Sepulchre wherein vpon the Tomb or vpper stone therof were written or ingraued these words Here lieth Simil the Romaine Capitaine whose life though it were long yet for all that is reputed to liue but onely seauen yeares because in them hee retired himselfe from the Court and being freed of the cares and charge in Office which formerly was imposed vpon him he addicted himself to the studie of vertue to his owne meditations and godly exercises Damascen in his historie of Barlaam and Iosaphat reporteth Damasc histor Barla cap. 18. that when Iosaphat demanded of Barlaam of what age hee was of he made him this aunswere if I be not deceaued I am fourty and fiue yeares of age and so many yeares there are since I was borne What doest thou answere mee replied Iosaphat for thou seemest to mee that thou art past seauentie I mary sayed Barlaam if thou reckonest my yeares euer since I was borne into this world thou sayest right and art not deceaued for that I am past seauentie But those yeares doe by no meanes seeme vnto me yeares of life nor can such be reckoned in the Account which were spent and consumed in the vanities of this world because then as seruant to my sinnes I liued after the taste of my sensuality and appetite of my flesh and outward man being then without all doubt dead according to the inward mā and so I may not call them yeares of life which rather were yeares of death But after that by the grace of God I was crucified and dead to the world and the world to me and haue put off the olde man then liued I no more after my sensuality nor after the flesh being enemie to the Spirit but onely to Iesus Christ and those yeares I call yeares of life and saluation And I beleeue that all those who remaine in sinne and obey the diuell and consume their lyues in delights and vaine concupiscences are departed this life and dead because that Sin is the death of the soule Rom. 6.19.21 as affirmeth the blessed Apostle S. Paul Rom. 6.21 Godly S. Ierome expounding the first Chapter of the Prophet Haggai sayth Hieron in Agg. cap. 1. All that Time wherein we giue place to Sinne and serue our owne vices perisheth and will be lost and as though it had neuer beene shall be reputed for nought It is reported of Titus Vespasian that being one day at supper and calling to minde that in that day hee had shewed no curtesie nor rewarded any body nor had performed any good turne or done any good deede to any person hee spake with great feeling sorrow of heart to all them that were then present Oh my friends how grieuously sorie am I to haue lost this day Then let a Christian man holde for lost that day which by him is ill imployed and make that reckoning that hee shall haue nothing for it For manifestatiō of this truth that the yeares spent and consumed in vices and wickednesse are not properly OVRS Seneca saith Seneca That there are many who first must leaue to liue before they cā begin to liue Time sayeth that famous Doctor Thomas de Kempis was bestowed vpon vs Tho. de Kemp. 1. pag. Serm. ad Nouit cap. 7. to performe good works not for idlenesse nor to heare or rehearse olde tales fables vanities nor things of no value Wherefore my good Sonnes speaking to the Nouices in Religion let neither houre nor anie time ouerpasse you without some fruit and profit And when you are freely licensed to speake you are not permitted to talke or conferre about any other thing but what shall be commodious necessarie and profitable For as you are to giue reckoning to God almighty for euery idle word Mat. 12.36 so are you bound to yeeld a straite account for all the Time which you haue lost and ill imployed Ludouicus Blosius amongst other his exhortations which he giues to such as Lud. Blos purpose to leade a spirituall life aduiseth and sayth That he should regard and weigh the estimation and value of Time and esteem the least part thereof if ill spent how litle soeuer it be for a very great losse And that mysticall Thaulerus Io. Thauler amongst other documents admonitions hee giues to religious persons sayth Take heede and beware as from the most pestiferous poyson that is of the least losse of Time And so one of the Offences whereof the Remembrancers or Chequer-officers and our Accusers at the day of Iudgement shall accuse and taxe vs withall will be losse of Time according to that which the Prophet Ieremie in his Lamentations doth giue vs to vnderstand Lame 1.21 Vocauit aduersum me Tempus The Lord called Time to be witnesse against mee The which place Thomas of Aquine expoundeth of the day of iudgement Tho. de Aquin Sap. 5. because amongst other things wherof we are there to be charged burthened one will be Time Where all the whole orbe of the earth in defence of Gods honour will commence hard suite against all sottish senselesse sinners accusing thē requiring Iustice against them for the wrong and hurt they did against both their Creator the creatures by abusing and misimploying them and halling them by the haire against their wills to serue their owne lusts wicked appetites CHAP. 3. How GOD in his iust Iudgement cutteth off sinners frō enioying the benefit of Time who before made no reckoning thereof to profit themselues thereby as they ought and might haue done NOTwithstanding that solemne Oath of the Angell whereof wee spake in the first chapter that on some day Time should finish make an end of all in generall at the day of vniuersall Iudgement after which there should be no more Time to deserue either wel or ill or to make any sauing repentance And that euery man in particular in the last day of his life is to expect his owne peculiar Iudgement yet for all that it is greatly to be feared considered That God accustometh for the punishment of the heedlesse and negligent sinner to cut off Time from him to shorten his life least he should profit himselfe thereby as he ought and might haue done considering that hee hath ill imployed and mis-spent the same So teacheth that famous Bernardine de Sena S. Bern. art 3. cap. 4. and for proofe thereof citeth that place of the Apocalipse Apoc. 3.3 Si non vigilaueris veniam ad te tanquam fur If thou watch not I wil come on thee as a thiefe and thou shalt not know what houre I wil come vpon thee Whereupō God threatneth the carelesse sinner who frō day to day deferreth prolongeth his conuersion and amendment dreaming imagining that he shall haue Time enough yea to spare sayeth thus Be not negligent and carelesse neither iest nor dally thou with Time neither esteem the same so certaine so sure so long nor so at thy
in olde and decrepit age and is not so secure nor of such confidence and assurance Yet others expound them to the purpose we now treate of that is to say in other tearmes O Lord I feare and tremble that for my demerits and sinnes and for hauing so ill imployed my Time my life be cut off or shortened which is a punishment thou art wont to inflict vpon some who runne on in their wickednesse not regarding the exceeding infinite finite worth of Time And therefore do I earnestly entreate thee that I be not vnseasonably cut off taken away in the middest of my dayes but that thou suffer and permit me to inioy fully to accomplish the residue of my yeares which thou in thy determination hast appointed I should liue if I persisted obedient in thy seruice as I ought That holy and blessed man Iob the mirrour and patterne of all patience also saith speaking of the sinfull man Iob. 15.32 Antequam dies eius impleantur peribit c. Before that hee accomplish his dayes hee shall die and his hand shall be cut off as the vine in the bud that is to say God will take him away and shall cut him off in the blade being young and tender and shall fade and wither away before his time and in the middest of his dayes shal be bereaued of his life as being an vnworthie and vniust possessour thereof Ouer besides THIS being a great punishment in this life in the other the remembrance of Time which they enioyed suffered to passe away without any profit shall be a great paine and grieuous torment to the condemned ones and therfore shall then though all to late beholde and bewaile the lack and want of so precious a iewell Holy S. Bernard Bern. ser de fallâ—â— praesentis vitae Sap. 2. in a Sermon intituled of the fallacie and deceipt of this present life very elegantly declareth how it bewitcheth and deceiueth Sinners sometimes protracting and making their lyues long large whereby they might so defer and prolong their conuersion and amendement in such sort as they neuer afterwards amend indeede or are reclaimed and othertimes abridging it and making it short whereby they may truly say That life is short is but a blast and therefore let vs make hast to glut our selues with all maner of delights pleasures of the worlde Wherupon he saith that God amongst other things cutteth off such persons in the middest of their greedie appetites and licentiousnes for their impudencie in offending and bereaueth theÌ„ both of Time and of their lyues because such who of their owne accord haue no regard to leaue their wicked wayes GOD cutteth off before their time and chargeth them with death and by force constraineth them to forbeare to sinne any further And for that respect many sinners die verie improuidently vnwillinglie which the worlde iudgeth to happen vnto them by some accident or hidden indisposition or for some manifest casuastie pretending besides that those daies wherein they liued not in sinne were not true daies nor the life that they leade true life but painted and appearing Whereupon they are called in the holy Scripture Dead sinners 1. Tim. 5.6 Apoc. 3.1 The Widdowe saith the Apostle who liueth in pleasure is dead while she liueth And our Sauiour saith in the Reuelation vnto a certain Bishop who liued not as he ought Thou hast a name that thou liuest and the world thinkes no lesse but thou art not liuing but dead and for such I repute thee to be coÌ„sidering that thy soule remaineth dead within that liuing body of thine So as the sinner hath no life in deed but onely a name that he liueth To conclude therefore if that Time which the wicked vainely misspend and abuse cannot properly be termed a Time of life and that God oftentimes shorteneth the life and dayes of the wicked then doe they not nor shall LIVE as the worlde imagineth but shall be very poore sparing of dayes that is They shall die very timeously and speedily Contrariwise vpright and iust men shall be full of dayes and shall liue farre longer then the world supposeth for the Lord will not gather them into his barne vntill it be due season CHAP. 4. He that now inioyeth the benefit of TIME must with great feruencie and zeale labour to imploy it altogether well IF Time bee such a precious iewel bestowed vpon vs to do good workes and to labour in the vineyard of our Sauiour all the day long vntill Sunne set And if we profit not our selues therewith we may feare and tremble that it will be taken away from vs and that we shall want the same when we most desire and haue neede thereof It is good reason therefore that we imploy it well and that in the meane time with great earnestnes and zeale we labour in our vocation So Ecclesiastes aduiseth vs saying Eccles 9.10 Let thy hand labour ALL that it may and that with earnestnesse diligence feruencie and hast he sayth All as if he had sayd Let no good thought or imagination ouerslippe thee which thou mayst obtaine nor any good word which thou mayest heare Omit not any thing thou oughtest to vtter nor any good worke thou mayest performe forgoing neither occasion opportunitie nor time to do good And further he saith That which THY hand and not that which a stranger or another mans hand doth because thou must not rely or repose thy saluation vpon the hands power or streÌ„gth of any other neither oughtest thou imagine that thy seruant or thy friend or any other worldly person ought to gaine Heauen for thee thy selfe playing the Trewant and continuing lazie Thy hand and thy arme are to performe it and are to labor with greedinesse earnestnesse carefulnesse and zeale because life flits away and when thou least suspectest Thy Sun will set Reioyce that thou hast laboured much because thy rest and reward shall be so much the greater And the reason which the Preacher yeeldeth for al aboue sayd is because that after this life no worke either of reason or of vnderstanding or any act of will or of any other power shal be of worth nor of profit to gaine thereby grace or glory The seuen fertile yeares prefigured by the seuen fat kine Gen. 41.2 which king Pharao saw in his dreame do signifie the time of this life which by weekes whereof euery weeke comprehendeth seuen dayes goeth on with an alternatiue continuation succession wheeling about prosequuting his path but afterwards will come other seuen yeares which wil be al that which shall remaine in the other life which is without end prefigured by the seauen leane and hunger-starued kine Vers 3. barren and without fruit of desert For which cause in imitation of that discreet and wise man Ioseph Exod. 16.16 Now Brother fill thy granarie and storehouse make prouision against the time of want and famine because if thou
small holes in the ground and had hid them all in safety And afterwards the wylie and cunning dam soared aloft and quite flew her wayes leauing the Fowler deceiued ashamed considering he could lay hold neither of her self nor vpon any of her young ones In the same maner goeth the Diuell about to delude and entrappe thee thou blinde and foolish Sinner and so detayneth entertaineth and draweth thee on with vaine pleasures and deceiueable delights frō one day to another and from one yeare to another yea many yeares together with one false hope that hereafter thou shalt haue Time sufficient to repent thee that if thou neglect it this day thou mayest performe it to morrow or some other day as though the dayes and times were in thine owne hands Act. 10. which the eternall Father hath reserued for himselfe whereby thus alwaies loosing Time and the occasion present thou mightest hereafter come to want lacke all good opportunitie or seasons then shalt thou haue cause to bewaile and mone for euer If it be good to conuert our selues to God almightie saith S. Augustine let vs do it quickly let it be done instantly Aug. ad fraet in Eremo wilt thou say I will conuert and turne me to morrow yea too morrowe And wherefore not this day Considering the morrowe is neither sure nor certaine Happens there not oftentimes many suddaine deaths Die there not an innumerable multitude without acknowledging their sins and repentance Thē sayest thou God help me what harme haue I spoken by saying that to morrow I will conuert mee and begin a new reckoning when of necessitie it should be done this day Then God helpe mee likewise Brother mine answered S. Augustine what hurt haue I spoken by saying it should be done this day That being much more safe and better and so I speak better then thou doest considering thou hast not for thine owne but onely this day and yet not all this day saue onely the present moments or minutes How much better were it if it might be that all thy life were good for thou wishest and desirest that it were amended and reformed then that some part therof be good though as little as may be Thou wilt haue or at least indeuorest to obtaine thy meate thy wife thy house thy apparell thy hose and shoes all throughly neate and of the best Esteeme and respect therefore thy Soule in much more account then thy shoes Thus farre Saint Augustine The life saith Seneca is diuided into three seasons or times namely Seneca in that that is past present and to come and of them the Time present is the shortest and that to come is most doubtfull but Time past is most sure and certaine and thereof now Nature it selfe hath lost the dominion and Ruledome neither is it possible that it can be recalled by anie humane facultie Then if we suffer the Time present to ouerpasse we indanger our selues to be bereft for euermore without it but to cōtinue in eternall condemnation How much more thou sottish Sinner Open thine eares listen to mee I say how much more better were it that in all the Time of this life yea from the very first moment that thou hast the vse of Reason thou yeeld forth good fruite and prepare thy selfe and be in a readinesse against such Time as when the Maister Lord thereof doth come to demaund it for there is neither momēt nor houre wherein hee cannot come and call vs to particular Iudgement wherein he rewardeth the labourers and workemen of his vineyard according to euery ones labour and industrie All which out of S. Ierome In confirmation whereof that Parable of the Fig-tree commeth neere this purpose Mat. 21.19 which our Sauiour Christ had planted as our Lord drew neare the same being hungry and desirous to eate some figs and finding no figges theron did curse the same Mar. 13.28 And the holy Euangelist well noteth that as then it was no time of fruite bearing And therefore did not inflict that punishment properly vpon the Figge tree but vpon fruitlesse barren men voyde of good workes signified by the same tree Because that man at all times is bound to yeeld and render fruite for which cause our Lord when hee comes to seeke and findes none he will inflict vpon him the paine of his eternall malediction euerlasting curse All things saith Salomon haue their determined and precise times Eccles. 3.1 and after that sort and maner That all Time is neither opportune nor seasonable for all thinges for that which is peculiar and naturall for one thing is not fit for other businesse but verie preiudiciall and hurtfull As if one should sowe whē hee should reape fall and grub vp trees when time were to plant To speake when one should keepe silence To laugh when hee ought to weepe Furthermore for man to doe good works and to labour in the vineyard of our Lord there is no precise nor limitted Time it is alwayes fitte Time It will be euer seasonable in what houre so euer in what age so euer admitting that at no time it be lawfull to sinne and offend and that no Time was giuen bestowed on man to doe euill or to execute wickednesse According to those words of Ecclesiasticus Ecclus 15.20 God commaunded no man to doe vngodly neither hath hee giuen any man licence to sinne but rather aduiseth and admonisheth all men to preserue and keepe Time Ecclus 4.20 and that they depart from euill because it was lent and giuen them for no other end but to do good to imploy the same wel The being of a man idle and carelesse Matth. 20 7 as well the workeman as the hireling is reproued by the goodman of the family yet such an idle standing and carelesse liuing of him that is most in yeares and most aged deserueth and is worthy of most blame And so compareth that royall Prophet Dauid in the beginning of his Psalmes the Iust man Psal 1.3 with the Tree that was planted neer the running waters which yeelded fruite in due time By which he meant not to say that as the tree rendreth no fruite saue onely in one moneth or at one speciall time of the yeare not in others so the iust man is to yeeld his fruit vpon certain dayes or moneths or in some precise and determined yeares and not in others But rather saith thus euen as the tree yeelds his fruite in his due time season if it did not thē would the owner cut it downe to the very ground So man ought to render fruite according to his estate and profession in his time And his time is all the time of his life And he aduiseth and warneth him on Gods behalfe that it behoueth him alwayes to pray Luc. 18.1 and neuer to cease and to be alwayes watching as it were with a candle in his hand because he knoweth not at