the former clause for there it was bitternesse bitternesse that is as the Apostle calleth it Act. 8. fel amaritudinis the very gall of bitternesse which importeth a disease pessimi generis of the worst sort and in the paroxysme and very height of it but now you haue it amplified by three circumstances more First from the obiect it striketh not at a bough no defluxion in the eye nor mutilation of an hand c. but is securis ad radicem the axe laid to the roote to hew downe life it selfe Eruisti animam Secondly from the tearme or extent for it is not the life infested annoyed disquieted alone but lifted and heaued at to be throwne into the pit Eruisti è fouea Thirdly from the attribute of that pit for it is not fouea refugij or refrigerij a pit of repose or comfort such as Elias went into and Dauid the Prophets that Obadiah hid the Saints that the world was not worthy of Hebr. 11. but fouea corruptionis consumptionis putredinis a pit of corruption consumption and rottennesse Take it altogether in the masse and lumpe and see what it is besides the kind of the sicknesse which is not here mentioned First it is bitter secondly bitternesse it selfe thirdly bitternes put to bitternes fourthly against life fiftly to thrust it downe to the pit sixtly the pit of corruption this being his case and then to be pulled out of the teeth of death as Dauid pulled his lambe and his kid out of the mouth of the Lyon and Beare was the singular mercy of God worthy another Ecce as at the first I declared Is it not mercy I aske to be saued from death Death whensoeuer it shall come vnto vs and howsoeuer qualified the grimnesse of her visage disguised yet will it be fearefull enough It is dissolutio naturae the dissolution of nature and the dissociation of body and soule ancient friends and of long acquaintance Dauid and Ionathan wept and kist when they departed When Vzza was smitten dead for putting his hand to the Arke 2. Sam. 6. Dauid was angrie shall I say troubled grieued at it and called the name of the place rupturam vzzae the breach of Vzzah I am sure when body and soule are sundred there is ruptura and cannot be without commotion passion Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non tanta esset martyrum fortitudo if death were not bitter Martyrs should want of their honour But what may the motiue be that procured this deliuerie I aske not now with the blessed Apostle Vbi conquisitor saeculi 1. Cor. 1. where are the wise of the world Eagles for reason Mowlewarpes for religion but Vbi conquisitor Ecclesiae the most regenerate sanctified illuminate Contemplatiues of the Church Let them say to themselues as the Preacher did Eccle. 7. I haue sought and sought one thing after another to find out the reason and adhuc quaeri anima mea and yet my soule seeketh I haue found a man of a thousand but not a woman amongst them all Giue me leaue to applie it If you looke on the part of man which is as it were the weaker sexe no reason can be giuen of this goodnesse of God towards him but on the part of God there is one for a thousand and in stead of all the rest Quoniam volens misericordiam est Mich. 7. Because mercie pleaseth him So in my text placuit tibi c. God so desired and knit and conioyned and girt and embraced and couered and tooke pleasure and liking to the life of the King that death could not hurt him The very varietie of reading may stand for a rich Cōmentarie but neither tongues nor pennes of men nor Angels can expresse the riches of grace when God is pleased to shew mercy vpon vs. The sweetnesse of nature brought forth beneplacitum in him pleasure brought forth loue Loue desire desire Vnion Vnion embracing embracing girdeth close like a girdle about the reines and couereth and keepeth from hurt that that is beloued In amore haec insunt omnia Before I forsake this part I must note vnto you two things First that in death there is no danger to the Soule no more then was to the soule of Hezekiah for anima in my text is not the substance or essentiall part as principally it signifieth but an act and effect of that soule to weet that life which it brought to the bodie in dowre and portion when she married with it and when she departeth from her bodie she resumeth and carrieth away with her that portion againe So that the Soule it selfe is no way subiect to the pit Occidisti possedisti said Elias to Ahab So saith God vnto death Hast thou slaine and gotten possession too but of what the flesh onely not the soule and that flesh shall lie as a surfet in the stomacke of death and as the drunkard regurgitat bilem suam so shall death cast it vp againe Mors is Morsus death is but biting not a consuming and vtter deuouring as he that biteth taketh some and leaueth some so death getteth a morsell of flesh as the Kite taketh garbidge from the dunghill and the dogge offall from the shambles but the soule it medleth not with I cannot therfore better compare the graue then to the hony combe wherein is both hony and waxe The hony of the soule is taken out the waxe of the flesh remaineth behinde till the resurrection of iust men But as touching the flesh the life whereof is properly aimed at here is her lot her end fouea corruptionis the pit of corruption The Riuers haste to the Seas Stars to the West Man to the pit it is domus constituta omni viuenti the house appointed to euery liuing man domus Conuentionis the house of Parliament for all estates to meet in domus saeculi the house of perpetuitie till Christs second coming Solum mihi superest sepulchrum saith Iob cap. 17. He is sure of nothing but his graue It were a worthy Epitaph to be set vpon the monument of euery man I haue nothing but a graue or if you wil truly reade it Sepulcra mea sunt Graues are mine What need more then one Yes A Graue for his bodie A Graue for his vanities A Graue for his riches A Graue for his hopes all is buried with him He that shall say I haue houses and lands and vineyards and fields and gardens deceiueth himselfe and the truth is not in him he hath nothing certaine but his graue When Lazarus was raised out of his graue againe what brought he out with him sauing fascias sepulchrales sudaria his napkins and Graue-cloathes The Astronomers maid laughed at her master that stood gazing at the starres and saw not the ditch that was before his feet I know not what castles we are euer building in the aire and we will saile vpon
come againe Did he then thinke of a Iebusite in the Land that should be a thorne in his eyes and a pricke in his side of a bosome enemie a warre within his bones an armie of trouble and temptation in his owne bowels When a forreine enemie is discouered the Beacons are fired and an Ecce is giuen to the Country round about Here is a domesticke intestine enemie without Beacon or any admonition at all but whilest he sitteth in the armes of peace as Sampson in the lap of Delilah a sudden alarme is heard Vp Sampson the Philistines are vpon thee Vp Hezekiah bitternesse bitternes is vpon thee This deserueth the Ecce for bitternesse in the time of war is no newes Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the later end Abner to Ioab 2. Sam. 2. but bitternesse and doubled bitternesse in the midst of peace this is strange An image a glasse a sea of glasse that all the people of the earth may stand vpō the shore of my text and see the face of their fraile vnconstant condition A man and the best of men a King the best of Kings I speake not of Balthazar but as he in the midst of his cups so this in the midst of his comforts seized and surprised at vnawares with a grieuous disease that added bitternesse vnto bitternesse and cut not off the lap of his coate that is pinched him in a finger or ioynt but assaulted the life in the inmost and strongest fort it had and had it in her clutches to bring it to the very pit One maruelled that men were so hardy to aduenture to Seas why Cùm multi pereant in aquis sith many miscarried in the waters He that answered him maruelled as much how he durst goe to bed sith many die in their beds Had he nothing to wonder at but the Sea I maruell he feared not his owne flesh and that he durst trust himselfe with his owne body I am sure it is as fluide as the Sea Liquescimus we melt we thaw daily our life goeth away per stillicidia as it were by droppings Omnes nos velut aquae dilabimur we all glide away like water that is spilt and cannot be gathered vp againe Here he shall find tempests and gusts and surges and waues and rockes and quick-sands and gulfes and sea-monsters no lesse then at Sea I wonder that men dare liue in such flesh tam putri ruinosa domo so rotten and ruinous an house where not onely the gates posternes and windowes but euery little creuis and chinke letteth in death Looke how many members and parcels of the body so many vessels of sicknesses receptacles and harbours of death Euery Apoplexie in the head Swelling in the eare Bleeding at the nose Canker in the mouth Squinancy in the throat Pleurisie in the side Stone in the kidney Cholicke in the belly may be a meanes to death I maruell againe why he commeth to his table to eate and drinke there why Cum multi pereant in mensa sith many die at their Tables Did Tarquinius Priscus thinke that the bone of a fish going crosse his throte should haue choked him or Sophocles and Anacreon that they should haue died of a raysin stone or Fabius a Senatour that an haire in a draught of milke should haue bene his end or Ruffinus the Consull that in kembing his head the tooth of his Combe entring the flesh should haue bene his deaths wound or Lucia the daughter of Aurelius that her Childe which she bare in her armes thrusting a needle into her breast should haue shortned her dayes I could be infinite So long as there shall be a man in the world mortalitie casualtie corruption to accompanie that man there shall be occasion for this ecce behold in my peace when I was most secure to the stupor and terror of all those that trust too much to their peace It is a singular part of the gracious prouidence of God vpon vs to hide the houre of our deaths as Isaack spake to his sonne Gen. 27. Vides quòd senuerim ignorem diem mortis meae Thou seest I am old and yet notwithstanding I know not the day of my death Semper incognitus vt sit semper suspectus that being alwayes vnknowne we might alwayes haue it in suspition and make that vse of our ignorance that Cassian aduiseth Omnis dies velut vltimus ordinandus est to dispose of euery day as if it were our last day Certaine it is Supremus vitae dies supremus mundi dies the last day of my life is the last day of the world to me for qualis hinc quisque egreditur talis in iudicio repraesentabitur such as I am at my death such shall I be at my iudgment And as certaine againe that it is the greatest worke in the world to die to exchange life with death and the best to die well as Anacharsis being asked which was the best ship That said he which is safely arriued Adde vnto these the rule of Saint Angustine Non potest malè mori qui benè vixerit and on the otherside vix benè moritur qui malè vixit He cannot die ill that hath liued well and scarcely dieth well that hath liued ill These things conferred be ye readie prepared for that day Estote parati in diem tertium that it may find you in pace in the peace of God and of a good conscience which passeth all vnderstanding I told you before you had three sicknesses I tell you now you haue but three dayes of your liues the one of your coming into the world the other of your stay the last of your going out Be ready against the third day the day of your going forth which you cannot well be except you begin to prouide on the first and the second lest that should betide you which is bemoned in my text Ecce in pace amaritudo amaritudo Behold when we dreampt of peace we awaked to extremitie of bitternesse and being taken in an euill time you complaine as in that mimesis of Saint Chrysostome Valete amici farewell friends I must go an vnknowne iourney by wayes vnknowne into Countries farre remote Vbi quale diuersorium habiturus sum angelorum an daemonum ignoro where what lodging I shall find amongst Angels or Diuels I know not Et tu complexus amore eruisti c. I am now come to the second Tabernacle of my text wherein you haue Elias the manna I spake of It containeth two things first the redemption Eruisti secondly the reason or motiue Complexus amore The recouery so much the sweeter by how much the danger the greater Transisse de morte ad vitam vitae gratiam duplicat to passe from death to life is double life So is the light more gratefull to him that was in the power of darknesse and assurance to him that despaired of assurance There was danger enough in
not onely set or left for then Clamabunt post nos they will follow God againe but throwne as stones from a sling and with violence offered to his iustice banished in such sort as that they may neuer returne againe so speaketh he in effect Psal. 103. Quantum distat ortus ab occasu Looke how farre the East is from the West so farre hath he set our sinnes from vs so Mich. 7. proijcit in profundum mare he taketh our sins and throweth them into the bottome of the sea You haue heard of Hezekiah the good King of Iudah and his double condition the one which nature and sinne brought vpon him sicknesse and approch to death the other what grace and indulgence did for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had I almost said with the Apostle Galat. 4. these things were spoken in an allegorie sure I am they were spoken propter aliud for another purpose not for Hezekiah's sake But as Ezekiel Ezech. 4. lieth and sleepeth vpon his left and right side and maketh him bread of moulter corne and baketh it in bullockes dung c. to shew the siege and famine to come So haue I chosen this storie of Hezekiah to be but a modell and patterne of those things which hapned to our gracious KING Hezekiah our King our religious King who though he restored not religion as Hezekiah did which he found restored to his hand yet he maintaineth and propugneth religion and spared not the high places no more then Hezekiah did I meane the throne of Antichrist himselfe not that brasen Serpent pearched vpon his pole of supremacie aboue all the Kings of the earth and the whole Church of God And as famous to the world he will be in succeeding ages for his miraculous deliuerance from that generall gunpowder-massacre as euer Hezekiah was for his miraculous deliuerance from Zenacherib the King of Assur in a night was that host discomfited and in a night the labours and hopes of many moneths defeated I am sure as renowned as euer Hezekiah was propter scripturam for his bookes written and published to the world in defence of the Gospell and Church of God Not to recede from the tearmes of my text I am sure he is a King of peace And here you may stand as at a pillar or moniment by the high-way side and take a view of it Ecce in pace it is worthy admiration that for sixteene yeares space to keepe the phrase of this Story 2. Reg. 19. there hath not an enemy shot an arrow nor come with a shield nor raised vp a rampart against any Citie or towne of his kingdome in an happie houre be it spoken Hath your Manna the meane time bred wormes or do the Quailes come out of your nostrels or are you offended with your peace Hath it made you proud and petulant and lasciuious and improuident and vnprouided against your Enemies Where is the fault I must answer with Christ Duritia malitia cordium vestorum the hardnesse the badnes of your own hearts The Manna was good the Quailes good the peace good both in him that bestowed it and in him that procured it your selues naught that vsed it not aright Cast but your eyes backe to the latter part of the reigne of that Mayden Queene the maiden-head and honour of whose gouernment was neuer stained whose bones are in peace her soule in blisse and her name in eternall remembrance thinke vpon one poore and beggerly warre as the Apostle named poore and beggerly elements vile seruile bellum rather rebellion then warre with beasts rather then men or men after the manner of beasts earthed in their thickets and bogges as Foxes in their holes to speake nothing of the treasure it wasted how much of our English bloud of the very flower and prime of our gentrie that one warre suckt out and then tell me if peace for her owne sake without the weedes that grow vp with it be to be disliked All this while I haue bene vpon the subiect of my text alone Hezekiah our King without adding any attribute or telling you what he hath suffered Now it followeth Hezekiah our King was sicke and sicke as Hezekiah was vsque ad mortem euen vnto the death his sicknesse was bitternesse bitternesse downe to the very side and mouth of the pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iairus his daughter he was at the last cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Paul spake of Epaphroditus Philip. 2. at the next doore the nearest neighbor to death I may now by the blessing of God speake home Habet praeteritarum calamitatum secura recordatio delectationem quandam when a danger is gone and past it is pleasure to repeate it Libet sinistras res meas percurrere I go forward with that text the prouidence of God hath euen fitted it to my mouth I say he was sicke to the death but God had mercy vpon him and not vpon him alone but also vpon vs and the whole kingdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest we should haue sorrow vpon sorrow sorrow for the losse of our Queene like the losse of our eyes our bowels his Ladie and Consort as his rib pluckt from his side the halfe of his soule torne from him and sorrow for the losse of himselfe I am yet in the sicknesse It was bitternesse bitternesse and yet to the children of God in the fruite and effect of it dulcedo dulcedo sweetnesse aboue the hony and hony comb It is a paradoxe in nature what I shall deliuer Would you looke for grapes from thornes or water from a rocke or oyle from a stone or good out of euill or sweetnesse out of bitternesse that is comfort out of sicknesse Yet so it is Morbo crucior gaudeo non quia crucior sed vt alijs patientiae sim magister I am sicke and tortured with sicknesse yet am I glad not for the torture but for being a patterne of patience to others Antigonus made the like vse of his sicknesse Nihilo peiùs fuit hic morbus submonuit nè animo efferamur cum simus mortales I am not the worse for it my sicknesse putteth me in mind not to be proud seeing I am mortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the saying of Croesus another king in Herodotus rich euen to a Prouerb My sufferings grieuous though they are are my lessonings which Lipsius well rendred nocumenta documenta and Gregory not worse then he detrimenta corporum incrementa virtutum paine to the body gaine to the soule The bed of a sicke man is as a schoole a doctorall chaire of learning and discipline then are his words written with an adamant claw and go deepe into the minds of them that heare them then is his tongue the tongue of the learned as touched with a cole from the altar and his mouth the veine and fountaine of life when the soule is weaned from the world the flesh mortified the spirit
consecrated to God and himselfe rapt vp as it were into the third heauens where he seeth and heareth those things which he neuer saw nor heard aforetime There are that are able to report his Swans songs the last before his death for ought appeared to the contrary how he behaued himselfe towards God and man and acted both King and Priest and setting himselfe in articulo mortis in the very ioynt and poynt of dying Looking backwards to his life past and forwards to the life to come neglected not any thing neither of his priuate nor of the publicke State with many diuine meditations holy professions religious promises prudent instructions which for my part I wish they were scriptura Hezekiae regis brought to the light of the world that all might vnderstand them But what becometh of this sicknesse remaineth it still No. For the sweet wood of the mercies of God was cast into the waters of Marah and altered their bitternesse And so must I alter my text Iordan is now gone backward Behold in my peace bitternesse bitternesse said Hezekiah Behold in our bitternesse bitternesse peace must I say Ecce euangelizo vobis gaudium magnum quod erit omni ciuitati as the Angel in the Gospel behold I bring you tidings of great ioy which shall be to the whole Land and God say Amen to it that I may euer be as Ahimaaz 2. Sam. 18. to bring you good tidings of such things His soule is deliuered from the pit of corruption And we trust that God hath added to his yeares as he did to the yeares of Hezekiah we pray that it may be and likely it is if we adde to our prayers that God will adde to his yeares If we aske life for him God shall giue him a long life and after that long life ended A life for euer and euer Psalme 21. But of all other things you will aske the meanes how he was deliuered He wanted not any thing that the earth could minister vnto him neither the helpe of learned and painfull Physicians benedictio Domini super eos c. Psal. 129. the Lord prosper them we wish them good lucke in the name of the Lord nor the intercessions of his faithfull Subiects that haue bowed the knees both of their bodies and hearts and with their prayers as an incense in the morning and the lifting vp of their hands as an euening sacrifice they haue pierced through the clouds and knocked at the gate of his mercy at midnight and giuen him no rest on behalfe of their King Our father our father the Chariots and horsemen of Israel is going from vs O Lord spare him Ariston was a good King but wanted Issue and the people desirous to haue one of his race to gouerne after him begged him Issue of their gods That sonne so obtained they named Demaratus because the people had gained him by their prayers I doubt not but our King was another Demaratus begged by his people at the hands of God or rather according to his owne name that our Iacob was another Israel and that he and his people wrestled with God by their earnest supplications to gaine a blessing of health from him and although as to Israel a sinew of his thigh be yet shrunke that is the ability strength of his body somwhat abated we trust that in time God wil also restore that But whatsoeuer I haue yet named is but a second and subordinate meanes and vaine we know is the helpe of man our helpe must stand in the name of the Lord which hath made heauen and earth or we shall neuer be holpen therefore the prime predominant and supreme cause that our King was deliuered was the same that Hezekiah found Placuit tibi dilexisti c. the good pleasure and loue of God Now the good will of him that dwelt in the bush euer dwell with our King and marrie him vnto him with euerlasting mercy and compassion The couenant of day and night be broken but the couenant of his peace with our King and his kingdomes be neuer broken Fathers forget their sonnes and nurses their sucking babes and mothers the fruite of their wombes The Lord neuer forget our King nor his seed after him nor the people committed to their charge By this time you may ghesse at the reason of our meeting so many thousand of soules together in one place though not in the house of the Lord I grant yet in the courts of the Lords house euen in the midst of thee ô Ierusalem in the fairest and fittest theatre we haue for such purposes to make it like Araunah his threshing floore a place for an altar of our thankfulnesse whereon we are to offer the Calues of our lips our reasonable seruice an Eucharisticall sacrifice for the life of our King whom God hath so lately rescued from the fangs and throte of destruction that as when the tidings came to Rome of Germanicus his better amendment they had newes before of his desperate sicknesse which strucke them all to the heart and Germanicus was an excellent Prince beloued of the people and one that said of himselfe afterwards at the time of his death Flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti Strangers will misse and bewaile Germanicus they ran into their Capitoll men women and children and rent open the doores thereof and offered their votes and filled the whole Citie with the noise of their congratulation Salua Ciuitas salua Patria saluus Germanicus the City is safe the country safe Germanicus safe So come we into this our Capitoll our greatest Panegyris inured with the like meetings hither came that Lady of euer-blessed memory to giue thankes vnto God for her victorie ouer the Spaniard with such frequency of people as you see with such feruencie of heart to blesse the name of our God and congratulate our selues because Salua Ciuitas salua Patria saluus Iacobus the City is safe the kingdome safe our King safe And as before that whē Augustus was likewise recouered whom they styled Patrem patriae the Father of the countrey to shew their loue to their Emperour they layd their purses together and set vp a Statue to Antonius Musas the Physician that recouered him and placed it by the Image of Aesculapius So we in affection and loue to our King though we giue not titles to men and honour the Physician but with that honour that is due vnto him yet Aere collato ioyning our hearts and soules together as if we were all but one man we set vp our Statue and if it be possible raise our Colossus of thankfulnesse that may reach vp to the heauen of heauens vnto that great God that hath created the Physician and taught him his wisdom and made the medicines of the earth to take away the paines of men Ecclesiasticus 38. There is but one word more in my text and so an end But as it standeth in