth him of all his expectations solace and delight Which Iesus the sonne of Sirach noting said Eccles 41.1 O death how bitter is thy remembrance to the man that liueth at rest in his possessions vnto the man that hath nothing to vexe him and that hath prosperitie in all things yea vnto him that is yet able to receiue
meate Yea it is for wicked and vngodly men to feare death exceedingly because death in them is not ioyned with a godly and wel reformed life they haue not done that good for which they came into the world and therfore it is for them to feare to die They apprehend death as a strong enemy finding in it through their continuall wickednesse and infidelitie no likelihood of saluation no signe of peace and therefore it is for them to feare to bee dissolued and to think death to be no other change then a plague death to them is a beginning of eternall death and no path-way to Christ but a portall-doore to destruction and therfore they may iustly feare death But seeing the Lord hath vouchsafed you a penitent and beleeuing heart goe on boldly Psal 116 9 and receiue your portion in the land of the liuing and although the assault of death bee very violent bitter and strong to the triall of your faith yet call to mind that our Sauiour Christ hath ouercome death and hell as we haue heard he hath broken the strength of this battell confounded the Captaine of this host and set vp the songs of triumph to all true beleeuers that they may haue the fulnesse of ioy So now it remaineth that you do as one that hath his house on fire burning all in a flame that it is vnpossible to bee quenched who will throw out from thence and fetch his treasures and iewels that so hee may with them build another house euen so must you doe Let your owne ruinous house burne let it perish seeing it may not bee otherwise Onely thinke and bestirre your selfe how you may saue your treasure and iewels I meane your soule and that is by a true and liuely faith in Iesus Christ that so at the resurrection of the iust you may come vnto a new house that cannot fade nor perish but remaine immortall for euer Onely let vs be faithfull and couragious for so hath our Captaine Iesus Christ beene who alreadie is proued the Conqueror and if we faint not nor turne backe hee will also make vs conquerors Therefore let not the violence and multitude of torments affright vs we haue but one life and we can loose but one and wee shall finde eternall life and blessednesse by loosing it 1. Sam. 17.49 Iudg. 16.30 1. Sam. 4.18 2 Kings 9.33 2. Kings 4.19,20 Iudg. 9.53 Acts 7.59 Luke 16.22 Goliah that mightie Gyant was as much hurt by Dauids litle stone as Sampson by the waight of a whole house Ely had as much hurt by falling backward as Iezabel by falling downe out of a high window The Shunamites sonne had as much harme by the headache as Abimelech by a peece of a milstone cast vpon his head And they that stoned Stephen to death tooke no more from him then an ordinarie sicknesse did from Lazarus and doth daily from vs all One death is no more death then another and as well the easiest as the hardest take our life from vs. And therefore the foure leprous men said one to another 2. Kings 7.3,4 Why sit we here till wee die If we say we will enter into the Citie the famine is there and we shall die and if we sit still heere we die also Now therefore let vs fall into the hoast of the Syrians if they saue vs aliue wee shall liue and if they kill vs we shall but die And indeed our torments how great and grieuous soeuer cannot be so great and so grieuous as those which the Martyrs and Saints of God in former ages haue sustained and suffered Of the Fathers in the old Testament the Author to the Hebrewes saith That some were racked and tortured Heb. 11.35.36.37.38 others had triall of cruell mockings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonments c. of whom the world was not worthy c. And of the Saints and Martyrs of God in the Primitiue Church in the ten persecutions they were thrust out of their houses spoiled of their patrimony loaded with irons locked vp fast in prisons and dungeons burned with fire beheaded hanged and pressed to death rosted on spits broiled on gridirons boyled in hot oyle and scalding lead throwne downe from high and steepe mountaines vpon sharpe stakes torne with wilde horses rent in sunder with the violence of bowed trees condemned to toile in the mettal mines thrust thorow with speares brayned racked pricked with pen-kniues their eyes bored out their tongues cut out their bowels ripped out of their bellies their bodies dismembred with varitie of punishments some whipped to death others famished to death some stabbed in with forkes of iron some drowned in sackes some their skins plucked off aliue some killed with cold and left naked to the open shame of the world Cities lay full of dead mens bodies and the bloud ranne streaming in the streets their torments were so great that the lookers on were amazed and they were so mangled that the inward veins and arteries appeared and the very entrailes of their bodies seene they were set vpon sharpe shels taken out of the sea and made to go vpon sharpe nailes and thornes and rolled vp and downe in vessels full of sharpe nailes plates of iron were laid red-hot to their arme-pits they were torne and pulled in peeces strangled in prisons gnawne with the teeth of cruell sauage beasts tossed vpon bulles hornes their bodies were laid in heapes and dogges left to keep them that none might come to bury them they were put into beares skins and baited by dogges and yet were not dismaid at any kinde of torment or crueltie the tormented were more strong then the Tormentors and their beaten and torne members ouercame the beating scourges and tearing hookes the tormentors were wearie with tormenting and being ouercome were faine themselues to giue ouer And in truth what is it that we suffer being compared with their sufferings Heb. 12.4 euen nothing in a manner Yee haue not saith the Author to the Hebrews yet resisted vnto bloud And why then should we feare death in the least degree seeing all those holy Martyrs and Saints of God feared it not at the highest degree 1. Cor. 6.3 Nay why should we feare men that are our selues feared of the Angels for wee shall iudge the very Angels Luk. 9.1 We were feared of the diuels for ouer them God giueth vs authoritie yea that are feared of the whole world 1. Cor. 6.2 for we shall iudge the world Let vs therefore with our whole might arme our selues for this combate of death The persecuters when they wound vs most are deepeliest wounded themselues and when they think most of all to be conquerers then are they most conquered Ignatius going to his martyrdome was so strongly rauished with the ioyes of heauen that he burst out into these words Nay come fire come beasts come breaking of all my bones rackings of my body come all the torments of the diuell together vpon me come
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
thoughts It grieueth vs also to looke vpon him for his life is not like other mens his wayes are of another fashion He counteth vs as bastards and he withdraweth himselfe from our wayes as from filthinesse he commendeth greatly the latter end of the iust and boasteth that God is his Father For if the righteous man be the sonne of God he will helpe him and deliuer him from the hands of his enemies Let vs examine him with rebukes and torments that wee may know his meekenesse and prooue his patience Let vs condemne him vnto a shameful death for he shall be preserued as he himselfe sayth Gen. 19.16,17 For the second because in the goodnesse of God wherewith he affecteth his children he taketh them from the euil of the plagues to come as Lot out of Sodome and as good king Iosiah 2. Kings 22.20 Therefore I will gather thee vnto thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy graue in peace and thy eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vpon this place Esay 57.1 The righteous man perisheth saith the Prophet as we heard before and no man layeth it to heart and mercifull men are taken away and none consider that the righteous is taken away from the euill to come And though he saith he perisheth he meaneth not simply that they were perished but as Chrysostome saith of one He sleepeth he is not dead he resteth he is not perished For the Prophet speaketh according to the opinion of the wicked who were fixed in the world and therein had their felicitie and so iudged them to bee perished who were taken out of the world somewhat vntimely and vnseasonably as it seemed to their sence and iudgement But all this is in Gods mercy from the euils to come Wisd 4.7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 To this purpose Wisedome saith Though the righteous be preuented by death yet shall he be in rest For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time nor that is measured by number of yeeres but wisdome is the gray haire vnto men and vnspotted life is old age He pleased God and was beloued of him so that liuing amongst sinners he was translated yea speedily was he taken away lest that wickednesse should alter his vnderstanding or deceit beguile his soule For the bewitching of naughtinesse doth obscure things that are honest and the wandring of concupiscence doth vndermine the simple mind He being made perfect in a short time fulfilled a long time for his soule pleased the Lord and therefore hasted he to take him away from amongst the wicked This the people saw and vnderstood it not neither laid they vp this in their minds that his grace and mercie is with his Saints and that he hath respect vnto his chosen Thus the righteous that are dead shal condemne the vngodly that are liuing and youth that is soone perfected the many yeeres and old age of the vnrighteous Plotinus the Philosopher as S. Augustine hath it sawe in part this very thing that men are bodily mortal and thought it an appurtenance to the mercy of God the Father lest they should alwaies be tied to the misery of this life It is no lesse mercie to be taken sooner away that they may see and suffer lesse misery which the length of their daies would effect Therefore the godly man dies well whether he die in a good age or in the first flower of his youth By how much the more timely the heauenly Generall doth call thee backe out of the station of this life by so much the sooner doth he place thee in a place of rest peace and victorie Againe it may be you will obiect and say I am loth and vnwilling to die because then I must leaue my louing wife my deere children and kinsfolkes I answere howsoeuer we be left and forsaken or rather sequestred and separated from our wiues children kinsfolkes and friends by death yet are we not forsaken of God nor of his Sonne Iesus Christ But take heed that thou be not so carefull for the bodily safetie of wife children kinsfolkes and friends that in the meane time thou neglect the care of thy soule Behold he cals thee by death take heed thou doe not so loue thy wife and children that therefore thou refuse to follow God calling thee with a ready heart The loue of thy heauenly Father must bee preferred before the loue of children the loue of our bridegroome Christ Iesus before the loue of thy wife the benefit must not bee more loued then the benefactor And we must consider that we our wiues children kinsfolks and friends are all as it were trauellers going forth of this world in a maner we take our voyage together if wee goe a litle before 2. Gen. 24. Mat. 19.5 they shall follow shortly after Wherefore as at the beginning of our mariage and acquaintance God did appoint that we should leaue father and mother and cleaue to our wiues euen so now in this case it ought not to grieue vs to leaue them when God will haue it so and to returne vnto him who is better vnto vs then father mother wife children friends or any thing els yea he is worth ten thousand of them 2. Sam. 18.3 1. Cor. 15.28 as the people said of Dauid yea he then shal be all in all to vs. Therefore let the godly ones fetch comfort from hence that though by death they leaue the world wife children and friends and kinsfolkes yet they shall bee gathered to their fathers kinsfolkes and friends I reade of Socrates being but an heathen man that when Crito perswaded him that if he would not regard his life for his own sake yet for his wife children kinsfolks and friends sake which depended on him he answered God will care for my wife and children who first gaue them vnto me and for my kinsfolks and friends I shal find the like vnto them and farre better in the life to come neither shall I long want your companie for you also are going thither and shall shortly be in the same place and they are not lost but sent before vs Esay 26.19 neither are they dead but fallen asleepe hereafter they shall awake saith S. Cyprian and they shall rise againe and we shall see one another and reioyce and sing Againe another obiection Oh but my debt is great if I die now how can I be comforted at my death for after my death my creditors will come and seize on all that I haue so cruell are they and mercilesse and so shall my poore wife and children be vndone for euer and therefore I would to God I might liue to be out of debt and to leaue my wife and children free though I left them litle or nothing besides Alas how shall I doe nay how shal they doe This is it that tormenteth my heart when I thinke of it these carefull thoughts goe to bed with me lodge all night with
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
saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Your friend is dead in the Lord and therefore blessed will you then weepe and lament for him his workes follow him and the Lord in mercie hath crowned his obedience according to his promise and will you looke awry at it God forbid Againe consider with your selfe that your friends walk with God and are gone to their heauenly Father in peace they are gathered vnto their people they are not dead but sleepe and their flesh resteth in hope they are gone the way of all flesh and doe now behold the face of God in heauen and what cause of sorrow is this to any friend that loueth them If your friend were discharged and released out of prison and miserie and preferred to the palace of an earthly prince and to his Court to his great and exceeding ioy and content would you shewe your loue and contentment toward him in bewailing the same how much lesse then should you lament his preferment into Gods euerlasting Court and kingdome to his vnspeakable ioy and comfort Thus may you gather many places of holy Scripture and on this sort meditate on them For sweet is the word of God against all sorrowes and griefes and by name against this But it may happily be obiected it is your child that is dead and it died before it could well be baptized this grieueth me more then otherwise it would and so you feare your childs estate Answ God forbid that we should either speake or think so seeing the Lord neuer said so but contrariwise the Scripture witnesseth that they are in the Couenant of God and so in state of saluation so soone as they are borne and Baptisme doth not make them Christians that were none before but is the Sacrament the seale the signe the badge of them that are Christians before Besides it is not the want of the Sacrament that depriueth a man of Gods fauour for the children of the Israelites were not circumcised all those fortie yeeres which they liued in the wildernesse the reason whereof was because they were euer to remoue and iourney whensoeuer the pillar of the cloud that was their guide ascended and went forward Numb 9.18 c. so that they were alwaies to attend vpon the cloude both night and day not knowing when it would remooue and therefore could not circumcise their children in the wildernesse as yee may read Iosh 5.2 c. but it is the contemning or despising of the Sacrament that depriueth men of Gods fauour when they make no more account of it then Esau did of his birth-right Gen. 25.32 then Ahaz did of the Lords helpe Esay 7. and it is also the neglecting of it when God offereth time and opportunitie that we might haue it Againe the Lord neuer said that whosoeuer died vncircumcised or vnbaptized should be wiped out of the booke of life but hee hath said Gen. 17.12.14 that whosoeuer contemneth or carelesly neglecteth the Sacraments shal be cut off from among his people And so read you the notes vpon that seuenteenth chapter of Genesis and I hope they shall content you for this matter God is not tyed to the Sacrament nor euer was The contempt hurteth but not the want when it is against your will Obiect Happily your child was of ripe yeeres and withall so toward that it could not be but that he should come to some great place and preferment if he had liued both for the good of himself and his friends and that he in his youth and the flower of his age should thus bee taken away is a great losse say you Answer True it is that the losse is great in respect of the world but what is that if we consider God God is also able to supplie all that some other way if we take it well This is apparant that what good or preferment could haue come to him any way or to his friends if he had liued the Lord for some purpose as yet happily hidden hath preuented but yet his arme is not shortened as I said to doe vs good some other way but it might perhaps prooue otherwise contrarie to our expectation if he had liued longer and then it would haue beene a great griefe vnto vs. But admit that it would haue beene as you hope if he had liued longer yet he is more highly preferred euen to the highest heauens and to the presence of God and this no earthly preferment can match And except we be wholy earthly our selues we cannot but sauour this and not let his youth grieue vs for no youth nor age is too good for God when he is pleased to take them A foole or a child seeing a goodly cluster of grapes thinketh it pitie to put them into the presse to deface them but he that is wise knoweth that thereby the liquour which is in them is preserued and that this timely gathering is a meanes to keepe them from corruption So we thinke sometime Oh it is great pitie such a one should die so soone so towardly a youth so good a creature can hardly be spared but God in his wisedome knoweth it to be good And if he cut off the life of that good and godly king Iosiah as it were in the middle of the stemme 2. Kings 22.20 doubtlesse it is for this cause that his eies may not see the manifold euils to come If you will be ruled to weigh things with reason you may well see mercie euen in this timely death for many are the perils both of bodie and soule that young men auoid when they are taken hence false doctrine heresies errours and many grieuous sinnes wounding the very conscience with a biting worme that euer gnaweth publike calamities and ruine of state many priuate miseries great and grieuous which no man can thinke of beforehand more bitter to good men then any death from all which this happie deliuerance in time of youth doth free your child and set him safe that you shall neuer mourne with him nor for him that way And herein we haue Dauid an example of godly fortitude who hauing a child sicke did while it liued afflict his soule besought God for the child and fasted and wen◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lay all night vpon the earth and would not be comforted Thus while there was hope of remedie he gaue way to the sorrow of his heart 2. Sam. 12.16 but when Dauid perceiued that the child was dead then he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himselfe and changed his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and after came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eate His sorrow ended when he once saw there was no hope of enioying any longer the companie of his child Now this course seemed vnto
his seruants a new and strange kind of Philosophie that he shold mourn in the danger of death and yet reioice or at least comfort himselfe with any content in death And therefore his seruants said vnto him What thing is this that thou hast done 2. Sam. 12.21 thou diddest fast and weepe for the child while it was aliue but now he is dead thou doest arise and eate meat And what reason had hee for this strange and vnwonted behauiour He said While the child was aliue I fasted and wept for I sayd Who can tell whether God will haue mercie on me that the child may liue but now being dead wherefore shall I fast Can I bring him againe any more I shall goe to him but hee shall not returne to mee any more Behold the same thing that maketh thee to mourne namely that thy dead shall not returne to thee the very same consideration Dauid made the ground of his quiet and content And thereupon he comforted his heart and would not continue in heauinsse for that which could not bee helped So that it is to a right vnderstanding man ground inough to build content and quietnesse of heart vpon that God hath done his worke which thy sorrow cannot reuoke But peraduenture it will be here obiected that afterward when Dauid heard of his sonne Absolons death hee did so greatly lament and bewaile the same that hee would in no sort bee comforted quite contrarie to that which before hee practized for it is said that he was much mooued 2. Sam. 18.33 and went vp to the chamber ouer the gate and wept as he went saying O my sonne Absolon my sonne my sonne Absolon would God I had died for thee O Absolon my sonne my sonne For the answering of this obiection and your better satisfaction herein wee are to vnderstand that Dauid knew that he had a wicked and rebellious sonne of the estate of whose saluation he had great cause to doubt because he died in rebellion which indeed may seeme to bee the principall cause of his exceeding sorrow and lamentation and not so much for the death of his sonne as for that cause But of his childe he beleeued that he died in the state of grace and so was made partaker of saluation which was the cause that he was comforted presently after his death saying that his son should not returne but that he himselfe should goe to him Euen so in like manner if we feare the estate of our childe or friend that is dead then indeed haue wee great cause to weepe mourne and lament for him as Dauid did heere for Absolon but if we haue no such feare and do hope well and the best of the estate of our childe or friend then must wee with Dauid comfort our selues and say But now he is dead wherefore should I fast and weepe can I bring him back againe I shall goe to him but he shall not returne to me Let them mourne for their dead that know not the hope of the dead and suppose them extinct that are departed But let them that in the Schoole of Christ haue learned what is the condition hope of the dead how their soules doe presently liue with Christ and that their bodies shall be raised vp in glorie at the last day let them reioyce on the behalfe of their dead Amos 8.10 and throw off that burden of sorrow which is so heauie vnto them But you will say he was my onely childe and therefore his death must needs be grieuous Zach. 12.10 Indeed the death of an onely childe is very great and grieuous to parents and a cause of great heauinesse and lamentation yet remember that Abraham was readie to haue sacrificed his only sonne Isaak Gen. 22.3.10 the promised seede at Gods commandement Iohn 3.26 And God gaue his only Sonne Christ Iesus to death for our saluation And to comfort you to the full as Elkanah said to Anna so also much more may the Lord say to vs 1. Sam. 1.18 Am not I better to you then ten sonnes Then though hee bee your only childe and all that you haue there is no iust cause of complaint and griefe seeing the Lord hath taken but his owne and also seeing in his taking of him you giue him but as your pledge and earnest to binde vnto you the right of that inheritance that you expect or as your feoffee in trust gone before to take possession and keepe a place for you in heauen Trust me now or else the time will come when you shall trust me that you haue cause and cause againe to lament and mourne not for them who dying in the Lord are happie with the Lord and rest from all their labours and miseries but as Christ said in the Gospell to the woman that followed him Weepe not for me but weepe for your selues and your children Luke 23.28 so we for our selues and our children for hauing been safe by them and strengthned through them they are taken away from the plague wee lye open to it and it commeth the faster because they which kept it from vs are remoued And the greater our losse is the greater is their gaine and the more cause haue we to sorrow for our selues although to reioyce on their behalfe and to lament for our sinnes that haue depriued vs of their graces goodnesse prayers and holy company and let vs follow them in their faith vertue pietie godlinesse and good workes And yet if for all this their losse the want of their presence be grieuous vnto you and that you still desire their presence and would see them let me speake to you as Chrysostome did to some that were so affected Doe you desire to see them then liue a like vnto them and so you shall soone enioy their holy and comfortable presence but if you refuse so to doe neuer looke to enioy or see them againe It is written of Ierome that when he had read the life and death of Hillarion and saw that after he had liued religiously he died most comfortably and happily said Well Hillarion shall be the champion whom I will imitate euen so let vs say with Ierome Well this godly friend of ours which is deceased shall be our champion whom we will imitate we will follow his chastitie iustice pietie and godlinesse And so if you endeauour and doe say and performe you shall be sure to enioy that in future time which hee possesseth in the present that is heauenly and eternall blisse and happinesse What Pilgrime doth not make speed to returne home into his owne countrie Who hasting to saile homewards doth not wish for a prosperous winde that he may speedily embrace his long desired friends and parents and what are we but pilgrimes on earth what is our country but Paradise who are our parents but the Patriarkes Why make we not hast to runne vnto them that we may see our countrie salute our parents an
we may eate I am not able to beare all this people alone because it is too heauie for me and if thou deale thus with me kill me I pray thee out of hand c In this case King Dauid offended 2. Sam. 18.33 when hee hearing of the death of his rebellious and wicked sonne Absolon being much moued he said mourning Would to God I had dyed for thee O Absolon my sonne my sonne In this case also the Prophet Ionas greatly offended for when God saw the workes of the Nineuites that they turned from their euill way at the preaching of Ionah Ionah 3.10 and that then God repented of the euill that he had sayd for their destruction and did it not Ionah is so much displeased Ionah 4.1.2.3 that he besought the Lord to take his life from him saying It was better for him to dye then to liue Thirdly it is al ogether vnlawfull to desire death to bee reuenged vpon our owne selues which is most monstrous barbarous and most vnnaturall for one to laye violent hands vpon himselfe to whom he is tied bound by all bonds for one to rend his owne body and soule in sunder which God hath coupled together and no man but hee must separate is a sinne most horrible and fearefull and breakes the bonds of God and Nature and this no Beast be it neuer so sauage and cruell will do Sometime they will teare rend and gore one another but no beast was euer in such extreame paine and misery as to rage seeke to depriue himself of life For the cause that one growes to this more then beastly rage and cruelty against his owne body is first a monstrous pride that hee will not be at all vnlesse hee may be as hee list himselfe he will not submit himselfe to Gods will Secondly that he hath not any beliefe in God nor euer lookes for a good issue out of troubles Thirdly it is noted of most impious and desperate persons that who first were barbarous and cruell to others at length they turned the point of crueltie against themselues And this was the sinne of the heathen people which knew not God for they taught and practised voluntarie death and selfe-murther whereby men might free themselues at their owne will and pleasure from all euill of paine And yet some of them as Plato that approached so neere to a Christian truth in many points maintained also the selfe same murder yet he did appoint some publike shame and infamy in the manner of buriall for those that kilâ—ed themselues Yea some others of them hauing gone further as Vergil who seeing the dangers therof as namely that it is punished in the life to come hath placed those that offend in that kind in Hell and that in such torments as they wish themselues backe againe and vpon that condition would be content to endure all the torments miseries and calamities incident to this life So that this selfe-murther is not to auoyde miserie but to change miserie yea and to change the lesse for the greater misery as we vse to speak leap out of the frying panne into the fire who are in a very wofull case after this life dying out of Gods fauour as they needes must that thus make away themselues In the whole Historie of the Bible that containeth the Records belonging to the Church of God and to the people that pretend to haue any knowledge of good of how many hath he heard or read that did so and what were they In the first age of the world that lasted from the creation to the floud sixeteene hundred fifty and sixe yeares wee reade of much wickednesse Gen. 4.8.23 how Cain vnnaturally killed his brother Abel how Lamech transgressed Gods ordinance for marriage and gloried in his owne cruelty Wee reade of the carnall licentiousnesse of the men of the best line Gen. 6.2 how the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were fayre and tooke them wiues of all that they listed Yea of the whole race of mankind we reade that the earth was corrupt before God and their wickednesse so vile in his fight that hee repented that hee made man Gen. 6.11.12 and he brought a deluge vpon the earth wherewith hee destroyed all liuing Creatures in whose nostrels was the breath of life And in all this time it is not read that any grew vnto this height of wickednesse to incroach so farre vpon the right of God as most vnnaturally and sinfully to kill himselfe In so many yeares the Deuil that was a murderer from the beginning could not preuayle so far amongst the most wicked as to perswade any to lay violent handes vpon himselfe This wickednes was then vnknowne from the floud to the natiuity of our Lord Iesus Christ for the space of two thousand three hundred and eleuen yeares Wee reade of most horrible wickednesse of bloudy warres among Nations of the tyranny of Nimrod of the building of Babel of the vncleannes of the Sodomites of the slaughter of the Sichemites of the tyranny of Pharaoh of the sin of the Cananites of the rebellion of Korah of the couetousnesse of Balaam of the fornication of Zimry and of infinite vngodlinesse in euery age of man in euery generation but of this kind of vnnaturalnesse for men to lay violent hands vpon themselues wee haue very few examples 1 Sam. 3 1.4.5 of which Saul is one who fell vpon his own Sword and killed himselfe and his Armour-bearer by his Lordes example incouraged did the like vnto himselfe And not many yeares after Achitophel the great Counseller that followed Absâ—lon 2 Sam. 17.23 vpon discontent left Absolon went home to his owne house and hanged himselfe 1 Kings 16,18 We reade of a fourth named Zinry that being besieged in Tirzah and not able to defend himselfe and the place went into the Kings Pallace setting the house on fire burnt himselfe And these are all that I remember mentioned in the olde Testament that are guilty of this impiety Iudg 16,30 For we are not to number Sampson amongst them whose purpose was not to kill himselfe but to execute the iudgement of God vpon the Philistines which was a worke of his calling in the faithfull and zealous performance whereof hee lost his life The History of Razis that fell on his sword 2 Mach 14.41,42 and slew himselfe I wittinglie passe ouer leauing the credite of that History to the authority of the Writer whom yet if you adde to the former the number is not much encreased by him So few they were in so many yeares with whom the ancient murderer could preuayle to make them enemies of their owne liues And if we consider what manner of persons they were with whom he did so farre preuayle their wickednesse will serue to warne any man that hath any one dramme of piety wisedome or care of his credit not to put himselfe in ranke with them
and earth Maiestie and basenesse Excellency and pouerty hee hath matched together What is higher then the Spirit of life what baser then the slime of the earth his soule it was infused into him the Spirit of life his body was made of the dust of the earth This was that which made Gregorie Nazianzen to breake into that exclamation of himselfe What great and wonderfull Miracle was within himselfe I am little sayeth he and yet I am great I am humble and yet exalted I am mortall and yet immortall I am earthly and yet heauenly little in body but great in soule humble as being earth and yet exalted aboue the earth mortal as hee that must dye and immortall as he that shall rise againe earthly as whose body was taken from the earth heauenly as whose soule was breathed from aboue Nay more then this sayeth the Prophet Dauid in one of his Psalmes Ps 8.4.5 6.7.8.9 What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him for thou hast made him a little lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glorie and honour thou madest him to haue dominion ouer the workes of thy hands c. Therfore no man no beast can destroy this excellent Creature in this fashion framed and bee innocent before God It belongeth onely to him that gaue life to take it away Where hee takes it away none can restore it nor ought to take it away being giuen but only by him that gaue it So that the whole rule of life must remaine in the hands of the Lord of Life who of himselfe sayth I kill and giue life except thou canst doe both Deut. 32.39 doe not attempt to doe eyther First make a liuing man if thou canst and then kill him to whom thou gauest life thou shalt then herein hurt no worke but the worke of thine owne hands but if thou canst not giue life presume not to take away life thou shalt therein violate the worke of another And if thou mayest not kill another thou mayest much lesse kill thy selfe One God made thee them and if thou shalt bee guilty of bloud in killing thy neighbour thou shalt bee guilty of bloud in killing thy neerest neighbour thy selfe When Elias was weary of his life being persecuted by Iezabel he sayde vnto God It is inough O Lord take my Soule for I am no better then my Fathers 1 King 19,4 He was wearie of his trauels and dangers and desired to be out of this vvorld but hee did not lay violent hands vpon himselfe or let out his owne Soule Hee remembreth that God had placed his soule in this earthly Tabernacle and he intreateth God to set his Soule at liberty He held his hands howsoeuer his heart was affected So hold thou thy hands from any fact of violence lifting them vp with thy heart vnto God in heauen desiring him to take thy soule when he thinks good When Saint Paul was in a straight betweene two Phil. 1 23. and vvist not vvhether he should desire life or death because his life should bee profitable to the Church but death gainefull to himselfe he expressed the inclination of his heart to death for his owne aduantage in these vvordes desiring to bee loosed and to bee with Christ which is best of all His reward was in heauen vvhich he desired to obtaine his Redeemer in Heauen with vvhom hee vvished to be And because he could not come to enioy the same except by death he should passe out of this world hee was vvilling to depart and for that end to bee loosed and set at liberty from his flesh but did hee encline to set himselfe at liberty to loose the bondes of his owne life by which his soule was tyed and fast bound to the fellowshippe of his body No hee desired to bee a Patient not an Agent a Sufferer not a Doer in this businesse his vvords are desiring to be loosed not desiring to loose my selfe this he longed for and in time obtained it In these men behold and see how to craue and how to demeane thy selfe Learne of Eliah and Paul to feare God and not of Saul and â—udas Learne not of wicked men that went astray in their doings And tell mee if at any time thy life were so vile in thy sight and the glorie of God so deare vnto thee that thou wert desirous or content to giue thy life vnto God and to put it in hazard for his name and for his truthes sake Where hast thou despised the threatnings of Tyrants Where hast thou contemned the sword the fire or any other death hast thou been cast into the fierie furnace or into the Lyons denne or imprisoned or stoned or suffered rebuke or losse of goods for the name of Christ as diuers the Saintes of God haue done before thee In these cases if thy life had been vile in thy sight it had beene honourable and Christian-like because thou dost not take it thy selfe but yeeld it vp for his sake that gaue it Wherein thou hast the Prophets of God and Apostles of Iesus Christ to bee thy Paterne who were euer ready and willing to lay down and loose their liues in the seruice of God but did not kill themselues to bee deliuered from the furie of Tyrants but they yeelded themselus to the cruell will of Tyrants as Ieremie tolde them that went about to kill him for preaching Ierem. 26.14 as God had commaÌ„ded him As for mee behold I am in your hand doe with mee as you thinke good and right It was all one to him and equally welcome to dye or liue so that hee might faithfully doe his office Of the like mind was Saint Paul saying to the Elders of Ephesus Act. 20.22 Behold I goe bound in the spirit to Ierusalem and know not what things shal come vnto me there saue that the Holy Ghost witnesseth that in euery City bondes and afflictions abide mee but I passe not at all neyther is my life deere vnto me so that I may fulfill my course with ioy c. Heere was a most godly contempt of frayle life If thou hadst resolution in any like quarrell to yeeld thy life when there should bee any attempt to take it thou hast the Prophets of God and the Apostles of Christ thine example and thou hast also the promise of the Lord Iesus to recompence that losse of life with the gaine of eternal life saying Hee that will saue his life shall loose it Math. 10.39 and hee that looseth his life for my sake shall saue it That is if any shall to saue his life deny to confesse mee before men his life shall be taken from him by some such iudgement of God as that hee shall haue no comfort in the losse of it but shall dye eternally but if any constantly confesse me putting his life in danger eyther God shall most miraculously deliuer him and saue his life in this
and shunne him because he would else soone make his filth cleaue vnto vs. So wicked and vngodly persons do set their sinnes as markes vpon those with whom they company and disperse and scatter their filth where they come and leaue a print or badge of their prophanesse behind them and shall wee sit so close vnto them who haue so plunged themselues in the myre of sin who should rather labour eyther to draw them out of filthinesse or withdraw our selues that we proue not as loathsome and filthy as they are Should we not rather say If any will be filthie let him be filthy still by himselfe If any will bee vniust let him be vniust still by himselfe If any will be beastly let him be beastly alone The filthie person and beastly man shall not haue me for a companion Heb. 10.38 My soule shall haue no pleasure in him And as saith the Prouerbes of the Ancients Wickednesse proceedeth of the wicked 1 Sam. 24.13 but mine hand shall not be vpon thee We cannot alwayes withdraw our selues and auoyde those that bee such yet we must in affection separate from them when we cannot in place but not delight to sitte downe with them on one stoole that is wee must not bee as they are Dauid had an eye to this blessed hope of being one of Christs attendants hereafter and therefore would not bee for all companies but professed himselfe to bee a companion onely of such as feared God Psal 119.63 I am a compani sayth he of all such as feare thee and of them that keepe thy precepts Hee would not hazard his fraile potsheard vpon the rocke of euill company for any thing And wherefore did Dauid say in one of his Psalmes Psal 26.4.5 I haue not sitten with vaine persons neyther will I goe in with dissemblers I haue hated the congregation of euill doers and will not sit with the wicked but because hauing fellowship with God he feared to haue any fellowship with the contemners of God and was perswaded that as God will not take the vngodly by the hand as Iob speaketh so none of Gods company should Iob. 8.20 Also he was loath to make them his companions on earth of whom he could haue no hope that they should bee his companions in heauen Wee are more inclinable to vice then to vertue so vice is more strong in the wicked then vertue in the good whereby it followeth that the societie of euil men is dangerous to the good and that as a hundred sound men shall sooner catch the plague from one infected person then hee recouer his health by them so the good are more often peruerted by the wicked then the wicked conuerted by the good and for this cause GOD loueth not to see his children amongst the wicked for this cause hee commanded his people to destroy the Inhabitants of the Countrey which they were to possesse Numb 16.26 lest by their societie they should bee drawne into their sinnes as afterwards they were indeede He commaunded also not to touch any creature that was vncleane and that whosoeuer toucheth a dead body should bee vncleane but no Creature is so vncleane as a sinner no death like to the death of sinne And therefore I will avoyde wicked men as the most vncleane of all liuing creatures and as the most loathsome of those which are dead I speake to the faithfull whom I would not haue to go out of the world to auoide the wicked that are in it 1 Cor. 5 9.10 11. but intreat by the tender mercies of â—od and of Christ to bee as carefull as they can to auoide them and their wicked assemblie and if they must vse them for necessity not to vse them as companions neyther to draw with them in any yoake of affection but rather to draw backe when the wicked are in place that they may not bee eye or eare-witnesses of their dayly dishonouring of God We are commaunded in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ 2. Thess 3.6 to withdraw our selues from euery brother that walketh disorderly All this may be done when we loue the men and hate the vices when we suffer them to haue no quietnesse in their sinnes and yet liue quietly and offer quietnesse to themselues Hee that will wholy abandon the company of them that are euill must as the Apostle sayth get himselfe out of the world 1 Cor. 5.10 and therefore Saint Ambrose sayeth fitlie to this purpose Wee ought to flie the company of wicked men in respect of priuate fellowshippe and not in respect of publike communion and that rather with our hearts and affections then with our bodies and outward actions wee may not hate our brother but loue him yet if we loue the Lord Leuit. 19.17 Psal 97.16 Rom. 12.18 wee must hate that which is euill where the Apostle sayth If it be possible as much as lyeth in you liue peaceably with all men We may haue no peace with the manners yet we must liue peaceably with the men Thus then in a word out of the words of the Apostle the controuersie may be decided If it bee possible so farre forth as may stand with our faith and profession as much as lyeth in you let vs doe our part and performe our best endeauour to liue peaceably if we cannot haue peace yet let vs liue peaceably with all men with the bad to reforme them with the good to conform our selues vnto them with our enemies to shunne them with our friends to keepe them And here is comfort for the children of God whom the wicked thrust out of their company and would if they could thrust out of the world because of their conscience to God Psal 38.20 and because they follow the thing that good is And hereof it is that the Wiseman saieth that Hee that is vpright in the way Prou. 29.27 is abomination to the wicked And hence it is also that the Prophet sayeth Hee that departeth from euill maketh himselfe a prey and the Lord saw it and it displeased him Esay 59.15 And though they bee not accepted where euill men beare sway which is no disparagement to them but glorie nor losse but gaine yet they are esteemed of the good and admired of the euill though not followed of them Doe the wicked hate them they shall loose nothing by such hatred for God and good men will loue them Will not the vnrighteous haue any fellowshippe with them It is so much the better for them for they are in lesse daunger of corruption and in more possibility of grace goodnes And where meÌ„ that be euil auoid them Christ his thousands of Angels wil stick close vnto theÌ„ Heb. 11.38 Those Worthies of whom wee reade in the Epistle to the Hebrewes were most cruelly dealt with all and persecuted in the World Of whom the world was not worthy for the wicked did driue them out of their companies by sharpe
persecutions into desarts mountaines and holes of the earth But they were worthy and had farre better company hauing a kind of fellowship with Christ and all the Saints that were gone before them So for the faithfull that now liue if the wicked and vngodly make no more of them then of the filth of the World and as of the of scouring of all things as the Apostles speaketh it is because they are too good to liue amongst them and too precious to be cast before swine 1 Cor. 4 13. that so treade and trample them vnder their feet And where they say away with such fellowes from the earth Math. 7.6 for it is not fitte that they should liue Christ will in his due time take them from the earth by a blessed and most sweet death Act. 22.22 to haue the company and fellowship with him his Angels and Saints and with all the holy company of Heauen and then they shall haue their desire Thirdly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of our sinnes to the end we might not offend God any more by sinning And what a miserie and bondage it is to bee in subiection to sin may appeare by the most earnest and feruent prayer of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul vvho feeling the waight and heauie burden thereof 2 Cor. 12.7.8.9 he desired God with earnest zeale and feruencie and with deepe sighes and groanes that hee might be deliuered from it And againe after the long and lamentable complaint that the Apostle made of the Law that was in his members striuing against the law of the Spirit and leading him captiue into the law of sinne hee breaketh forth into this most patheticall exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death or this body of death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 7.24.25 The Prophet Dauid also feeling the heauy waight of his sinnes maketh his grieuous complaint and mone thereof vnto God saying There is no soundnesse in my flesh Psal 38.34 because of thine anger neyther is there any rest in my bones because of my sinnes for mine iniquities are gone ouer my head as a heauie burthen they are too heauy for me If a man would inuent a torment for such as feare God and desire to walke in newnesse of life and to haue part in the first resurrection hee cannot deuise a greater torment then to be disquieted with this tyranny of sinne and with this vnquiet vnhappy Iebusite euen the rebellion and corruption of our owne flesh and this heauie weight of sinne that doth cleaue and hang so fast vpon vs. O happy therefore and blessed death that dischargeth and freeth vs from so sore combersome and cruell bondage and from further offending of him who dyed for our sins So that death freeth vs from the necessity of sinning also brings vs to bee with Christ And to desire death in this case is not a loathing to liue but a loathnesse to sinne In which case Iob desired death because of his sinnes that he might not offend â—od any more and therefore hee sayth Iob. 6.8.9 10. O that I might haue my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for euen that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off then should I yet haue comfort Now in the meane while till we can haue our desire in this case accomplished Rom. 6.12 wee must resist and striue against our sinnes that they may not raigne in our mortall bodies and let all our endeauor and care increase against our sins that the force of them may be dayly weakened their number lessened and all occasions of sinning auoyded Fourthly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the miseries calamities and troubles of this life and for the preuenting of the miseries to come And yet this holy desire must not be simple and absolute but it must bee restrained with certain respects and with these reseruations First it must bee desired so farre forth as it is a meanes to put an end to all our miseries to all the dangers of this life to all the corruption of nature and to the necessity of sinning Secondly as it is a gate by which wee enter into the immediate fellowship with Christ and of God And our desire also for these endes must keepe it selfe within these limits wherein two Caueats must bee obserued First it must not bee immoderate exceeding the golden meane Secondly it must alwayes be with a reseruation of Gods good pleasure and with an humble submission and subiection of our willes to the will of God For if eyther of these be wanting the desire of death is defectiue faulty and dangerous Death frees vs from the miseries and perils of this world abolisheth all present and preuents all future dangers and brings vs to be with Christ What man wearied with labour desires not rest what Mariner tossed vpon the seas wisheth not to come into safe harbour What traueller toiled with a tedious and perilous iorney would not willingly come to his wayes end what sicke maÌ„ accepts not health what slaue imbraceth not freedome what prisoner doth not entertaine inlargement what captiue would not welcome liberty what husbandman would be euer toyling and not at length receiue the fruit of his labour what marchant is content to liue euer in danger by sea and by land amongst Pyrats and robbers not to come at last safe home with his wealth And lastly what man hauing the reuersion of a goodly kingdome would be loath to receyue the possession of it And sure wee are all in this case by reason of the manifold miseries incident to vs in this world that wee haue good cause to wish with a holy desire to be loosed from al these miseries and to be with our Sauiour Christ and in the meane time Luk. 21.19 till we can haue our desire in this case Let patience possesse our soules Fifthly and lastly it is lawfull to desire death for the perfecting and full accomplishment of that coniunction and vnion which wee haue in Christ Iesus our head that wee might be where he is to enioy his presence For we are saith the Apostle members of his body of his flesh Eph. 5.30 and of his bones that is we are most straightly coupled to Christ by the spirituall band of our faith which vnion is most admirable For first wee are vnited to his Godhead that is not by transfusion of the diuine substaÌ„ce but by effectual working by the manhood and secondly wee are one with his manhood that is really and substantially Ioh. 15.5 as appeareth by those Similitudes by which this vnion is expressed in holy Scriptures as namely First of the Vine and branches Ioh. 3.29 Rom. 11.18 Eph. 2.20 Eph. 1.23 Secondly of the Bridegroome and the Bride Thirdly of the Oliue tree and the
freed from iniquity necessity calamitie and mortality enioying secure quietnesse quiet ioyfulnesse ioyfull blessednesse blessed euerlastingnesse and euerlasting happinesse Where is also certaine assurance perfect deliuerance assured eternity eternall quietnesse quiet happinesse happy pleasure and pleasurable ioy and glorie the happy Trinity and Vnity of Trinitie and Deity of Vnity and blessed sight of Deity this is the Masters ioy oh ioy aboue all ioy besides which there is no ioy And what can we imagine that may delight vs Mat. 13.43 that we shall not haue there in infinite fulnesse Wouldest thou haue sweet musicke there shalt thou enioy the harmonious melody of the heauenly Saints and Angels which sing day and night before the throne Wouldst thou haue beauty and excellencie of body there thou shalt be like to the Angels and shalt shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of thy Father Wouldst thou haue pleasure and delight there thou shalt be abundantly satisfied saith the Psalmist Psal 36.8 with the fatnesse of Gods house and he shall make thee drinke of the riuers of his pleasures Wouldst thou haue wisedome there thou shal enioy the full view and sight of Wisedome it selfe Wouldst thou desire concord vnity and friendship there thou shalt loue God aboue thy selfe and God shal loue thee better then thou canst loue thy selfe and there all the Angels and Saints shall haue but one wil and one mind and shal be of one accord and that shall bee agreeing with Gods will Wouldst thou haue power Luke 19.17 there thou that hast beene here faithful of a litle shalt be made ruler ouer much Wouldest thou haue honour there thou shalt come to honor by inheriting of a kingdome and in this kingdome the Lorâ— will honour thee with his owne attendance Wouldst thou haue blessed company there shalt thou enioy the blessed societie and company of his Saints and Angels and the presence of Christ Psal 17.15 and of God and shalt as the Psalmist saith behold the face of God in righteousnesse and shall bee satisfied with his Image and likenesse Againe euer splendent shall the habitation of Gods Saints be it shal not need Sun for the Lambe is the light of it the Saints that are saued shal walke in the light of it and the Kings of the earth shâ—ll bring their honor and glory vnto it the gates of it shal not be shut by day for there shall be no night there and the glory both of the Iew and Gentile shall be brought vnto it What should I say more as I coulâ— so haue I told let the heart conceiue the rest yet so as a most pleasant place and most ioyfull presence a most happie estate of blessednes shall be your portion in an endlesse glory I cannot speake as I would and yet my heart is full breake it wil if I may not vent it pardon me therefore a while to beate backe these fearefull passions of your mortalitie with further impression of your eternitie and consider then how great and glorious this change and alteration will be There shall be tranquillitie without storme libertie with out restraint ioy without interruption eternity without cessation yee shall haue eyes without teares hearts without sorrow soules without sinne Your knowledge shall bee without doubting or discourse for yee shall see God and all goodnesse all at once your loue shall leuell at the highest nor shall it faile to fall vpon the lowest of his Saints yee shall haue what you can desire and yee shall desire nothing but what is good for as one hath truely said he is not blessed who inioyeth not all hee will and yet willeth nothing but what is good yee shall heare melodious songs euen the songs of Sion Reuel 5.13.14 Psalmes Hymnes and Prayses more sweete then the harmonie of the heauens when all that celestiall hoast shall fill that holy vault with an Halleluiah to the Almightie Reuel 19.1 and say Honor Glory Maiestie Power Dominion and Might be ascribed to him that sitteth vpon the Throne both now and for euer And heere as the blessed Apostle saith God shall be all in all vnto vs meate to our taste 1. Cor. 15.28 bewtie to our eyes perfumes to our smell musicke to our eares What shall I say more but as the Psalmist saith Psal 87.3 Glorious things are spoken of thee O Citie of God Selah Againe all this and all the former ioyes shall bee for euer and without interruption and of this kingdome saith the Euangelist Luke Luke 1.33 there shall be no end The King hereof is Christ â—he Law is loue the subiects are the Saints Reu. 10.6 and the bounds of this Empire are endlesse tyed to no returne either of terme or time for time shall bee no more Diuines are wont to shadow out Eternitie by the similitude of a little bird drinking vp a drop of water ouâ— of the sea if euery thousand thousand yeares the bird should come and drinke vp but one drop yet the sea might be drie at length But yet this lasting of the sea is nothing in comparison to the lasting of the glory of heauen And for your speedie passage out of this world into that endlesse glorie yee shall goe nay yee shall flye as Saint Augustine saith with as great haste as happinesse Luke 23.47 2. Iohn 2.18 1. Cor. 15.52 This day saith our Sauiour Christ euen now saith Saint Iohn In the twinckling of an eye saith the blessed Apostle Saint Paul all shall be changed at the day of Doome and why not at the day of Death For if the bodie shal be where the minde wil when it is glorified why shall not the soule bee where and when God will when it is deliuered I say Rom. 8.21 deliuered out of the bondage of corruption wherein it is into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God where it should be The silly eye of flesh and bloud may happily demurre vpon the distance and thinke how it can bee possible that the soule should passe with such speed from this earthly house of clay to that high glorious and heauenly habitation dwelling the eight Sphere as some write being distant from the earth euery where twentie thousand Semidiameters which calculated aright and numbred with our miles maketh a million of Germane miles which is one thousand thousand Surely I dare determine of no particuler but say in generall as Balaam did of Israel in the booke of Numbers where he saith Numb 23.10 Who can count the dust of Iacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel So who can tell the distance of the heauens Prou. 25.3 The heauen for height saith the Wise-man and the earth for depth and the hearts of Kings are vnsearchable Howbeit be the distance neuer so great and the roome neuer so close where the partie dieth yet speedie may be the soules passage to this glory when it is done by the power of God Marke 10.27
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
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
heare a damned soule answere his demand as followeth in manner of an interlocution or dialogue Thou dust and clay tell me I say where is thy bewtie fled Was it in vaine or doth it giue thee fauour with the dead Thy house so high thy pleasures by thy cattell more and lesse Thy land so wide thy wife beside a stranger doth possesse Where is thy strength become at length thy wit thy noble blood Thy worldly care thy daintie faire doe these thee any good The answere I will not faine all is but vaine there is no food to find No wit nor wealth no hire no health no hope in graue assign'd What wilt thou more my goods in store my land so large wide My glory gay my braue aray increased haue my pride My pride my paine procur'd againe my paine my griefe alas My griefe my griefe without reliefe my sences doth surpasse My wailing woe no man doth know no tongue can halfe display I freeze I frie exceedingly alas and well away I weepe I wayle I faint I faile I stirre I stampe I stare I dye I dye e'relastingly farewell by me beware Remember thou learn'd that die thou must And after come to iudgement iust Behold thy selfe by me such one was I as thou And thou in time shall be euen dust as I am now And so mindefull hereof also was Anaxagoras for when word was brought vnto him that his sonne was dead hee was not much moued with the newes because as he said he knew and had well considered long before that his son was mortall For a mortall father cannot beget an immortall sonne If they that brought vs into the world are gone out of the world themselues wee may infallibly conclude our owne following Hee that may say I haue a man to my father a woman to my mother in this life may in death say with Iob Iob 17.14 To corruption thou art my father to the worme thou art my mother and my sister Xerxes that mighty Monarch and Emperor of the Persians beholding from a high place the hugenesse of his Army in strength inuincible in quality diuers in number infinite in whose courage and might he had fully reposed the strength of his Kingdome the safegard of his person and glory of his Empire could not refraine his eyes from teares considering that of all this maruelous multitude which hee saw that after one hundred yeares there should not a man be left And shall we that are Christians at least wise by name viewing from the highest pinnacle of our conceit our selues our glory magnificence and renowne our wealth our strength our freinds our health and all our brauery wherein we repose all our felicity and happinesse be nothing moued with the due consideration of our Death and with the passing away of the world and the concupiscence thereof Therefore saith Martial an antient Bishop what haue we to doe with the delight of the world that it should hinder vs from the meditation on Death You may call it as you will either pleasure pastime gladnesse mirth ioy but in Gods dictionary it hath no such name in the holy scripture it is otherwise called It is called Adams goodlie apple Gen. 3.17 Gen. 25.30 1 Sam. 14 43. Ioh. 13.27 Reu. 1. Luk. 15.16 which being eaten depriued him of paradise Esaus redde broath which being supt vp bereaued him of his birthright Ionathans sweete honycombe which being but tasted was like to cost him his life Thus is all the delight in the world called in Gods dictionarie It is called Adams apple Esaus broath Ionathans hony-combe So that all this delight is no delight or suppose it were yet certainely it shall not giue thee the desires of thy heart As any solide body though it haue neuer so faire a colour as crimson or cornation or purple or scarlet or violet or such like yet alwaies the shadow of it is black so any earthly thing though it haue neuer so faire a shew yet alwaies the shadow of it is blacke and the delight thou takest in it shall prooue to be grieuous in the end when thou must leaue all Therefore Plato calleth it a sweete bitter thing so likewise if we meditate on Death it will make vs to call all these things of the world not sweet but bitter And it would make vs say with the Apostle Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should delight in any thing but in the crosse and death of Christ by which the world is crucified vnto me and I vnto the world But of all arithmeticall rules this is the hardest to number our daies Men can number their heards and droues of Oxen and sheepe they can account the reuenues of their lands and farmes they can with a little paines number their coyne and gaines yet they are perswaded that their daies are infinit and innumerable and therefore they neuer begin to number nor thinke on them for the which they will neuer find any leasure Who saith not vpon the view of another surely yonder man looketh by his countenance as if he would not liue long yonder woman is old her daies cannot be many Thus we can number the dayes and yeares of others and vtterly forget our owne But the true wisdome of mortall men is to number their owne daies and like skilfull Geometricians to measure all their actions all their studies all their cares and indeauours all their thoughts and desires and all their counsells by their departure out of this life as the end whereunto they are reserued as it were by a certaine rule and thereunto to direct all things and so to finish the course of our life which God hath giuen vs that at last we may come to the hauen of eternall rest and happinesse What if we had dyed in the dayes of ignorance like Iudas that hanged himselfe before he could see the passion resurrection or ascension of Iesus Christ We should then haue numbred our daies and our sinnes too But alasse how many dayes haue we spent and yet neuer thought why one day was giuen vs But as the old yeare went and an other came so we thought that a new would follow that and so we thinke that another will follow this and God knoweth how soone wee shall be deceiued For so thought many of them before who are now in their graues Dearely beloued this is not to number our dayes but to prouoke God to shorten our dayes I that write you that read and all that heare this which of vs hath not liued twenty yeeres yea some forty fiftie or more and yet wee haue neuer seriously thought on Death nor applyed our hearts aright vnto wisdome O if we had learned but euery yeere one vertue since wee were borne we might by this time haue bene like Saints amongst men whereas if God at this present time should call vs to iudgment it would appeare that we had applyed our hearts mindes memories hands feete tongues and all our whole bodies