Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	call_v	life_n	zion_n	53	3	8.9553	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17397	The marrovv of the oracles of God. Or, diuers treatises containing directions about sixe of the waightiest things can concerne a Christian in this life. by N. Bifield, late preacher of Gods Word at Isleworth in Middlesex.	Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622.; Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622. Beginning of the doctrine of Christ. aut; Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622. Spirituall touchstone. aut; Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622. Signes of the wicked man. aut; Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622. Promises. aut; Rules of a holy life. aut; Byfield, Nicholas, 1579-1622. Cure of the feare of death. aut	1630 (1630)	STC 4222; ESTC S120511	234,877	800

age or absence in a place so far remote for my earnest trust is that God will adde yet many yeres to your happy life on earth and besides I haue had heretofore occasion to know how little you were afraid to dye when the Lord did seeme to summon you by sicknes That GOD which hath ennobled your heart with heauenly gifts and so made you an instrument of so much good and contentment vnto that most excellent Princesse with whom you now liue and towards whom you haue shewed so much faithfull obseruance and dearenesse of affection and carefulnesse of attendance euen the Father of mercie and God of all consolations encrease in you all spirituall blessings and multiply the ioy of your heart and make you still to grow in acceptation and all well-doing Humbly crauing pardon for my boldnesse herein I commit your Honor to God and to the Word of his Grace which will build you vp to eternall life resting Your Honors in all humble obseruance N. BIFIELD Isleworth July 14. 1618. The chiefe Contents of this Booke THE drift is to shew how wee may be freed from the feare of Death pag. 6. 35 First it is prooued by eight apparent Arguments that it may be attained to pag. 655. to 660 Secondly it is shewed by fifteene Considerations how shamefull and vncomely a thing it is for a Christian to be afraid to die pag. 660. to 670. Thirdly the way how this feare may be remooued is shewed where may be noted An exhortation to regard the directions p. 670 671 Two wayes of Cure the one by Meditation the other by Practice p. 671. 1. The Contemplations either serue to make vs to like Death or else to bee lesse in loue with life pag. 672. Seuenteene Priuiledges of a Christian in death pag. 670. to 685. The contemplations that shew vs the misery of life are of two sorts for either they shew vs the miseries of the life of nature or else the miseries that doe vnauoidably accompanie the very life of grace p. 685. c. The miseries of the life of nature from p. 8●… to 693. The mi●…eries of a godly mans life are two-fold which appeares both in the things he wants and in the things hee hath while he lives pag. 693. c. Sixe things which euery godly man wants while he liues p. 694. to 698. What should make a godly man wearie of life in respect of God pag. 698. to 704. And what in respect of euill angels p. 704. c. And what in respect of the World p. 706. c. And what in respect of himselfe p. 721. c. Eight aggrauations of Gods corrections in this life p. 702. Eight apparent miseries from the world p. 706. c. Fifteene manifest defects and blemishes in the greatest seeming felicities of the world p. 712. to 721. Many aggrauations of our miserie in respect of corruption of nature in this life p. 721. c. The remainders of the first punishments yet vpon vs. p. 725. The remoouall of the Obiections men make about death from whence their feare ariseth and these Obiections are answered p. 7●…7 1. About the paine of dying where are ten answers p. 721. c. 2. About the condition of the body in death p. 733. 3. About the desire to liue longer yet p. 736. 4. About the pretence of desire to liue long to doe good p. 740. 5. About casting away of ones selfe p. 472. 6. About parting with friends p. 745. c. 7. About parting with wife and children p. 747. 8. About leauing the pleasures of life p. 748. 9. About leauing their honours of life p. 750. 10. About leauing their riches p. 753. c. 11. About the kind of death p. 756. The second way of curing the feare of death is by practice where seuen directions are giuen from p. 757. to the end THE CVRE OF THE FEARE OF DEATH CHAP. I. Shewing the Scope and parts of this Treatise THat which I intend in this Treatise is to shew how a godly man might order himselfe against the feare of Death or what course hee should take to liue so as not to be afraid to die This is a maine point and exceeding necessary Life is throughly sweet when death is not feared A mans heart is then like Mount Sion that cannot be moued He can feare no enemie that doth not feare death As death is the last enemy so it workes the longest and last feares and to dye happily is to dye willingly The maine worke of preparation is effected when our hearts are perswaded to be willing to dye Now in the explication of this point I would distinctly handle three things First I will proue that to liue without feare of death is a thing may bee obtained one may be deliuered from it as certainly as a sicke man may be cured of an ordinary disease S●…condly I will shew how vncomely a thing it is for a Christian to be afraid of death that so wee may be stirred vp the more to seeke the cure for this disease Thirdly I will shew by what m●…anes wee may bee deliuered from the feare of death if we vse them Of the two first more briefly and of the last at large CHAP. II. Prouing that we may be cured of the feare of Death FOr the first That the feare of death may be remoued and that we may attaine to that resolution to be willing to dye without lothnesse is apparent diuers wayes First it is euident Christ dyed to deliuer vs not onely from the hurt of death and from the diuell as the executioner but also from the feare of death too Now Christ may attaine to the end of his death vnlesse we will deny the vertue of Christ and his death and thinke that notwithstanding it cannot be obtained Heb. 2. 14 15. And the more apparent in this because in that place he shews that there is vertue in the death of Christ to cure this feare of death in any of the Elect if they wil vse the meanes For as our sins will not be mortified though there be power in the death of Christ to kill them vnlesse we vse the meanes to extract this vertue out of the death of Christ so is it true that the feare of death may be in some of Gods elect but it is not because Christ cannot deliuer them but because they are sluggish and will not take the course to bee rid of those feares The Physician is able to cure them and vsually doth cure the same disease but they will not take his Receipts Secondly the Apostle intreating of the desire of death saith That God hath wrought vs vnto the selfe same thing 2 Cor. 5. 5. We are againe created of God that we might in our selues aspire vnto immortality and are set in such an estate as if we answered the end of his workmanship we should neuer be well till we be possessed of the happinesse in another world which hee

shewes in those words of being absent from the body and present with the Lord verse 8. Thirdly the prophesies haue runne on this point For it was long since fore-told that Christians knowing the victory of Christ ouer death should bee so farre from fearing death that they should tread vpon him and insult ouer him O death where is thy sting c. Esay 25. 8. Hosea 13. 14. 2 Corinthians 15. 54 55. Fourthly it is a condition that Christ puts in when he first admits Disciples that they must deny their owne liues and not only be content to take vp their crosse in other things but their liues must not bee deare vnto them when he calls for it Luke 14. 26. Fifthly We are taught in the Lords Prayer to pray That Gods kingdome may come And by this kingdome he meanes the kingdome of Glory as well as the kingdome of Grace Now in that wee are taught to pray for the kingdome it shewes wee should desire it and that by praier we should be more and more heated in our desires Sixtly wee are borne againe to a liuely hope of our inheritance Now if we be afraid of the time of our translation thither how doe we hope for it after a liuely manner A desire of going to heauen is a part of that Seed cast into our hearts in our regeneration 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Seuenthly we haue the example of diuers men in particular who haue desired to die were out of feare in that respect Gen. 49. 18. Iacob waited for Gods saluation and Paul resolues that to dy and to be with Christ is best of all for him Phil. 1. 21 23. yea in Romans 7. 24. hee is vehement O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this body of Death Sim●…on prayes God to let him dye Luke 2 29. And the Prophet in the name of the godly said long before Christ O that the saluation of Israel were come out of Sion Psalme 14. 7. And we haue the example of the Martyrs in all ages that accounted it a singular glory to die And in 2. Corinth 5. 2 7. the godly are said to fight for it that they might be absent from his body and present with the Lord and so doe the first fruits of the holy Ghost those eminent Christians mentioned Rom. 8. 23. Lastly not onely some particular godly men haue attained to this but the whole Church is brought in in the 12. Chapter of Reuelation praying for the comming of Christ and desiring too that hee would come quickely And 2. Timothy 4. 8. The loue of the appearing of Christ is the Periphrasis of the childe of God Thus of the first point CHAP. III. Shewing how vncomely it is to feare Death FOr the second how vncomely a thing it is in Christians to feare death may appeare many waies 1. By the feare of death we shame our Religion while we professe it in our words we deny it in our workes Let Papists tremble at death who are taught that no man ordinarily can be sure he shall go to heauen when he dies But for vs that professe the knowledge of saluation to bee astonished at the passage to it shewes at least a great weakenesse of faith and doth outwardly giue occasion of disgrace to our Religion 2. By that which went before we may see how vncomely it is to be afraid of death For thereby we disable the death of Christ wee frustrate the end of Gods workemanship we stop the execution of the Prophesies we renounce our first agreement with Christ we mocke God in praying that his kingdome may come we obscure the euidence of our owne regeneration and wee transgresse against the example of the godly in all ages 3. Many of the Pagans greatly settled their hearts against the feare of death by this very reason because there was no being after death and therefore they could no more feele misery then then before they were borne And shall wee Christians that heare euery day of the glorious saluation we haue by Christ be more fearefull then they were Let them feare death that know not a better life Shall we be like wicked men Their death is compelled shall ours be so too They by their good wils would not lose their bodies in this life nor haue their bodies in the next life but since God hath made vs vnlike them in the issues of death shall wee make our selues like them in the lothnesse to dye Let Felix tremble at the doctrine of death and iudgement Acts 24. 25. but let all the godly hold vp their heads because the day of their redemption draweth nigh Mathew 24. c. 5. Shall we be afraid of a shadow The separation of the soule frō God that is death if we speake exactly but the separation of the soule from the body is but the shaddow of death When see we men trembling for feare of spirituall death which is called the First Death and yet this is farre more woefull then that we call the bodily death But as if the death of the body were nothing the Scripture cals damnation The second death neuer putting the other into the number 6. This feare is called a bondage here in this text And shall wee voluntarily make our selues vassals Or shall we be like slaues that dare not come in our Masters sight 7. If we loue long life why are wee not much more in loue with eternall life where the duration is longer and the estate happier Are wee not extremely insatuated that when God will doe better for vs then wee desire yet wee will be afraid of him 8. Shall wee bee worse then children or mad men Neither of them feare death and shall simplicity or Ideotisme doe more with them then reason or Religion can doe with vs 9. Do not all that reade the storie of the Israelites in their passion desiring to bee againe in Egypt and violently murmuring at the promise of going into the Land of Canaan condemne them of vile ingratitude to God and folly in respect of themselues For what was it for them to liue in Egypt but to serue cruell Taske-masters about bricke and clay And was not Canaan the place of their rest and a Land that floweth with milke and hony Euen such is the condition of all that wish life and are afraid to dye What is this world but Aegypt and what is to liue in this world but to serue about bricke and clay Yea the Church that is separate from the world can find it no better then a barren wildernesse And what is Heauen but a spirituall Canaan And what can death bee more then to passe ouer Iordan and victoriously ouercomming all enemies to bee possessed of a place of matchlesse rest of more pleasures then Milke or Hony can shadow out 10. Adam might haue had more reason to feare Death that neuer saw a man die an

dissolued that hee might bee with Christ Philip. 1. 2●… In which words he imports two things in death First that there is a dissolution of the soule from the body and secondly that there is a coniunction of the soule with Christ. Now which is better for vs to haue the body or to haue Christ The same Apostle saith else-where that they are confident in this they had rather be absent from the body and so to bee present with the Lord then to bee present with the body and absent from the Lord 2. Cor. 5. 7 8. Now the true reason why men feare death is because they looke vpon the dissolution onely and not vpon the ●…oniunction with Christ. 14. In the 1. Cor. 9. 24. our life is compared to a race and eternall life to a rich prize not a corruptible but an incorruptible Crowne Now death is the end of the race and to dye is but to come to the goale or race end Was euer Runner so foolish as to be sorrie that with victorie he was neere the end of the race And are we afraid of death that shall end the toyle and sweate and danger of the running and giue vs with endlesse applause so glorious a recompence of reward 15. In the Ceremoniall Law there was a yeere they called the yeere of Iubilee and this was accounted an acceptable yeere because euery man that had lost or sold his lands vpon the blowing of a trumpet returned and had possession of all againe and so was recouered out of the extremitie in ●…hich hee liued before In this life we are like the poore men of Israel that haue lost our inheritance and liue in a manner and condition euery way straitned now death is our Iubilee and when the trumpet of death blowes we all that die returne and enioy a better estate then euer we sold or lost Shall the Iubilee be called an acceptable time and shall not our Iubilee be acceptable to vs Esay 61. 2. 16. Death is the day of our Coronation we are Heires apparent to the Crowne in this life yea we are Kings elect but cannot bee crowned till death 2. Tim. 4. 8. And shall not that make vs loue the appearing of Christ Is a King afraid of the day of his Coronation 17. To conclude this first part of Contemplation If we did seriously set before our eyes the glory to come could our eyes be so dazeled as not to see and admire and haste to it Aske Paul that was in Heauen what hee saw and he will tell you Things that cannot be vttered Happinesse beyond all language of mortall man If there were as much faith on Earth as there is glorie in Heauen Oh how would our hearts bee on fire with feruent desire after it But euen this faith is extremely wanting it is our vnbeleefe that vndoes vs and fils vs with these seruile and sottish feares And thus of the Meditations taken from the happinesse wee enioy by death which should make vs conclude with Salomon That the day of Death is better then the day when one is borne CHAP. V. Shewing the miserie of life in wicked men NOw it followes that I should breake open the miseries of life the consideration whereof should abate in vs this wretched loue of life The miseries of life may bee two waies considered for they are of two sorts either such miseries as load the life of Nature or such miseries as doe molest the very life of Grace The miseries that accompany the naturall life of man while he remaines in the state of Nature onely who can recount I will giue but a briefe touch of some heads of them First thinke of thy sinnes and so three dreadfull things may amaze thy thoughts For first thou art guilty of Adams sinne for by that man sinne came in vpon all men euen the guilt of his sin Rom. 5. 12. Secondly thy nature is altogether vile and abominable from thy birth thou wast conceiued in sinne Psal. 51. 5. And this staine and leprosie hangs on fast vpon thy nature and cannot be cured but by the blood of Christ only Heb. 12. 1. And this is seated in all the faculties of thy soule For in thy Minde there is Ignorance and Impotency to receiue knowledge and a naturall approouing of euill and errour rather than the truth and sound doctrine Those wayes seeme good in thine eyes which tend vnto death 1. Cor. 2. 14. Rom. 8. 7. 2. Cor. 3. 5. Pro. 14. 12. And this thou maiest perceiue by this that thou art not able to thinke a good thought but canst goe free for dayes and weekes without any holy cogitation and besides thy minde is infinitely prone to swarmes of euill thoughts Gen. 6. 5. Againe if thou behold thy Conscience it is impure polluted without light or life or glory in thee shut vp in a dungeon excusing thee in many faults and accusing thee for things are not faults but in thy conceit and when it doth accuse thee for sin it rageth and falleth mad with vnbridled fury and terrors keeping no bounds of Hope or Mercie Further if thou obserue thy Affections they are altogeth●…r impotent in that which is good there is no lust in thee after that which is good and yet they are all out of order and prone to cōtinuall rebellion against God ready to be fired by all the enticements of the World or the Diuell Gal. 5. 24. Thirdly vnto these adde thy innumerable Actuall sinnes which are more then the haires of thy head multiplyed daily in thought affection word and deed the least of them deseruing hell fire for euer thy sinnes of Infancie Youth Old age sinnes of O●…ission and Commission sinnes in Prosperitie and Aduersitie sinnes at Home and Abroad sinnes of Infirmitie and Presumption If Dauid looking vpon his sins could say They haue so compassed me and taken such hold on mee that I am not able to looke vp Oh then if thou haddest sight and sense how might'st thou much more cry out of the intolerable burthen of them and the rather if thou obserue that many of thy corruptions reigne tyrannically and haue subdued thy life to their vassalage so as thou art in continuall slauerie to them Thus is thy life infested with these vnspeakeable inordinations and thus of the first part of thy infelicitie in life Secondly if thou obserue but how God hath auenged himselfe vpon them and what yet remaineth vnto thee how can thy heart sustaine it selfe For 1. Thou art a banished man exiled from Paradise and made to liue without hope to returne thither The best part of the earth thou shalt neuer enioy 2. The earth is cursed to thee and it may bee a wofull spectacle to see all the creatures subiect to vanitie and smitten with the strokes of God for thy sinne and groaning daily round about thee 3. Looke vpon thy most miserable soule for there thy

and affections yea our very consciences are still impure within vs there is no good nature in vs in any one faculty of our soules but there is a miserable mixture of vile infection Secondly this is the worses because this is incurable There lieth vpon vs a very 〈◊〉 of sinning wee cannot but offend Of the flesh it is well said I can neither liue with the●… nor without thee The flesh is an inseperable ill companion of our li●… wee can go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 it c. Thirdly if wee consider but some of the effects of this corruption in 〈◊〉 as 1. The eiuill warre it causeth in our soules there is no businesse can bee dispatched that concernes our happinesse without a mutiny in our owne hearts The flesh is a domesticall Rebel that daily lusts against the Spirit as the Spirit hath reason to lust against the flesh Galatians 5. 17. 2. Secondly the insufficiency it ●…eeds in vs for our callings The greatest Apostle must in this respect cry out Who is sufficient for these things Though Gods wor●…e be all faire worke yet we see that euery man is extremely burthened with the defects and mistakings and insufficiencies which befall him in his course of life 2. It works a perpetuall madnesse in the heart of a man in some respects worse then that of some lunatickes For they are mad at some times of the yeere onely or chiefly but man is seldome or neuer free from this inward madnes of heart Salomon saith The heart of the sonnes of men is full of euill and madnesse is in their hearts while they liue and after thnt they goe to the dead Now this madnesse appeares in this that men can neuer bring their hearts to a settled contentment in the things they enioy but death coms in vpon them before they know how to improue the ioy of their hearts in the blessings they enioy whether temporall or spirituall This vile corruption of nature diffuseth gall into all that a man possesseth so as it marreth the taste of euery thing 4. It fils our hearts and liues with innumerable euils it ingenders and breeds infinitely swarmes of euill thoughts and desires and abundance of sinnes in mens liues and conuersations so as godly Dauid cries out Innumerable euils haue compassed me about and I am not able to looke vp They were more then the haires of his head therefore his heart failed him Psal. 40. 12. 5. It is continualy madnes to be●…ray vs to Satan and the world in all the occasions of our life 6. It will play the Tyrant if it get any head and leade vs capti●…e and giue wretched lawes to the members yea euery sinne which is the brat bred of this corruption is like a fury to fright and amaze vs there is a very race of diuels bred in vs when Satan and the flesh ingender together in vs. 2. And as wee are thus miserable in respect of the remainders of corruption so are we in respect of the remainders of the punishment of sinne vpon our spirits Our hearts were neuer fully free since the first transgrssion our minds are yet full of darkenesse that euē godly men do seriously cry out They are but as beasts they haue not the vnderstanding of men in them And in many passages of life they carrie themselues like beasts Psalme 32. 9. Eccles. 3. 18. The ioyes of Gods presence are for the greatest part kept from vs our consciences are still but in a kind of prison when they goe to the s●…at of iudgement to giue sentence in any cause they come forth with fetters on their legs as prisoners themselues besides the many personall scourges light vpon our soules in this life 3. Lastly the very condition of our bodies should not bee ouerpleasing to vs our deformities and infirmities the dangers of further diseases should tire vs out and make vs account it no louely thing to be present in the body while wee are absent from the Lord. And thus of the miseries of our liues also Now it remaines that I should proceed to the second sort of contemplations that is those that are remoouals namely such meditations as take off the obiections which are in the hearts of men CHAP. XII Comforts against the paine of Death THere are in the minds of all men certaine Obiections which if they could be remoued this feare of Death would bee stocked vp by the very rootes I will instance in some of the chiefe of them and set downe the answers to them Some men say they should not be afraid of death considering the gaine of it and the happinesse after death but that they are afraide of the paine of dying It is the difficulty of the passage troubles them For answer hereunto diuers things would be considered of to shew men the folly of this feare First thou likest not death because of the paine of it Why there is paine in the curing of a wound yet men will endure it And shall death doe so great a cure as to make thee whole of all thy wounds and diseases and art thou so loth to come to the Cure Secondly there is difficulty in getting into an Hauen Hadst thou rather bee in the tempest still then put into the hauen Thirdly thou likest not death thou sayest for the paine of it Why then likest thou life which puts thee to worse paine Men obiect not at the paines of life which they endure without death There is almost no man but he hath endured worse paines in life then he can endure in death and yet we are content to loue life still Yea such is our folly that whereas in some pains of life we call for death to come to our succours yet when wee are well againe we loue life and loath death Fourthly we are are manifestly mistaken concerning death for the last gaspe is not death To liue is to dye for how much wee liue so much we die euery step of life is a step of death He that hath liued halfe his dayes is dead the halfe of himselfe Death gets first our infancie then our youth and so forwards All that thou hast liued is dead Fiftly it is further euident that in death there is no paine it is our life that goeth out with paine Wee deale herein as if a man after sicknesse should accuse his health of the last paines What is it to be dead but not to be in the world And it is any paine to bee out of the world Were wee in any paine before we were borne Why then accuse we death for the paines our life giues vs at the parting Is not sleepe a remembrance of death Sixthly if our comming into the world be with teares is it any wonder if our going out be so too Seuenthly besides it is euident that wee make the passage more difficult by bringing vnto death a troubled and irresolute minde It is long of our selues

ordinary death but for vs to bee affrighted with death that see thousands die at our right hand and ten thousand at our left and that daily is an inexcusable distemper The gate of Death is continually open and wee see a prease of people that daily throng into it 11. When Moses had cast downe his Rod it turned into a Serpent and the Text noting Moses weakenesse saith He fled from it But the Lord commanded him to take it by the Taile and behold it became a Rod againe Euen so death at the first sight is terrible like a new-made Serpent and the godly themselues through inconsideration flye from it but if at Gods commandement without feare they would lay hold vpon this seeming Serpent it will be turned into a Rod againe yea into a golden Scepter in our hands made much better by the change Neither doe we reade that euer at any time after Moses had any feare of this Serpent when he had once known the experience of it And haue we offen by the eyes of faith seene the experience of this great work of God and shall we still be running away 12. It is said Rom. 8. 12. that all creatures groane wayting for the libertie of the sonnes of God and shall wee bee worse then bruit beasts Doth the whole frame of nature as it were call for this time of change and shall man be so stupid or carried with such senslesse feares as to shun his owne felicity 13. Consider whether it bee more commodious for vs that Death come to vs or that we go to Death For one thing is certaine it is vaine to shunne that which cannot bee auoided For it is appointed vnto all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. What man is hee that liueth and shall not see death Psal. 89. 48. Death is the way of all flesh Iosh. 24. Now this being granted let vs consider of it Death is like an armed man with whom we must once fight Now if we be aduised and will goe to Death we must get on our armour beforehand and so the encounter will be without danger to vs because the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God we are assured of victory through Iesus Christ. On the other side to tarry till Death come vnto vs is as if a man that knowes he must fight with a sore aduersary would through slothfulnesse goe vp and downe vnarmed till he fall into the hands of his enemy and must then fight with him at such disaduantage 14. It is most vncomely to feare that which is both common and certaine Death of all afflictions is most common For from other afflictions it is possible some might bee free but from death can no man be deliuered and God of purpose hath made that most common which is most grieuous that thereby he might abate the terrour of it It is monstrous foolishnes to striue in vaine to auoid that which neuer man could escape And to teach men their vnauoydable mortality the Lord clothed our first Parents with the skinnes of dead beasts and feeds vs with dead flesh that as often as wee eate of slaine beasts we might remember our owne end and shall we be euer learning and neuer come to the knowledge of this truth Is this such a lesson as cannot be learned Shall we be so stupid as daily to passe by the graues of the dead and heare their knels and yet be vntaught and vnarmed 15. Lastly shall we be afraid of such an enemie as hath beene ouercome hand to hand and beaten by Christ and thousands of the Saints especially if wee consider the assurance wee haue of victory In this combate euery Christian may triumph before the victory 〈◊〉 Corinth 15. 55. And thus much of the two first points CHAP. IIII. Shewing that a Christian is many wayes happy in death NOw I come to the third point which is the maine thing here intended and that is the meanes how we may be cured of the feare of Death and in this we had need all to attend with great carefulnesse The disease is stubburne and men are sluggish and extremely loth to be at the trouble of the cure and Satan by all meanes would keepe vs from remembring our latter end the world affoords daily distractions to plucke vs away from the schoole of Christ herein and our owne hearts are deceitfull and our natures apt to be weary of the doctrine before wee put in practice any of the directions and we are apt to a thousand conceits that it is either vnpossible or vnnecessary to attend this doctrine or the like Yea it may be it will fare with many of vs as it doth with those that are troubled with the raging paine of the teeth their paine will cease when the Barber comes to pull out the tooth so it may be you may finde this deceit in your hearts that you will not feel the feare of death till the discourse of the medicine be ouer and so let it be as water spilt on the ground But let vs all awake and in the power and strength of Christ that died to deliuer vs from the feare of death let vs lay all the plaisters close to the sore and keepe them at it till it bee throughly whole There be two wayes then of curing this feare of Death The one is by contemplation The other is by practi●… There be some things if we did chuse them out soundly to thinke of them would heale vs wonderfully There be some things also to bee done by vs to make the c●…re perfect If contemplation be not auaileable then practice will without faile finish the cure The contemplations are of two sorts For either they are such meditations as breed desire of Death by way of motiue or they are such as remoue the obiections which cause in mans mind the feare of Death For the first there bee two things which if they be soundly thought on will worke a strange alteration in our hearts The one is the happinesse wee haue by death The other is the miseries we are in by life Can any man be afraid to bee happy If our heads and hearts were filled with arguments that shew vs our happines by death we would not be so senslesse as to tremble at the thought of dying Our happinesse in death may bee set out in many particulars and illustrated by many similitudes full of life and vertue to heale this disease of feare 1. Death makes an end of all the tempests and continuall stormes with which our life is tossed it is the Hauen and Port of rest and are we so mad as to desire the continuance of such dangerous tempests rather then to be in the Hauen whither our iourney tends 2. Death is a sleepe For so the dead are said to to be asleepe 1 Thess. 4. 14. Looke what a bed of rest and sleepe is to the weary labourer such is Death to

the diligent Christian. In death they rest in their beds from the hand labours of this life Esay 38. Reuel 14. 13. And was euer the wearie labourer afraid of the time when hee must lie downe and take his rest 3. The day of Death is the day of receiuing wages wherin God payes to euery godly man his penny And doth not the hireling long for the time wherein hee shall receiue wages for his worke Iob 7. 2. And the rather should wee long for this time because we shall receiue wages infinitely aboue our worke such wages as was neuer giuen by man nor can be if all this visible world were giuen vs. 4. In death the seruant comes to his freedome and the heire is at his full age and it is such a liberty as is glorious neuer such a freedome in the world Rom. 8. 21. Shall the heire desire to bee still vnder age and so still vnder Tutors and Gouernours or shall the seruant feare the day of his freedome 5. In death the banished returne and the Pilgrims enter into their Fathers house In this life we are exiled men banished from Paradise and Pilgrims and Strangers in a farre countrey absent from God and heauen In death wee are receiued to Paradise and settled at home in those euerlasting habitations in our Fathers house Luk. 17. Ioh. 14. 2. Hebrewes 11. 13. And can we be so senslesse as to bee afraid of this 6. Death is our birth-day we say falsly when wee call Death the last day For it is indeed the beginning of an euerlasting day and is there any grieuance in that 7. Death is the funerall of our vices the resurrection of our graces Death was the daughter of Sinne and in death shall that be fulfilled The daughter shall destroy the mother We shall neuer more be infected with sinne nor troubled with ill natures nor be terrified for offending Death shall deliuer vs perfectly whole of all our diseases that were impossible to bee cured in this life and so shall there bee at that day a glorious resurrection of graces Our gifts shall shine as the Stars in the firmament And can wee bee so sottish as still to bee afraid of death 8. In death the soule is deliuered out of prison For the body in this life is but a loathsome and darke prison of restraint I say the soule is restrained as it were in a prison while it is in the body because it cannot bee free to the exercise of it selfe either in naturall or supernaturall things For the body so rules by senses and it is so fiercely carried by appetites that the soule is compelled to giue a way to the satisfying of the body and cannot freely follow the light either of Nature or Religion The truth as the Apostle saith is with-held or shut vp through vnrighteousnesse Romanes 1. 28. I say it is a loathsome prison because the soule is annoyed with so many loathsome smels of sin and filthinesse which by the body are committed And it is a darke prison For the soule looking through the bodie can see but by little holes or small casements The body shuts vp the light of the soule as a darke Cloud doth hide the light of the Sunne or as the interposition of the earth doth make it night Now death doth nothing but as it were a strong wind dissolue this cloud that the Sunne may shine clearely and puls downe the walles of the prison that the soule may come into the open light 9. The liberty of the soule in death may be set out by another similitude The world is the Sea our liues are like to many Gallies at Sea tost with continuall Tides or Stormes our bodies are Gally-slaues put to hard seruice by the great Turke the Diuell who tyrannically and by vsurpation doth forcibly command hard things Now the soule within like the heart of some ingenious Gally-slaue may be free so as to loath that seruitude and inwardly de●…est that tyran●… but yet so long as it is tyed to the body it cannot get away Now death comes like an vnresistable Gyant and carries the Gallies to the shore and dissolues them and sets the prisoners free And shall this glorious libertie of the soule be a matter of terror vnto vs Had we rather be in captiuitie still 10. In this life wee are cloathed with rotten ragged foule garments Now the Apostle shewes that death doth nothing else but pull off those ragged garments cloath vs with the glorious robes of saluation more rich then the robes of the greatest Monarch 2. Cor. 5. 2 3. It is true that the godly haue some kinde of desire to bee cloathed vpon They would haue those new garments without putting off their old but that is not decent for a Prince to weare without gorgeous attire and vnderneath base ragges To desire to goe to heauen and not to die is to desire to put on our new cloathes without putting off our old And is it any grieuance to shift vs by laying aside our old cloathes to put on such rich garments We are iust like such slothfull persons that loue well to haue good cloathes and cleane linnen but they are so sluggish they are loth to put off their old cloathes or foule linnen 11. In the same place the Apostle compares our bodies to an old mud-walled house and to a rotten tent and our estate and heauen to a most glorious and Princely palace made by the most curious workman that euer was and it is such a building too as will neuer bee out of repaire Now for a godly man to die is but to remoue from a rotten old house ready to fall on his head to a sumptuous palace 2. Cor. 5. 1. Doth that Landlord doe his Tenant wrong or offer him hard measure that will haue him out of his base cottage and bestow vpon him his own Mansion house No other thing doth God to vs when by death he remoues vs out of this earthly Tabernacle of our bodies to settle vs in those euerlasting habitations euen into that building made without hands in heauen Ioh. 14. 2. Luk. 17. 12. A man that had neuer seene the experience of it perhaps would haue thought that the seed cast into the ground had beene spoiled because it would rot there but Nature hauing shewed the returne of that graine with aduantage a man can easily be cured of that folly The Husbandman is neuer so simple as to pitty himselfe or his seede he saies not Alas is it not pitty to throw away and marre this good seed Why brethren what are your bodies but like the best graine The bodies of the Saints are Gods choisest corne And what doth death m●… vnto Gods graine then cast it into the earth Doe we not beleeue our bodies shall rise like the graine better then euer they were sowed and are we still afraid 13. Paul saith he would be

mournest because thou canst not liue an hundred yeeres hence 7. Thou hast no power of the morrow to make it happy to thee If thou die young thou art like one that hath lost a Die with which he might as well haue lost as wonne 8. Consider the proportion of time thou desirest to thy selfe reckon what will bee spent in sleepe care disgrace sickenesse trouble wearinesse emptinesse feare and vnto all this adde sinne and then thinke how smal a portion is left of this time and how small good it will doe thee What can that aduantage thee with such mixtures of euill It is certaine to liue long is but to be long troubled and to die quickly is quickly to be at rest 9. Lastly if there were nothing else to be said yet this may suffice that there is no comparison betweene time and eternity What is that space of time to eternity If thou loue life why doest thou not loue eternall life as was said before CHAP. XV. Of them that would liue to doe good BVt I would liue long to doe good and to doe God seruice and to benefit others by mine example Sol. First search thine owne heart it may be this pretence of doing good to others is pleaded onely because thou wouldest further thine owne good Thou wouldst not seeke the publike but to finde thine owne particular 2. God that set thee to do his worke knowes how long it is fit for thee to be at the same hee knowes how to make vse of the labors of his workmen He will not call thee from thy work till it bee prouided to dispatch his businesse without thee 3. It may be if thou be long at thy worke thou wouldst marre all thy last workes would not bee so good as thy first it is best to giue ouer while thou doest w●…ll c. 4. If God will pay thee as much for halfe a day as for the whole art thou not so much the more to praise him 5. It is true that the best comfort of our life here is a religious conuersation but thy Religion is not hindered by going to heauen but perfected There is no comparison betweene thy goodnesse on earth and that in heauen For though thou mayest doe much good here yet it is certaine thou doest much euill heere too 6. Whereas thou perswadest thy selfe that by example thou maiest mend others thou art much mistaken A thousand men may sooner catch the plague in an infected Towne then one be healed It is but to tempt God to desire continuance in this infectious world longer then our time for the best way is to get farre from the contagion I●… diuers fresh waters fal into the sea what doth that to take away the saltnesse of the sea No more can two or three Lots reforme a world of Sodomites CHAP. XVI Why men may not make away themselues to be rid of the miseries of life Ob. 5. BVt then it seemes by this that it were a mans best course to take away life seeing so much euill is in life and so much good to bee had in death Sol. 1. I thinke the most of vs may bee trusted of that danger For though the soule aspire to the good to come yet the body tends vnto the earth and like an heauie clog weighs men downewards 2. That is not the course we must cast the world out of our hearts not cast our selues out of the world It is both vnseemely and extremely vnlawfull It is vnseemely for it is true we ought willingly to depart out of this world but it is monstrous base like cowards to runne away out of the battell Thou art Gods souldier and appointed to thy standing and it is a miserable shame to runne out of thy place When Christ the great Captaine sounds a retrait then it is honorable for thee to giue place Besides thou art Gods tenant and doest hold thy selfe as a tenant at will the Landlord may take it from thee but thou canst not without disgrace surrender at thy pleasure and it is extre●…me slothfulnesse to hate life onely for the toyles that are in it Secondly and as it is vnseemely so it is vnlawfull yea damnable It is vnlawfull for the souldier that runnes away from his Captaine offends highly so doth the Christian that makes away himselfe and therefore the commandement is not onely Thou shalt not kill other men but generally Thou shalt not kill meaning neither thy selfe nor other men Besides wee haue no example in Scripture of any that did so but such as were notorious wicked men as Sa●…l Achitophel Iudas and the like Yea it is damnable for hee that leaueth his worke before God calls him loseth it and besides incurres eternall death As the souldier that runneth away dyeth for it when he is taken so the Christian that murdereth himselfe perisheth I say that murdereth himselfe being himselfe CHAP. XVII Why we should not bee troubled to part with our friends MIght some other say I could more willingly dye but mee thinkes it is grieuous vnto mee to part with friends and acquaintance I cannot willingly goe from my kind●…ed and my familiars life is sweete in respect of their presence and loue and societie Sol. It is true that vnto some mindes this is the greatest contentment of life of any thing but yet many things must bee considered For First amongst an 100. men scarce one can by good reason pleade that I meane cannot say that hee hath so much as one sound friend in the whole world worthy to be reckoned as the stay of his life Secondly those that can plead felicitie in their friends yet what is it one pleasing dreame hath more in it then a moneths contentment which can bee reaped from thy friends Alas it is not the thousandth part of thy life which is satisfied with delight from them 3. Thou s●…st thy friend●… drop away from thee from day to day for either they dye or they are so farre remoo●…d from thee that they are as it w●…e dead to thee and sith they are gone who would not long to go after them 4. The friends that are left are not sure to thee men are mutable as well as mortall they may turne t●… be thy foes that now are dearest vnto thee or if they fall not into tearmes of flat enmitie they 〈◊〉 grow full and wea●…e of thee and so carelesse of thee 5. If none of these would satisfie thee yet what are thy friends on earth to thy friends thou shalt finde in heauen This is an answer beyond all exception 6. Lastly by death thou doest not lose thy friends neither for thou shalt finde them and enioy them in another world to all eternity and therefore thou hast no reason forthy friends sake to be loth to dye 7. But might some one say All my griefe is to part with my wife and children and to leaue them especially in an vnsettled estate 1. Hast