exspiras now thou art breathing anon thy breath is gone It dealeth with the arke of thy body as the doue with the Arke of Noah which goeth forth and commeth in and goeth forth and neuer cometh backe againe So doth thy breath But he that is sicke of a sicknesse indeed a sicknesse that is mali moris as the Physitians speake such as this sicknesse of Hezekiah was bitternesse bitternesse hath but a short reckoning to make to the houre of his dying For it fareth with the bodie of man as with a vessell of wine in a frugall house being kept for our selues and our friends which drinke moderately it is long in drawing but if sponges and tunnels and barrels come to it such as are mightie to drinke and strong to poure in they will spend that in a day which would haue serued a long time So may the thread of my life be long in spinning to the fortieth or fiftieth yeare thereof it may be ad terminum constitutum Iob 14. vnto mine old age for that is the bounder of nature and maledictus qui transfert terminos Deut. 27. that thinketh being old to liue long Huic vni aetati non interceditur there is no dispensation for this age but if such quaffers shall come as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a burning feuer or the like malignant diseases that drinke vp humidu naturale all the moisture in my bodie at once and drie it vp like an harth or like a bottle hung vp in the smoke that is done in an houre a moment which had not else bene done in many yeares to come Now but in a word consider the person that is sicke it is Hezekiah the King If any person in the earth be capable of that style Viue in aeternum liue for euer it is a King What wanteth a King of all the beasts of the field or fowles of the aire or fishes of the sea what either nature can affoord or Art condite to the diet of his bodie comfort of his heart refreshing of his spirits It seemeth by a phrase vsed by the holy Ghost that a King wanteth nothing Nabal feasteth like a King 1. Sam. 25. Araunah offereth to Dauid like a King 2. Sam. 24. the Corinthians reigne like Kings 1. Cor. 4. and yet is Hezekiah the King sick vsque ad mortem vers 1. euen vnto death that is bitterly bitterly death had stretched forth her hand against him as Ieroboam against the Prophet to haue smitten him 1. Reg. 13. but that the Lord withered it What is the reason Sum quidem ego mortalis homo 7. Sap. for I my selfe saith the King am also a mortall man There is no difference in nature betwixt a King and a meaner person Interuallis distinguimur exitu aequamur we differ in condition agree in dissolution When Diogenes was poring amongst dead mens bones Alexander asked him what he did there he answered I seeke the bones of Philip thy father King of Macedon but cannot find them I may well apply the words of the Psalme to them Constitue Domine legislatorem super eos sciant se esse homines Set thou ô Lord a Law-giuer or Ruler ouer them that they may know they are but men They giue lawes to the earth and death to them and her law is an euen equall law to King and people all alike It is a probleme worthy the inquiring sith other creatures are subiect to death no lesse then man why Mortale is placed in the definition of man alone It is a parallell to this and one answer may serue to both which the Prophet hath Psalme 82. I haue said you are gods but ye shall die like men Why like men rather then other creatures I will not giue that eminent and conspicuous reason that when beasts die by reason that their soules arise from the matter of their flesh they die and die thorowly so is it not with man but first he dieth and endeth not there but after death Iudgement Hebrewes 9. I should rather say that beasts for the more part liue out their time determinate by nature til nature be annihilated vnlesse violēce and casuality come betweene the Elephant liueth longer then the Hart the Hart then the Lion the Lion then the Horse the Horse then the Dog all to their full age vnlesse they be forced out of life but man dieth in his infancie and oftener in this then any other age no sooner saluteth the light of heauen but he biddeth farewell to it and that which is more death entreth the very secrets of nature the vault of the wombe and with her Lynces eyes findeth out the wayes which the Eagle and Kite neuer found out and killeth the babe in the wombe before it commeth forth You haue heard of the sicknesse Adde thereunto the time that his sicknesse watched In my peace Victor timere quid potest said he in the Tragedie and it is answered with a breath Quod non timet Hezekiah had newly escaped from the iawes of a fearefull King one that vaunted himselfe that with the soles of his feet he had dried vp the riuers of the earth thought like Leuiathan to haue drunke vp him and his kingdome who asked in the pride of his heart where the Kings of Arphad and Hemah and Zepharuaim were and Hezekiah Let not thy God deceiue thee in whom thou trustest and he would make the people to eate their dung and drinke their water Now he is fallen afresh into the hands of the King of feares as Iob calleth him Iob 18. and feare of Kings who is Rex super omnes filios superbiae Iob 41. who may say with much more confidence then euer Zenacherib did Where euer my foote treadeth I drie vp the riuers riuers of bloud in the veines and of milke in the breasts and of marrow in the bones and aske for the Kings of Arphad and Hemah and Zepharuaim and Zenacherib himselfe and admonish the Kings of the earth Let not your gods your Idols of greatnesse and glorie and maiestie deceiue you wherein you trust and cause them to eate the dust of the ground and that the slime of the pit shall be sweet to them Ecce cùm dixerint pax pax Behold when men shall cry peace peace sudden destruction shall come vpon them I will vse the words of the Prophet 1. Reg. 14. I will do it in hac die in tempore hoc at that day and at that time Quid etiam nunc what yea at this very instant Ecce in pace at this very instant of time when Hezekiah thought he had clipt the wings of peace that it should neuer flie away againe when strangers from abroad saluted him Estne pax frater is all well when he did not much lesse then say to his soule Anima quiesce Soule take thine ease flagellum transijt non veniet the scourge is past and shall neuer
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
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