conclude this point touching physicke I will here set downe two especiall duties of the physitian himselfe The first is that in the want and defect of such as are to put sicke men in minde of their sinnes it is a duty specially concerning him he being a member of Christ to aduertise his parties that they must truely humble themselues and pray feruently to God for the pardon of all their sinnes and surely this dutie would be more commonly practised then it is if all physitians did consider that oftentimes they want good successe in their dealings not because there is any want in arte or good will but because the partie with whome they deale is impenitent The second duty is when he sees manifest signes of death in his patient not to depart concealing them but first of all to certifie the patient therof There may bee and is too much nicenes in such concealements and the plaine truth in this case knowne is very profitable For when the partie is certen of his end it bereaues him of all confidence in earthly things makes him put all his affiance in the meere mercie of God When Ezechias was sicke the Prophet speakes plainely to him and saith Set thine house in order for thou must die And what good wee may reape by knowing certainly that we haue receiued the sentence of death Paul sheweth when he saith we receiued the sentence of death in our selues because we should not trust in our selues but in God that raiseth the dead Hauing thus seene what bee the duties of the sicke man to himselfe let vs now see what bee the duties which hee oweth to his neighbour and they are two The first is the dutie of reconciliation whereby hee is freely to forgiue all men and to desire to be forgiuen of all In the olde testament when a man was to offer a bullocke or lambe in sacrifice to God he must leaue his offering at the altar and first go and bee reconciled to his brethren if they had ought against him much more then must this be done when we are in death to offer vp our selues our bodies and soules as an acceptable sacrifice vnto God Question What if a man cannot come to the speech of them with whome he would be reconciled or if he doe what if they will not be reconciled Answ. When any shall in their sicknesse seeke and desire reconciliation and cannot obtaine it either because the parties are absent or because they will not relent they haue discharged their conscience and God will accept their will for the deede As put case a man lying sicke on his death bedde is at enmitie with one that is beyond the sea so as he cannot possibly haue any speech with him if he would neuer so faine how shall he stay his minde why he must remember that in this case a will and desire to be reconciled is reconciliation it selfe The second duty is that those which are rulers gouernours of others must haue care take order that their charges committed to them by God be left in good estate after their death here come three duties to be handled the first of the Magistrate the second of the Minister the third of the Master of the family The Magistrates duty is before he die to prouide as much as he can for the godly peaceable estate of the towne citie or common-wealth and that is done partly by procuring the maintenance of sound religion and vertue and partly by establishing of the execution of ciuil iustice and outward peace Examples of the practise in Gods word are these Whē Moses was an hundred and twentie yeare old and was no more able to go in and out before the people of Israel he called them before him and signified that the time of his departure was at hand and thereupon tooke order for their wel-fare after his death And first of all he placed Iosua ouer thē in his stead to be their guid to the promised land secondly he giues special charge to all the people to be valiant couragious against their enemies and to obey the commandements of God And Iosua followes the same course For he calls the people togither tells thē that the time of his death is at hand giues them a charge to be couragious and to worship the true God which done hee endes his daies as a worthy captaine When king Dauid was to goe the way of all flesh and lay sicke on his death-bed he placed his owne son Salomon vpon his throne and gaue him charge both for maintenance of religion and exequution of iustice The duty of Ministers when they are dying is as much as they can to cast and prouide for the continuance of the good estate of the Church ouer which they are placed Consider the example of Peter I will saith he indeauour alwaies that yee also may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departure If this had bin wel obserued there could not haue bin such aboundance of schismes errours and heresies as hath beene and the Church of God could not haue suffered so great hauocke But because mē haue had more care to maintaine personal successiō then the right succession which standes in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles therefore wolues haue come into the roomes of faithfull teachers the Apostasie of which Paul speaks hath ouerspread the face of the Church Thirdly housholders must set their families in order before they die as the Prophet Esay saieth to Ezechiah Set thine house in order for thou must die For the procuring of good order in the family after death two things are to bee done The first concernes this life and that is to dispose of landes and goods And that this may be well and wisely done if the Will be vnmade it is with godly aduise and counsell to be made in the time of sicknesse according to the practise of auncient worthy mē Abrahā before his death makes his will giues legacies so did Isaac and Iacob in whose last will and testament are contained many worthy blessings and prophesies of the estate of his childrē And Christ our Sauiour when he was vpon the crosse prouided for his mother specially commending her to his disciple Iohn whom hee loued And indeede this dutie of making a will is a matter of great weight and importance for it cuts off much hatred and contention in families and it staies many suites in lawe It is not therefore alwaies a matter of indifferencie which may be done or not done as many falsely thinke who vpon blinde and sinister respects abstaine from making wils either because their wealth should not bee knowne or because they would haue their decaied estate to be concealed or because they feare they shall die the sooner if the will be once made Now though the making of wils belong to another place and professiō yet so much
truth it selfe but I doe it for this ende that we might without wauering be resolued of the truth of this which Salomon auoucheth For there may be sundrie reasons brought to the contrarie Therfore let vs now haÌ„dle the question the reasons or obiections which may be alleadged to the contrarie may all bee reduced to sixe heads The first is taken from the opinion of wise men who think it the best thing of all neuer to bee borne the next best to die quickly Now if it be the best thing in the world not to bee borne at all then it is the worst thing that can bee to die after a man is borne Answ. There be two sorts of men one that liue and die in their sinnes without repentance the other which vnfainedly repent beleeue in Christ. Now this sentence maybe truly auouched of the first of whome wee may say as Christ said of Iudas It had bin good for him that he had neuer bin borne But the saying applied to the second sort of men is false For to them that in this life turne to God by repentance the best thing of all is to bee borne because their birth is a degree of preparation to happinesse and the next best is to die quickly because by death they enter into possessioÌ„ of the same their happinesse For this cause Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous and Salomon in this place prefers the day of death before the day of birth vnderstaÌ„ding that death which is ioyned with godly life or the death of the righteous The second obiection is taken from the testimonies of Scripture Death is ths wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 it is an enemy of Christ 1. Cor. 15. and the curse of the lawe Hence it seemes to followe that in and by death men receiue their wages paiment for their sinnes that the day of death is the dolefull day in which the enemie preuailes against vs that he which dieth is cursed Answ. We must distinguish of death it must be considered two waies first as it is by it selfe in his own nature secoÌ„dly as it is altered changed by Christ. Now death by it selfe considered is indeed the wages of sinne an enemie of Christ of all his members the curse of the law yea the very suburbs and the gates of hell yet in the second respect it is not so For by the vertue of the death of Christ it ceaseth to be a plague or punishment and of a curse it is made a blessing and is become vnto vs a passage or middle-way betweene this life and eternall life and as it were a litle wicket or doore whereby wee passe out of this world and enter into heauen And in this respect the saying of Salomon is most true For in the day of birth men are borne brought forth into the vale of misery but afterward when they goe hence hauing death altered vnto theÌ„ by the death of Christ they enter into eternall ioy and happinesse with al the Saints of God for euer The third obiection is taken from the exaÌ„ples of most worthie men who haue made their prayers against death As our Sauiour Christ who praied on this manner Father if it bee thy will let this cup passe from mee yet not my will but thy will bee done And Dauid praied Returne O Lord dâ—liuer my soule saue me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall praise thee And Ezechiah when the Prophet Esay bade him set his house in order and told him that he must die wept sore that in respect of death Now by the examples of these most worthy men yea by the example of the sonne of God himself it may seeme that the day of death is the most terrible doleful day of all Ans. WheÌ„ our Sauiour Christ praied thus to his father he was in his agonie and he then as our Redeemer stood in our roome and stead to suffer all things that we should haue suffered in our own persons for our sinnes and therefore hee praied not simply agaiÌ„st death but against the cursed death of the crosse and he feared not death it selfe which is the separation of body and soule but the curse of the lawe which went with death namely the vnspeakable wrath and indignation of God The first death troubled him not but the first and second ioyned togither Touching Dauid wheÌ„ he made the sixt Psalme he was not onely sicke in body but also perplexed with the greatest temptation of all in that hee wrestled in conscience with the wrath of God as appeares by the words of the text where hee saith Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath And by this we see that hee praied not simply against death but against death at that instant wheÌ„ he was in that grieuous temptation for at other times hee had no such feare of death as hee himselfe testifieth saying Though I should walke thorough the valley of the shadowe of death I will feare no euill Therefore he praied against death only as it was ioyned with the appreheÌ„sion of Gods wrath Lastly Ezechiah prayed against death not onely because he desired to liue and doe seruice to God in his kingdome but vpon a further and more speciall regard because when the Prophet brought the message of death hee was without issue and had none of his owne bodie to succeede him in his kingdome It will be said what warrant had Ezechiah to pray against death for this cause Ans. His warrant was good for God had made a particular promise to Dauid his posteritie after him that so long as they feared God walked in his commandemeÌ„ts they should not want issue to sit vpon the throne of the kingdome after them Now Ezechiah at the time of the Prophets message remembring what promise God had made and how he for his part had kept the coÌ„dition thereof in that hee had walked before God with an vpright heart and had done that which was acceptable in his sight hee praied against death not so much because hee feared the danger of it but because he wanted issue This praier God accepted and heard and he added fifteene yeares vnto his daies two yeares after gaue him Manasses The fourth obiection is that those which haue been reputed to be of the better sort of men ofteÌ„times haue miserable ends for some end their daies despairing some rauing and blaspheming some straungely tormented it may seeme therefore that the day of death is the day of greatest woe miserie To this I answer first of all generally that we must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by outward things whether they be blessings or iudgements whether they fal in life or death For as Salomon saith all things come like to all and the same condition is to the iust and the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted
A SALVE FOR A SICKE MAN or A treatise containing the nature differences and kindes of death as also the right manner of dying well And it may serue for spirituall instructruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell 3. Women when they trauell of child Printed at London by IOHN LEGAT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1611. And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crovvne by Simon Waterson To the right Honourable and vertuous Lady the Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford THe death of the righteous that is of euery beleeuing repentāt sinner is a most excellent blessing of God and brings with it many worthy benefits which thing I prooue on this manner I. God both in the beginning and in the continuance of his grace doth greater things vnto his seruants then they doe commonly aske or thinke and because he hath promised ayd strength vnto thē therefore in wonderfull wisedome hee casteth vp them this heauie burden of death that they might make experience what is the exceeding might and power of his grace in their weaknes II. Iudgement beginnes at Gods house and the righteous are laden with afflictions and temptations in this life therfore in this world they haue their deaths and hells that in death they might not feele the torments of hell and death III. When Lazarus was dead Christ said He is not dead but sleepeth hence it followeth that the Christian man can say My graue is my bed my death is my sleepe in death I die not but onely sleepe It is thought that of all terrible things death is most terrible but it is false to them that be in Christ to whome many things happen farre more heauie and bitter then death IV. Death at the first brought forth sinne but death in the righteous by meanes of Christs death abolisheth sinne because it is the accomplishment of mortification And death is so farre from destroying such as are in Christ that there can be no better refuge for them against death for presently after the death of the body followes the perfect freedome of the spirit and the resurrection of the bodie V. Lastly death is a meanes of a Christian mans perfection as Christ in his owne example sheweth saying Behold I will cast out diuels and will heale still to day and to morrow and the third I will be perfected Now this perfection in the members of Christ is nothing else but the blessing of God the author of peace sanctifying them throughout that their whole spirits and soules and bodies may be preserued without blame to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now hauing often thus considered with my selfe of the excellencie of death I thought good to draw the summe and chiefe heads thereof into this small treatise the protection and consideration whereof I commend to your Ladiship desiring you to accept of it and read it at your leisure If I bee blamed for Writing vnto you of death whereas by the course of nature you are not yet neere death Salomon wil excuse me who saith that wee must remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth Thus hoping of your H. good acceptance I pray God to blesse this my litle labour to your comfort and saluation Septemb. 7. 1595. Your H. in the Lord W. Perkins Eeclesiastes 7.3 The day of death is better then the day that one is borne THese words are a rule or precept laid down by Salomon for weightie causes For in the Chapters going before he sets forth the vanity of all creatures vnder heauen that at large in the very particulars Now men hereupon might take occasion of discontentment in respect of their estate in this life therefore Salomō in great wisdome here takes a new course in this chapter begins to lay downe certaine rules of direction and comfort that men might haue somwhat wherewith to arme themselues against the troubles and the miseries of this life The first rule is in this third verse that a good name is better then a pretious ointment that is a name gotten and maintained by godly conuersatiō is a speciall blessing of God which in the middest of the vanities of this life ministreth greater matter of reioicing and cōfort to the heart of man then the most pretious ointment can doe to the outward senses Now some man hauing heard this first rule concerning good name might obiect say that renowne good report in this life affoardes slender comfort cōsidering that after it followes death which is the miserable end of all men But this obiection the Wise man remooueth by a second rule in the wordes which I haue in hand saying that the day of death is better then the day that one is borne That wee may come to the true proper sense of this precept or rule three points are to be cōsidered First what is death here mentioned secondly how it can be truly said that the day of death is better then the day of birth thirdly in what respect it is better For the first death is a depriuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne First I say it is a depriuatiō of life because the very nature of death is the absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shewe that it was ordained as a meanes of the execution of Gods iustice iudgment And that death is a punishment Paul plainely auoucheth when he saith that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And againe that death is the stipend wages or allowance of sinne Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocency by a solemne law then made in these very words In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 But it may be alleadged to the contrary that the Lord saith by the Prophet Ezechiel that hee will not the death of a sinner therefore that hee is no ordainer of death The answer may easily be made that sundry waies First the Lord speakes not this to all men or of all men but to his owne people the Church of the Iewes as appeares by the clause prefixed Sonne of man say vnto the house of Israel c. Againe the words are not spoken absolutelu but onely in way of comparisoy in that of the twaine he rather wills the conuersion and repentance of a sinner then his death and destruction Thirdly the very proper meaning of the words import thus much that God doth take no delight or pleasure in the death of a sinner as it is the ruine and destruction of the creature And yet al this hinders not
themselues reckon a fewe yeares and daies that are able by arte to measure the globe of the earth and the spheres of heauen the quantities of the starres with their longitudes latitudes altitudes motions distances from the earth No verily For howesoeuer by a generall speculation we thinke something of our ends yet vnlesse the spirit of God be our schoole-master to teach vs our dutie wee shall neuer bee able soundly to resolue our selues of the presence and speedinesse of death And therfore let vs pray with Dauid and Moses that God would inlighten our minds with knowledge and fil our hearts with his grace that we might rightly consider of death and esteeme of euery day an houre as it were the day and houre of death The second dutie in this generall preparation is that euery man must daily indeauour to take away from his owne death the power and strength thereof And I pray you marke this point The Philistims sawe by experience that Sampson was of great strength therfore they vsed meanes to knowe in what part of his bodie it lay when they found it to be in the haire of his head they ceased not vntil it was cut off In like manner the time wil come whē we must encoūter hand to hand with tyranous and cruel death the best therefore is before-hand now while wee haue time to search where the strēgth of death lies which beeing once knowne we must with speed cut off his Sāpsons lockes and bereaue him of his power disarme him make him altogether vnable to preuaile against vs. Now to find out this matter we neede not to vse the councel of any Dalilah for wee haue the word of God which teacheth vs plaīly where the strength of death consists namly in our sins as Paul saith The sting of death is sinne Well then we knowing certenly that the power and force of euery mans partirular death lies in his owne sinnes must spend our time and studie in vsing good meanes that our sinnes may be remooued and pardoned And therefore we must daily inure our selues in the practise of two duties One is to humble our selues for al our sins past partly cōfessing thē against our selues partly in praier crying to heauē for the pardon of them The other is for time to come to turn vnto God and to carrie a purpose resolution indeauour in all things to reforme both hart life according to gods word These are the very principall proper duties wherby the power of death is much rebated he is made of a mighty bloody enemie so far forth friendly and tractable that we may with comfort incounter with him preuaile too Therefore I commend these duties to your christian considerations carefull practise desiring that ye would spend your daies euer hereafter in doing of them If a man were to deale with a mighty dragon or serpent hand to hand in such wise as he must either kill or be killed the best thing were to bereaue him of his sting or of that part of the body where his poison lies now death it selfe is a serpent dragon or scorpion sinne is the sting and poison whereby he wounds kils vs. Wherefore without any more delay see that ye pull out his sting the practise of the foresaid duties is as it were a fit worthy instrument to do the deed Hast thou beene a person ignorant of Gods will a contemner of his word and worship a blasphemer of his name a breaker of his Sabbaths disobedient to parents and magistrates a murderer a fornicatour a rayler a slanderer a couetous persō c. reforme these thy sinnes and all other like to them pull thē out by the rootes from thy heart cast them off So many sinnes as be in thee so many stings of death be also in thee to wound thy soule to eternal death therfore let no one sin remaine for which thou hast not humbled thy selfe and repented seriously When death hurts any man it takes the weapons whereby he is hurt from his owne hand It cannot do vs the least hurt but by the force of our owne sins Wherefore I say againe and againe lay this point to your hearts spend your strength life and health that ye may before ye die abolish the strength of death A man may put a serpent in his bosome when the sting is out we may let death creepe into our bosomes and gripe vs with his legs and stab vs at the heart so long as he brings not his venime and poison with him And because the former duties are so necessary as none can be more I wil vse some reasons yet furder to inforce thē Whatsoeuer a man would doe when he is dying the same he ought to doe euery day while he is liuing now the most notorious and wicked person that euer was when he is dying will pray and desire others to pray for him promise amendment of life protesting that if he might liue he would become a practitioner in all the good duties of faith repentance reformation of life Oh therfore be careful to do this euery day Again the saying is true he that would liue when he is dead must die while he is aliue namely to his sins Wouldest thou then liue eternally sue to heauen for thy pardon and see that now in thy life-time thou die to thine own sinnes Lastly wicked Balaam would faine die the death of the righteous but alas it was to small purpose for he would by no means liue the life of the righteous For his cōtinual purpose and meaning was to follow his olde waies in sorceries couetousnesse Now the life of a righteous man standes in the humbling of himself for his sinnes past and in a carefull reformatiō of life to come Wouldest thou then die the death of the righteous then looke vnto it that thy life be the life of the righteous if ye will needes liue the life of the vnrighteous yee must looke to die the death of the vnrighteous Remēber this and content not your selues to heare the word but be doers of it for ye learn no more indeed what measure of knowledge soeuer ye haue then ye practice The third dutie in our generall preparation is in this life to enter into the first degree of life eternal For as I haue said there be three degrees of life euerlasting and the first of them is in this present life for hee that would liue in eternall happines for euer must beginne in this world to rise out of the graue of his owne sinnes in which by nature he lies buried and liue in newnesse of life as it is said in the Reuelation He that will escape the second death must be made partaker of the first resurrection And Paul saith to the Colossians that they were in this life deliuered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the kingdom of Christ. And Christ saith to the
death and directly fixe the eye of his faith vpon eternall life The second practise is to looke vpon death in the glasse of the Gospel and not in the glasse of the Law that is we must consider death not as it is propounded in the Lawe and looke vpon that terrible face which the law giueth vnto it but as it is set forth in the Gospel Death in the law is a curse and the downe-fall to the pit of destruction in the Gospel it is the entrance into heauen the lawsets forth death as death the Gospel sets forth death as no death but as a sleepe onely because it speakes of death as it is altered changed by the death of Christ by the vertue whereof death is properly no death to the seruants of God Whē men shall haue care on this manner to consider of death it will be a notable meanes to strengthen and stablish them against al immoderate feares terrours that vsually rise in sicknesse The meditations which serue for this purpose are innumerable but I wil touch onely those which are the most principall and the grounds of the rest and they are foure in number The first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the death of euery man much more of euery childe of God is not onely foreseene but also foreappointed of God yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his sins is laid vpon him by God who in that respect may be said to be the cause of euery mans death So saith Anna The Lord killeth and maketh aliue The Church of Hierusalem confessed that nothing came to passe in the death of Christ but that which the foreknowledge and eternal counsel of God had appointed And therfore the death also of euery member of Christ is foreseene and ordained by the speciall decree and prouidence of God I adde further that the very circūstances of death as the time when the place where the manner how the beginning of sickenes the continuance the end euery fitte in the sicknes the pangs of death are particularly set downe in the counsell of God The very haires of our heads are numbred saith our Sauiour Christ and a sparrowe lights not on the groūd without the will of our heauenly father Dauid faith excellētly My bones are not hid from thee though I was made in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth thine eyes did see me when I was without forme for in thy booke were al things written which in continuance were fashioned whē there was nine of them before And he praies to God to put his teares into his bottle Now if this be true that God hath bottles for the very teares of his seruants much more hath hee bottles for their blood much more doth he respect and regard their paines and miseries with all the circumstances of sicknesse and death The carefull meditation of this one point is a notable meanes to arme vs against feare and distrust impatience in the time of death as some examples in this case will easily manifest I held my tongue said nothing saith Dauid but what was it that caused this patience in him the cause followes in these words because thou Lord diddest it And Ioseph saith to his brethren Feare not for it was the Lord that sent me before you Marke here how Ioseph is armed against impatience and griefe discontentment by the very consideration of gods prouidence and so in the same māner shall we be cōfirmed against all feares and sorrowes and say with Dauid Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints if this perswasion be once setled in our hearts that all things in sicknes death come to passe vnto vs by the prouidence of god who turnes all things to the good of them that loue him The second meditation is to be borrowed from the excellent promise that God hath made to the death of the righteous which is Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them The author of truth that cannot lie hath spoken it Now then let a man but throughly consider this that death ioyned with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioined vnto it and it alone will be a sufficient meanes to stay the rage of our affections and al inordinate feare of death and the rather if we marke wherein this blessednesse consists In death we are indeede thrust out of our olde dwelling places namely these houses of clay earthly tabernacles of our bodies wherein we haue made long abode but what is the ende surely that liuing dying in Christ we might haue a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in heauen which is vnspeakeable immortall glory If a poore man should bee commanded by a Prince to put off his torne and beggery garments and in stead thereof to put on royal and costly robes it would bee a great reioycing to his heart oh then what ioyfull newes must this bee vnto all repentant and sorrowfull sinners when the king of heauen and earth comes vnto thē by death and bids them lay downe their bodies as ragged and patched garments and prepare thēselues to put on the princely robe of immortalitie No tongue can be able to expresse the excellency of this most blessed and happy estate The third meditation is borrowed from the estate of all thē that are in Christ whether liuing or dying He that dieth beleeuing in Christ dieth not forth of Christ but in him hauing both his body and soule really coupled to Christ according to the tenour of the couenant of grace and though after death body soule be seuered one from another yet neither of thē are seuered or disioyned from Christ. The coniunction which is once begun in this life remaines eternally And therefore though the soule goe from the body the body it selfe rot in the graue yet both are still in Christ both in the couenant both in the fauour of god as before death both shal again be ioined togither the body by the vertu of the former cōiunctiō being raised to eternall life Indeed if this vniō with Christ were dissolued as the cōiunctiō of body soule is it might be sōe matter of discomfort and feare but the foundation and substance of our mysticall coniunction with Christ both in respect of our bodies and soules enduring for euer must needes be a matter of exceeding ioy and comfort The 4. meditation is that god hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence vnto his seruants when they are sicke or dying or any way distressed When thou passest thorough the waters I will bee with thee saith the Lord and through the flouds that they doe not ouerflowe thee when thou walkest thorough the very fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the
may be spoken here as the holy Ghost hath vttered in the word and that I wil reduce to certaine rules The first is that the will must be made according to the law of nature and the written word of God and the good and wholesome positiue lawes of that kingdom or cuntry wherof a man is a member The will of God must be the rule of mans will And therefore the will that is made against any of these is faultie The second is that if goods euill gotten be not restored before they must euen then be restored by will or by some other way It is the practise of couetous mē to bequeath their soules when they die to God withall to bequeath their goods euill gotten to their children friends which in all equitie should bee restored to them to whom they belong Quest. Howe if a mans conscience tell him that his goods be euill gotten and he knowes not where or to whome to make restitution Ans. The case is common the answer is this When he is known whom thou hast wronged restore to him particularly if the partie be vnknown or dead restore to his executors or assignes or to his next kin if there be none yet keepe not goods euill gotten to thy selfe but restore to God that is in way of recompence and ciuil satisfaction bestow them on the Church or common-wealth The third rule is that heads of families must principally bestowe their goods on their owne children and them that be of their kindred This man saith God to Abraham of Eleazar a straunger shall not be thine heire but the son which shal come of thy loynes And this was Gods commaundemēt to the Israelites that when any man dies his sonne should be his heire if he haue no sonne then his daughter if he haue no daughter then his brethren and if he haue no brethren then his fathers brethren and if that there be none then the next of the kinne whosoeuer And Paul saith If ye be sonnes then also heires and againe He that prouides not for his owne and namely for them of his houshold is worse then an infidell Therefore it is a fault of any man to alienate his goods or lands wholly finally from his blood and posteritie It is a thing which the very law of nature it selfe hath condemned Againe it is a fault to giue all to the eldest and nothing in respect to the rest as though the eldest were borne to be gentlemen yonger brethren borne to beare the wallet Yet in equitie the eldest must haue more then any euen because he is the eldest because stocks and families in their persons are to be maintained and because there must alwaies be some that must be fitte to doe speciall seruice in the peace of the common weale or in the time of warre which could not be if goods should be equally parted to al. The fourth and last rule is that no Will is of force till the testatour be dead for so long as he is aliue he may alter and change it These rules must be remembred because they are recorded in Scripture the opening of other points circumstances belongeth to the profession of the law The second dutie of the master of the familie concerneth the soules of such as be vnder his gouernment and that is to giue charge to them that they learne beleeue and obey the true religion that is the doctrine of Saluation set downe in the writings of the Prophets Apostles The Lord himselfe cōmends Abraham for this I knowe Abraham saith he that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to doe righteousnes and iudgement And Dauid giues Salomon on his death-bed a most notable solemne charge the summe and substance whereof is to know the God of his fathers and to serue him which beeing done he further commends him to God by prayer for which purpose the 72. psal was made This practise of his is to be followed of all Thus gouernours when they shall carefully dispose of their goods and giue charge to their posteritie touching the worship of God shall greatly honour God dying as well as liuing Hitherto I haue intreated of the two-fold preparatiō which is to goe before death now follows the second part of Dying-well namely the disposition in death This disposition is nothing els but a religious and holy behauiour specially towards God when we are in or neare the agonie and pang of death This behauiour containes three speciall duties The first is to die in or by faith To die by faith is whē a man in the time of death doth with all his heart rely himselfe wholly on Gods speciall loue and fauoure and mercie in Christ as it is reuealed in the word And though there be no part of mans life void of iust occasions whereby we may put faith in practise yet the speciall time of all is the pang of death when friends and riches and pleasures and the outward senses temporall life all earthly helpes forsake vs. For then true faith maketh vs to go wholly out of our selues and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of an earthly thing with all the power strength of the heart to rest on the pure mercie of God This made Luther both thinke and say that men were best Christians in death An example of this faith we haue in Dauid who when he sawe nothing before his eies but present death the people intending to stone him comforted him at that very instant as the text saith in the Lord his God And this comfort he reaped in that by faith he applied vnto his own soule the mercifull promises of God as he testifieth of himselfe Remember saith he the promise made to thy seruant wherein thou hast caused me to trust It is my comfort in trouble for thy promise hath quickned me Againe My flesh failed and my heart also but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer Now looke what Dauid here did the same must euery one of vs do in the like case When the Israelites in the wildernes were stung with fierie serpents and lay at the point of death they looked vp to the brasen serpent which was erected by the appointment of God and were presently healed euen so when any man feeles death to drawe neere his fierie sting to pierce the heart he must fixe the eye of a true and liuely faith vpon Christ exalted and crucified on the crosse which beeing done he shal by death enter into eternall life Now because true faith is no dead thing it must be expressed by especiall actions the principall whereof is inuocation wherby either praier or thanksgiuing is directed vnto God When death had seazed vpon the body of Iacob he raised vp himselfe and turning his face towards the beddes head
he rehearsed the whole one fiftie psalme with deepe sighes froÌ„ the bottome of his breast 7. a litle after Saue me Lord Iesus Of Luther My heauenly Father God and father of our Lord Iesus Christ God of all comfort I giue thee thanks that thou hast reuealed vnto me thy son Iesus Christ whom I haue beleeued whom I haue professed whome I haue loued whome I haue praised whome the Bishop of Rome and the whole companie of the wicked persecuteth and reuileth I pray thee my Lord Iesus Christ receiue my poore soule my heauenly father though I be taken from this life and this bodie of mine is to be laid downe yet I know certeÌ„ly that I shall remaine with thee for euer neither shall any be able to pull me out of thy hand Of Hooper O Lord Iesus son of Dauid haue mercie on me and receiue my soule Of Annas Burgius Forsake me not O Lord least I forsake thee Of Melancthon If it be the will of God I am willing to die and I beseech him that he will graunt me a ioyfull departure Of Calvine 1. I held my tongue because thou lord hast done it 2. I mourned as a doue 3. Lord thou grindest me to powder but it suffiâ—ceth me because it is thy hand Of Peter Martyr that his body was weake but his minde was well that hee acknowledged no life or saluation but only in Christ who was giuen of the father to bee a redeemer of mankinde and when hee had confirmed this by testimonie of Scripture he added This is my faith in which I will die and God will destroy them that teach otherwise This done he shooke haÌ„ds with all and said Farewell my brethren and deare friends It were easie to quote more examples but these fewe may bee in stead of many the summe of al that godlymeÌ„ speake in death is this Some enlightned with a prophetical spirit foretell things to come as the Patriarkes Iacob and Ioseph did and there haue bin some which by name haue testified who should very shortly came after them and who should remaine aliue and what should be their condition some haue shewed a wonderfull memorie of things past as of their former life and of the benefits of God no doubt it was giuen them to stirre vp holy affections and thanksgiuing to God some againe rightly iudging of the change of their present estate for a better doe reioyce exceedingly that they must be translated from earth to paradise as Babylas Martyr of Antioch when his head was to be chopped off Returne saith he O My soule vnto thy rest because the lord hath blessed thee because thou hast deliuered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my feete froÌ„ falling I shall walke before Iehoua in the land of the liuing And some others spake of the vanity of this life of the imaginatioÌ„ of the sorrowes of death of the beginnings of eternall life of the comfort of the holy Ghost which they feele of their departure vnto Christ. Quest. What must we thinke if in the time of death such excellent speeches bewanting and in stead thereof idle talke be vsed Answ. We must consider the kinde of sicknesse whereof meÌ„ die whether it be more easie or violent for violent sicknesse is vsually accompanied with frensies and with vnseemely motions and gestures which we are to take in good part euen in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case Thus much of the first duty which is to die in faith the second is to die in obedience otherwise our death cannot be acceptable to God because wee seeme to come vnto God of feare and constraint as slaues to a master and not of loue as children to a father Now to die in obedience is when a man is willing readie and desirous to goe out of this world whensoeuer God shall call him and that without murmuring or repining at what time where and when it shall please God Whether we liue or die saith Paul we doe it not to our selues but vnto God and therefore mans dutie is to be obedient to God in death as in life Christ is our example in this case who in his agonie praied Father let this cup passe froÌ„ me yet with a submission not my will but thy will be done teaching vs in the very pangs of death to resigne our selues to the good pleasure of God When the prophet tolde king Ezechias of death presently without all manner of grudging or repining hee addressed himselfe to praier We are commanded to present our selues vnto God as freewill offerings without any limitation of time and therefore as well in death as in life I conclude then that we are to make as much conscience in performing obedience to god in suffering death as wee doe of any conscience in the course of our liues The third dutie is to render vp our soules into the handes of God as the most faithfull keeper of all This is the last duty of a Christian and it is prescribed vnto vs in the example of Christ vpon the crosse who in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of bodie soule drewe on said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and so gaue vp the ghost The like was done by Steuen who when he was stoned to death said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And Dauid in his life time beeing in daunger of death vsed the very same words that Christ vttered Thus we see what be the duties which we are to perform in the very pangs of death that we may come to eternall life Some men will happily say If this be all to die in faith and obedience and to surrender our soules into Gods hands we will not greatly care for any preparatioÌ„ before-hand nor trouble our selues much about the right manner of dying well for we doubt not but that when death shall come we shall be able to performe all the former duties with ease Answer Let no man deceiue himselfe by any false perswasioÌ„ thinking with himselfe that the practise of the foresaid duties is a matter of ease for ordinarily they are not neither can bee performed in death vnles there be much preparation in the life before Hee that will die in faith must first of all liue by faith and there is but one example in all the whole Bible of a man dying in faith that liued without faith namely the thiefe vpon the crosse The seruants of God that are indued with great measure of grace do very hardly beleeue in the time of affliction Indeed when Iob was afflicted hee said Though the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him yet afterward his faith beeing ouercast as with a cloude he saith that God was become his enemy that he had set him as a marke to shoote at sundrie times his faith was oppressed with doubting and distrust How then shall they that neuer liued by faith nor inured