well resolued to dy as before yea more for as hee held his life by many fallings risings by many faintings and refreshings in greater affliction so hee had death in greater affection his soule drawing neerer to God as his body to the graue so that about the end of the said Saint Stephens day with S. Stephens affection praying and commending his soule to the custody of his Sauiour he peaceably ended his daies and gaue vp the ghost Sic sic iuuat ire per astra To liue saith the Stoike in Seneca is but to doe as our base groomes and beasts doe but to die wisely constantly comfortably is a worthy matter Thus this knight to the iudgement of man died and departed Worshipfully you know he was descended but most honourably may I now say is he ascended He is not here The garment which hee wore of borrowed earth hee hath left to be restored to the earth againe and in the better part of himselfe hee is gone his soule as I hope passing out of Adams body into Abrahams bosome And now being gone I forbid not his parents to waile for him as Dauid did for Absolon 2. Sam. 18. 2. Sam. 18. 33. O my sonne Absolon ô Absolon my sonne my sonne I forbid not his familiarest friend and greatest fauorite to lament for him as Dauid for Ionathan Woe is me for thee my 2. Sam. 1. 26. brother Ionathan very kinde hast thou beene vnto mee c. I forbid not his wife Lady with the Halcinoe in solitary places to resound her griefe in lamentable accents for the losse of her mate As for his children brethren sisters and kinsfolke they may if they please for a time make lamentation for him like vnto that mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon and they that are of his Zach. 12. 11. owne ranke Knights and Gentlemen may if they list howle for him according to that of Zachary Howle yee firre trees for a cedar is Zach. 11. 2. fallen howle ye oakes of Bashan for a defensed forrest is cut downe But my counsell vnto all is this Let not the Temple of God bee ouer sad ô temper your conceiued griefe for that which in him yee haue lost with a truly apprehended ioy of the happinesse which he hath found and as the Apostle aduiseth sorrow not without hope 1. Thes 4. 13. for him that is asleepe It is but a sleep which is mis-called death his graue is his bed and he shall awake as sure as he lay downe yea more fresh and glorious in the great day of resurrection Wherefore if this cast any of you downe that hee is now gone from you let this againe lift you vp that you must God knows how soone goe to him praeit non perit praemittitur non amittitur saith St. Cyprian in the Cypr. like case He is gone before he is not lost Non dolendum igitur quod decessit sed gaudendum quod praecessit Let vs not therefore bee sorry because hee is departed but rather reioice because he is exalted in the court of heauen where all that haue liued in Gods feare and dyed in his fauour are arriued in safety They are gone before and follow after we must and I hope we shall and I pray God we may Now the Lord Iesus grant vs all grace so to follow him and his faithfull seruants in holines heere that wee may raigne with him and the Saints departed in happinesse heerafter euen in the new Ierusalem where we shall bee good and not persecuted rich and not robbed Kings not flattered where we shall bee rauished with seeing satisfied with enioying and secured for retaining of vnconceiueable happinesse happie eternitie and eternall glory To the which hee bring vs that by his pretious bloud hath bought vs to whom with the Father the inexhaustible fountaine of goodnes and the holy Ghost the indiuisible power of them both wee ascribe and desire to bee ascribed all praise and power might maiestie and dominion now and foreuermore Amen Amen Viuendo morimur moriendo viuimus Ipse Qui bene disponit tempus vtrumque sapit FINIS
is but momentany and our best estate as the princely Prophet protesteth in this world c Psalm 39. 5. altogether vanity For the better riuetting whereof in our mindes and memories the holy Ghost by his pen-men actuaries Moses Iob Dauid Salomon Saint Paul and others hath vsed verie significant similitudes comparing mans life to a d Iam. 4. 14. Vapor that vanisheth to a e Sap. 5. 12. Ship that saileth in the Seas and the path there of cannot be found in the flouds f Reu. 15. to Glasse g 2. Cor. 2. 5. to a Booth h Sap. 5. to a Bubble i Iob 14. 12. to a sleepe k Iob 14. 2. a shadow l Iob 7. 6. a weuers shittle m vers 7. to a wind n vers 9. a cloud o Isa 29 8. a dreame p Psalm 90. 9. a thought q Sap. 5. a passage yea r Sap. 5. 9. Psa 39 103 1. Thess 4. a swift post vnto death and what not which argueth vanity and mutability But what neede haue we of these resemblances or of so great a noise to put vs in mind of our mortality sith wee haue both a continuall sight of it in others in our parents brethren kinsfolk neighbours and acquaintance which are gone the way of all flesh before vs and also a daily sense of it in our selues by the aches of our bones heauinesse of our bodies dimnes of our eies deafenes of our eares trembling of our hands baldnes of our heads graynesse of our haires that verie shortly wee must follow after them But alas the Diuell doth so deafe vs the world doth so blinde vs and the sensualitie of the flesh maketh vs so extreamlie sensles that we neither heare nor see nor feele what lieth so heauie vpon vs. If we be yong we feare not death at our backes if sicke wee feele not death treading on our heeles if old wee looke asquint and see not death before our eies Indeede in temporall affaires to procure security we will all pleade mortality and in some cases of discontentment wee will complaine with Saint Austine that our life is a vitall death Splendida miseria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a glittering miserie a liuing calamitie wherein Austin our best repose is full of anguish our greatest securitie without foundatiō our trauell often without fruit our sorrowes and cares alwaies without profit our desires without successe our hopes without rewards our mirth without continuance our miseries without remedies dangers affrighting vs diseases afflicting vs afflictions greeuing vs griefes tempting and tormenting vs on euery side But notwithstanding these pleadings and complaints the most of vs put the day of death farre from vs and would haue it rather to be the lot of others then to belong to our selues beeing heerein like to ſ Cuspinian Hist Vespasian who seeing at once two presages of his death a blasing Comet and a gaping Sepulchre turnd them both from himselfe forced thē on others saying the sepulcher gaped for the old Empresse Iulia and the blasing starre pretended the death of the King of Persia which ware long haire thus wee dallie and delude our selues yea in a vaine perswasion that we shall see many daies wee sing sweete lullabies to our senslesse soules like to the rich corn-hoorder in the 12. of Luke who hauing plentie and for the same safe custodie promised to himselfe a kind of eternity saying t Luk. 12. 19. 20 Soule take thine ease and why thou hast goods layed vp for many yeeres But alas one day of ease did he not see Foole saith God this night thy soule shall bee taken from thee and thou shalt not liue to inioy that pelfe which made thee ioy to liue but as hitherto thou hast led a life euer dying so now thou must goe to a death neuer ending this beeing the last will and testament of such wealthy worldlings u Bern. Relinquunt diuitias mundo corpus sepulchro animam diabolo They leaue and bequeath their riches to the world their bodies to the graue their soules to the Diuell Simil. And as the sumpter-horses of great personages gaine nothing by their great burdens of siluer plate and other treasures wherewith they are loaden but a gauled backe for when they come to their Inne or iourneys end their treasure is taken from them and they tired and gauled as they bee are turned into a filthy stable so wretched worldlie men get nothing by their coffers crambde with crownes their barnes filled with corne their bags stuft with coyne but a conscience pittifully gauled with many a grieuous crime and when they are come to the iourneys end of a toilsome life stripped of all they had and thrust tired and gauled tortured and grieued as they bee into the stinking stable of hell hauing nothing there but vglie serpents for their daintiest food damned ghosts for their best company horrible shriekings for their chiefest musicke and weeping gnashing of teeth for their choisest mirth This doubtles is the case of all careles and secure persons they may wanton it for a time but shall want at last they may state it and stoute it too but shall stoope at last and though they haue now the summe of their vnsanctified desires they shall haue at length their full deserts Alas these deceiue themselues much by mistaking their tenure taking that to be a free gift which God intends for loane and holding themselues owners not onely of lands but of life too in fee-simple whereof they are but depositaries and tenants at will But be not thou deceiued ô man whatsoeuer thou art which hearest mee this day bee not deceiued God is not mocked thy daies are numbred away thou must death mounting on his x Reu. 6. 2. pale horse is posting towards thee here is not thy rest thou dwellest in a house of clay in a tent pitched to day remooued to morrow Thou art a Didapper peering vp and downe in a moment and as Aristotle rightly termes thee thou art Fortunae lusus inconstantiae Aristotle apud Sto◠imago temporis spolium imbecillitatis exemplum Miserable infirmitie such is thy person foolish inconstancy such is thy prosperity inconstant honour such is thy crowne sinnes sorrowes sickenesses such thy comforters and companions depart thou must and be gone God knowes how soone Serius aut citius mortis properamus ad oras It is not eminency of office or dignity can priuiledge thee for Dauid in the z Psalm 82. 6. 82. Psalm setteth men as high as they may goe I haue saide yee are Gods nuncupatiuè not substantiuè as the schoolmen note and the children of the most high This is mans aduancement But hee bringeth them as low and hath a But for them But ye shall dy like men and ye princes great ones shall fall like others heere is his abasement Hee that made the world at first of nothing can mar the greatest in a
moment he bringeth Potentates to nothing and maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanity a Isa 40. 23. It is not the strength or statelinesse of any place or territory can protect thee For what Hormisda the Persian Ambassador said to Constantius the Emperor demanding of him how he liked the City of Rome with the Amphitheater the Capitoll and other such rich monuments as were shewed vnto him b Ammian marc lib. 16. In truth I thinke it the most glorious City in the world and all therein pleaseth me well but this that I see men die at Rome as else-where The same may truly bee auerred of all other places from which death cannot bee excluded but if it enter not in at the gates with full force it will ascend by the windows with great feare c Ier. 9. 21. To which purpose Socrates smilingly replied vnto his friends that would haue rescued him from the officers which were to put him to death No I will no longer liue except ye can tell me of a place without the territorie of Athens where men neuer die Lastly as no height of honour or estimation can priuiledge thee no safety and sweetnes of place protect thee so no power or pollicy can preserue thee from the fatall dart of death The King cannot saue himselfe by the multitude of his host d Psal 33. 16. Visuntur magni parua sepulchra Iouis saith the Poet Tamberlaine the terrour of the world died with three fits of an ague as e Paul Iouius de vit ill Paulus Iouius writeth Saladine that mighty pagan which wan the holy Land from the Christians in the height of his pride pompe was surprised by death hauing no greater solemnity at his funerals then this a Herauld carrying his shirt or shrowd on a speare or spade and crying aloud f G. Parad. in Heroic Hae sunt reliquiae victoris orientis These are the conquests of great Saladine Alexander that famous Monarch acknowledged in his owne person this humane frailty when in the Olympicke games falling in the dust and perceiuing therein the length of his body hee confessed with griefe that g Q. Curt. in vit Alex. seuen foote of ground were sufficient to make him a graue h Iuuenal Mors sola fatetur quantula sunt hominum corpuscula Wherefore bee our daies neuer so few or our yeeres neuer so full resolue we must wheresoeuer or in what state soeuer wee bee to come ere long to the gates of death there is we see no meanes of withdrawing no place of absenting no power of resisting God alone can say i Exod. 3. 14. sum qui sum I am what I am and will be what I haue bene Men can say nothing else but I am and shall not be Witnesse this the Lacedaemonians song of three parts wherein the Elders sang wee haue beene strong and are not now the Youth replied wee shall bee strong but Plutarch are not yet the Middle-aged sang wee are now strong but shall not be Witnesse this Iobs sonnes at a banquet k Iob 1. 19. suddenly destroied l Iudg. 9. 53. Abimelech brained Holofernes beheaded Adrian with a Gnat and Leo with a flie both Popes suddainely choaked What shall I say more All mankind must needs sing this Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possimus esse quod hic est wee are or haue beene or may soone bee such as this breathles subiect is The dolefull pageant of whose mortality is heere presented to our sight hauing in euery colour a speaking griefe in euery griefe a mourning tongue able to worke sad thoughts in our harts if not to wring salt teares from our eies So that Hesiod may tell of Nectar Hesiod Ambrosia and sweete wine of the Gods which will make men immortall and Pliny may pratle Pliny of the Herbe Moly which hee saith hath vertue to make an old man yongue and Historians may write of certaine fortunate Ilands where exceeding long liuers for their prolonged life are called Macrobioi But alas these fables reiected nothing can bee indeed inuented whereby life may be prolonged beyond its limited time as burning torches wee are dailie consumed as potters vessels euery houre endangered Yea so dangerous a Sea is this world wherein we are wafted so boysterous are the winds and waues of woe wherewith we are tossed and so extreamly hazardous are the rockes of profit pleasure and preferment against which the silly Barke of our soules is carried that in euery calme we feare a storme in euery storme wee are swallowed quicke in all our ease we looke for paine in euery paine wee pine away in all our rest wee feele disease in each disease wee post to death The very elements themselues by burning infecting drow ning and swallowing many becomming caters for our corruption who were at first created for our consolation Yea all things in this life making way like a marshall for death that shee may triumphantly passe through the field of this world ouer the carkases of her slaine Thus death rules on earth as eternity in heauen there all liue heere all die m Hoâ— Omnes vna manet nox calcanda semel via Lethi It is n Iosh 23. 14. the way of all the world o Sen. Epist 25 Hac conditione intraui vt exirem said Socrates All both good and bad are actors on the stage of mortality enery one acting a part some of lesse some of greater dignity and the play beeing ended exeunt omnes euery one goes off the stage and as Chesse-men without difference Simil. they are swept from the table of this world wherein one was a King another a Queene a third a Bishop or Knight into the earths wide receptacle The onely distinction betwixt good and bad beeing this that the good are alwaies actors of a Comedy and howsoeuer they beginne they end merrily but the bad are actors of a Tragedy and howsoeuer they beginne or proceede yet their end is miserable their Catastrophe lamentable Death beeing to the wicked the diuels seriant to arrest them and carry them without bayle to a prison of vtter darkenesse which to the godly is the Lords Gentleman vsher to conduct them to a pallace of euerlasting happinesse yea death beeing to the one as Sathans cart to carry them presenly to execution in hell which to the other is as Elias his firie Chariot to mount them vp to heauen For p Eccl. 11. 3. Olimpiod As the tree falleth so it lyeth As a man dyeth in the fauour or disfauour of God so without changing or recalling hee remaineth Vnusquisque cum causa sua dormit cum causa sua resurgit as D. Austin speaketh And to conclude Aug. this point on euery mans particular death his particular iudgement attendeth either of the soules eternall blisse in heauen or euerlasting woe in hell which all the praises praiers and preaching of men Saints or Angels